In order to get people to watch your film, you have to promote your film. And after all the effort spent actually getting the film made, the last thing you want to think about is promotion. I get it. But in order to make your film a success, you need to fight the fatigue and find some creative ways to build buzz.
Before we get into actual promotional tactics, you need to figure out how to sell your film. Will you choose to release through a popular marketplace like iTunes, Amazon, VuDu or Google Play for the first window? Or will you choose to sell your film from your own website?
5 Ways to Promote Your Film Fast
Popular platforms have millions of customers. So if you can make a few hundred sales in a short amount of time, you increase the probability that your film will rise in the rankings. This in turn gets your film discovered by more people. And this can increase sales.
With that said, here are five ways to promote your film fast:
1. Call your friends and family on the phone: I know. You think the idea of promoting your film through the phone is silly. But as mentioned earlier, the goal is to make lots of sales in a short time so you can rise in the rankings. Who better to buy than your friends and family?
2. Get on the local news: If you're not in a major city, you will have an advantage over the indie filmmakers saturating Hollywood. Pick up the phone and cold call your local news station. Let them know that your film just went live on a major platform and you'd love to share your experience with their viewers. (Your effort will be more successful if you can tie your film topic into a current event.)
3. Reach out to influencers: Okay. So you didn't cast a major celebrity (or social media star) in your film. That doesn't mean you can't reach out to an influencer and somehow get them involved in the promotion. Services like Speakr make this process easy.
4. Send out a solo ad: A solo ad is another term for an email blast. And if you can identify several online publications with robust email lists, you can pay them for reach. Just make sure you take time and find out the average open rates and click through rates.
5. Get on PodCasts: If your film has an easily definable target audience like “mommy bloggers” or “mixed martial artists” then you're in luck. Do a search and you'll find thousands of pod-casters who cater to your audience, eager to schedule interviews.
If you explore some of these channels and fail to get a response, it is probably because your branding sucks. When it comes to promoting your film, perception is reality. So you will want to make sure your artwork, website and overall message looks like a REAL film.
If you're interested, you can learn film distribution here.
