If you want to be a successful filmmaker, you better learn a thing or two about online movie advertising. The reason I emphasize online movie advertising is because most movies end up in some sort of video-on-demand platform. And because many of the most popular platforms exist online, selling movies on the internet is very similar to selling anything online. This means you now have the ability to create online movie advertising campaigns to drive people to your point of sale.
If you've been reading my filmmaking stuff for any length of time, you know I've been sharing similar advice with filmmakers for years. I first published my thoughts back in 2010 – Here's the article called Financing Movies With VOD Sales Projections. As you'll read in the comments, most people thought I was crazy.
Fast forward to a recent job interview with a well known distribution company. I kid you not, the whole conversation revolved around this thing called conversion science.
“Jason, WTF is conversion science? I'm a filmmaker. I failed science!”
Look. I am trying to help you. You're obviously reading this because you want to know the secrets of online movie advertising. And I'm telling you, the big secret is this thing called conversion science.
The Secrets of Online Movie Advertising
Here's the thing about business (that most filmmakers ignore). Everything in business is measured in profit and loss. So if you spend money for online movie advertising, you better get that money back, plus a profit on top.
So here's the question: How do you know if your online movie advertising is working?
This one is simple. You track your advertising campaigns. If you make more money then you spend, you're doing OK. But if you start throwing money into an online movie advertising black hole, you have a BIG problem.
And before we get too crazy, there is something you need to know.
The whole reason you want to do your homework is so you don't end up depending on the glaringly flawed and totally outdated distribution strategy:
“Gee, I sure hope we get into a film festival and garner a great deal.”
Hope is not a sustainable business strategy. It is a lottery. And it's outdated.
Online Movie Advertising Formula
Whenever you think about your movie advertising strategy, it helps to think about some real world scenarios. And because we are talking numbers, I am going to share a basic direct marketing ROI (return on investment) formula.
Here are the MAJOR Filmmaking Challenges:
- With no promise of pre-sales, or minimum guarantees in a traditional distribution deal, how do filmmakers justify a budget large enough to pay freelance day rates, while at the same time project enough direct DVD and VOD sales to recoup the initial investment?
- And assuming only 1% of your website visitors buy your movie, then how many people must visit your website so that 1% recoups your initial investment? (Don't forget to include marketplace costs.)
- How much will this cost in advertising?
Here is a formula you can test and tweak. Plug in numbers and play around with assumptions.
U = Unit Sales Goal.
A = Amount you pay advertiser per website visit.
C = Projected conversion percentage rate.
X = Number of Visitors Needed.
(X)C = U
EQUATES TO: X= ?
THEN: X(A) = ?
If all of that seems like a bunch of gobbledygook, you're not alone. In the real world, most marketers utilize software, an online calculator and spreadsheets to help clarify assumptions.
But here's the rub.
When you actually crunch the numbers on a One-Million dollar budget by selling $20 dollar DVD's in Amazon (which is a totally high price), and you rely solely on Pay Per Visit advertising at $.05 cents a visit – Even if you're lucky enough to garner a 1% conversion, you would need to sell 100,000 units (which allows for a 50% marketplace fee).
Or to put it another way, to get these results, you would need 10,000,000 targeted visitors, visiting your website.
Yes, ten Million people! Which is outlandish…
This means you will have to think very carefully about your movie budget, marketing budget, your distribution strategy and obviously, you'll need to make sure your movie actually has a market large enough to support the budget.
If you would like to start planning your distribution, you might want to check out my “How To Sell Your Movie” system.
