Finding the right audience/niche/core audience for your film is the key to your success. I know everyone keeps talking about finding the audience, defining the audience but hardly anyone ever says how to do it.

In this blog, I’m going to share with you what I do when I search for the niche audience for my productions or productions that I work with.

1. Most likely you made a film that you would like to watch. Ask yourself where you hang out, what publications you read. Create your own “audience persona”; you can come up with: age, gender, interests, income.

If it’s my film, I make a list of publications I’ve been reading; places I’ve been hanging out online and offline (each film takes a long time to make so that lists always change when I change and grow older). I observe people who hang out in the same spaces as I do; I make notes about my audience.

I also make a list of at least five points why I made this particular film and why people should care enough to come and watch it. It then impacts my goals, my strategy and how I look for and communicate with my audience.

Probably you don’t have just one social group as your audience; you will have your prime audience, secondary audience, etc. All those groups will hang out in different places and read different publications. When I work with my fellow filmmakers, we brainstorm ideas and then make lists and improve on those lists with time. I’m a big fan of lists, they bring order.

2. What is your film’s theme? You don’t have to have just one. You should have one central theme, but then other themes may follow.  Once you define your theme start looking for places such as publications, shows, channels, blogs that write about your theme/s. Reach out to those publications and ask for cross-promotion and advertising possibilities (offer good incentives in exchange). Of course, your strategy will depend on your budget for marketing and promotion.

3. If you made an impact film, search for charities that deal with your film’s subject matter and see if the two of you could break some mutual deal.

4. Twitter is a fantastic place to find your niche audience, use “#” and keywords to narrow down your search.

5. Create content and advertise it on FB. FB has one of the most sophisticated tools to reach a niche audience. Learn how to best utilise it and use it.

6. Local media is a Godsend, especially when you screen your film in small communities. You need to be pro-active and willing to change your tactics and adopt new approaches if something isn’t working.

While you are here, you might also be interested in Creative Distribution.