Marketing talk

So, this is my autopsy/post-mortem of Riddell Productions and our effective marketing strategies. The first thing that I’d like to clarify is that we mostly groped our way along, buffeted by the vagaries of the ever-changing social media landscape. ⚧️ But I think the corporate-speak that Stephen was so keen on made brand-building a priority for us. It was about promoting the business, and while I was fairly quiet on the films front for a few years, Stephen tried to develop two features: A surreal film derived from his mental health experiences, the other a folk music romantic comedy (Your Fair Face). - Back to the marketing: When we launched the company pr machine in 2018, organic reach was still a thing, and so was Google Plus. So we joined groups, spammed the +1 button in Google Plus (and Facebook ⚧️ ), and really focused on organic reach. Which worked well. Raktavasa got 1000 views on FB, and I think Rhode Island Is Famous For You got 800 views. I remember my guitar buddies were all envious of those views…. and my boldness re: sharing in all the classical guitar groups. - On the legit ads side: we ran the Giggle ads for Portrait of a Knight too, which were sorta effective (good awareness, zero sales). For $2000 it was very effective, and when we put the feature up on FB later, I bet that helped get views (3,000) from the residual memory. - Then I became obsessed with Pinterest, and realised that needed to be a key area for us. So I tried to build our brand there, and we did advertise once or twice too. I was using Pinterest to map my psychedelic trips, and I had a flash of insight when I first added the PR materials, which was that the film was solid, but we needed to find our niche and put our work in a wider context. Which is why all the funky Pinterest boards: showing our influences (and my trans shit). - We realised organic reach was dead before the Mojo report was published, so then we pivoted to Ads. Stephen set up the early Ads, because he’s the one who cares about analytics. And those landed with a bang: his Bluegrass gig and Know. Followed by the weed PSA… 2020 was a big year for Riddell Productions! - I just use my gut, and barely follow the analytics. I obsess over the targeting, though, and sometimes change those during an ad campaign. I’ve never done the parallel ads thing (until Garyfilm), because I’m usually too skint to run different versions of the same Ad. - Yes, this is a ‘tic’ of sorts, but it’s also how I structure my memories. This is me narrativising a largely unconscious process… Plus it's probably fascinating for people who are new to the whole Amanda scene. - Anyway, then I started playing the pokies, and everyone knows the rest of the story - Amanda is a pain but the tunes are bright and happy!! 👍 - PS: When I said ‘I’d do a few numbers’, I really meant for the Greens and Chlöe. My attitude towards other live gigs is that I’m a) not in shape, and b) fine with that. I’m composing atm. 👍⚧️

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