4. Make it worth their while to give you their email address and reward that trust immediately.
More than anything you want their email address. Convincing people to give you money is tough. It takes time, it takes a process. Without an ongoing means of communicating you can’t build trust, so your primary goal is to get the email address. I’d suggest setting up an email auto-responder sequence with a company like Aweber or Mailchimp. And offer a series of short samples of the wisdom, insight and humour that you’re promising in the final product.
If I intended to interview 20 people for a documentary, I’d be planning to include at least part of 6 or 7 of those interviews (the best ones) as free content, in the run-up to making the actual movie. You’re essentially selling pre-orders to a product you haven’t yet made, to people you don’t yet know. Imagine how skeptical they may be the first time they meet you. Even if they love the concept.
But imagine how much more likely they are to invest, after you’ve sent them 6 or 7 valuable mini interviews over a period of weeks. And you’ve also kept them up-to-date with your progress and the ins and outs of the process. Revealed more about yourself and given them a glimpse behind the scenes. Essentially, once they’ve got to know, like and trust that you can deliver, your odds of securing those pre-orders go way up.
And you can ask for the pre-order every time you email them something useful. So, don’t be afraid of sharing some of your content, especially your best content, as part of your persuasion process. Its no different than offering tasty morsels of cake before trying to sell the whole thing.
People won’t buy into this because you have secret content that they don’t have. There’s simply too much alternative content in the world these days. They will buy it because it satisfies a strong emotional need they have right now (not in the future, when the movie actually comes out). In this sense, you’re not selling a movie, you’re selling a way for people to change their state RIGHT NOW. And the more you can prove that you have the ability to do that, the more likely they will be to trust you.
Action: Offer content from some of the interviews you’re already done as bribes to get email addresses. Remember that your real product is the promise of satisfying your customers’ emotional needs.
5. Know when you’re winning and when you’re losing. Sometimes it’s hard to tell.
The idea that raising money to fund a product is an inconvenience that gets in the way of “the real work” is a belief that destroys many a creative dream. Raising money by any means is a full time, very tough job. There’s a reason that the people who sell stuff, generally make more money than the people who actually make the stuff. There are no short cuts to sales.
I saw that you once ran a Kickstarter campaign for this and stopped it, presumably because you didn’t reach your goal. But I think your goal was unrealistic. You should know that raising nearly £11,000 on Kickstarter, which is the point at which you stopped, is actually a super achievement. It shows that you have done a LOT of things right. Your basic offer is valuable, it just needs tweaking to make it super valuable.
Action: Never forget that getting people who don’t know you to pledge £11,000 for a movie, in an age where no one pays for movies, is a real result. Adjust course, don’t quit.
6. Your video is superb. But be prepared to edit and test video pitches just as you need to test headlines and hooks and everything else.
OK, setting aside the comments I’ve already made about “boredom and apathy” not necessarily being strong enough states to rebel against… The video is superb. It’s emotional, it’s creative, its personal, its fun. And it contains proof that you’ve already got the ball rolling.
After watching it I feel like this project is already on its way and so there’s a chance it will happen. If it needs anything, apart from refining that initial hook, it’s maybe a stronger, clearer call to action at the end. What one thing should people do next? Don’t leave me guessing. I feel good after watching the video. Tell me exactly how to extend that good feeling.
This goes back to the email sign-up bribe. Remember that this isn’t TV, you aren’t forced to pack a “go to our website” sign into the one second of commercial time that’s left at the end of your creative. With video, you have all the time you make. You’ve sold them on the idea of the movie, now you have to sell them on the idea of taking action.
There’s nothing to stop you spending another 2 minutes doing that. If you are going to give away 6 useful interview clips as bribes, then you have 6 things you can talk about at the end of your video. 6 reasons to tell them 6 times to go join your email list.
Action: Your job isn’t done when you peak their emotion, it’s done when you turn emotion into action. So edit your video to seal the deal.
7. Inject more of yourself into the pitch. People buy from people. People want to connect with people. People live vicariously through other people. People join causes led by real people.
You don’t actually say anything about who YOU guys are. Whilst the readers are more interested in themselves and how you can solve their problems, they need to trust you enough to believe you have the capability to do that.
Action: Open up a little more. Tell us what makes you both tick. Explain your own fears and frustrations, and you’ll draw the audience closer.
8. Amplify the message, simplify the page structure.
There are various “bits” of other stuff on the website, that make it more complex to move through. I would edit it down. Remember the goal of this site…
- Have them watch the video
- Have them give you permission to email them
- Have them pre-order the product
Action: Edit the website down to just two pages. Anything else can be delivered by email later in the relationship. On page one deliver the video, talk about the content of the movie and focus on getting an email sign-up with a bribe. And on page two focus on selling the pre-order.
Bonus: Upgrade your hosting, it’s too slow.
This is a mass market product, you need people with lots of followers to recommend you. People simply won’t wait for websites to load. Trying to get PR is all wasted energy if you have a slow server.
Summary
You already have all the content and resources and words you need. This is more an editing, slimming down job. Revisit the specific hot buttons your customers are most fired up by. That is your hook and your bait, you have to get it spot on. Then don’t make them think about 6 things. There are only 3 things in this process. Prioritise them, make them as easy as possible. Never think that the money bit will come easy, then you can focus on the “real bit” the creative. It takes just as much attention to detail to get a great pitch as it does a great movie. And like a movie, it’s mostly in the editing and the testing process, where that last 5% makes all the difference between interesting and heart grabbing. Overall, superb video, excellent work. Well done, keep going!