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Thursday, May 8, 2008

How do you get the word out about your online video series?

So you've created an online video series and it's awesome. Your friends love it. Your cast loves it. Your Mom loves it (Don't forget to find some good gifts for Mothers' Day May 11th). And more importantly, you love it.

Now what?

What plan do you have for getting the word out about your new video?

"Oh, I'll just upload it to YouTube and I'll be famous"

Right.

That's like, "I'll just make an Independent Film and get it into Sundance and I'll be rich."

Yep.

Do you have a blog?

Do you have your own website?

Are you an active member of a Yahoo Group?

Do you have thousands of Twitter or Facebook friends?

Do you have one friend who has all these things?

What are you doing to build your word of mouth marketing network and more importantly what marketing tools are you creating?

Studios and TV Networks finance productions or acquire content and then licenses that content to other distribution channels or send it down their own. They also provide marketing and publicity for their library of content.

Studios and TV NETWORKS market first to the industry and then to consumers.

Every May the Cable and Network TV companies converge on New York and rent out big theaters and halls like Carnegie Hall to hold events that they call "Upfronts."

These conferences are an opportunity for networks to get advertisers and media buyers emotionally excited about current and new shows so that they will spend billions of dollars in advertising.

Each new show will have a new trailer cut for it so that advertisers don't have to watch the whole thirty minute show to decide if they want to buy the advertising inventory. That upfront trailer will then be shown to the packed theater. Sometimes the stars of the show will come out on stage and say a word or two. Occasionally with older shows a heart tugging recap reel will be put together and played for the theater of advertisers to remind them of all the great programming the TV Nework has done. Here's one of those from 2004:



This year, the TV Networks will be presenting online video content to advertisers with the same emotionally compelling creative marketing tools that they have used in television to go after advertising dollars for the web.

What marketing tools have you put together to go after advertising?

If you don't have any marketing tools, you better start thinking about creating some because just having a great video that you believe in and your friends and mom like doesn't mean an advertiser is going to watch it. They don't even watch the TV shows they buy advertising on - even if they have big stars. Why would they waist their time watching your online video series?



If you have any links to your marketing tools or know of some good marketing presentations for other online videos please post some links in the comments of this post.

3 comments:

Lan Bui (of The Bui Brothers) said...

Wow, never heard of that...

Thanks for blogging that, I look forward to seeing some links posted.

Now it is time for us to think about that.

Daisy Whitney said...

Good advice. Marketing is key, other it's a tree falling that makes no sound or something

Unknown said...

Good advice too.

I don't know how some of my videos got picked up. But 2 years ago the WSJ did a small article about online reality videos. So that helped drive a lot of traffic for me.

Just marketing to your friends is hard to do too. Just like anyone else you don't want to bugg them too much.