We recently received a new request to research and come up with a proposal for marketing a new film online without the help of large film studios. As a first response, we were thrilled as we love to help with projects that empower the individual and show that with a great product, technology and the internet we don’t need to follow the dusty old business model. After the initial thrill, we started research for this project. Part of the research included reverse engineer and taking examples from successful projects that have marketed online. We have come up with some conclusions and main ideas that need to be taken under consideration when starting a project like this.

Movie Related

Who is our Target Audience?
Including age group, countries, gender, income level, purchasing power, etc

Languages?
Do you want to create subtitles and market in foreign speaking countries

Is there a cause or a message?
Do you want a message to carry-on (documentary for example) or is the movie for entertainment purposes only?

How do you want to sell your movie?
DVD, Online (Itunes, Amazon, Own Website)

How much does the movie sell for?
And how much are your audience willing to pay. Is there a set standard online price and do you want to break this standard? ($2.99 rentals)

Pirated Versions
How do i deal with digital sharing and can i make this to my benefit. Can i add elements to my film to help? Will need to discuss distribution options with this in mind.

Create a Website

Each and every movie has a website. Creation of a high quality website with STRONG social aspects is an important key to success.

Important factors include:

– Encouraging Social Sharing
– Teaser Trailers
– Newletter Sign-ups and regular follow-up with news and fun content
– Simple concepts and videos

The website will have to use quality hosting in expectation to high surges of traffic.

Create Social Profiles

Depending on your resources, you may not want to setup too many sites to handle. It is all about quality.

Recommended Sites:
– Twitter
– Facebook
– Youtube
– Vimeo
– Reddit?

Finding Influencers

Even before we start marketing, we will need to gather a long list of potential influences.

A quick List of Possibilities:
– Actors from the film (utilizing twitter, facebook, pr)
– List of Movie Industry Contacts
– Celebrities – [w/ millions of twitter followers :)]
– Press and Journalists
– List of Top Movie Related Sites and Movie Bloggers
– Social Media Influencers
– Reddit Posts and Content Creation
– Nerd Geek Movie Freaks out there

Get the movie out to a small set of people with online importance and have them write about it.

Teasers and Trailers

Get people interested in the trailers much before launch. Get comments on your youtube and vimeo videos. Get them interested and bring them to your website, twitter and facebook for news sign-ups and close relationships with your fans. Create great trailers for buzz on sites like imdb commenting, indiewire, reddit, blu-ray.com forum, variety, etc.

Social Media 24/7

Make close contacts with everyone you can!

---

---

Interesting Facts and Considerations

1. Kony 2012 –

Setting aside what may or may not have happened, Kony v1.0 was a huge success from a social standpoint and we can learn from its

– 90 Million Youtube Views
– 18 Million Vimeo Views
– Targeted Celebrity Support – Justin Bieber, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Ryan Gosling and Oprah
– Multi-Country Span

2. Louis CK – Live at the Beacon Theatre

– Charged $5
– Self Distributed Video
– Has a huge twitter following (currently at 1.26 million followers)
– Keeps a mailing list
– Is very funny!

3. Something to think about? should we disrupt the business model?

Radiohead’s “Pay what you want” Rainbows model from 2007

4. Avenues to Sell on

Do you want to enable purchasing on multiple avenues?

Project will need to determine and weigh the benefits vs drawbacks of each avenue

– Sell your own – easy to “Torrent-It”, extra bandwidth
– Amazon vod – charges 50% of sale – https://www.createspace.com/Products/VideoDownload/Index.jsp
– Itunes – TBD charge – http://www.apple.com/itunes/content-providers/movie-faq.html

5. Get Joe Rogan to see it and honestly review it. If it’s good it will spread!

6. Paid Ads and Extra Engagement

What about adwords, youtube ads, facebook ads, etc?