So the question remains: how do you market your movie?
This is THE big question.
I've been looking at exactly this for about ten years now and I've come to a couple of conclusions, which I've been exploring for a while now on my blog
$1000 Film
I think indie film makers face many of the same problems the studios do -- sounds a bit weird, because the studios have all those advantages: big names stars, huge budgets, control of cinema distribution and also money to throw at advertising.
Yet, despite this they still manage to churn out hundreds of films every year that die on their asses at the box office.
Ask anyone who works in marketing what the most important aspect of marketing is and they'll tell you "Get the product right." And, by that, they mean create a product that has obvious appeal to the target audience.
It's exactly the same with films -- even when the studios have all those advantages, if they get the product wrong then audiences don't go to see the films.
My theory is that for an indie to successfully market a film, they have to create an idea so strong, that when a member of their target audience hears about it, they'll automatically want to tell all their friends about how cool it is. That ALL film marketing is "word of mouth."
This is the reason that although I've had the resources to make a second feature film for about two years now, I haven't gone into production. The truth is, I'm still working on ideas. I'm not going to make another film until I've got an idea I'm sure about and a script that is outstanding.
Once you have those elements, then there are lots of free advertising techniques you can use to build an audience for your film -- a combination of online communities, Youtube, Myspace, Facebook and more traditional press releases.
As indies we do have advantages -- everyone loves a story of people who produce something spectacular against almost overwhelming odds.
I think where many of us (myself included) fail, is when we assume we can forget thinking about the marketing of the film until after we've made it.
My experience is, that a filmmaker who doesn't understand that the film itself is the most important part of the marketing equation is almost bound to fail.
The other part of film marketing is understand exactly who the customers are.
The truth is we're selling to distributors, not directly to the public (unless we decide to self distribute). This means we've got a potential customer base of a couple of hundred people worldwide.
One of the most valuable things a film maker can do is take every opportunity to mix with those people and figure out what it is that they are looking for.