Google AdWords Campaign Proposal for East Lansing Film Festival

GOOGLE ADWORDS CAMPAIGN FOR ELFF

Intro to Client: East Lansing Film Festival (ELFF) showcases independent feature films as an annual event. It encourages and promotes filmmaking in the four states surrounding Lake Michigan, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana and is one of the largest film festivals in the area. It sponsors the largest and most diverse film festival in the U.S., with the additional purpose of introducing audiences to new ideas, diverse cultures, viewpoints, and creative works across multiple genres. Feature films include long and short documentaries, narrative, creative, short student-produced, plus other media, such as YouTube videos.

This year marks ELFF’s 14th annual Film Festival and it is scheduled for November 9-17. Attracting upcoming and talented filmmakers from the 4 state area to enter the various film categories is key to providing an entertainment value to audiences. In addition to the Festival, ELFF holds a 48/5 Film Contest three times a year where filmmaking teams are challenged to produce a 5 minute film within the same 48 hours, while using assigned elements. The” Message Maker award, signifying producers of “experiences that make a difference,” for this competition is $7,000. MSU students are major participants in this contest, and awareness on the East Lansing campus, as well as other regional college campuses is the primary goal here.

Goals for ELFF’s Google AdWords Campaign: The key to creating an effective AdWords campaign is researching the target market, evaluating competition in the area, identifying unique values of the film festival and contests, looking at current trends in filmmaking competitions, specific interests of filmmakers and film viewers, and understanding their search patterns on Google. The next step involves finding key words/phrases to use on the ELFF web site and online ads which generate click-throughs (CTR) to actions and conversions.

ELFF has two major focuses for its Annual Film Festival: (1) attracting more filmmakers to enter films in the various categories, and (2) increasing their viewing audiences over the 9 days festival and sell more tickets. In terms of the 48/5 Film Contests and Message Maker Award, the goals include (1) increasing awareness of the competition across college campuses in MI and the surrounding area schools, and (2) encouraging students to enter one or all three contests held throughout the year.

Keywords Evaluated and Identified: Using Google’s Keyword Tool to evaluate multiple words and combinations of words for ELFF’s ad campaign, the following list shows keyword phrases which have high search results and lower cost per click (CPC) for both Broad and Exact Match categories. This will ensure a cost effective campaign and one that places your film group ahead of competition in Google searches. Another key to assuring your campaign reaches the audiences identified above, is monitoring the results daily/weekly and making adjustments or changes to the ad texts to improve Google ranking and start to see higher CTR to ELFF’s web page, downloads of contest entry applications, etc.

Recommended Keywords:

Festivals for filmmakers

Best independent short films

Compete for best short films

East Lansing film festival, 2011

Contests for film students

Short student films

MSU student filmmakers

Competitive short films Film festival in MI, WI, IL, IN

Documentary film contests

Message Maker Awards for top student films

Top UTube videos Film festivals, 2011

Recommended Text Ads:

I. Film Festival Ads:

1. Filmmakers Contests in MI, WI, IL, IN                                                                                                                                                                        Enter your film to be shown to live audiences!

2. Film Competition in Michigan                                                                                                                                                                                    Open to documentaries, narratives, feature & student films.

3. 2011 Film Festival in 4 State Area: Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois & Indiana                                                                                                              Purchase tickets to view top feature films!

4. Largest Film Festival in Great Lakes Area                                                                                                                                                                   First viewings of top feature films produced locally!

Film Contest Ads:

5. Student Short Films Contest in MI                                                                                                                                                                       Compete for best 5 min. film produced in 48 hrs!

6. MSU Student FIlm Contest                                                                                                                                                                                        Win awards up to $7,000! Apply online!

7. StudentFilmmakingCompetition                                                                                                                                                                             Awards to top short films made on campus!

The above 7 text ads will be introduced first for ELFF’s Google AdWords Campaign. The Film Festival Ads, #1-4, will direct searchers to the Festival description landing page, ELFF.com/Festival where a filmmaker tab to download an entry form will be available, entering an email address for newsletters, and a tab for film viewers to purchase tickets to the Festival will be an alternate choice. Film Contest Ads will include the ELFF.com/ShortFilmContest site where searchers will read a description of the contest, dates for contests, awards description, be able to enter their email addresses for future information updates, and submit an entry directly to the contest. CPC will initially average between $0.05-0.42. Wordtracker was used to research the keywords used in the above ads, and indicated that these particular keyword combinations yield higher search volumes with less current competition. However, the page ranking of the ads will be monitored daily, allowing some to be dropped or reworded to capture the best CTR and generate conversions at your web site.

- Conversions for Film Festival = entry form downloads + email addresses for ELFF newsletter + online ticket purchases.

- Conversions for Film Contest = email addresses for update info + online entry forms submitted.

Throughout the Adwords campaign, results will be measured and continual optimization efforts will be made to give ELFF the best placement and visibility that targets relevant contexts, such as, a search for top video equipment for filmmakers, would also show where to enter a filmmaking contest in Michigan.

A final recommendation for the ELFF web site is to show video excerpts from award winning films from their most recent contests, and highlight filmmakers who have gone on to produce films commercially. These details will ad interest to viewers of your web site, increasing the time spent there, encouraging repeat visits and thereby, producing even greater conversion rates for both ticket sales and entries into ELFF’s film festival and film competitions.