K atie c ouric

Don’t Make Assumptions
Latham Arneson, former VP of digital marketing for Paramount Pictures,
adds that many people assume that they know whom to target. Although a
lot of the time they’re right, plenty of times they’re wrong. He explains that
with movie marketing you start with a pretty broad set of parameters—for
example, “young females.” The truth is, that’s a large group and there’s
going to be a lot of different interests within it. Finding out who in the
demographic is most willing to share is an important point of focus.
Although centered around marketing films, Latham’s experience and
expertise can apply to people who are establishing a brand or trying to

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generate growth. When a movie is not part of a well-known series or
franchise, movie marketers are given the nearly impossible task of creating
a brand within a six-month period, which is what many of you reading this
book are trying to do.
Latham notes that testing is key. He feels that you make some good
guesses, but you actually figure it out by testing. That’s when you really
learn who’s interested based on the reaction to the content you’re creating.
At the end of the day, you can’t be 100 percent certain until you actually put
it out in the world and see who responds.
When you’re dealing specifically with video views, Arneson suggests
looking at the video completion rate or the video view-through rate, and
then also the correlative action after someone has viewed a video. It’s great
if a viewer watches 75 to 100 percent of the video, but it’s even better if
they’re watching a significant percentage and then taking a specific action,
like sharing that piece of content. Use the people who take leading actions,
like a share or a click (on a video, image, or link), as the best indicators of
your target audience.