The Crowd Building Paradox

Ben3D · Mar 28, 2015

Hello,
here I am working on my project from 8am to 11pm (generally speaking) and wondering how to build my "crowd". Every blog or article on the subject I have read says that it is important to join communities and participate with their activities and when possible talk about my project. But doing so takes alot of time. I am willing to participate in communities but every hour I would spend reading and writing in forums would be less time for my project. The more time spent on generating awareness for the project will result in a project that will take much longer (if ever) to develop and the more time spent working on the project will result in a project that few will be aware that it even exists.

I would like to know what you do yourselves to promote your projects in on-line or off-line communities. Do you attend club meetings, do you write on other forums, do you write blogs? How much time do you take to participate in communities?

Sweetie · Mar 28, 2015

Every blog or article on the subject I have read says that it is important to join communities and participate with their activities and when possible talk about my project.

I believe there's a term in politics. Retail and wholesale politics. Retail is where you convince someone one at a time. Eg. Door knocking. Wholesale is en masse. Whether this process is retail or wholesale depends on the reach of that medium. Just something to think about. I'm hoping it'll spark some ideas for you.

But doing so takes alot of time.

Yes it does. It's not just a full time job, it's a job that often require teams of skilled and dedicated people.

Two words: Delegation & Leverage.

every hour I would spend reading and writing in forums would be less time for my project.

It's all for your project. You only have so many hours in your day. You need to prioritize what's going to benefit your project the most.

Do you attend club meetings, do you write on other forums, do you write blogs?

For the purposes of marketing, I personally don't. You may see me write the occasional post/email/article, it's often not what I do. While I understand what needs to get done, I don't have the aptitude, contacts nor the patience required to execute this kind of work effectively. I either use a publicist (not every publicist is created equal), assign the tasks to someone less suited if I cannot get/afford a publicist or it doesn't get done (which usually means, BTS photos posted to Facebook pages, links posted for some forums etc).

At the low to no budget range, you do what you can with the resources you have available. It often means you need to be very creative.

Ben3D · Mar 29, 2015

It often means you need to be very creative.

I agree, being indy is not easy (especially if we don't have much money). Depending on what we do (movies, shorts, games, music or other) we have to be good at directing, lightning, compositing, typography, graphics, effects, marketting, keeping informed and up to date on what happens in our industry and communities and the list goes on. Like you said I'll just have to prioritize and accept that I can't do everything well and can't afford much help and try to be creative to compensate.

Dreadylocks · Mar 29, 2015

I agree that if the project is that big, and you have other more important work to do on it, this is a task that should be delegated.

Bring a new member onto your team in charge of marketing social media outreach and you can concentrate on the rest.

Ben3D · Mar 29, 2015

Bring a new member onto your team in charge of marketing social media outreach and you can concentrate on the rest.

yeah, I will have to look at that option.

directorik · Mar 29, 2015

Ben3D said:
I am willing to participate in communities but every hour I would spend reading and writing in forums would be less time for my project.

Just expanding on what Sweetie said; promoting your project
is working on your project. In the pro world there are people
who do promotion and promotion only. You can't afford that
so you become the promotions and marketing team. You see
that as spending less time on your project – I see that as
spending the necessary time on your project.

You spend 112 hours per week (generally speaking) working
on your project. You didn't say what you are doing 16 hours
per day, 7 days per week so I'm going to suggest you distribute
your 112 hours per week differently. If you spent 20 hours per
week (a mere 17% of your allotted time) promoting and
marketing you still have 92 hours per week to do the other work
on your project. That's still 13 hours per day 7 days a week. Far
more than most people put into a regular job. How much longer
will it take you to develop if you reduce your working time by
17%? As you point out if you don't promote you will end up with
a project no one has heard of. Seems a reasonable allocation
of your time to me.

Ben3D · Mar 29, 2015

Directorik: I agree.

IronFilm · May 7, 2015

Sweetie said:
I believe there's a term in politics. Retail and wholesale politics. Retail is where you convince someone one at a time. Eg. Door knocking. Wholesale is en masse. Whether this process is retail or wholesale depends on the reach of that medium. Just something to think about. I'm hoping it'll spark some ideas for you.

Awesome, first time I saw "retail politics" mentioned in a non-political context! :-D
(I'm a total political nerd!)

The Crowd Building Paradox

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