The Most Important Parts of your Indiefilm Marketing Mix RIGHT NOW.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been writing about how we used to market movies, vs what works in marketing them now. So to expand on that, here are the most important things in marketing your movie in today’s day and age.
Consumer Reviews
It’s been decried as outlandish and treasonous by many studio heads, but among the most important things that filmmakers need to do to make money making movies in today’s market is to focus on getting good customer reviews. The same is true across any consumer product in any industry these days.
People tend to look closely at what other people who bought the product think of it. As such, negative reviews have a hugely negative effect on your bottom line. The fact that the reviews are often tied into various algorithms or listed across multiple platforms generally makes it the most important single factor in how your film will sell.
Genre
Genre is still as important as it ever was. It’s a classification of both what you like, and what you’re presently in the mood for. When I watch a movie with my wife, one of the first things I ask is what sort of movie we want to watch, and then we list through a few genres. Not sure of what genre or sub-genre is? Check the links below.
Related: How distributors think of Genre
Related: How distributors think of Sub-Genre
Professional Reviews
The term professional review has become more varied than it used to be. I don’t just mean someone reviewing your film for the LA Times or the NY Times, in this instance, I could also mean The Nostalgia Critic, Lindsay Ellis, MovieBob or any one of dozens of prominent YouTubers. (I understand that a lot of these are more in-depth film criticism than standard reviews, but I would lump them in there.) Sites like Bloody Disgusting would also fall into this category.
Traditional Press
Traditional press other than reviews is more important on an industry level and as such is much more important for traditional distribution. This would be things like acquisitions announcements trade magazines, or something of the sort.
The other way the traditional press can be useful is if you can get some kind of coverage on YOU or your company in a paper for where you grew up, or something of that sort. Like most things in the entertainment industry, this is largely relationship based.
Related: 6 rules for contacting press
Poster
The poster for the film will always be important, but given that all of the pieces I’ve listed above tend to either greatly influence search results or Search Engine Optimization for your film, the poster has ended up down there. As I’ve discussed in other blogs, the post needs to be both authentic and eye-catching enough to drive the potential viewer to click through to the next stage and find out more information.
Related: The MOST important thing in Marketing your Movie RIGHT NOW.
Trailer
On an independent level, unless you can get some press with it, the trailer is most likely going to help convince people to watch the film more than help them discover it. That being said, next to the reviews, this may have the biggest impact in convincing them to watch it.
Synopsis
Finally, people want to know what the movie is about. It needs to be short, punchy, and focus more on SELLING your story than telling it.
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