Distribution 101: Find The Marketing Mix That Is Right For Your Film

Great films don't get discovered – they get marketed. Understand the difference between your Paid, Earned, Shared and Owned media channels to grow and engage your audience online.

So, you’ve made a film—great! But if no one sees it, does it even exist? (Yes, but only on your hard drive.) I’ve always said - distribution is easy, marketing is hard. There are plenty of platforms and ways to get your film in front of an audience - but getting them to:

1. Know about your film, and;

2. Want to see your film, and perhaps even;

3. Pay to see your film, is another question.

But there are so many potential ways to engage audiences. The key is to figure out what is the most effective way to reach your audience for your film.

To help filmmakers who don’t have multiple specialized marketing departments conceptualize and organize a marketing campaign strategy for their film, I have found the PESO model helpful.

PESO stands for Paid, Earned, Shared and Owned media. There are some criticisms of this model — but ultimately none of the criticisms detract from the utility of this framework — so long as you are not dogmatic in your approach. As with anything in direct distribution - adherence to dogma can be very problematic. (From now on I am going to switch this to the OSEP model - putting the various media in a more appropriate priority order for independent film.)

I previously outlined 8 Essential Elements To Create Your Distribution Strategy. What follows is a structure of how I approach #5: How to reach your audience. The purpose of today’s post is to introduce the concept and its component parts. In the future, I will be dedicating posts to drill down into each type of “media” I have outlined below.

Owned Media

Yes, PESO starts with P(aid) (and that is one of the knocks on it) but because most independent filmmakers do not have $20M to spend on an ad spend (much less 100K), we are going to start with what you have the most control over: Owned Media.

Owned media includes:

• Content Part 1:

  • Your Film – I know you hate your film being referred to as content — forgive me.

  • Your Trailer, cut downs, teasers (you need a :60 and a :15/:30 at a minimum).

  • Your Key Art - poster and other graphical elements

  • Stills

  • Press kit

• Email Lists

  • Your connection to your audience through email (or text) is one of the few ways that you own a direct connection with your audience. You don’t own your connection on social media because social platforms own the relationship to your audience.

  • In general, email communication converts at a much higher rate than other modes of connecting to an audience.

  • Start building your list early (collect email addresses in production and certainly at festival screenings (I talk to so many filmmakers who don’t do this!)

  • Consider offering gated content (free chapters, exclusive clips, behind-the-scenes access) to encourage sign-ups.

• Website

  • Keep it simple and functional (Squarespace, Wix, or WordPress).

  • The central hub of your content: Trailer, key art, press mentions, screening info, host a screening sign up if relevant, email sign-up.

  • Adjust it over time for different phases of release.

• Content Part 2

  • Other forms of short form content that would engage your audience which can be writing/stills/graphics including audience review videos, blog posts, BTS content, music, memes, essays, interviews.

  • This can include physical products for marketing - stickers, pins, t-shirts etc. You can sell these items too.

  • What does your audience like? Give them that.

Note in the above PESO graphic how each “media” shares elements with others. Note I also put influencers in shared although they can also be in earned and paid.

The PESO Model© image above was created by Gini Dietrich.

Shared Media

This is the “best bang for your buck” category. You are engaging with partners who have developed their audiences over years to share your content with those audiences. Shared media can maximize your reach without you paying for it. Eg. Hundreds of Beavers created hundreds of memes (owned media) and posted them on social media (shared media).

• Partnerships

  • There are thousands of organizations around the world and most likely, there are a few that align with the theme or message of your film.

  • As filmmakers, we’re used to our distribution being referred to as DIY (even though as you may know - I’m not a fan of that designation because distribution is never by solely “yourself”), but the wonderful impact producer Lisa Smithline coined working with partners as DIFY (Do It For You approach). Engage organizations to connect your film with their audience.

  • Working with partners could and will eventually involve multiple posts - there are so many aspects to cover in depth, but here is a quick taste:

    Some Steps to Partnerships:

    1. Research organizations that align with your film.

    2. Timing Matters: Large national organizations have more moving parts and think in annual terms, reach out to them well in advance (when you are in post). It can take 4-6 months to make proper connections. Smaller local orgs are a bit more nimble and can potentially determine if a partnership is a good fit in 1-2 months.

    3. Reach out - send that email - make the call.

    4. Keep the email short and personalized. What might connect that person/org to the film. What subject line will get them to open the email? What is the one quick action you want them to take in that email (watch trailer)?

    5. Follow up — because no one responds on the first email. Be patient, but persistent. Remember Timing Matters (see below).

    6. When you meet with them - convey how the film can help your potential partners more than they help you.

• Social Media

  You don’t own your audience—the platform does. This became startling apparent a number of years ago when a few filmmakers were kicked off Facebook after developing thousands of followers for unknown capricious violations. More recently, even if you have 10,000 followers - that doesn’t mean that all your followers see what you post - the platforms want you to pay to not only reach new audiences - but even your own audience. The exception to this is if you have very high engagement - which will trigger the platform's algorithms to let you engage more of your audience but still, not all.

  • Find where your audience actually hangs out (Instagram, Reddit, TikTok, Facebook groups?) – connect with your audience where they are.

  • Only start social media if you can commit—ghosting your followers is worse than never starting.

  • Be authentic — it’s not about the numbers, it’s about engagement.

  • 80/20 Rule – Only 20% of your posting should be promotional about your project, the other 80% should be content (see owned media) that provides value to your audience. This doesn’t mean that you can’t give insights into the filmmaking process - so long as that is what your audience is interested in.

• Influencers

  • Individuals with a large following - usually on social media - but sometimes on their own platforms - vloggers, social media personalities, academics, writers, journalists, musicians, politicians - whoever your audience cares about.

  • Often micro-influencers - those with 10K, 50K, 100K followers can be more effective and have a more engaged audience than those with much larger followings.

  • Similar to working with organizations:

    1. Research what influencers make sense for your audience.

    2. What’s in it for them?

    3. How many times will they post/promote/appear for you?

  • Be respectful, patient, and clear on what you want.

  • Strategize when and how their influence can be the most impactful.

  • Note that influencers can actually be considered earned media if they are reviewing the project in some way or if you pay them, then it's a form of paid media.

Earned Media

Earned media is when you film “earns” some form of media placement - such as a review, feature story in any form of press or user reviews.

• Publicity & Traditional Press

  • If the goal of releasing your film is Career, (I’ve written extensively about goals here) this is especially important.

  • Traditional press can be difficult in a crowded media landscape especially since publications have been cutting journalists from payrolls over the past number of years.

  • Fortunately, there are new avenues for publicity - bloggers and Substackers, podcasts, local news feeds and newsletters can all be engaged.

  • Think of when in your campaign you most need a publicist - be strategic with your resources. Not every festival premiere warrants a publicist.

  • Film Publicity vs. Niche Press – Your film might have more success with a publicity niche. This is especially true for documentaries. Examples include press that covers music, farming, human rights etc. Talk to your film publicist to find out if they can/will cover those areas if those are essential for your film. Alternatively it might make sense to hire a niche publicist to supplement your film publicist or instead of a film publicist.

• Audience Reviews

  • Fan reviews matter (IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd, Amazon) and can even matter more than traditional reviews.

  • One of the reasons to collect email addresses at screenings is to thank the attendees, ask them for feedback and encourage them to post reviews.

  • Cultivate super fans who will post everywhere for you.

  • Have one or two people record audience reaction during and after the event which you can cut up to post on socials and use for paid ads.

  • During festival runs, promote reviews on IMDb and Letterboxd especially.

  • In written reviews encourage audience to say where they saw the film - platforms will monitor for bots.

  • During a VOD release, promote reviews on Amazon then iTunes. Best if your audience rents the film and then reviews.

  • A Yale Management Study found that user reviews boost rentals exponentially from 0-25 with a strong linear correlation after 25.

Paid Media

You may not have a lot of money for Paid Media, but if you use it wisely it can be used to either good or great effect.

• Social Media Advertising

  • Hire someone who knows Meta (FB & IG) business manager or learn to use it.

  • A/B test different text, images, videos for ads.

  • A/B test different audiences.

  • Running a small ad campaign for theatrical can help build a lookalike audience for your VOD release.

  • Use your ad spend when the film is available to the most people eg. VOD.

  • Start small, and then lean into what works.

• Letterboxd has affordable packages for independent filmmakers. Works mostly for fiction, not so much for docs.

  • Best if you can get your audience to authentically write reviews on Letterboxd in advance of a campaign - this will help Letterboxd get a sense of your audience.

  • Are there films that are similar to yours that are popular on Letterboxd? Which are they?

• Radio & Podcast Ads

  • For a larger budget.

  • For some films, NPR ads can be effective.

  • Because podcasts generally cater to a niche audience they can be particularly effective.

  • You can purchase podcast ads now for specific periods of time eg. when your film launches on VOD.

  • Spotify now has an Ad Manager and can do video ads as well (this is a newly developing area).

• Print Ads - generally not a good use of resources unless highly targeted - see niche below - (but even if targeted, I would question it’s effectiveness).

• Programmatic Advertising - display advertising on websites - very similar to buying print ads - not as effective for click through - more for awareness. But if you have a strong specific niche that has specific publications, it might make sense.

• Niche Ad Buys

  • If your film focuses on a niche audience, find out what types of media they are consuming

  • Niche newsletters, platforms, websites, forums, etc.

• Billboards, TV and other forms of non targeted advertising - There are many ways to spend money that don’t make sense for most independent films.

Final Thoughts: The Keys to Audience Connection

The PESO model is not a religion, but instead, it is a set of guidelines for indie filmmakers to utilize as they embark on their marketing efforts. Considering most filmmakers don’t come from a marketing background, these are tools to help structure your mindset around marketing. The goal is to have your film break through the noise (there’s a lot of it) and connect with your audience.

To recap –

• Start building your audience before your film is finished.

• Email lists are non-negotiable.

• Social media is a tool, not a full strategy—engage, don’t just post.

• Paid ads should be intentional, not random.

• Earned media & partnerships are some of the best ways to maximize reach organically.

Ultimately, remember to know and understand your audience, where is your audience, what value do you provide to your audience, what will motivate them to engage in your film.

Be strategic, and remember: marketing is storytelling about your storytelling.