Email marketing for filmmakers is as important as making your movie. Sounds weird right? I mean, you're a filmmaker. What does email marketing have to do with your success?
Everything…
In fact, I believe that email marketing for filmmakers is essential.
And here's one example why:
Picture This – You're meeting a prospective investor for the first time.
You enter her gigantic office and you sit down. The assistant asks if you'd like anything to drink. You politely decline. (The truth is, you're thirsty – But this is a big meeting and you don't want to spill anything on your shirt.)
After a few minutes, your prospective investor walks into the room, sits down and you start talking. Everything is going well and the conversation organically flows into why you're there. You're there because you're looking for investors. Specifically, you'd like her to fund your movie. And it goes something like this:
[Disclaimer: I am not a tax, legal or investment professional. So what I am about to share should be no way construed as any sort of advice. In fact, I am merely demonstrating via dialogue why I believe email marketing for filmmakers is essential. Please speak with a qualified professional before taking any meetings with anybody anywhere in the universe.]
BEGIN SCENE
Filmmaker
I'm going to make a movie right here in this town. And I am looking for prospective investors who would be interested in backing the project.
Prospective Investor
Sounds interesting. As you can probably imagine, I have meetings like this every week. Last week someone proposed I should invest in their purple-pine-cone business. They are already profitable. And they are offering me an amazing opportunity with very low risk. Why should I invest in your project?
Filmmaker
We have this really great script. And we are going to make a movie. Take it to Sundance, sell the movie for maximum profit. And then we are going to use those profits to make more movies.
Prospective Investor
Get out of my office!
Filmmaker
Why?
Prospective Investor
Because what you just presented is not a business. It is a gamble. You don't know if you'll get into Sundance. And you don't know if someone will buy your movie. And even if you do, you have no idea how much they will pay.
Filmmaker
But Paranormal Activity did awesome!
Prospective Investor
Get out!!! And only come back when you have a REAL business plan.
END SCENE
The world of independent filmmaking is changing.
The market is flooded with backyard indies. As a result, there is no longer a world where you get into Sundance and simply sell your movie to the highest bidder. And even if that world still existed, it was always a crappy bet for new filmmakers and inexperienced film investors.
Email Marketing For Filmmakers (Why You Need To Start Now!)
As a result of these changes, filmmakers who want to make a living making independent movies need to start thinking about their target audience BEFORE YOU MAKE YOUR MOVIE!
While I would never suggest that you completely forgo your artistic integrity, I would suggest you answer the following questions:
- Who is going to buy and watch your movie? (Hint, if you answer everybody, you answered nobody.)
- How will you reach your intended niche, target audience?
- How many VOD downloads will it take to recoup your initial investment?
Since those of you who make movies are mostly filmmakers, not marketers, it becomes increasingly challenging to market your movie and your work. But some aspects of marketing are easier than you think.
How to get started?
One easy thing you can do is set up your own email marketing system. Email marketing for filmmakers works like this – The bigger your list of targeted subscribers, the more sales you can potentially make. And for an example of how this works, click here to grab your free fimmaker checklist.
Pretty cool right?
If you signed up, you did so because the Filmmaker Checklist is more valuable than the time it takes to type your email address. (And I really did put a lot of work into making it valuable for you.) This is what marketers call an “ethical bribe,” “opt-in candy” or a “lead magnet.” And you need to create a lead magnet for your movie website visitors too.
Common lead magnet examples for your movie website usually consist of: behind the scenes photos, movie song downloads or soundtrack, poster downloads, short video clips, or pretty much anything your audience would value… Maybe even a “free” pass to the premier.
As a rule of thumb, never email promotions from your own servers.
Always use a 3rd party email marketing company. If you're just getting started with email marketing, I recommend a service (which also pays me a small commission to promote) called Aweber. I used the service for over a decade to manage my professional email correspondence, and also avoid ending up in the Spam trap.
Aweber includes a feature called a double opt-in. A double opt-in means that after people submit their name and email to your list, they will still need to check their email for a confirmation link. Then in each email will always provide an easy way to unsubscribe.
To recap, here are the three steps you take to get started with email marketing for your movie.
- Come up with a “lead magnet.”
- Get started with Aweber (they pay me.)
- Create an email sequence.
Collect Email From Your Movie Website
In the context of movie promotion, several other movies do this really well. Check out Food Matters, Camp Takota and Forks Over Knives. Each example is a highly successful movie. And one major reason for this success is, you guessed it:
Email marketing for filmmakers!
As you can see, most of these movie websites are very streamlined, usually limited to trailer as well as an opt-in form. This is intentional. Above all else, building an email list is essential for the long term success of these movies, selling related merchandise and subsequent sequels.
Copy this strategy for your own movie website! Like these other filmmakers, start collecting names and email addresses of prospective audience members as soon as you can. Or to put it another way:
You are no longer in the movie business. You are now in the audience engagement business.
Through both online and offline marketing efforts, your objective is to grow community around your movie – which could spread positive word of mouth. This could eventually lead to direct video on demand sales! And the other benefit? If you start now, you could begin to grow a list. this can help you while you're raising money.
Here's that example again (with the added value of a robust email list.)
BEGIN SCENE
Filmmaker
I'm going to make a movie right here in this town. And I am looking for prospective investors who would be interested in backing the project.
Prospective Investor
Sounds interesting. As you can probably imagine, I have meetings like this every week. Last week someone proposed I should invest in their purple-pine-cone business. They are already profitable. And they are offering me an amazing opportunity with very low risk. Why should I invest in your project?
Filmmaker
We have this really great script, a robust email list of 15,000 raving fans! So far, the responses for this next movie seem favorable. So this at least gives us a direct market base to hedge our bets. Aside from selling the movie directly, many have expressed interest in additional merchandise, like t-shirts. So this offers us a great opportunity to create multiple retail, revenue opportunities.
Prospective Investor
Sounds like you've done your homework. Tell me more!
END SCENE
Here's a podcast episode on email marketing for filmmakers you'll appreciate:
While this is a totally fictional example, I am hoping you see the power of email marketing for filmmakers. Having a plan for email can accelerate the growth of your movie business. And we aren't just talking your current movie, but all movies moving forward!
