- Market Your Independent Movie Image via Wikipedia
OK. So you made a movie. Great. And so what if traditional distributors rejected you. Lets talk about how you’re going to market your movie, so you have the chance at recouping a little investment.
Assuming you’ve read my article prepping your film for selling – HERE
Then here are some steps you can take to start selling your movie:
1. Set up an account at CreateSpace. Feature your movie as a digital download, rental and physical sale. Unless you want to spend all your time shipping stuff around, consider letting those folks deal with the shipping and order fulfillment.Yeah, they will take a huge cut. But at the same time, all you gotta do is cash checks. Also, pick a price that ends in a 7. For some reason people like this number. $14.97 – maybe.
2. Rework your website. Up until this point, you’ve had a website that features a bunch of production photos and extra cute stuff from the movie. Get rid of all the extra stuff. Include a high resolution trailer, a low resolution trailer and a “BUY NOW” button. Also include one of those social networking buttons that allows you to tell your friends. Go ahead and click this one: 
3. You’ll know if your trailer is no good. If people aren’t buying your movie, consider refining your trailer. The trailer should reflect the best aspects of your movie, without giving away everything. It should target your intended audience. If you’re missing the mark, re-cut. Also, make sure you include a trailer on YouTube with a back link to your website.
4. There are two ways people get traffic. Organic and paid advertising. When possible, go organic – but don’t spam. Do a Google Search for SEO. Read everything you can about this. It will help you. If you decide to pay for traffic, you can do it online and offline. Offline would be in things like magazines, etc. Online – well, here, online. Again, make sure you’re targeting your intended audience.
5. Test, test and retest. Install Google Analitics into your website. This will tell you where your visitors are coming from, how long they stay on the site and how many people are converting to sales.
Finally, if you like this sort of stuff – Filmmaking Stuff that isn’t talked about as often as it should be. Sign up for the official FilmmakingStuff newsletter. It’s only $197.97 per year. Go here: Http://www.filmmakingstuff.com
About Jason Brubaker
Jason Brubaker is a Hollywood based Independent Motion Picture Producer and an expert in Video On Demand distribution. He is focused on helping YOU make, market and sell movies more easily by growing your fan base, building buzz and creating community around your title. He is also available for speaking engagements.