Case Study - Cutting Cost per Click by 93% for a Film's Theatrical Release
After nearly $5,000 in Facebook ads for their last film returned little, Thinking Man Films was wary of trying again. We proved a better approach on a small budget first, and ads became their biggest source of website traffic.
- Client
- Thinking Man Films
- Year
- Service
- Facebook Ads, Social Media Management
The story at a glance
- 01 · The ProblemNearly $5,000 in Facebook ads for their last film, at $2.68 a click.
- 02 · What They WantedGet people to see the new film, without repeating the waste.
- 03 · What Was at StakeA short theatrical window, and another budget burned.
- 04 · The PathwayA free assessment, the right creative, a small proof budget, then scale.
- 05 · The Result93% better cost per click and 80%+ of weekly site traffic from ads.
01The Problem
A new film to release, and a painful memory of the last campaign
Once burned, twice shy.
Thinking Man Films came to us through a referral from Paul Sirmons, producer of films such as Te Ata and Letters to God. They needed marketing to raise awareness and get people to watch their upcoming film, Journey to Mt. Sinai Part II.
There was history. For their first Journey to Mt. Sinai film, they had spent nearly $5,000 on Facebook ads at a cost of $2.68 per click, and it had not amounted to much. So when Facebook ads came up again, they were understandably hesitant.
02What They Wanted
Fill the funnel for the film, without repeating the waste
They did not need to be sold on marketing. They needed to see it work before committing to it again.
People watching the film
Build awareness that turns into people actually watching Journey to Mt. Sinai Part II.
Ads that earn their budget
Spend that produces real traffic and attention, not another expensive lesson.
A message that travels
Social content that reaches new people and gets the film's message across.
03What Was at Stake
A film release does not wait for a second try
The risk was not only wasted money. It was the film itself reaching far fewer people than it deserved.
A closing window
A release has a limited moment of attention. Awareness that arrives late does not fill seats.
Another $5,000 lesson
Repeating the first campaign would mean another large budget spent at a cost per click that could not pay off.
A film people never hear about
A message worth sharing goes nowhere if the people who would care about it never see it.
04The Pathway
We proved it small, then scaled what worked
Earn the next dollar of budget.
We understood the hesitation, so we did not ask them to take a leap. We asked for a small test.
- 01
Start with a free assessment
We reviewed their existing marketing efforts first, so we could recommend only the services the release actually needed.
- 02
Fix a critical website error before ads launched
A critical error on their website would have undermined any campaign. We fixed it just in time, before the ads began.
- 03
Build the right content and creative
We created a strategy around the correct content and creative to bring the cost per click under $0.30, a fraction of the $2.68 they had paid before.
- 04
Prove it on a small budget, then scale
We proposed a small ad budget to prove it could be done. Once it was, additional budget could be poured in with confidence.
- 05
Carry the message on social
Social media management covered the strategy, the content and editing their existing videos, to extend the film's reach beyond the ads.
What we delivered
- Free Marketing Assessment
- Facebook Ads
- Creative Strategy
- Content Creation
- Video Editing
- Social Media Management
- WordPress Fixes
05The Result
Ads became their biggest source of traffic
+93%
Improvement in cost per click over the previous film
80%+
Of weekly website traffic came from the ads
+97%
More accounts reached through social media
A few thousand dollars in ad budget later, the ads were bringing in more people to the website than any other source, over 80% of weekly web traffic from the ads alone, at a cost per click 93% better than the previous film.
The social media work produced a 97% improvement in accounts reached and higher engagement, carrying the film's message to far more people.
I highly recommend Michael and Gabrielle with Arising Co.
Sound familiar?
Have your ads burned budget before, and now you are wary of trying again?
Thinking Man Films had every reason to be skeptical, so we proved it small before asking for more. If you are facing the same hesitation and want a similar payoff, let's map a test you can trust.
No pressure and no pitch deck. We will tell you honestly whether we are the right fit.