Mar 13, 2020
Coronavirus Care Package for Creators
How to keep your momentum and take advantage of being stuck indoors
So 2020 is starting out wild, huh?
As someone who has been social distancing since birth, and as someone who’s been writing about and observing “homebody best practices for marketing your work” professionally for 3+ years, I wanted to aggregate some advice for those of you who are newer to this. Whether you’re trying to promote a newly released work, you’re currently crowdfunding, or you just need to stave off general quarantine madness by reminding folks of work that’s already out in the world to enjoy, here’s some inspiration to maximize your time:
*have other resources that might be helpful to other stir-crazy folks? Add a comment!
Create Content, Not Marketing Materials
Hearing what percentage funded your crowdfunding campaign is or how many views your short has accrued is valid and important, but that can’t be all you’re posting, especially when people are stuck at home and probably experiencing pandemic panic. When evaluating how to get the word out about your crowdfunding campaign or piece of content, don’t market at us, tell us a story. Some posts to get you started:
- What’s up with updates: How to use them to reach your crowdfunding goal (via Seed&Spark)
- How to Market The Fun Way (webinar via Stareable- applicable even if you aren’t making a web series!)
- A complete guide to supplemental content (via Stareable)
Fuck it, go live!
I have long been a proponent of coupling announcements and crowdfunding campaigns with a livestream or series of livestreams. They can be planned or spontaneous, curated or casual, and are a great way of gathering your community/audience regardless of geographic distance. Get started on planning your own:
- 4 Easy Livestream Ideas (via Stareable, includes insights from the 6 hour live stream from my 2017 crowdfunding campaign)
- 5 Tips For Engaging, Enjoyable Live Streaming (via Stareable)
- Building your filmmaking career with Mark Duplass (via Seed&Spark- just a fun blast from the past and an example of a lowkey livestream!)
Stay connected and celebrate community
We gotta talk to and take care of each other, y’all. Now more than ever is a great time to just get your name and your idea out there and build up your email list through methods more nuanced than link-spamming (ie- posting a link to your campaign/work in a Facebook group or subReddit you’ve never posted in before and then leaving straight afterwards).
- Talking to your audience (via Seed&Spark)
- How To Authentically Engage In A Community (For Real) (via Stareable)
- A guide to what to post to social media (via Stareable)
Prepare for the future
One of the worst ways to deal with pandemic uncertainty is to spiral and refresh Twitter constantly for news. To distract yourself and stay productive, the best use of your time is to make future plans. Put into the universe that the future will be better than the present, and get yourself set up for success.
- Organizing your campaign (via Seed&Spark, schedule templates included!)
- Planning the perfect pitch video (via Seed&Spark)
- 10 Things You Can Do For 10 Minutes To Promote Your Project (via Stareable)
- Art Grants: What To Know Before Applying (via Congested Cat)
- Develop a marketing plan for your crowdfunding campaign or release (webinar via Stareable)
Stay creative
If you aren’t able to make progress on an existing project because of production delays or festival cancellations, don’t despair, start something new! Use your nervous energy and channel it into creativity with inspiration from:
- Our favorite pitch videos from 2019 (via Seed&Spark)
- The ultimate guide to brainstorming your next project for production (via Stareable)
