There are some things you need to think seriously about when you’re marketing a film or a TV show: The first is timing. It’s important that you use the short span of time you have to build as much hype as you can about the show. By the time you’re doing the launch of the show, everything should be highly anticipated. Another thing about TV shows and films, which actually comes as a huge advantage, is that they come with lots of opportunities to craft content. A film or TV show is a goldmine for content. So you should seriously consider a content marketing strategy for this kind of thing.
While it’s not like marketing movies and shows isn’t a hard science, some strategies have proven over the years to work better than others. We got together 8 of the best strategies you can use to market your movie or show online.
- Try a Publicity Stunt
In the world of marketing, your greatest ally is word of mouth. If you want to get your marketing viral, then you should seriously consider ways to get people talking about your show.
Game of Thrones is a good example of a show that really got tongues wagging on their latest series. They went as far as planting a dragon head the size of a bus on Dorset beach, making it look like it had been washed up there. It got the show a lot of publicity and it was highly anticipated.
- Consider Pre-Roll Video Ads
A pre-roll video ad is an ad that comes before a video that the viewer wants to watch. It can be very effective if you want to get people online interested in your upcoming movie. They aren’t as expensive as you might think and you won’t even be charged if the viewer skips the ad before 5 seconds are over. There are lots of services out there that will get your pre-roll video ads on sites like Vimeo, 40D, IMDB, and even YouTube.
What you should remember to do with your ad is to include some call to action that gets your users engaged, visiting your website or social media pages. Try to make it as interesting as you can.
- Press Junkets
Press junkets, traditionally speaking, are little events you run in the places where you intend to launch your movie or TV show. You invite influential journalists and critics to such events and they get a chance to conduct interviews with the directors and main actors.
However, you can be extra smart with them; you can also invite influential fans and bloggers to the events in order to encourage them to get talking on their online forums and social media pages about your film or TV show. That way you rope in their follower base as you promote the show.
- Give your Viewers the Chance to experience the Story
Sometimes giving the viewers an opportunity to experience different aspects of the movie or TV show in real life can prove to be an effective way to market it. The Hunger Games really nailed it when they launched their Virtual Hunger Games campaign where viewers could be part of a district and then enter competition with other districts. It made them feel like an integral part of the film. They got a firsthand experience of what the different film characters went through while also having a good time with their fellow fans.
- Listing and Advertising on IMDB
There are millions of people who visit IMDB every day looking for nice movies and shows to watch. You simply cannot ignore the opportunity presented by this site. You can easily get your film listed and put as much information as you can on your film’s page. You can also consider using one of their many advertising packages or creating fun film lists and including your own film in them.
- Make your Audience a Part of your Film
Involve your audience in the promotion of your film in order to get your die-hard fans excited about it. You can do this in lots of ways, including crowdfunding your film and launching competitions.
- Make a Killer Trailer
It’s never enough to just have a trailer. It has to be a really great trailer that is both shareable and capable of going viral. You should make your trailer able to push your audience to strong emotions, whichever the emotions may be. You can then seed the film by posting it on a landing page whose design you make as appealing as possible to encourage users to share the URL. After it gains traction, you can then consider posting it on YouTube and using ad campaigns to promote it.
- Your Sub-Site should be good looking and functional
Most film sites look really good but aren’t all that functional. Don’t be one of those people. Instead, make something functional, with a trailer for your movie, a few virtual games, and links to social media pages. It will make it all the more fun for your visitors.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, the success of your movie or TV show depends just as much on how well you marketed it as it does on how good the film or show was. Invest in good online marketing and you will definitely be surprised by how well your show or film does when it is finally launched.
Author Bio
Becky Holton is a real expert in education at Dissertation Writing Services . She has been working as a journalist for 7 years. She is a successful blogger who writes education technologies, tips for improving job skills, and marketing at College-Paper and Proessaywriting . Follow her on Twitter.
