Jon Reiss

Identifying Your Audience

This weeks TOTBO Episode concerns the first steps of audience engagement. To do that you must evaluate your audience – which I propose in three steps:

1. Who is your audience (s)?
2. Where do they receive information and recommendations?
3. How do they consume media?

In the episode I then talk about the importance of niche audiences and distinguish them from core audiences. For independent films, and all independent artists, it is important to identify your audience as specifically as possible. You can’t compete with marketing budgets of corporations (the studios) to reach large mass audiences, so you must start small. Fortunately the internet gives you the tools to reach out to niche audiences. But within each niche are cores who are the people I recommend starting with – who are the most active within each reach and are more liable to engage with you.

TOTBO Tip of the Day 7 Differentiating Core and Niche Audiences

The terms Core and Niche are often used interchangeably and this is a mistake. The niche audience for your film is that slice of the population that has a particular interest in your film or an aspect of your film. The core audience for your film is those people within each niche that are your most ardent supporters. Those people who will spread the word about your film to not only their networks, but to the rest of that niche. You can have multiple niches that are interested in your film, and within each niche there is a core who combined adds up to the core of your film.

My live workshops are coming to London on May 8th-9th and Amsterdam on May 12th-13th. Hope to see you there!

I want to know what you think! Comment here or on my blog, or @Jon_Reiss on twitter, or on the TOTBO Facebook page. Check out the book Think Outside the Box Office. I look forward to hearing from you.

Totbo Tip 2 Every Film is Different

Each film is unique and requires its own individual distribution and marketing strategy. A comedy about stoners will not have the same audience as a documentary about Aids orphans in Tanzania. Similarly each filmmaker has a different set of goals, needs, and resources. While the studio one size fits all model worked well for some independent films over the last 20 years – it was a disaster for others. With the new hybrid model of distribution you can craft a distribution and marketing strategy that makes the most sense for your film. You have a unique vision. Use that vision to engage your audience in a unique manner. This will help separate you from the media noise that surrounds us every day.

I want to know what you think! Comment here or on my blog, or @Jon_Reiss on twitter, or on the TOTBO Facebook page. Check out the book here. I look forward to hearing from you.