In the last twenty-four hours I’ve received two articles
( from The Wrap
and Hollywood Journal) with the same
message: “embrace digital or die”. I’m
super passionate about this topic as I’ve worked in “digital” for over a decade
and this was my slogan for years. I often mentor young go-getters trying to
break into Hollywood and encourage them to look into the digital departments. The
sustainable and creative jobs are there! And yet “digital” is an interesting animal
and you have to study it and understand its beauty and nuances to really
leverage it correctly.
I think it’s interesting when people say they understand or
know “digital.” There are essentially
two main business areas in digital, distribution and marketing, and often people only know one of them well. If you know marketing, it doesn’t mean you understand the
production, delivery, technology, and deal side which directly impacts the
bottom line. And if you know distribution,
it doesn’t mean you know ALL of the ways to use marketing to reach an audience
and the impact of added value tactics gained from relationships.
The studios are blessed with budgets and infrastructure. Leaving
that world has been a huge learning curve for me as I have to boot-strap my
start-up and learn a new form of digital marketing, what the personal
development gurus call internet marketing and cross-promotion. The studios can
buy their way with ads but I don’t believe they are leveraging email lists,
blogs, mobile, strategic alliances, and social to their best ability. I thought
I was a digital marketing expert until I learned that real marketing skills
come from building an audience from nothing and viewing every single person
that supports your brand as a gift and a potential evangelist. And strategic partners
can help you grow if you get out of the mindset of competition and step into
one of collaboration and synergy.
I recently learned that a big production house in town saw a
huge spike in buys of their film and they had to do some research to see where
it came from. After much research they learned that a blog site in Ohio had an
active email list that was sending information around about a specific film.
The studios buy IMDB.com to blanket the world with an ad (or as I like to say
“mark their territory”) but they don’t realize the intense power one person
with a community of fans of a specific genre can have on their sales. And they are so busy that its hard for them to get innovative and strategic while people in their garages build the next tech/content game-changers.
The point with digital is that you have to be a risk-taker,
and you need to understand how technology and psychology works. If you have great
relationships, you win in this arena because Amazon, iTunes, and Xbox control
their shelf space. You can’t buy your way in like you could with Walmart. But
you can be a friend and helpful curator to those you partner with and being
generous, smart, and creative can get you an entire week of promotion of just
your films.
The issue right now with the studios is that there is still
a lot of fear as the old paradigm of windows and rights and control was so
heavy for so long. Now consumers have all the power and they want it now, for free,
and on their phone because they aren’t tied to an HDTV or laptop all the time.
I realized recently a big mistake I was making with my start-up which was
thinking like a studio and thinking “I know best.“ I assumed I knew what my
customer wants because I am one of them– well that isn’t the case because I
wasn’t listening enough to their real problems and desires and how they are
shape-shifting the marketplace. The best businesses listen to the problems of
their people and they address them and provide excellent solutions at a
reasonable cost so the masses can join, love them, and then share about them
with their friends.
Social media needs to be used more as a listening tool, a
focus group, and it has to be a two-way conversation. There is real gold there
and it’s not just about selling. The problem with many brands is that it’s all
about them and they aren’t approaching their content as a service to their fans.
The “what can I get out of this person” game is OVER. Transparency is queen now!
Customers have better BS meters today than ever before, and they are demanding
more high-quality content that is actually story and character driven. As smart
distributors and markets, all we can do is ask “how can I be of service to
you and solve a problem for you?” because once we help others, and I mean truly help them, then we become
wealthy and wise. This is when we feel
fulfilled instead of burnt-out. That is when employees feel engaged and excited
to come to work!
I love the studios, I really do. I don’t know where I would
be without them. It was my big dream to work inside one and I felt like the
luckiest person alive to have my job for many years. It’s like The Wrap says: I was one of those
talented individuals often doing the work of five people and “tinkering in obscurity”. I rose quickly to VP and was
invited to top-level meetings like Amy Powell was because I understood digital
and because I had strong relationships with decision makers at the MVPDs. One
of my fond memories was being flown on the corporate jet to iTunes with some of
the top division heads and it was because I had strong relationships and
understood the business frontwards and backwards – both the distribution and
the marketing side. That knowledge is
priceless. I will forever be grateful for working the long hours that I did, for
the mentors who taught me, and the friendships I made along the way.
Now I take all of that expertise and funnel it into what I’m
really passionate about: uplifting humanity and inspiring change and
transformation through mindful movies. I personally believe in niche markets
that grow to a tipping point of power over time. This is why I started a
digital only channel for the conscious crowd that is tired of the “blow-it-up”
and “scare-me-to-death” genres. I also found a super smart tech team,
DotStudioz, to partner with who gets digital distribution, the power of a niche
network, and strategically managing your content, data, and audience. Will it
work? I truly don’t know and that is in God’s hands. But if the motto “embrace
digital or die” rings true, well then I think I’m doing alright…
Kate Neligan
CEO/Founder of Synergy TV
