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Film Marketing How Independent Film Makers Can Promote a Film Costing $15,000 or less!

blogger January 21, 2019

Online Film Marketing – and insiders guide!

First of all there are 2 main elements to the marketing of your movie:

1. Offline – major premieres, a film festival, electronic press kits, any real world publicity

2. Online – viral marketing via: email/social networking sites/PR newswires/newsletters/social bookmarking – anything that is an -internet’ based opportunity. Let’s examine how we can use social bookmarking and web2.0 to maximise these opportunities.

Introduction

It goes without saying that different films, types and genres require a different level of approach, however there are some general rules that you can follow to generate high traffic levels on the internet.

Where’s the best place to drive all this traffic? I would suggest perhaps your own movie website is the best place to start, but equally it could be a blog (especially during the early stages of your production and you don’t yet have any imagery) or a Facebook Page, or another website which I’ll talk about later.

Your Movie Website

A domain can be purchased relatively cheaply and it is worth building a site that fits the style of the movie – a horror – clearly must have a different style to a romantic comedy. When building your site you must optimize for search engines and there are some basic rules to remember – and your site must be optimized for what are known as -On-page factors’:

1. Put some written content on the page – Google and other search engines focus heavily on text based content so on your opening page make sure that this is there and available for google to see – it should not be image based, and if you do use images make sure you place your keywords in them! i.e. instead of 1234.jpg call it HorrorMovie.jpg. In this way it is visible to search engines.

2. Keywords – keywords drive traffic to your site and therefore your main keywords should be included in your: title, H1, H2, tags, meta description, (and if you can URL) – use different keywords for each page of your site. Use the keywords early in the description.

3. Do your keyword research – it is no use entering keywords that have a massive amount of competition since it is unlikely that unless you have a huge PR budget and lots of high quality sites linking to you that you will ever really be competitive for these keywords. It is best to use what are known as -long-tail keywords’. Typically this means instead of -Romatic Comedy’ as your keyword, you might choose -Action Flick for Girls’.Targeted and more likely to peak an interest.

4. The order of your keywords matters, make sure you are consistent.

Now these on-page elements, which you are able to control, account for a probably 1/3 of the traffic that will be driven to your site. The rest comes from ‘Off-Page’ elements and these are absolutely crucial to how to drive traffic to your website.

What are off-page factors? Off-page factors are things that are effectively beyond your control. Backlinks – i.e. links from other websites and pages which link directly to your website. Certain websites will have more -authority’ than others and therefore command greater respect from Google and backlinks from these sites will push you up the rankings. However there are ways of doing this yourself and having -influence’ over the search engines.

Here’s what I am going to suggest you do. It will be a pain, and take some time but believe me the benefits are really worth it. We should create accounts on the following websites and then aim to link through to your blog or website:

1. Digg

2. Propeller.com

3. Del.icio.us

4. Mister-wong.com

5. Hubpages – write articles about your film, what is involved in the making of the movie etc.

6. Squidoo – create a -lens’ to talk about your project

7. You Tube – use video to promote your film and drive traffic to your site

8. StumbleUpon

9. Mixx.com

There are of course, some sites which have been left off the list, quite deliberately, and these sites should be used to provide a major source of traffic and promotion to your production:

1. Facebook – the obvious choice since it is easy to invite your friends and get them onboard to follow you, as well as keep them updated with the latest developments on your movie project.

2. Twitter – an awesome way to generate interest in your film to thousands!

(For both of the above see the brilliant Mashable.com for great ways to effectively build a fan base on this platform and it would be impossible for me to add to it – its that good!)

3. One Fat Cigar – a new website for professional and up-and-coming film makers specifically to help them market and promote their productions. It’s good because as soon as you have the idea/script for your project you are able to really promote it from day one, and begin the marketing there and then so that by the time you are finished the production you already have a following. There’s a great networking tool too and it is also possible to cast and crew your project through the site.

So what can you do to build more followers and fans?

1. Content is king – without having a significant amount of high quality content no one will become a fan, and once you have people as fans, they need to be continually updated with new, and more importantly interesting content to keep them engaged.

2. What types of content work?-

a) You’re a film maker – use film content!!! Film the ‘makings of’ as it happens, conduct video blogs of your crew, interview the cast and crew (p.s. release forms!), where are you filming? why? what’s difficult about the next stunt you’re going to pull?

b) Stills photographs – very important! imagery and styling always help promote the movie and give the audience an insight into the production

3. Frequency – Updates 2 or 3 times a week are perfect, it could just be a piece to camera discussing where you are with the production and status updates can be done whenever there is something interesting to say, perhaps 2/3 times per day.

4. Interact – why not get involved with your fan base? ask them questions, talk to them and let them feel like they have direct access to you, the film maker. In this way the tie is an emotional one.

5. Share – recommend other high quality film projects you have been following – your fans will thank you for bringing another exciting production to their attention, which present you as a -cool’ authority and generates trust with your fan base.

6. Be Interesting – do things that are fun, and show the more interesting side of film making – the characters, the challenges, the difficulties in achieving certain shots.

Once you have a fan base you can then drive the fans to do what you want them to – buy your DVD, watch your film in the cinema, check it out at a festival, or even petition a distributor!

(In terms of One Fat Cigar, fans can sign up for free to the site, but you’ll need premium membership to be able to create projects but the membership charge isn’t significant and there are discount opportunities for launch to fans of their Facebook page and 500 free 1 year premium membership available. We think it will certainly be worth a punt!)

What to do once you have set-up your One Fat Cigar Project/Facebook Page/Website

While it is likely that you’re going to pick up a fair few fans by simply having your project up on the site, it is also important to promote your project to the search engines.

1. Use a number of the high authority sites (Digg.com/StumbleUpon etc.) listed above to link to your project on One Fat Cigar, Facebook and Website

2. Use Ping-o-matic.com to ping the address for your particular project

3. Link to your project through Twitter/Facebook and then do status updates every time you post something new on the One Fat Cigar site

4. Use anchor text which focuses on your keywords to link through to your page – i.e. if your keyword is -Psychological Thriller’ use this text to link through to your project page on the One Fat Cigar site, and not the name of your film or the One Fat Cigar site. This makes it easier for your keywords to appear in the search engine listings.

5.Put your One Fat Cigar link, links to your Facebook/Twitter and website out on any press releases you may have – that way the press have access to your material online for viewing.

6. Keep adding content – and don’t forget that your fans will immediately have the opportunity transfer over to your next project and so you’ll begin promotion of your second movie from a running start!

Conclusion

So hopefully that provides a solid basic introduction to film marketing and promoting your film online and will begin to generate interest about your project.So hopefully that provides a solid basic introduction to film marketing and promoting your film online and will begin to generate interest about your project.

Don’t forget you won’t get high in the Google rankings overnight, and you will need to track your progress. You’re not looking for the name of your movie, but you are looking for your competitive keywords. There are various rank tracking tools available to do this.

To search for the best keywords Google provides its own tool to help get you started:

http://www.google.com/sktool/#

Susie Tulllett (former head of DDA’s PR unit in Cannes for over 10 years) guide to Film PR can be found on the One Fat Cigar blog.

Ross Grayle Jones is co-founder of One Fat Cigar.com a movie website for people who love film.

Marketing

Facebook Twitter, Ross Grayle Jones, Susie Tulllett, Twitter Facebook

Upcoming Challenges For Mobile Development & Mobile Marketing

blogger January 15, 2019

The digital world is evolving and the trends are changing in real world, making the world faster than ever before and technology more stable. Mobile is all about today’s world which took birth with the invention of first pager in 1956. The world started getting mobile and the launch of first commercial mobile phone by NTT in Japan was the next step to stabilize this mobility.

The innovation in this mobility with SMS happened to be originated in Europe in 1985. SMS was a boom in the later part of 1900s and early 2000s, and still it’s the top cellular activity. Now, there’re above 4 billion mobile phone subscribers, with 74% of them using SMS of which 94% of SMSs are read. Just in UK 1.4 billion text messages now being sent every week.

This is just about mobile phones and SMS, innovations like iPhone, Blackberry, Android and mobile-internet integration are constanly opening the new horizons of excellence for mobile marketing. Web marketing is one of the most cost effective marketing methods with maximum outreach. Since there’re more mobile phone subscribers than that of internet users, so mobile opens broad ways for marketing from small and medium to large businesses.

Mobile-web integrated marketed is still in the process of development, reason being the lack of awareness among most of mobile phone subscribers, i.e. there’re about 10 million users worldwide using GPRS services that makes only about 0.25% of the total subscribers. But, this low percentage doesn’t mean that mobile marketing is not growing. There’re various alternative methods within mobile marketing including SMS Marketing, Ingame Mobile Marketing, Location Based Services etc.

Ingame Mobile Marketing is the fastly growing area and the future of mobile marketing. The reason is that more than 90% of mobile phone subscribers play mobile games. From simple interactive real-time 3D games to massive multi-player and social networking games, mobile gaming is everywhere. This trend is accelerating the growth of mobile 2.0 on one hand and hence the mobile development on other.

Mobile development being the next big thing is now the focus of small, medium and large business, and hence it’s becoming a competitive industry. The cometition is becoming tougher as the industry leaders Nokia and Google have moved to opensource, and this situation is critical for ISVs. ZDNet also reports that, it’ll not be the great UI as only challenge instead, things that matter more are ideas and methodologies. Though ISV’s are more under pressure, but companies will have equal pressure and will have to face almost same challenges. It’ll be the race of collective innovation [what I can term it as] or Product Innovation [combination of innovation in methodologies, design, productivity etc] so, innovation in over all performance will win!

Marketing

Ingame Mobile Marketing, Location Based Services, Product Innovation, SMS

Importance Of Referral Marketing

blogger January 10, 2019

Any service providers or businesses need to utilize referral marketing in order to grow and succeed in today’s competitive marketplace. Even if your goal is to merely to maintain your current levels of customer satisfaction and business, you should incorporate referral marketing as one of your marketing strategies.

Referral marketing provides a very effective method of maintaining a healthy customer base of individuals who are pre-sold on purchasing your particular products or services. The technique relies heavily on customer service which is essential to the success of absolutely any business. Referral marketing can help you replace any customers who will inevitably begin to lose interest, move away or switch to one of your competitors.

If you create a referral marketing campaign that is personalized and focused on establishing solid customer relationships, you will often see immediate positive results.

More Repeat Business

Individuals who feel they have established a positive rapport with the people in your company will be much more likely to become long-term repeat customers. A greater number of customers tend to return when companies choose to build trust via referral marketing.

Improved Customer Relations

Companies that focus on establishing solid business relationships also experience improvements in customer service. It can be a very wise decision to have your top professionals included in this plan. Customers want to be treated as respected individuals, rather than merely a number. If your company operates on this philosophy, your valuable customer base will continue to grow.

Ability to Up-Sell

Referral marketing also incorporates the ability to effectively up-sell. For example, an insurance salesperson who establishes a solid relationship with a customer interested in purchasing car insurance will be more likely to see that individual return. In fact, that same individual may also decide to purchase additional insurance policies such as homeowner’s insurance, health insurance and life insurance if they have been treated very well by the owner of their auto insurance policy.

Genuinely Interested Referrals

You need to find a way to make your company stand out among your competitors. This is essential in a very competitive and often cut-throat marketplace where many businesses are trying to sell the same products or services. You can start to set yourself apart by increasing your levels of customer service and addressing them on a personal level. This will result in referrals that are genuinely interested, excited and motivated to buy!

Increased Sales

Your revenue charts will reflect any successful marketing efforts. Your company can experience remarkable increases in revenue and customers when your customer base continues to expand. In fact, some businesses have experienced growth of 200 to 300% or higher by utilizing referral marketing effectively. You can retain your current customers and continuously attract new ones. Better yet, referral marketing enables you to achieve these results with minimal money or time.

Enhanced Sense of Ownership

It is a proven fact that solid referral marketing systems that are relationship-based create customers who feel they have a genuine connection or ownership in the business. Clients may begin to refer to their banker as “my banker” or their accountant as “my accountant”. They adopt a different attitude towards the professionals they encounter in your company. An added benefit is the fact that the increased sense of enthusiasm and loyalty expressed by these customers is contagious; it can attract new customers and turn existing clients into long-term, satisfied ones.

Be Business Smart has been created to assist anyone who is setting up a new company and to offer valuable support and advice to individuals who wish to expand their current business.

Did you realise that approximately 80% of new businesses fail each year? You certainly don’t want to become one of those statistics. Fortunately, Be Business Smart can provide you with the help and support you need to ensure your business becomes a success!

Be Business Smart offers two levels of membership to suit your business budget. Here at Be Business Smart, we have a lot to offer any new business, but please don’t take our word for it. We encourage you to browse our website and see for yourself.

Marketing

Genuinely Interested Referrals, Improved Customer Relations, Increased Sales

An Unbiased Skinny Body Care Review

blogger January 3, 2019

This Skinny Body Care review is intended to help you decide whether or not starting an MLM business is right for you. Before investing your time and money into a business opportunity, there are some details that require your attention. This review should highlight those details and prepare you to make an appropriate decision. I applaud your due diligence. Let’s take a close look at what kind of products and business opportunity this company has to offer.

The Skinny Body Care Product Line

The product line consists of products that encourage weight loss and limit the appearance of ageing. Whether you are intrigued by the business opportunity or not, the companies product line has some appealing items for those of us who wish to improve our physical appearance.

The headlining product is Skinny Fiber. Skinny Fiber is marketed as an incredibly efficient weight loss manager. This weight loss supplement is said to simplify the pound shedding process. Skinny Fiber contains an ingredient called Glucomannan. This special ingredient is a unique fiber that makes you feel full and consequently eat less food. By controlling your appetite, you can have a stranglehold on weight management. Over eating is the number one cause of obesity. Attacking weight loss at the source is crucial.

The Skinny Body Care Marketing System

Active participants of the companies marketing system have free access to landing pages and a proven presentation video. As with all multi-marketing companies, Skinny Body Care encourages duplication and modeling. The belief is that modeling your business off of a successful business will result in positive results.

It should be noted that most companies charge extra for use of their marketing system. Because this company doesn’t, you can essentially look at the opportunity as a business in a box. The name of the game is exposure. Considering active distributors in the company have access to online marketing tools, using the internet for prospecting reasons is encouraged.

The Compensation Plan

Skinny Body Care is a multi-level marketing company. This marketing model allows for distributors to earn an income on various levels; hence the name multi-level. The first level of earning is obviously based on personal sales. Each marketer is paid a percentage based on the amount of personal sales volume they generate. That being said, very few entrepreneurs have ever built a successful MLM business by solely pushing products.

Recruiting fellow distributors is undoubtedly the quickest, most efficient, and most profitable way to build a successful multi-level marketing business. Why is this the case? After enrolling a new distributor, that person is placed in your downline. The company works with a 3 X 5 forced filled matrix. Distributors are then paid a commission based on the sales volume produced by those in their downline as well as being compensated for their own sales volume.

To be clear, consistently recruiting and enrolling new distributors is the only way to build an MLM business quickly. Doing so efficiently will undoubtedly result in the establishment of passive residual income. A passive residual income is definitely the goal of all entrepreneurs who give Skinny Body Care a try.

Marketing

MLM, Skinny Body Care, Skinny Fiber

Free Social Media Marketing Course and Facebook Marketing Videos

blogger December 26, 2018

Once a social platform for college students, the 40 million active membership site facebook is the latest buzzword in social media marketing. However, most members are extremely online savvy and they smell blatant advertisements from miles away. It is important to know some basics and gain experiences in utilizing the site and interacting with its members before you start planning your facebook marketing adventure.

1. Create a profile. The first step is to create a profile. Sign up using your real name and upload some pictures. If you do not have an email with a top-level edu domain, by default you join a regional network based on your zip code or international address. Later, you have the option to join your company’s network and change your regional networks. You can change your networks twice in a 60-day period.

Always upload a profile picture. If you don’t upload a picture, facebook places a default question mark icon. It is a good strategy to show your face in facebook. Don’t use group pictures for your profile because others may have difficulty identifying you in the group pictures. Don’t use logos, your cute cat or dogs pictures, or a picture of your expensive car and boat.

You don’t have to fill all the profile information. Fill only the information you are comfortable sharing with others. If you want to find dates using facebook, fill up the relationship status feature of your profile accordingly. Don’t change the status often because others will notice it and doubt your trustworthiness.

2. Make friends. The site can find active facebook friends for you using emails in your address books of a few free web email providers like yahoo, hotmail, gmail, etc. Once you get a few friends, new friend requests will pour in from your friends of friends. You can also search for friends and send requests. Work on creating a network of 100 to 200 friends. Don’t make friends with celebrities because in most cases these are fake profiles setup for marketing purposes.

3. Upload pictures and videos. Start uploading some interesting pictures and group them in albums of travel pictures, baby shower photos, bachelor party scenes, etc. Pictures help people connect with your life without meeting you face to face. Always upload a number of related pictures or themes.

Create a random albums and put all your random pictures in the random album. Tag your pictures to identify people on the pictures. When you tag your friends in your pictures, they show up in their wall. You can also share your albums with others outside facebook. You can upload personal videos using your browser or mobile phone and directly record videos to facebook.

4. Use friends’ walls and never post on your own wall. You have a wall in facebook for others to write notes. Don’t write in your own wall. Write in your friends’ walls. Your friends will write notes, share videos or links in your wall. You do the same in your friends’ walls. When a friend posts something on your wall, reply to the post. If you find the posting annoying, politely ask them to back off and clean up your wall.

5. Join a few groups. There are all sorts of organic groups in facebook. These are groups of people with similar interests. Find a few that interest you and join them. You can create your own group but first find out if one exists on the same topic. This is an excellent place to be creative and get support from a bunch of people for your cause.

6. Create events and invite people. If you want to host a party, this is the feature you will use. Create your events and invite others to join. You can make an event public for your friends to see or private for the invitees to browse. Under my event, you can browse your friends’ public events. You will immediately know who are your fake friends because they did not invite you to their gala dinner they are hosting.

7. Send notes and share links. You send notes to your friends. Depending on the topic, you can send a note to a few friends or to all friends in your network. Don’t send chain letter notes because people find these repulsive. Your notes show up in your friends’ news feeds or on their walls. A tagged note shows up on the wall, otherwise, it is found in the homepage news feed. Use share for sharing links, even though you can use this feature for sharing notes. Share that link of a cheap travel-booking site you have found while surfing the net with friends planning their upcoming vacations.

8. Visit your homepage everyday. Besides your profile page in facebook, you also have a homepage. You homepage displays collaborative news feeds of all your friends, event and group invitations, friendship requests, friends’ birthdays, etc. If you want to know what is going on in your facebook friend circle, visit your homepage everyday.

The other features of facebook are poke, marketplace, facebook mobile, and hundreds of applications that enhance the facebook experience. As the facebook awareness grows, online marketers have started pounding the facebook door to gain a foothold. Future articles will discuss different ways to market your products and services to facebook members without insulting their intelligence.

Marketing