One of the most significant problems filmmakers face when marketing their work is the low budget. Of course, you invested your money and soul in your project, and getting it to the audience very often, falls behind.
Also, the traditional filming and distribution industry sometimes doesn’t help with this problem, since digital marketing and social media have grown so fast, that we can make the mistake of missing some great free opportunities, at the height of the new generation’s skills.
Well, that’s where we come into the scene. We are going to give you some practical, effective advice to start ranking your film.
- KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE.
“For a film?” Yes, mon ami. Even though the horror community is very embracing, it has many different tentacles and some of which might not be interested in your film.
Brainstorm all the concepts, ideas, tones and influences surrounding your film. What kind of watcher will ADORE your film? Who are they influenced by? Take your time, you’re going to use all this information as a basis for your campaign.
Once you have it, start creating images, captions, tags and hashtags that are going to catch the eye of your perfectly targeted audience. Don’t just focus on showing your film, let them know why it’s going to get to them and what kind of emotions is going to evoke. A common mistake when advertising a film, is to treat them all as the same because they all are “horror”.
Well, I’m a horror fan, and vamps are not my thing. The effort you might have put in bringing your vamps film to my attention will fall into an empty bucket because I will keep on scrolling. - CREATE A WEBSITE
Nowadays is super cheap to create a website. Build a simple, eye-catching one for your film: cast, make-up artists, scriptwriters, video editors… everyone involved should be mentioned! Add some backstage images and explain something fun. Share your social media platforms and upload some content people can use.
“But I already have a blog and I made a post/new page for the film”.
*Clearing my throat.* Create a website.
Your film is IMPORTANT ENOUGH to be in the spotlight. If you don’t believe, so won’t any distributor, reviewer or fan. - YOUR FIRST TRAILER
“But I haven’t finished my film yet!” I know, and your audience is very interested in what’s going on. Prepare a first short trailer with a few glimpses of the backstage. Some make-up work, a couple of taglines, and leave them hanging in there. It’s very important to start making noise about your film months before it’s released.
Upload it to your website.
Post it on Youtube, Tiktok, IG Reels and Facebook. Push it, share it. Be consistent. - TALK ABOUT IT
Inquire to a bunch of podcasts and radios for an interview, it’s the best way to be able to talk about your film, be funny and interesting. Engage with your audience.
Collect the contact of horror websites and bloggers who want to talk about it, create a super cool media kit and send it to them. you’ll make a second one once it’s finished.
Upload it to your website. - POST-PRODUCTION STAGE
Time for the second trailer.
Create some merch and sign up for a giveaway runner app to start a big giveaway, some of them are for free, what are you waiting for?
Create some kickass graphics with cool images to advertise your giveaway. Again, reach out to your distribution list (which you have already created because you listened to me, right!?).
Also, look for influencers on social media who you see using merch and talking about movies. They’ll be happy to join. Offer them some kind of retribution for helping you spread the word, like some merch article, for example.
Upload it to your website. - POSTER(s)
Design 3 amazing posters, being one of them the main one. Observe which one is preferred by the audience. Use it as a question on your giveaway. Like this you make them participate and you’ll know which poster has to be the final one. - SCREENER TIME!
We need reviews. Time to collect a bunch of reviewers’ contacts and send them your screener.
Once you start getting reviews, create graphics with them and share them around on social media and yes, again, your website. At this point, that website has become your media kit with all your evolution and information. - FESTIVALS AND AWARDS
Time to present your film to awards and festivals that will back up your authority. Take that laptop and start looking for the ones you’d like to join. It’s a tedious job, but it pays off.
Use your chosen poster, media kit, website, reviews, images, trailers and screener to address them. Be professional and follow their guidelines. - LAUNCHING
This will look very different depending on your background and audience. Use all your tools to spread the word around.
If you don’t have a distributor, you can upload it on Primevideo (Amazon) for free. You get 50% after taxes. You’ll have a link to start selling your movie. And Primevideo is available worldwide, unlike other apps which are only in the US and Canada. - EXTRA TIPS on Digital Marketing
For the odds to favour your algorithm ranking:
Post once a day on posts and stories.
Use 4 high-ranked hashtags and ten specific ones.
Create your own hashtag, so you can track when people talk about your movie.
Tag streaming websites.
Create funny posts about your cast and the making-off.
Finally, don’t give up. Keep on pushing it, sharing, creating snippets. Be consistent, start conversations with your followers. If you’re successful, you won’t have much issue finding a distributor for your next film or even being able to pay for a marketing campaign.
Comment below or reach out if you have any questions or doubts! We’re always happy to help!
Mar Garcia
Founder of TBM Horror and TBM Horror Marketing
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