10 Essential Ways to Promote Yourself

IMaking great animation and VFX is only half the job — the other half is to sell it and yourself. By Karen Idelson.

t’s a simple truth — you could be the next John Lasseter or the second coming of John Knoll, but if no one sees your work, it’s not going to matter.

While nothing takes the place of hard work and talent, there’s nothing wrong with using your jazz hands to make a sale. Here are some of the most effective ways to get noticed and get working. 1. Make your work readily available at YouTube, Vimeo — or both. It’s a sad truth that it can be painfully difficult to see some of the finest emerging animation and VFX work. Not everyone lives near a theater, and who knows whether someone is subscribed to the channel that’s mercifully showing what you created? Make it easy and free to find you. Have a home base like a website where all the info about your work is available. Post links to Vimeo, YouTube, Facebook and anything else you’ve set up for your project. Have a press kit set up that includes background on the project, bios of the creative team that made it, some ready-to-use quotes from everyone involved and contact information, in case someone from Animation Magazine wants to interview you. Add high-res images and headshots for good measure. Embrace social networking. Everyone you know should be following you and your project on Twitter, Facebook, In- stagram, et al. Respond to questions and comments quickly to keep engagement high. Once your website is up and running, capture email addresses. Make sure you can reach out to fans directly to let them know about site updates and new developments. Once you know a little something about your fan base, it will be easier to market your awesome wares to them in the future. Attend festivals, conventions and events where your kind of audience gets together. Comic-Con is an obvious place to go. If your project happens to incorporate historical elements, you could drop by a historical society and drop off information or attend one of their events to talk about your work. That’s right. You might have to talk to people about yourself and your work, so bring business cards, press packets or fliers with your web site address. Start and promote a podcast or blog to discuss animation, VFX and your latest project. Reach out to other podcasters. There may be opportunities for you And don’t forget online film sites, too. It’s another chance to build your audience and drive traffic to your web site. 10. Release a clever teaser and trailer a week to a month before you post your work. You’ll have the chance to build expectation before the finished project comes online. 11. This list goes to 11, because that’s one more than ten. You should do the same when promoting your work. Find the safe and legal way to get your work noticed that’s unique to you. Good luck. We can’t wait to see your brilliant work! [