There are many seminars and programs that are trying to attract you to enroll (for a fee) with promises of driving traffic to your website and social media pages. These “marketing” proponents say they can teach you to harness the power of the internet to get your film buzzed about and sold. But what is the difference between “traffic” and “targeted traffic?” Does having a lot of “fans” on Facebook and MySpace do anything for your film really? Does having a million hits to your website mean anything in terms of sales?

Website traffic and fans of your page on Facebook do not mean anything in and of itself. It is targeted traffic that seeks your film out, attends a screening or buys a DVD or download. Building your site with your target audience in mind, using highly descriptive keywords to attract them, being visible on only the sites or in the places they are interested in are all elements that will build your audience and get your film seen and sold. So what if you have 2,500 “friends” on MySpace if most of them are there to promote their own films or products. So what if members of your crew become a “fan” on Facebook if your film is a period drama and they are personally interested in horror films and so are most of their friends. It will bulk up your friend list and traffic, but it will not automatically lead to an audience for your film. It is better to have 500 highly targeted “fans” who are interested in your film, want to see it or buy it, than a million hits to your site.

So, how do you build a targeted audience for your film? First, you must decide on your target. A key mistake of not just filmmakers, but small business in general, is not determining your target from the beginning. It is not enough to define your film’s genre with statements like “Saw” meets “The Exorcist.”  Define the group of people who will be interested in seeing your film.  The more specific you are, the more effective your marketing will be and the better you can determine what methods will be most cost effective. In building your website, you will know what information to include, what style you should speak in, what navigation will be appropriate and how much content will be required.  You will also find that you have different segments of audiences and you will need to determine to what extent to handle them differently while still adhering to your core message. It is reasonable to keep your segments at no more than three, preferably one or two. More than three reduces your ability to stay focused, effectively communicate your message and do it in an economical way.

Answer these questions. What are the characteristics of your audience? What are they interested in? Where do they congregate? What is their gender, age, occupation, income level, geographic area? Look for elements that bind this audience together into a cohesive group. Often you will find the answers give you a broad audience with very general characteristics. Try segmenting them into subgroups, identifying mini audiences within your main one. Each of these mini audiences will respond to a different theme within your core message.

Determining your target market is one of the elements of a marketing plan and all filmmakers need a marketing plan before they start production. The best way to decide which marketing methods will work best for your film and help it achieve success is to work with a marketing professional. This person has the knowledge and expertise to set a strategy and determine the most cost effective way to reach your audience.

I love Seth Godin’s books. He tells it like it is in the world of marketing without all the esoteric BS of a textbook filled with jargon and out of date references. If you don’t know who Seth Godin is, you should check out his blog and buy one of his many books on principles of marketing. He’s a guru.

Anyway, I was reading a post on his blog called How Big Is Your Farm? The reference comes from a farmer’s temptation to spread out too little seed over a very wide territory. The result is that the planting work was time consuming and resulted in very little harvest. This metaphor serves to explain what happens when you have very little marketing budget to spend and try to cover too much territory with it. Work that is labor intensive and the results are poor.

There is a myriad of online media outlets that keep multiplying daily, a vast number of markets to target, and an unlimited number of publications that you can use to get your message out there. You can literally spend an endless supply of time and money trying to spread yourself thinly in every area just to be seen there. But, you don’t have an endless supply of time and money, right? If you don’t have a focus for your film, a target market and a clear plan of action on how to reach them, then you will be wasting your limited resources and accomplishing very little.

First start with a tightly defined target audience and where they are likely to see your message online. For extremely low budgets, only consider one or two audience qualities to focus on and only one or two of the most likely media outlets to use. Then, consistently use them. The more you focus your efforts on these one or two outlets, the more you will cut through the clutter of the other people who use them sporadically. With bloggers and publications, consistently send relevant updates so that the audience you are building knows where to find information on your film. If the publications and social media sites were chosen correctly, you should see a dialog start and it will open the door to a call to action, either screening attendance or DVD sales.