Doubt and recrimination are buzzing about in my brain about how to improve traffic to and donations at our IndieGoGo campaign for Lost in Sunshine’s multimedia website. We’re at the halfway mark to the deadline, and we’re not even close to a tenth of our target amount, yet.
I did a lot of homework before we launched it, referring to how-to blog entries and articles here, here, and here, oh, and here, to arrive at our targeted amount, campaign duration, and Perks ideas. This blog here by Dr. Susan Weinschenk is awesome; it talks about the neuro-psychology behind Web searching and visitor perceptions. Marketing consultant, Sheri Candler, wrote a good piece late last year about crowdfunding campaign missteps that was picked up by Filmmaker Magazine’s blog, and I nodded my head in recognition.
As we put together our campaign and put it out there, I’ve felt that it’s primary purpose is to publicize us and Lost in Sunshine, with raising funds a hot second. Like every indie, we DO need money. But the campaign gives us a call to action to put out in front of people.
Nobody’s acting, though. Yet (that’s my hope peeking out).
Damn.
Right now, I gotta say producing sucks. Independent film producing. Transmedia content producing. DIY. Audience outreach, community-building, trying something new… yep, for tonight, it all sucks. I feel like I’m failing. That I’ve had hubris to ask for what we’re asking and offer what we’re offering in return. That we’re working hard, but not smartly enough, and that’s my failing somehow.
We have 500 fans on the Lost in Sunshine Facebook page, whom we love and appreciate. We have hundreds of followers on Twitter. We have hundreds of people on our email list. I’ve put together a news release and submitted it to PRWEB. We’ve had shout-outs from Filmmaker Magazine’s blog and Film Courage, transmedia sites; we’re doing radio interviews (here, here, and here, among others), and I’m racking my brains for ways to penetrate our target demo: 25 – 35 year old women, struggling with direction in their lives who’ve heard of the Law of Attraction, The Secret, Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra, and so on.
At the moment, I don’t how else to “niche-ify” them further. Do I target unhappily married 20-something women (like the heroine)? What about (barely) recovering gambling addicts, like the hero?
Have I mentioned, we haven’t shot our movie, yet? The gambling thing is supposed to be more of a “reveal” in the movie.
We have a listing on the Bust Magazine website… and, I’d love a shout-out about us in Jezebel or The Frisky. I’d be thrilled if our campaign got shared among the whole 20SomethingBloggers community. I’m reaching out to writers groups, too. Matt Walsh at The Spiritual Media blog has put us in front of his readers (thanks, Matt!). Every day, I’m reaching out to new outlets.
But, I still worry that it’s not enough. Or, that I’m just misguided. PLUS, when we are successful in reaching our target demo, I know they aren’t accustomed to “interactive online prequels” for indie comedy-dramas that invite them to add content, themselves.
If only we had mummies in our story. Or, aliens. Or, bi-curious Little People. Something to make us “hook-ier.” More niche.
Maybe it’s time to have a talk with Jentri about some rewrites…? Lost in Sunshine, with Aliens. No, no. Lost in Sunshine, with Sexy Aliens. We can enable our website visitors to create their own hot babe avatars for our Lost in Sunshine story-world!
NOT. 
Thanks for reading. I hope some of my links above are helpful.
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I love the honesty of this post, Lorie. It’s as sad as it is funny, isn’t it? All we can do is our BEST. And when our best doesn’t seem good enough, all we can do is TRY to laugh, see past it, hug (a lot), regroup and try a different path. ‘Cause that’s what we do damn it! We’re indie filmmakers, not (structural) engineers, forced to create our own road maps & bridges! Love ya!
J