GENERATE BUZZ: Give away half

You got your 1000 films from Disc Makers. Now give away half. You only need to sell about 150 DVD’s to break even on the replication. You sell 300, you double your money. You sell 500, and you pocket over 5 grand in sales. One of our recommendations to generate buzz, give away half!

IDEA #1: The following idea has been rated “approved for all audiences”

Stand outside your local movie theater (especially your local indie theater) on a Friday or Saturday night and give copies to people coming out of the movies. This is your target audience, so hit them up. What you need to do is:

Inside your DVD, place a postcard or flyer that directs them to your website. The goal of tonight is to get people to talk about your film. Have them watch the film and tell their friends about it. Generate buzz. With a little flyer they can take it to work or school and pass it on and as long as it has a web address where they can buy the film, the circle of life will continue.

Get your 60 second elevator pitch ready (A slang term referring to the 20-60 seconds a person has to interest another of their product or idea.) A good line is "you are a local film maker who just finished your first film and you want to get it out to the world and see what others think and you would love feedback. You are here today giving away copies in hopes of promoting it." Be real, be yourself, be honest and have fun with it. Coustumes?

Take 30 or 40 copies of your DVD to the theater and a bunch of postcards. Once you run out of DVD’s to give away, pass out postcards and make sure they have your website in big letters on there. Talk up your film. Repeat a couple of times at different theaters and/or showtimes.

IDEA #2: Make it a Blockbuster night.

There is a Blockbuster or Hollywood Video on every street corner. Avoid them. Every town has an independent video store and that is your target. Your objective? To make the owner of the video store support your (and hopefully other local film makers) project. The problem is, like any other business, you need to show him the money. What you need to do is come up with a game plan that is a win-win situation for him. Here is your plan:

Provide him with a couple hundred copies of your film to give out to customers. For him, it is a way to say thank you for renting from his store. Once again inside the DVD, you place a postcard or flyer with information that someone can pass along and promote your film.

Give him three copies (at no cost, and you take no rental fee) of the film that he can put on his shelf and rent out. The only thing you ask is for an update monthly on how rentals have gone.

See if you could give him 5 copies of the film that he can sell at the store and split the sales price with him.

Inform him of your future plans on how you can work in with him to draw in future business and new customers (See how Idea #3 and #4 can work with this)

You might be looking at this and saying that it does not seem like a win-win, but more like a “win” for the video store and a “lose” for you. What you are forgetting is that this is about “Marketing your Movie” and in the above case, you have just won. The chances of people watching your film are 1000% greater since they are looking for films.

IDEA #3: We are looking for caller number 100.

Once again, your approach to this is simple. Look for the local college radio or indie radio in your town and see if you can work out a deal with them to give away 500 copies of your film. Most will do something for next to nothing because they know that giving things away always attracts people.

When going to the station, don’t be corporate. Be relaxed and yourself. The end goal is to promote your film. If it means they will give out the 500 copies but nothing else, FANTASTIC. Take it and run. If they offer to put you on the air, make a commercial for your film and give away a copy an hour for the next week, well that is just icing on the cake!

You want to avoid shipping your free DVD because that would cost you more money. So work out a deal with the radio station to put something on their website that people can print out and take to the local video store (See idea #2) and redeem for a free copy. It is good promotion for the video store, radio station and you!

IDEA #4: You're watching Cable 10, Aurora, Illinois Cable Access Channel.

If that station sounds familiar, it should. Welcome to Wayne’s World. Party on. Public Access stations were created to help individuals like yourself get your information to the public. If you live in New York City, you know that marketing your business on Cable Access channels is BIG business. So here is your game plan:

Head down to the Local Cable Access station in your town. Remember, most cable stations give each city, county and state a channel (we have 5 here in Portland). Hit them all and show your film at different times at the station. The key being people might not see your local Cable Access station but might see the county or state. Some stations will make you take a class, but that is fine. Do it.

HAVE FUN. Don’t just pitch them your film. Tell them you want to show your film on the channel, give away 500 copies to viewers and have an hour discussion with important local people about the subject of your film.

Work out a deal with the local video store mentioned in Idea #2. You tell everyone who watches your movie on Cable Access to visit his store to pick up a free copy of your film.

Promote the fact that you are a local film maker and at the beginning and end of your film, and then inform them the first 500 people to show up at the video store will receive a free copy of the film. Also put the information on your website so you not only direct traffic to the video store, but to your site as well.

Take out a small ad in the local weekly or college newspaper (depending on your target demo) and just put that your film will be showing at x-time on x-channel and that viewers will get a free copy of the movie on DVD.

So your film might air at 2am or 6am or 4pm. The point is it is airing and odds are people are watching. Not a million, maybe not even a hundred, but in the game of generating buzz, it only takes one person to start it.