Creating a film — whether it is feature-length or a short — is a complex creative endeavor. You and your crew put a huge amount of hard work and passion into bringing your collective vision to life. It’s only natural that you want to make certain that it finds the biggest potential audience possible.
This isn’t always easy, though. In a world where technology has made filmmaking a more accessible activity, movies have to vie for attention in what can be a crowded and competitive marketplace. As such, you need to put significant effort into marketing your films in digital spaces. This isn’t always in everyone’s wheelhouse. And engaging in marketing can feel contrary to your creative values. But these are essential skills when you’re just starting out on your filmmaking journey and need to get your work seen.
So, we’re going to review some of the key areas that you should be focusing on building. What tools should you become familiar with? How can you bring your personal touch to the process in a way that reflects your voice?
Brand Building
It might seem like a cold way to approach your career, but you must establish your brand as a filmmaker. This doesn’t mean that you sanitise your perspective as an artist or swap out your identity for a registered trademark. Rather, it’s about ensuring that people get a solid, clear understanding of who you are, what you do, and what they can expect from your work. It also helps to build a profile and reputation for yourself in the industry. This assists people with easy shorthand when they want to talk about your work in online forums and social media spaces.
Brand building begins by taking some time to understand what your personal brand is. Do you work within specific genres? Are you trying to establish yourself as a narrative auteur with a unique viewpoint? Do you explore certain themes in your work? Make a list of all the elements that are important to you in what you create. Use this information to create a persona for your brand — this isn’t about being inauthentic, it’s about ensuring that the voice and approach you use in your marketing is consistent.
Start to build this persona into your marketing materials. Undertake some keyword research and make a list of those that reflect your persona. Insert them throughout your website, your online video channels, your content, and your social media profile descriptions. Adjust the text and design of your website to better reflect your brand. If you are pitching yourself as a family-friendly and fun creator, a cold and edgy visual style doesn’t support this. It’s inconsistent with your brand. Whenever you post on social media or reach out to your email subscriber list, make sure that text is written with your brand voice in mind. This helps new and existing followers to get a consistent, reliable, and trustworthy impression of your communications.
Business Thinking
Your films may well be the result of your artistic vision, ethical ideals, and technical skill. Unfortunately, this frame of mind is not always conducive to creating a clear marketing plan. As such, it can be important to step outside of this purely creative mindset. Consider what you’ve created from a slightly more distant, entrepreneurial perspective so that you can better understand how to sell it.
Engaging with your films as though you were a product manager can be a helpful approach here. This means taking the time to understand the product you’ve created — in this case, your films — and create a roadmap to get them to the right consumers. As such you should be researching the market, and noting what makes your product different from the competition. It also means you have to gain an overview of the product’s lifecycle; is it always going to be available online, is it primarily participating in festivals, is it a time-sensitive subject? The more you can understand what your film represents as a commodity, what makes it attractive to consumers, and how it informs the rest of your product line, the more data you have to make the most appropriate online marketing strategy.
Multimedia Content
Your films are in themselves the most important content you offer your audience. However, it’s helpful to understand that you can create supportive content that can be used to effectively market your catalog and boost your profile. Taking a multimedia approach to this helps to ensure you capture a wider spread of your potential audience, who may each prefer to consume a different type of content.
Perhaps you want to submit your film to an online film festival or some other points to consider include:
- Blogs
Setting up a blog on your own website can provide you a forum to go a little more in-depth into your approach and values as a filmmaker. It gives your potential audience the chance to understand what goes into your processes and relate to your perspective as a creative person. Make certain you approach this as a regularly scheduled practice to be effective, and post links to your social media channels for your followers and encourage them to share. It’s also worth reaching out to popular independent film websites to provide guest posts that explore your particular niche.
- Podcasts
Guesting on a podcast to talk about your latest project can be useful, but it’s usually effective only in the short term. Making your own regular podcast can be more useful in helping you to expand your audience in the long-term, and developing a relationship with them that encourages loyalty. Take time to plan out the format of your podcast first — will it be interviews with other filmmakers, or narrated fiction to help showcase your storytelling chops? It doesn’t necessarily have to be an expensive endeavor, but you should ensure you have some quality audio equipment — a USB condenser microphone, a laptop, and an editing program are enough.
Conclusion
Reaching your audience is a vital point in your film’s lifecycle. As such, taking a business-minded approach to marketing your creative output is a key to reaching viewers and boosting the trajectory of your career. It is not comfortable for all filmmakers, but by applying your creativity in these areas you can make a significant impact.
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