What film marketing can teach about promoting a business (even if it isn’t a film-related one)
If you own a business, or are a part of the marketing team, and you are starting to run out of ideas, here is a creative take – have you considered a marketing approach that draws on the techniques and insights of film marketing?
Regardless of whether or not your business is film-related, film marketing strategies can be quite effective. So, keep reading to find out what film marketing can teach other businesses about marketing.
What is film marketing?
Film marketing encompasses marketing the upcoming film to either (or both) a targeted audience or the general public. This can involve promotional teasers or trailers, film posters, merchandise, music videos to an original soundtrack, and many more. Needless to say, film advertising has come a long way – and with constant technological advancements, there are more and more innovative ways to promote a film.
Video content is effective
It goes without saying that when a new film is announced, a majority of people probably head on over to YouTube to watch the teaser or trailer for it. In fact, it is suggested that there is a strong relationship between the number of views on trailers of a film and the film’s box office sales. As a result, it is clear that video content is useful in boosting excitement within an audience.
For your business, regardless of industry, it may be worthwhile to invest in producing video content such as ‘About us’ or ‘How to…’ videos on platforms like YouTube to help take your marketing to another level. The latter in particular is beneficial for businesses selling products that require instructions. Furthermore, with the Christmas season in full swing, you should take advantage of the festive feelings and possibly create your own Christmas ad for this year.
A big budget isn’t a necessity
Despite what people may think, film marketing has proven time and time again that the marketing budget doesn’t necessarily have to be large to be fruitful. Many film marketing campaigns have garnered attention and interest due to their guerilla marketing tactics.
Recently, horror film Smile (2022) generated viral buzz on social media for their creepy marketing campaign – sending paid actors to Major League Baseball games in the US to sit there and eerily smile.
If the creepy smiles didn’t do enough to promote the film, their T-shirts with ‘SMILE’ printed on them surely did. You can take a page out of their book here and deploy your own creative guerilla marketing yourself – this is where your creative energy can thrive, so take full advantage of it!
Immersive experience
Augmented reality (AR) techniques have allowed audiences to immerse themselves within the world of a film – and this inventive marketing tactic is something you should definitely consider, especially in our tech-savvy and tech-reliant society. For example, Dinotracker AR, an app that accompanied the release of Jurassic World Dominion (2022), enables users to track and interact with dinosaurs via an AR lens on their phone cameras.
Implementing AR initiatives within your business’ marketing campaign can be a great method to engage and immerse your audience in a new and intriguing way that can give you a competitive edge against your competitors.
With these film marketing insights in mind, you can find some innovative ways to take your businesses’ marketing campaigns to the next level.
