5 great ways to start the marketing of your film

 

I just finished 2 days of shooting a short film I co-directed and produced with OneRiver Media and prior to shooting I did some research to decide how best to market my film. Big name production companies have full PR/marketing departments to get the word out and create buzz for their project, but small indie films like mine have to do it all themselves. For a start here are five great ways to begin marketing your film.

1. Logo – Capture the essence of your film with a great logo. Never underestimate the power of a logo to create a visual identity that the audience will connect with. It must be something that immediately strikes a chord in the heart of the moviegoer. Pay close attention to colors that will make an impactful statement. Think of red for horror movies and blue tones for action movies.

Check out American Horror Story and their use of red in their logo. http://www.fxnetworks.com/ahs/ The use of red adds the element of blood and violence to its logo.

On the lighter side of things look at how Ice Age chose to use blue in its logo to define the edges and added a 3D effect to the font. http://www.iceagemovies.com/us/ The color capitalizes on the theme of water, hence the use of blue.

For more in formation about the uses of color, view this link http://www.colormatters.com/color-symbolism/color-symbolism-theories

2. Trailer – Your trailer should be, in a few words, DRAMA, COMEDY, TENSION and MEMORABLE. Creating a trailer for your short film is one of the most crucial elements toward marketing your film. What you include and what you leave on the cutting room floor will determine if your audience will hand over their hard earned cash to see what you have to offer. Know specifically what category your film belongs to and cut the trailer towards that end result. Add key words from the movie that give the audience something to connect with and couple it with high impact scenes and you will have yourself something worth viewing.

3. Print/Marketing materials – Most movies have print and other types of marketing materials to create visuals that coincide with the film. Indie films should be no different in this respect. Create postcards, posters, stickers, standees or whatever to get the word out about your film. Create some promotional giveaways to entice viewers to connect with your social media and follow the films progress. Which brings me to, the use of social media for film.

4. Social Media Vimeo/YouTube – Creating attention online is a great way to gain attention and attract followers to your film. The big three, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are always a good start to get the marketing ball rolling. However there are more social media outlets available to garner attention. Check out the following and see how they might contribute to your marketing potential: Vimeo, Pinterest, Google+, Foursquare, Tumblr and Instagram.

5. Forums/ Groups/ Networks – The marketing fun doesn’t stop at social media. If you belong to any forums, online industry groups or online networks, these places are a great way to share your film. But a word of advice, don’t spam the groups with blatant promotional posts and links. Find a more subtle way to educate and entertain your colleagues by creating posts that share what your learned or challenges you had to get them interested in what’s on screen as well as behind-the-scenes. LinkedIn has a variety of groups available in the filmmaking community, as does Facebook. Choose groups that closely resemble the niche that you are involved with. Be active in the group and support other filmmakers works. Grow your network through engagement rather than solely relying on self promotion.

So there you have it, a quick sure fire way to start promoting your film.  I’d love to hear what you are doing to be creative in your endeavors, leave a comment or questions. Contact me for a setting up a private consultation to strategize for your film.

 

Go forth and be creative!

 

 

Image credit: Posterize  http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/agree-terms.php?id=10053564

 

Promotional poster of American Horror Story. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Related articles

• 6 Ways to Enjoy the Sundance Film Festival From Afar (mashable.com)
• Watch these Sundance short films to learn the dangers of catnip and zombies (theverge.com)
• Watch 12 Sundance Short Films Now on YouTube (slashfilm.com)
• 10 Feature Films You Didn’t Realize Started As Shorts (flavorwire.com)
• Four Films, Social Media, & More To Come (celluloidandleftovers.wordpress.com)
• New Years Resolutions – A Filmmakers thoughts (ehranjade.wordpress.com)
• Teaser Trailer For The Excellent Looking Sci-Fi Short Film ’2088′ (returntofleet.com)
• See The Stunning, Student-Made Short That Got Hollywood’s Attention (fastcocreate.com)
• The Orange County Film Festival Collaborates with The Playground OC for Festival’s Opening Film (prweb.com)
• Watch: Awesome CGI Sci-Fi Short Film ‘R’ha’ That Hollywood Is Going Mad For (returntofleet.com)

Book Tour Promotion – Lili’s Strawberry House Book

Lili’s Strawberry House

One of the greatest things in the world is to see a child’s face light up with enjoyment because of a book. Today I had the pleasure of producing Lili’s Strawberry House Book tour event with the Iron Horse Mother’s Group in San Ramon, California.

Book author, Sahar Berjis is a registered dietician in private practice and has written a delightful children’s book. The book is about a little girl who delights in fruits and vegetables that she grows in the garden. The story takes us on a nutrition journey through the eyes of a child.

Following the book reading, the attendees for the event were entertained with several activities promoting nutrition, healthy eating and just plain fun. Four signed books were given away at the event and autographed to make the book more memorable for each child.

To learn more about the book Lili’s Strawberry House visit the highlighted link. The book is available for purchase through Amazon or your local bookstore or through the link provided on the website.

If you are interested in activities or recipies related to the book connect with the author on Pinterest at this link. (SaharB Pinterest)

Event table

Sahar Berjis, Author at Iron Horse Mother’s Group

Nutrition activity for the event

More fun activities for the event with the author.

Photocredit: Suzette Mariel for Zette Media

What Solo Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Nordstrom

Nordstrom is known for its incredible customer service and return policy. But what you may not know is they have quite a following among high end luxury shoppers who have exclusive access to in house fashion shows, pre-sale events, and special shopping days. Nordstrom knows how to give a great shopping experience.

Wondering what all this has to do with the solo entrepreneur? The quick answer is loyalty and rewards = continued support and more money.

National stores sometimes have to compete on price, service or some other type of characteristic to maintain loyalty. And one of the ways they maintain a following is offering their customer special events or rewards.

Nordstrom’s Collectors Department, on occasions throughout the year offers a select few of their luxury shoppers access to items before the general public and a style event showcasing their high end products such as Gucci, St. John,  Marni and Burberry.

Nordstrom, Walnut Creek , California

Using these techniques from Nordstrom and applying them to your business is a great way to interact with your loyal clients and reward them for their support. And who wouldn’t like a little recognition for loyalty? Everyone wants to feel special.

Create a loyal following by treating your customers with an extra perk now and again, and you will garner publicity by word of mouth. This kind of buzz is worth it.

Let me know your thoughts and comments about how to create a loyal customer base. Have a special reward that you want to share? Leave the information in the comments with a link to your site.

I look forward to reading your  great ideas.

Photocredits- me

Related articles

• Nordstrom to open its first Manhattan store in 2018 (oregonlive.com)
• A Nordstrom email that got it right (tamrafeldman.wordpress.com)

Part 3 – Procrastination R.I.P.

Procrastination R.I.P.

You made it to Part 3 of Kill Procrastination.  Congratulations. It’s not easy to keep up the momentum. But you did and I am happy you made it here.

So let’s dive right in and get to what needs to be done today.

Organization.

Now that you have made your list, it’s time to organize it and get it ready for following in an easy format. Because once everything is organized it’s easier to follow what comes next on the list and do it.

Look at each task and put it in a logical sequence. Let’s take creating your publicity campaign for instance. I’m going to create a random list of 3 items and then arrange them and explain how I did it.

Here is the random list.

1. Submit your press release.

2. Create a business bio.

3. Make a list of places you want publicity.

Here is the correct format for organizing these 3 items.

1. Create a business bio.

2. Make a list of places you want publicity.

3. Submit your press release.

Let’s look at number one. It’s important to create your business biography because it helps determine your business standpoint. It encompasses your industry, awards, contact information and product and services. Obviously there is more to it than this but for the purpose of this blog let’s keep it simple.

Number two is researching your list of places that you want exposure. Let’s take a children’s author as our case study. This particular author’s research list should be comprised of youth related places, such as Mommy’s groups, children’s bookstores, and toy stores. Therefore it makes sense to organize your list with the biography first, then pull your focus information from there, and lastly, determine where your publicity should be placed.

Your last item on this list, is submitting your press release about your product or service to the places you have researched. In this case we will use the children’s author again to make it easier to understand how everything fits in to place.  The author or publicist will send the press release in a timely manner to the mommy’s groups, children’s bookstores and toy stores. There is more to just sending out the press release but this gives you an idea of what to do, why you do and how to organize your workflow.

Once you have the organization of your list, break the items in to small achievable tasks to ensure following through on the activity. If you make your task too big you will feel overwhelmed. It you make the tasks too small it will take a long time to reach your goal. Finding a balance is what makes it manageable to kill your procrastination.

Once you have your organization list ready, contact me for how to get your publicity campaign underway. I look forward to the opportunity to help you achieve your greatness.

Thanks for taking this three-part journey with me on how to kill procrastination and jumpstart your workflow.I would love to hear your ideas about how you killed procrastination. Leave me a comment with your thoughts and stories.

Keep publicizing your passion! 

Photocredit:

Memoriam by Simon Howden

If you happened to land on this page and would like to see Part one of this post click here:

For reading part two, click here.

Part two – Kill off procrastination

Make a list.

Welcome back to kill off procrastination! It’s part two of how to get moving forward, get things done and stop procrastinating.

Here  is a quick recap of Part one, I talked about if you procrastinate, then you need to do one small thing to get you going, because motivation follows action and kills procrastination. (Read the post of Part One here.)

To get you even further down the road to ending procrastination is making a schedule. Creating a schedule eliminates the “What’s Next Syndrome”,  which happens after you have put forth the effort and completed the one thing that you have been putting off for ages.

So first things first, write down all of the steps big or small and just create a list. You don’t have to get super detail oriented at this point. Just create the list. That is your job for day two.

I’m going to stop here and let you catch up on what it is you need to do. So go and make the list. Are you making your list yet?

If you are writing a book maybe you need to get research. Make a list of topics for the book that you need to get it going. If you are trying to save money, make a list of all the things you can do with out or cut back on. If you are looking for publicity for your product, make a list of all the places that you want to be seen. Get the idea?

Here is my action point for killing off procrastination. Yes I sometimes procrastinate. It was a learned behavior from my childhood. What can I say? But it’s one that I struggle with because there are so many things in life that I enjoy experiencing that I get side tracked. Like crafting, and reading, creating styles for new photo shoots, writing stories for my comic ,and well, you get the idea. I like to do stuff, not just sit around. But as a result I procrastinate because I think just 5 more minutes on this project, which then turns into 50 minutes and BAM! I run out of time and put off doing what I should have been doing in the first place.

So making the list is crucial. Because if you have broken the tasks into small pieces you can focus on the one item to finish and still get moving forward AND be able to do all the fun things that might get you sidetracked.

So on my list of things to do is reorganize the chapters for my book. A big task, but I’m breaking it down into smaller bite size portions so I can handle it. It’s not easy running multiple companies.  I break things down into small projects, so I don’t feel overwhelmed.

Completing a task, whether big or small, makes you feel good.  And when you feel good you become motivated to keep going with the end goal in mind.

So keep up the good work, and come back tomorrow for part 3 of Kill procrastination. Tweet me your progress @suzettemariel , I would love to hear from you.

Keep life fabulous, authentic and live in style. 

 

Photocredit: Making a list by Stuart Miles

 

 

Related articles

• Monday Motivation: If you procrastinate then you need this… (suzettemariel.wordpress.com)

Tanabata Festival

Tanabata (七夕?, meaning “Evening of the seventh”) is a Japanese star festival, originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival.[1] It celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented by the stars Vega and Altair respectively). According to legend, the Milky Way separates these lovers, and they are allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar. The date of Tanabata varies by region of the country, but the first festivities begin on July 7 of the Gregorian calendar. The celebration is held at various days between July and August.

PR & MARKETING OPPORTUNITY CONTEST Deadline July 13th, 2012

Jannovation Jam is a pitch contest connecting Japan and Silicon Valley. Winners receive sponsors and media coverage in the United States and Japan. This is the third annual Silicon Valley Tanabata Festival.

For more info visit this link: http://tanabata.us/tanabata_12/janjam/janjam.html

Source is Wikipedia.

Follow Friday: Gratitude for New Twitter Followers

Twitter Gratitude

I love Follow Friday. I get the opportunity to meet new people and learn about their likes, dislikes and read interesting stories.  I’m sending out GRATITIUDE to new people who followed me this month and look forward to connecting with them in the future.

If you are on this list feel free to connect with me whether it is to chat, learn about my services as a publicist or media stylist or if you just want to check out my Facebook page that is cool too. Leave me a comment so I know where I should go to connect with you if you have a blog or website I should visit.

I look forward to engaging with you. Thanks for connecting with me. I really do appreciate the connection.

 @MarryreMarry                        @EleanorMRoss

@CharityIdeas                            @royaltyfreetv

@Iamwomanblog                      @Th2FoleySound

@Mobil_Marketer                     @CocktailDeeva

@HeatherWhite2020               @MikeAlumbaugh1

@bullseyevideo                            @IMRobertdm

@ShelleyStreit                              @cybelenegris

@vivalajenny                               @mjavaid2000

@AndrewBaty                              @ModernArchives

@stevenpgregory                         @officialkail

@mattChevy                                  @MadHunterComms

@dmimage                                     @DogBytes1

@theAmbitiousPod                      @inspirechannel

@GoNomad                                    @CosmeAGarcia

                                @UASCalgary

@CarolSmithCEO                       @Dr_Steve

@DanMcNeil888                          @richarddoetsch

Huge thanks go out to my Follow Friday Spotlight Focus Team. The follow group is a great bunch of people who own their own successful businesses and give back to the greater community through volunteerism and financially supporting wonderful charities. Check out their profiles and their interviews on my blog. If you own your own business and want to learn how to be profiled contact me and see how you can be a part of the joint venture Spotlight Focus Team for 2012 and beyond.

Marco Solorio OneRiver Media Productions

@OneRiverMedia

http://suzettemariel.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/ff-follow-friday-spotlight-focus-on-oneriver-media/

Joy Light of Joy Handpainted Silks

@joysilk

http://suzettemariel.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/ff-follow-friday-spotlight-focus/

Trish Bishop of Choose2Live

@thequestionjourney

http://suzettemariel.wordpress.com/2012/06/01/spotlight-focus-ff-follow-friday-on-choose2live/

Stacey Curnow of Midwife for Your Life

@StaceyCurnow

http://suzettemariel.wordpress.com/2012/06/08/spotlight-focus-ff-on-midwife-for-your-life/

Summer Alexander of Summer Alexander Research

@SummersResearch

http://suzettemariel.wordpress.com/2012/06/15/ff-spotlight-focus-on-summer-alexander-research/

Photocredit- David Castillo Dominici

What I learned from JLo isn’t what you think

Jennifer Lopez

What I learned from Jennifer Lopez’s relationship

Jennifer Lopez has had many relationships, but the relationship I learned from the most, is her recent one with Fiat. If you haven’t seen the commercial then you probably aren’t familiar with her most current endorsement campaign. (See links below.) It’s causing quite a stir amongst activist groups.

Fiat, an Italian car company, chose Jennifer Lopez to promote its new car the Fiat 500.  Iveco, a Fiat subsidiary produces vehicles that the Iranian government uses for brutal executions against a vast number of people from different groups. If you have been keeping up with the current situation in the Middle East then you probably are aware that Iran has been attempting to create an illegal nuclear weapons program and has knowingly oppressed the Baha’is, and violates the rights of many other private individuals and groups.

Fiat 500

The group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) publicly addressed Jennifer Lopez to “reconsider your decision to serve as a prominent spokesperson for Fiat. By renouncing your ties with Fiat, you can send a clear and unequivocal message to irresponsible corporations that doing business in Iran is unacceptable. In so doing, you would also be lending your powerful voice and support to the people of Iran who are suffering under the brutal Iranian regime and seeking to promote peaceful democratic change in that country.” She has been given until the 18^th of January 2012 to present her response.

This incident isn’t the first surrounding the Fiat campaign that JLo has had to deal with. The commercial itself creates and atmosphere of Ms. Lopez’s love of New York, the city she grew up in. The problem is that the commercial was purportedly filmed with a body double in New York and the remainder on the West Coast. After this information was released many people in New York felt deceived because it wasn’t authentically portrayed.

 

Hollywood constantly sets up the aura of reality while being disingenuous. Despite this fact we all still continue to watch movies. I can, however, understand the feeling of being deceived when hearing JLo profess her love of New York but choosing to film in Los Angeles. Regardless of the reason it does seem to give rise to irritation and the feeling of lip service to a place she states she loves. Despite that fact, Singer/Dancer/Actress/ Mom  is still talented and proves to be a box office draw.

I admire Jennifer Lopez in some aspects of her life but in others I sit back and wonder what was she thinking? Did her PR company give her all of the information?  Did she do this campaign because of the money? Did she do this endorsement because of wanting more fame and recognition? She isn’t too different from what motivates the rest of us, which is why I won’t give in to any Jennifer Lopez bashing. To be clear I am in no position to judge her, nor is any one else, which is not what this post is about. This post is about the things I learned from her relationship with Fiat.

Her Fiat campaign is steeped in problems on multiple levels. Which is a red flag indicator for me to learn from its fiasco. Learn from other people’s mistakes lest you make them yourself. I have never been in the position to endorse an entire campaign but have been asked to endorse products in exchange for use and product credit for films, commercials and fashion shows. It’s important to do the research on the companies and see if the product is in alignment with what you stand for in your value system. Nothing should compromise what you believe and no amount of money or recognition or free product is worth the public scandal because you didn’t investigate the opportunity enough. This year I am determined to do more research on the opportunities that await me. What are your thoughts on the matter? Feel free to tweet me @suzette_mariel or @suzettemariel or leave a comment below. I look forward to connecting.

 

 

Links:

Fiat commercial with Jennifer Lopez

(Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deNRiBQiQ3Q)

(Part 2-alternate version- http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=KkDbMT4R3y0&NR=1)

Behind the Scenes_

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW8qSBd32UY

Letter to Ms. Lopez from UANI

http://www.unitedagainstnucleariran.com/sites/default/files/IBR%20Correspondence/UANI_Letter_to_MsLopez_011112.pdf

 

Unusually bad customer service destroys a business

Don’t abuse your customers!

Customer service is the foundation of almost every industry. The best rule of thumb is the Golden Rule principle. If you aren’t familiar with this principle, read what Wikipedia has to say to get a basic meaning. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Rule)

One of the most insane communication exchanges I have come across today, is between two parties involving customer service. The worst form of customer service magnified I believe I have ever read.

To fully understand what this post is about you must go to this link and read it thoroughly to comprehend the complexity of the situation.

Here’s the link:

http://penny-arcade.com/resources/just-wow1.html

This exchange of verbal abuse was wrong on so many levels that I’m not surprised about the outcome. Complete and utter destruction of a business.  I’m not sure I wholeheartedly agree with the guy who owns Penny Arcade to post the private exchange between the two parties, except that Dave did request help. I’m not sure that I would have posted the information, but I would have taken some action to try to correct the wrong that was done to the consumer, especially if it was someone I knew and it could create an effective change.

 Anyone have any thoughts about what transpired? What would you have done if you were the customer?

Thanks for taking a look at this post. I’m sure it will serve as a reminder to all of us how NOT to treat another human being.

Here are a few other related links to check out. It might be worth a look to see what others have to say about such an incident.

Related articles

• Penny Arcade Publishes Transcripts Of Customer Service Blunder (pcworld.com)
• UPDATE: Penny Arcade Smacks Down Shady PR Dude (escapistmagazine.com)
• Ocean Marketing vs Penny Arcade: An Epic PR Failure and an Email Thread That Ruined Repute (ibtimes.com)
• The internet strikes back, N-Controller has fired Ocean Marketing (digitaltrends.com)
• Avenger PR Man Becomes Cooperative After Holding Twitter, Email Accounts Hostage (1up.com)
• The Golden Rule Of Customer Service (forbes.com)
• Here’s a tip: almost half find customer service on the nose (smh.com.au)
• Integrating Customer Service Into Your Social Media Marketing Strategy (edelman.com.au)
• Bad Customer Service? Blame the Bosses’ Bad Policies (dailyfinance.com)
• Do You Have a Vision for Customer Service? (customerthink.com)
• Customer Service, Customer Service, Customer Service (forbes.com)

How Canon captured more than photos and film

Suzette at the Canon Event, Paramount Studios, Los Angeles, CA

Friday, November 4th at The Paramount studios in Los Angeles, Canon launched it’s newest product the C300. As a Canon 7d owner and longtime industry film and photo freelancer, I was excited to receive an invite from Canon to be at the product debut for a hands on demonstration.  Canon captured more than photos and film they captured their audience. Canon got alot of the publicity event elements right but professionals say they missed the mark with their product. Regardless, Canon knows how to put on a good show and get people talking.

This post isn’t about covering the specifications on this product, only a brief analysis of the publicity element, so if you are interested in reading more about the camera specs check out this blog:

http://www.onerivermedia.com/blog/?p=429

Canon delivered hundreds of passes to the product launch event to Media production facilities and notable film/video individuals around the country. By sending out invitations, to those movers and shakers in the film and video industry, Canon focused on the group they felt was their target audience. Focus is a key factor in determining your user group, and how the product will affect workflow. In this case filmmakers looking for a cinematic style optioned camera with easy maneuverability.

Location of the launch event was a key factor in setting the right mood for the aim of this product, namely filmmakers. Holding the event at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, the film capital of the world made a bold statement to the community that Canon is opening its market to a new type of filmmaker whose budget is around the 20k area. Obviously, location is great way to shift your audiences thought process about your product. The average person knows Canon as a photography company as well as their dominance in HDSLR arena but this announcement gets people to see the company in multiple aspects.

Another vital aspect of this event launch was the hands on product demonstration and cross promotion effort. Canon had more than a generous amount of different models available in different configurations to suit a variety of filmmaking situations. We all know how important it is to be able to hold the product in hand and get first hand knowledge of what we like about the product and what it can really do. Now here is where the product can really affect the consumers and make or break the appeal for the intended audience. After the product reaches the consumer’s hand, its really out of your control the direction opinions will take. All you can do is set the stage to give the target market access to get the word out, and they will decide whether it meets their needs. Canon definitely excelled in this department and collaborated with numerous related film and photographic companies to provide the best possible user experience. One company on hand that collaborated with Canon was Red Rock. Each representative was very knowledgeable not only with their company’s product but the host company’s product as well.

Social media played a huge impact in information being rapidly deployed the minute it was unveiled. As always there is always more than one opinion about whether a product is good or whether a product is bad. Nothing can be all things to all people. But like the saying says, sometimes any coverage is better than no coverage. Twitter, Facebook and their website all offered information about the product and its future.

The climax however of Canon’s publicity event was the Full cinematic screening of several films made on the new camera before it made its debut to the general public. You can view some of the released films here at the following links

http://canoncinemaeos.com/?Nov3

http://vimeo.com/user8943175/review/31623615/c55b54fdb3?Nov4

http://www.canoncinemaeos.com/media-gallery.php?Nov5

 

Canon, indeed made their mark  again by capturing more than just photos and film. They captured the audience they felt was their target market. Isn’t that what we all want to do? Start capturing your audience. And if you need help, don’t hesitate to call. I’m here to help you make your dream visible.