So, I am Opening For Business.

Doc Bernard

Doc Bernard

Indie Arms Member
Marketing has never been my strong suit. I can come up with the materials, but the advertising side of it, I am weak in that area. How do I spread the word about Indie-Arms? I am planning a mass mailing to So Cal Production Studios, which is going to cost a pretty penny for printing and postage.

Where else can I maximize exposure, while keeping costs low? I am all ears here, as I normally run a "word of mouth" business, and openly advertising is new to me.
 
The first step in any marketing campaign is to identify your target market. This is not your potential market, although we also care about them. We want as specific as you can get without being just one guy (which I once wrote as a joke business plan). Then you have to consider their trends. When do they need your services? Where do they look to find an armourer? When they look, what makes the sale? The goal is to have a well designed and maintained avenue of contact in whatever system they use to find people. Websites themselves are obvious, but also consider where listings happen, publications, things like that.

Ideally you'd have a major marketing presence in every possible place, but since that isn't possible we start with the high value targets. After you've done a lot there, move out of it and identify where your competition is that you aren't. Get there and do better. It takes research to figure that out precisely. Word of mouth is still the most important of all marketing techniques, and this can be expanded to social networking in some cases. Make sure your name is out there as much as possible, any way you can think of. Donate to a good cause if they make your name public, for example. My team used that and volunteering to crew events as a major marketing technique.

Another important note, one that took a while to really sink in for me: everything is marketing. Everything you say, every hand you shake, every picture you show, every post you make right here, including this one, is visible. That makes it marketing, intentional or not, and potentially part of making a sale. When you talk to someone, even in a social situation, you're selling yourself with some image. The goal is to take control of that image and use it as best you can.

To sum up my post: be creative and get your name heard.
 
In short, if you are good enough to 'sell ice to the Eskimos' then you are good enough to sell video production. Video is one of the (by public perception) most superfluous and unnecessary services on the planet. Everyone thinks they can live just fine without your services. Your job is to convince them that video is just as vital to their business as oxygen is to living beings. Figure out the details. :-)
 
Yeah, I'm with the OP in the sense that I am no sales expert, and for me... ultimately I decided that I'm not going to be the one worrying about this anymore. This week, I am conducting interviews with sales agents and I'm hiring my first full-time employee. It makes sense for me. It wouldn't make sense if I was just a videographer selling cheap services, but I'm on the higher end, the "Hollywood-style" productions for a still-affordable rate, so this is the route I'm going. I'll see how it goes!
 
Doc Bernard said:
Marketing has never been my strong suit. I can come up with the materials, but the advertising side of it, I am weak in that area. How do I spread the word about Indie-Arms? I am planning a mass mailing to So Cal Production Studios, which is going to cost a pretty penny for printing and postage.

Where else can I maximize exposure, while keeping costs low? I am all ears here, as I normally run a "word of mouth" business, and openly advertising is new to me.
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You can hire me for any shoots if needed. Just PM me if you ever need an XH-A1 anywhere and i'll see if I can make anything. :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)
 
You'll find you'll never have a better sales person than a happy client. Have enough of those and you will never have a need to advertise on your own as they'll be doing it for you.

As far as start up, it's no secret that social networking is by far the most cost effective advertising today. You'll find teasing your twitter page on facebook that points to your youtube channel to cost nada and reach millions.
 
lol, I wouldn't put any of my work on YouTube, nothing screams amateur like that. And second, I don't have any medium-sized businesses on my Facebook, I don't know who does.

Social networking is not whatsoever good for advertising anything except maybe a band. It's overrated as a marketing tool, unless you're talking about traditional ads placed on the side of Facebook. Those work sometimes, lol.
 
I've also been considering hiring a sales person, but so far I haven't found any willing to work solely on commission. :cheesy:

I was thinking of buying ads on the sidebar of Facebook. It's as low as a dollar a day (I have enough in the bank to keep that up for two, maybe three months) and they claim a reach of tens of millions. I'm torn between spending my hard-earned money on Facebook ads or Google AdWords. Methinks Google might be the better bang for the buck.

Funny thing about past clients, they all LOVE my work, but I can't remember a single time when a past client produced a referral that panned out. Most of the events are one-time or unusual events (a first concert performance/solo, a wedding, etc.) and the one referral I can remember chose to go with another videographer who was offering stills and video for half the price I was charging for video.

I think it's better to focus on corporate, because consumers think they're Uncle Joe with his $200 camcorder can do just as good a job for $50 as I can for $2,500.
 
That sounds like a good idea, Basspig, but I don't know if that would work for me. Indie-Arms is a very specialized company. We provide armament, weapons handling/training and stunt coordination services for productions. I think, for me at least, the message would be diluted if I used that method. But for Bengal Productions, it would be a great idea.

The past clients thing, wow, you too? LOL. Man I have done some phenomenal work for clients, yet never heard from them again. I actually had a potential client call me and ask what my rate would be for a 4 hr. shoot 100 miles (with all my equipment) from my house would cost. I gave him my rate, and the response was "oh, that much? I was thinking more in the range of 150 for the day." Heck I only quoted him 500 for the day, travel time included (they were going to do editing). I explained to him, I was bringing over 10K worth of pro gear, not a HandyCam and unfortunately, at that rate that was all he was going to get. He ended up hiring some kid to do this very posh event that was supposed to be in their advertising. Afterwards he called me and wanted me to edit it @ 10.00/hr. I told him to let me see some of the footage first, then we would talk (wanted to get my foot in for negotiating). Needless to say the footage was junk, and I declined.

So I hear you on that.
 
That's very frustrating, and unfortunately it has been the case for me most of the time as well. A lot of REALLY cheap companies not willing to pay for quality at all. It can be one of the most frustrating aspects of trying to find business because I am not cheap at all, I'm not super expensive either, but I insist upon doing a quality job and I'm not a one-man crew, don't ever want to be either. So I need companies with real money, which is why I have to hire a professional sales agent to close the bigger deals with companies that do have money.

So far the search is going alright, I have two people I really think would do a great job, a third actually I think was very good too, just not sure.
 
JohathanLB, are you actually prepared to pay salary to these sales people? How are you going to support the job position? I can't conceive of hiring anyone until the business breaks past $200K annual sales, as a salaried employee is going to cost you half of that.
 
JonathanLB said:
lol, I wouldn't put any of my work on YouTube, nothing screams amateur like that. And second, I don't have any medium-sized businesses on my Facebook, I don't know who does.
Social networking is not whatsoever good for advertising anything except maybe a band. It's overrated as a marketing tool, unless you're talking about traditional ads placed on the side of Facebook. Those work sometimes, lol.
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You'll be forced to move forward sooner or later. This is the kind of advertising you'll be doing for clients sooner or later. It's a good idea to have examples when pitching campaigns.
If not wanting to be in advertising, it's still the most cost effective way to advertise yourself or your films.
 
JonathanLB said:
lol, I wouldn't put any of my work on YouTube, nothing screams amateur like that. And second, I don't have any medium-sized businesses on my Facebook, I don't know who does.

Social networking is not whatsoever good for advertising anything except maybe a band. It's overrated as a marketing tool, unless you're talking about traditional ads placed on the side of Facebook. Those work sometimes, lol.
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Must be why fortune 500 companies put up their HD videos on Youtube and are embracing both Facebook and Twitter in record numbers.


Keep putting your head in the sand while others pass you by.
 
mcgeedigital said:
Must be why fortune 500 companies put up their HD videos on Youtube and are embracing both Facebook and Twitter in record numbers.


Keep putting your head in the sand while others pass you by.
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What are you talking about?! Nobody puts videos on YouTube except for amateurs for the most part, and major companies with video advertising campaigns are using those videos on national TV ads for the most part, so if they happen to throw them up on YouTube it's not part of the model, it's just a bonus. And if you are using video work to promote your company then you are not going to be relying on people stumbling onto it on YouTube.

It's great that a few of you think social networking sites are the future of advertising, but actually they've been around for a LONG time now, I've been on Facebook for 5 years, and it is a great way to keep in touch with friends but it's not a great way to advertise basically anything. It's a great way to build some community for something like a film festival, a band, etc. But nobody is going to join a group about how great Nike shoes are and then go talk about it. The best advertising for them is still traditional marketing campaigns, and integrating ads into social networking sites which is very old-school, that's been around since the '90s obviously. Whether it's a banner ad on Facebook or a banner ad anywhere else it's still the same thing -- comes down to traffic numbers.

If you can actually -- rather than spouting random crap you read in some article -- give me concrete examples of using something stupid like Twitter for any business purpose, please, let me know. But I don't see anyone who is going to find a new apartment building by using Twitter or Facebook, or who is going to find an assisted living community for their mom by Twittering (except through word of mouth, which is the oldest advertising in the world and has nothing to do with Twitter at all) or joining a Facebook group "Fans of Elder Oaks Senior Living." Just not going to happen. So your idea that somehow that's the future is absolutely retarded. You're still going to find these places through Google, duh, that's how you find businesses. You don't go Facebook them. That's SOCIAL NETWORKING, exactly for that purpose, hooking up with your friends on there to chat and maybe meeting new people who are in your field, like actors and actresses for me. Otherwise, don't blow smoke up my butt, we all know they haven't found any good way to monetize social networking yet, all of the media attention it gets be damned.

As for what you asked basspig, of course I'm offering a salary, plus commissions, and it's a silly backwards idea that you shouldn't hire a sales person until you reach X number of sales. That's like saying you shouldn't hire a professional camera operator until you make X amount off business. No. You should always hire professionals to do pro work so that you can sell yourself as a professional. I wouldn't reach my sales goals without a professional doing the sales -- I wouldn't even be in business long enough to get anywhere close to $200,000 per year in sales, I'd just go out of business. So why would you do that? Why not just start a business the right way and hire a professional to help you succeed? Unless you simply lack the funds, in which case you have no other choice, I understand. But to me it just makes sense.

The way that most people on DVXUser sell themselves, look, that's fine, you guys can do what you want, but one thing you have to understand is that your way of doing things is not only NOT the only way to do things, it's probably the worst way to do things if you ever want to have any money. I'm talking about the people here, most people, who seem to be fans of the one-man-does-it-all style of filmmaking. This has NO GROWTH POTENTIAL whatsoever! You will never get anywhere. You will always be making money purely on your labor, and not building a real business. That's just called being an independent contractor. I'm not an independent contractor, I'm the head of a corporation that does professional video work. That means if I get 5 clients per month or 500 clients per month, I can handle them all, because I delegate responsibilities and create a structure to sustain that level of work that is being processed. Plus, there are thousands of videographers out there, big deal, anyone can buy a camera and a crappy lighting kit, use their computer, and make video work. Then you are simply competing against every other person, film school student, amateur, hobbyist, professional, who does that, always trying to undercut them or fighting over table scraps.

I don't care because frankly I think it's hilarious -- doing exactly what everyone else does and expecting somehow that's going to work out for you. Great, if that's what you want to do. But that's not what I want to do. I'm not a laborer, I'm not a "camera guy" or a "videographer" or whatever else. I'm a businessman. And as a businessman, that's how I think about things. I don't think small, I think big. I'm sorry for the people who can't think big and think if they do everything themselves, that will somehow be more successful. Different strokes for different folks, but if that were really the way to go then, come on, all of the money wouldn't be in the hands of larger production companies.
 
Jonathan, I can tell you right now, I put a video up on Youtube for a 25M a year company. Youtube Video I shot this with only a half day's notice, and made a nice chunk of change. They use it as a sales tool to prospective clients. And I think it is brilliant to do so. The sales rep does not need to carry a bunch of dvd's with him and it shows the potential client that they are happy for the general public to view the video, being it is on a public site. And, as soon as I can get my shi* in order, I am putting up a advertisement myself on Youtube and Vimeo. Nice to be able to link to it wherever needed or wanted. Of course when I do it, I will give myself way more than half a day to set things up. God, that sucked. Got the notification that morning to be on location at noon to shoot. So this was shot all on the fly.
 
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JonanthanLB no disrespect, I have read many posts of yours and always appreciated your point of view and insight, but this is one post I disagree with.


I put my demo on YouTube and on my own website and the Youtube views have far exceeded my personal website. Social networking is a great way to network with new clients. I just closed a deal with a new agency via my relationship with the owner on twitter/facebook. It was a nearly 10k deal. Thats not alot of money but compared to the cost of a few minutes a day on a free website and couple updates on twitter. Thats great ROI. Not discounting that this is a NEW client. Future projects can now come from this client. Well worth the time.

Small companies like one man production companies are the New Economy. The days of 50 man production company are numbered. With economy dwindling and gear costs shrinking the margins make sense for smaller companies.

I believe we are moving to a more freelance economy. I don't need all my artists under my roof to be profitable. Its actually more profitable to go freelance. My company is just me. I book the gigs as the director and hire the appropriate artists. I can outbid and out maneuver larger companies and still keep margins high.

I doubled my salary when I left a production company as an on-staff director to an independent. I could build a large company, but then I would be a CEO and no longer an artists.

One man production companies are not a sign of small thinking. We all have different goals. For me I want to build myself as an artist rather than build a company. At the end of the day I am more proud of my reel than my quarterly report.
 
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jason.adams said:
One man production companies are not a sign of small thinking. We all have different goals. For me I want to build myself as an artist rather than build a company. At the end of the day I am more proud of my reel than my quarterly report.
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werd up! on a side note, I don't have a website up, just a vimeo page. Most of the work I get is from clients who were stoked on the projects they saw on it. With youtube and vimeo's HD formats, its perfectly acceptable to publish on them. its a free (mostly) form of distribution to a mass audiance. I wouldnt say its "amature" ...
 
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jason.adams said:
Small companies like one man production companies are the New Economy. The days of 50 man production company are numbered. With economy dwindling and gear costs shrinking the margins make sense for smaller companies.
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TOTALLY agree with this.

Having been a smoke editor, DP, and producer for MUCH larger companies than the one I own, THAT model is OVER.

Hell, the huge production company I worked for some time ago in DC just axed 35 people. That was HALF of the staff.

And as far as not being able to take on larger projects as a smaller production company, I can, with a few calls, have as many TALENTED award-winning freelancers as I can handle to tackle ANY project of ANY size.

And you are FAR off as far as social networking sites and Youtube.

Booz Allen Hamilton, General Dynamics, and many others have embraced them ALL in order to get their corporate image out there. To say otherwise is just being obtuse.
 
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