FilmFreeway Marketing is a suite of optional promotional tools designed to help festivals and contests increase visibility, reach new submitters, and support submission growth at key moments in their submission cycle.
Our marketing services leverage FilmFreeway’s global audience of filmmakers and artists, along with platform-level promotion and analytics, to help festivals stand out in a competitive landscape.
Marketing services are flexible, optional, and best used as part of a broader festival strategy that includes clear positioning, fair pricing, and meaningful awards.
What types of services do you offer?
FilmFreeway offers several effective, optional paid marketing services that include:
- Email Marketing
- Website Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
To view a complete and current list of marketing options, log in to your festival account and visit: https://filmfreeway.com/festivals/marketing
Can I combine multiple marketing products for better results?
Yes! Combining different marketing products can help increase exposure and reach more filmmakers. For example, pairing an Dedicated Email Blast with a Featured Listing can provide both direct engagement and on-site visibility.
How do I pay for marketing services?
Marketing services can be paid using standard payment methods available at checkout. In addition, a portion of marketing fees may be applied “on account” using future proceeds from your submission revenue, which may result in little to no out-of-pocket expense.
When is the best time to schedule FilmFreeway marketing?
There’s no set rule — it depends on your festival’s submission cycle, deadlines, and goals. Many festivals see stronger engagement when marketing is scheduled:
- Shortly after a listing launches
- Ahead of major submission deadlines, such as Earlybird or Final submission periods
Availability options are provided during booking, but optimal results vary by festival.
What kind of analytics will I see for my marketing campaigns?
FilmFreeway provides analytics to help you understand the impact of your marketing efforts. You can track general submissions and clicks on the marketing products you purchase, giving you insight into engagement from filmmakers.
We are also linking these interactions to related submissions, so you can see how marketing may influence submissions over time. We aim to ensure that all analytics are filtered to exclude automated bot traffic, so the data accurately reflects real user activity.
These insights are designed to help you make informed decisions when planning and optimizing your festival marketing strategy.
Important: Final results will populate in the Marketing Summary after each marketing reservation is completed. A submission is counted if it occurs within a 30-day attribution window of a filmmaker clicking your marketing link, though the visibility gained from your campaign may continue to drive submissions beyond that window.
You can calculate your campaign’s conversion rate by exporting your Marketing Summary data and dividing attributed submissions by total clicks.
Please note that stats are only available for purchases made after we introduced the Marketing Summary.
How does FilmFreeway ensure marketing analytics reflect real engagement?
We aim to ensure that all analytics are filtered to exclude automated bot traffic, so the data accurately reflects real user activity.:
- Network-level protection: Powered by Cloudflare, malicious bots are blocked before they reach our servers
- Application-level detection: User activity is analyzed against a database of over 1,000 known bot signatures to identify crawlers and automated traffic
These layers work together to distinguish genuine user activity from bots, while still allowing legitimate crawlers (like search engines) to access content. This ensures that your analytics metrics reflect real engagement and remain reliable for planning your marketing.
How can I track my marketing campaigns and view their results?
FilmFreeway provides a Marketing Summary page where you can monitor all your active and past marketing services. From this page, you can:
- View each campaign’s title and scheduled dates
- Track clicks and engagement for each campaign
- Export receipts or print invoices for record-keeping
- Check the status of campaigns (Scheduled, In Progress, or Complete)
This centralized view helps you keep your marketing organized, monitor performance over time, and manage your festival’s promotional activity all in one place.
How are marketing products delivered?
Delivery schedules vary by product type:
- Email marketing: Sent at 10:00 AM PT on the service date
- Website marketing (Featured Listing, Promoted Listing, etc.): Rendered at 12:00 AM PT on the service date
Exact timing may vary slightly depending on the product and platform operations, but campaigns are delivered according to the scheduled service date.
Can I target specific regions, genres, or filmmaker types?
Currently, marketing campaigns reach our global community of filmmakers, screenwriters, and artists without the ability to target specific regions or genres.
We plan to offer more targeted options in the future, allowing festivals to focus on the filmmakers most relevant to their submissions.
Does FilmFreeway offer discounts on marketing services?
Yes! From time to time, certain marketing services may be offered at limited-time discounted rates, such as promotions on products available for a certain time period.
However, we recommend planning your marketing strategy in advance and reserving services early to ensure your promotions align with your submission periods and deadlines.
Can I change or cancel a marketing reservation?
Marketing reservations may be modified or canceled depending on how close the service is to its scheduled run date. Please contact our support team for assistance.
What if my marketing doesn’t lead to more submissions? Do I get a refund?
FilmFreeway marketing services are designed to increase visibility and reach filmmakers, but specific submission outcomes cannot be guaranteed.
Even if a campaign doesn’t immediately result in submissions, your festival still benefits from exposure to a relevant audience of filmmakers, writers, and artists across multiple countries.
We focus on audience reach, clicks, and engagement as the main indicators of performance, helping festivals make informed decisions and plan future campaigns effectively.
Do you offer free promotional services?
FilmFreeway offers FREE marketing services to all festivals on FilmFreeway by including your festival in our weekly newsletter once when your listing goes live and once prior to each of your entry deadlines. Currently, our newsletter reaches over 850,000 filmmakers and artists worldwide!
Need help?
If you have questions about marketing services, please contact us at marketing@filmfreeway.com and we’ll be happy to assist you.
Important: Marketing Services are designed to boost visibility and drive submissions, but performance can vary based on each festival’s audience and promotional strategy, and specific outcomes cannot be guaranteed.
