Final Post:

As I complete my final assignment for my Entertainment Business Masters Degree, I think about the new career opportunities I am sure to find. In order to successfully and competitively have an advantage, I have to explore the changing technologies in this industry. The new technology offers new ways of distribution. It also offers new ways for consumers to purchase and rent movies. There are many movie fans that are stepping away from the traditional theater experience. This may be because of the current economic times and the rising ticket prices, or maybe because of the different options that technology provides. With services like Netflix, lots of movies are available to be viewed for a small monthly price. Also with Red Box, people are able to rent movies for one dollar, compared to spending over twenty dollars for a date night at the movies. Also with 3D, blu-ray, and new better quality personal televisions, people are getting a quality experience at home.

As an aspiring filmmaker I think about these different changes over the years and see how my distribution methods can change. Will it be in the future, that movies will be purchased online with the click of a button as soon as they are released? Will televisions become the size of walls in normal middle class homes? And how do these possible changes affect my marketing strategies? All of these things must be considered and thought through, because there will be a period of time before I am releasing my movies and more and more changes are rapidly occurring. Staying on top of the game and observing future trends is very important in order to earn the most profit. As I continue on throughout my career I know that I will have to do careful evaluations of this ever-changing industry. 

Obtaining Funding for a Business

Believe it or not, there are lots of people with a lot of money who are looking for a good place to invest it. Depending on the culture, wealth, background, and industry of that person, they choose which opportunities are most relevant to them. Someone seeking funds to start a profitable business may have more opportunities than they realize. It takes a good business plan to attract these investors, but doing a little research about who they are could better your chances of getting capital. Here are a few businesses that focus on specific elements when deciding who to fund: 

An organization called First Nations Development Institute “provides both financial and technical resources to tribes and Native nonprofit organizations to support asset-based development efforts that are culturally appropriate.” http://www.firstnations.org/ Their subsidiary is http://www.oweesta.org/. 

Another organization that has a unique mission is the CDFI Coalition. “The CDFI Coalition is the unified national voice of community development financial institutions (CDFIs). (Their) mission is to encourage fair access to financial resources for America's underserved people and communities.” http://www.cdfi.org/

Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) is another place one may receive funding.  “AEO is the national member organization and voice of microbusiness in the United States.” www.microenterpriseworks.org/ A microbusiness (or micro-enterprise) is a small business having five or less employees, seeking startup capital of $35,000 or less. This is the place to look if your business falls into this category.

There are advantages to aquiring money from an investor. You can begin working on your company immediately instead of having to save up money. There is a chance that it may take several years to save up enough money to start the company. Another benefit is avoiding the risk of losing all the money that you’ve saved if your business doesn’t work out as expected. The investors now take that risk in exchange for a percentage of the company. This is the disadvantage. You will always have to give the investor his cut of the money. If he owns 40% of the company, you will always have to give him 40% of the profit. It’s similar with taking out a loan with a bank. The interest that comes with the loan usually ends up doubling the amount you borrowed. So consider the benefits and disadvantages when seeking alternate funding. 

Preparation for my business plan

When I am presenting my business plan to investors I have to think like an investor. Mark Cuban and Daymond John both determine if there is a need for the product or service.  I will explain to them why my services are needed and show them the huge market. Like Cuban and John, all investors are looking for ROI. I have to prepare my financials and show them how their money will multiply. Having a thorough lists of start up costs and beginning salaries will show them that I have thought the money aspect out completely. Using web tools like Google Analytics that show who my target market is will also help my business plan. There will also be a list of potential marketing campaigns and the cost of each in the business plan. Investors also look at past financial records of the business owner. I probably will not have any financial records for them to review other than my personal history. I have to make sure that this is all in order, so they can trust me with large sums of money to run a business. 

As well as making sure the business and the financials are well explained, I have to prove my product. I will have examples of production work and a demo reel that shows why customers will be interested in my company. These investors also see if there is potential growth for the company. Because of the nature of production, there is always room for growth. Wether it is more advanced technology, or employing more staff in order to tackle more projects, production companies can always expand and even franchise. 

John and Cuban also look for how they can contribute to the partnership. When i target investors I will target those who have built companies from ground up. I will also target investors who are familiar with video production work.  

Shark Tank Investors Mark Cuban and Daymond John

Mark Cuban is a self-made billionaire from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It's hard to believe that he sold garbage bags door-to-door when he was 12 years old. He obtained a business administration degree from Indiana University. He founded HDNet, MicroSolutions, and Broadcast.com.  He now owns the Dallas Mavericks and Landmark Theaters.  His extreme success came from his pursuit of business ideas that he developed throughout his career. He lets his money work for him by making investments. 

Daymond John is a wealthy entrepreneur from New York City who is best known for is fashion label FUBU. His started out by selling tie-top hats in New York. He designed the FUBU logo and began sewing it onto other clothing and making a great deal of money. He and his mother mortgaged their home in order to get $100,000 start up capital. With the guidance of Daymond, FUBU obtained 350,000 million dollars in revenue in 1998. 

Both of these investors look for similar key components when deciding whether or not to make an investment. First, they determine if there is a need for the service or product. If there isn't a need for the product then they will not invest because their goal is to obtain the best ROI. They also decide wether there is a target market for this business idea. This is a key component because knowing who would be interested in this product helps to make projections of future income. The next thing they look at is the history of the person seeking investment money, and if there is a financial record of the business they take that into consideration as well. If the entrepreneur hasn't done well in the past, then the Sharks will not trust them with their money. After they determine if there is potential growth for the business, they then consider there own personal expertise to see how they can financially contribute to the idea. Preparation is also a key element in determining whether they will invest. They most likely will not invest if there are no type of financial projections. The main difference in Mark and Daymond's investment decisions deal with their specific area of expertise. Depending on the knowledge and connections they have in a specific industry, they decide whether they will be able to contribute and control a portion of the company. 

Information From: 

http://bpexpertviews.blogspot.com/2011/03/march-new-experts.html

http://abc.go.com/shows/shark-tank/bio/daymond-john/276281

http://abc.go.com/shows/shark-tank/bio/mark-cuban/727229

Successful Social Media Campaign

There are lots of companies that use social media in their marketing strategies. Because there are more people than ever that are using social media sites, it is wise for companies to have a strong presence not only on their websites, but where they can be can have conversations and receive feedback. Social media gives companies the opportunity to analyze and converse with their target markets and receive valuable feedback.

Edge Factory is a successful video production company in Orlando, Florida. This company takes advantages of the perks that social media offers in their marketing strategy. They have widgets to their Facebook, Twitter and Youtube pages on their website. They use Facebook and Twitter to post information on their new projects. They also have a YouTube page, which contains several examples of work that they have done. So if someone is on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube searching for an Orlando production company they can be found on each site. The thing to take note of is that each of their social media pages contains the link to their website.

There is a benefit to having a Facebook and Twitter account. It shows that they are connected with other professionals in the industry. It also allows them to establish relationships with the media world.

The benefit of having a YouTube account is that they can easily embed their videos on any site. And even though they have reels and examples of production on their site, having a YouTube channel allows them to get feedback from those interested in their services or other professionals.

Even though they have posts from other professionals and people interested in video production, they could improve their marketing strategy by posting more often and gaining more of a following. They could use more friends and more followers on Twitter. If they had more friends then they would look better if someone would happen to cross their page. It would seem like they are a credible company. It’s also important that they establish relationships with the people that they make friends with. 

The problem with personalized digital marketing

Several websites and search engines are storing information about the users. You are probably thinking, “Okay, what else is new?” Well, you may not know to what extent this is happening. Let’s take Facebook for example. You may notice that the same friends are appearing in your news feed and on your page. This is because they keep track of who you interact with the most. This is not too much of a big deal. How about the fact that they use your personal information to collect money from advertisers? Your status updates, information in your profile, and even things you share with your friends are all recorded and used to target you specifically for advertising. This is the digital form of traditional surveying methods, except it’s done without your permission and willing participation. Maybe they consider you a willing participant for using the services provided by the site. But is it still okay when they take information from other sites you’ve visited? Even if you are logged out of Facebook, they can still track different sites that you’ve visited, and content that you download. I believe that if this is going to be done, we should have the option of selling our web history to places like Facebook, so they could then use it to gain profit from advertisers.

Another point that was brought up in the Ted Speech by Eli Pariser titled Beware online “filter bubbles” (http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles.html) was that this type of customization and personalization separates us in a sense. Google also customizes the results of the users. Based on previous searches, web history, where you are geographically located, the type of computer you are using, etc. Google will customize your search results based on what they think you are most likely to click on. This helps them to keep advertisers happy.

Huffington Post, Yahoo News, and New York times are all using personalization in various ways. The problem with this new system of customizing results on the web to each person is the user no longer decides what content they will choose to consume. You no longer control the web and decide what your web experience will be like; the web controls you and chooses how your web experience will be. It’s like if you were going to a buffet. And based on what you ate last time, you only have access to specific kinds of food. The restaurant says, “Based on what you ate throughout the week, and what you ate last time you came to our buffet, we have customized a new buffet just for you. We have excluded all seafood and desert items. We realize that you didn’t eat any fried food yesterday, so those will not be available to you either. Please enjoy your personalized meal.” I don’t know about you guys, but I would like to experience the whole buffet. 

Marketing a Self Published Film

So now that you’ve decided to go the route of self-publishing, how will anyone know about your product? Because you are an independent filmmaker, you probably wont have the biggest budget to work with. That’s okay! Use the resources that the internet and modern technology has provided. Here are some ways to market your film with a minimum budget: 

Tell Everybody! Before you get all worked up about not affording TV or radio time, start by just telling the people you know. You have way more connections than you think you have. Email everyone in your contacts!

Make a Trailer! If you are distributing a film that you produced, creating a trailer for it shouldn’t cost much at all. Once the trailer is created, you can then put it on sites like Vimeo and YouTube. Once the trailer is posted to YouTube, it’s now easier than ever to share. In just about every place you post the link, a video box will appear and people can watch it from whatever site they are on.

Social Networking! Use the power of Facebook. Yes, I said power. There will be groups with similar interests as you. Find out who’s all in your demographics. Since you have created a trailer you can post it in all the groups with similar interests. You can also post the link of where your DVD or download can be purchased.

Demographics! If you are making a documentary on inner city injustice, then you may think you only have one specific target audience. If you really break your topic down then more people will be on your consumer list. With inner city injustice, you can target the minority races, people from inner city environments, people involved in the justice system which includes, lawyers, police officers, politicians etc. You can also target minority activist groups who have a similar passion. This kind of break down can be done with any topic if you just take the time to think about it!

Create a Website! The great thing about your own website is you can put whatever you want on it! Need I say more?

Magazines and Blogs! Have industry experts review your work. Send them a copy of it and a letter asking for a review. The worst they can do is say, “No.” If they do comply, you’ve just opened the door to all their readers, and anyone who may stumble across what they are doing. (Make sure your content is good, and do your best to choose people who will give a review in your favor so this wont backfire.)

There are other opportunities out there if you just think about it. Contact people who are involved in similar projects and they may sell your product for you for a small commission. If people admire your work then they will spread the word and start to market for you! There are so many things you can do spread the word and get people interested in your product even with a small budget. So get out there and find opportunities to market and network!