If you’re anything like me, the word marketing gives you the ick.

We’re artists; we shouldn’t need to market!

I learned the hard way that it couldn’t be further from the truth.

This week I want to talk about the importance of marketing your indie film:

• Why you need to budget for it upfront.
• Why figuring out who your audience is makes everything easier.
• Why your strategy needs to fit YOUR film.

We filmmakers rarely have any education or knowledge in how to be marketers. Hell, we probably make movies to actively avoid marketing jobs.

But once you understand how important marketing is for your film, and how it can be an extension of your story, you unlock the power to stand out in an overcrowded sea of films, series and all other content formats.

Let’s roll.

Failing at marketing risks your film failing outright

To get your film in front of viewers, you need to market your film. But the thing is, you first need to make sure you don’t make a few of the most common mistakes:

• No budget for marketing: You spend all your money on getting the thing made. But then it comes time to release your film and you’ve got no money to create awareness and buzz around your film.
• No idea who your audience is: If you don’t know who could potentially be interested in watching your film, you’ll have no way to effectively find them. You're left with a giant, vague blob of people who have zero interest in watching your film.
• No plan for how to reach your audience: Without a plan for how to reach your audience, you’re spending money aimlessly trying to find some random person who will watch your film. It's an easy way to waste your marketing budget.

Filmmakers make these mistakes because they undervalue the role of marketing, have false beliefs about what it takes to get their film seen, and don’t want to do the work required to stand out in an overcrowded marketplace. As a result, their films get lost in the algorithm, and barely anyone sees them.

I should know; I’ve made all these mistakes.

So, here’s how to fix it:

With no budget, your options are limited

I’m putting this one first because I’m 100000% guilty of doing this.

When we made Wild Boys, we were stretching every single penny to the limit. We put everything we had into getting the film in the can.

When the time came to release the film, all that was left in our bank account was bread crumbs and spider webs.

This hamstrung our release.

If you don’t have any money to put into ads, marketing materials, PR, or any other kind of visibility, you rely 100% on organic content and word of mouth.

While this can work, it’s a strategy that hits maybe one in a thousand times. That’s an awful lot of risk.

Instead, we should look at the studios and how they treat marketing. The golden rule is you spend as much on marketing as you do to produce the film. If it’s a $100 million film, you spend $100 million to market it. In the case of lower-budget films, the percentage is often even higher.

Horror titan Blumhouse often spends 2x-4x the production budget on marketing. Oscar winner Anora, which had a budget of $6 million, spent over $18 million just on its Oscar campaign!

There’s clearly something to investing in marketing. As indie filmmakers, we need to stop thinking of marketing as a nuisance or necessary evil and start counting it as a cost of making our films.

To start with, set aside at least 25% of your budget for marketing.

Yeah, seriously. Lock that shit up in a savings account until you are ready to release the film.

Even if you end up going with a traditional distributor, you can enjoy having your own marketing budget. You might want to add to their efforts or do more specific campaigns.

If you go the aggregator or DIY distribution route, it’s essential.

Realizing that marketing is a part of the way movies are made and seen is the first key to getting your film seen.

Your audience is your guiding light

The second key is your "who."

Who is going to watch your movie? Aka who is your audience?

The internet gives you the chance to market to basically “everyone.” But doing so is way too inaccurate and will waste a ton of money.

That’s why you need a strong sense of who your audience is.

The good thing is you can start this process as soon as you have a story.

Ideally, your audience is part of your business plan, but I’ll admit, we didn’t even have a business plan for Wild Boys.

We had to figure out our audience once the film was finished.

Here are a few tricks I picked up in the process:

• Start with your film:
  • Who is your protagonist? Describe them as a human being. People like your main character are a good starting point, since they might relate strongly to your film.
  • What are the key themes and the message behind the film? People who identify with these could fit into your audience.
  • Genre/tone: people who like films in the same genre and style might respond to your film.
• Next, look for films like yours, aka comps. It’s a good guess that people who like films similar to yours might like yours as well.
• Lastly, look for groups of people:
  • Interest groups, for example, outdoor enthusiasts or LARPers.
  • Religious groups, great if you’re making a faith-based film.
  • Film groups, local film groups, and film commissions. These can be especially helpful if you have a screening in their area.
  • Groups where you’re a member. If it’s already a community you know, you have an advantage. You can speak directly to them in a way that is authentic and specific.

With this as a base, you have at least an educated guess of who your audience could be.

From there, you need to start testing. Share free content, run ads, reach out directly, and see who responds.

These are the people who matter.

Your strategy needs to fit your film

If you have money, and you have an idea of who your audience is, you can start thinking about the best way to reach them.

Let’s borrow a framework from business influencer Alex Hormozi:

The Core Four ways to market anything:

• Warm Outreach (Warm/Personal): Reaching out individually to people who know you, such as through emails, direct messages, or phone calls.
• Free Content (Warm/Public): Sharing valuable content with your existing network or audience through platforms like social media or blogs.
• Cold Outreach (Cold/Personal): Reaching out individually to strangers, such as through cold calls or emails.
• Paid Ads (Cold/Public): Reaching a wider audience through advertising on various platforms.

The first three you can do for free, with just your time, and you absolutely should.

Posting free content on social media and growing an email list are no-brainers.

Do it.

What you need to figure out is which platforms your audience is on. This is where you should put your efforts.

When it comes to cold and warm outreach, it might seem counterintuitive for films. You need a lot of people to watch your film, and reaching out one-on-one takes a lot of time and effort.

But here’s the deal: you need your early supporters. Reaching out to friends, family, and people you know and inviting them to watch your film is a must. You can’t scale this to a massive number of people, but you can do it for the ones who are most likely to support you for being you.

Secondly, cold outreach can be super powerful if done right. Focus on reaching out to individuals who can help you reach a broader audience:

• reviewers
• influencers and content creators in your niche
• community leaders
• festival directors and programmers
• Anyone else you can think of who can help spread the good word

Paid ads are where the money really starts to play in. With paid ads, you can target super specific groups through social media. You can even advertise on the platforms where your film is screening. It can be very helpful in reaching strangers on the internet.

Running ads is an art in and of itself, and would require a couple more newsletters. I’m sure we’ll get there someday, but that day is not today. In the meantime, educate yourself or hire expertise to help you.

Think of this as a buffet of options, and tailor your strategy to fit your film.

You know your film, and hopefully you’ll get to know your audience. Learn how to speak to them authentically, and they will show up and support you.

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