Back when I started my journey as a freelance web designer, I remember those days when I couldn’t afford anything other than ramen noodles.  And not even the real brand, I always had to go with the knock-off brand. It was during these early days that I was looking around for help in SEO backlink strategy in order to grow my freelance business and I stumbled across a site called Millo.

Millo was founded by someone called Preston, who is now a good friend of mine, and it’s an invaluable source of information for creatives and freelancers of all types. At the time I knew nothing about running a business and I would spend hours looking for that magic that would get me off that couch and on the way to a sustainable operation.

The Famous Black T-Shirt

I have this distinct memory of finding this one idea which seemed a bit strange at first – but I decided to give it a go.  The idea was to go to local networking events wearing a simple black t-shirt that had white letters across your chest with whatever your profession was.  So, in my case, I had the words ‘Web Designer’ printed across my chest.  There wasn’t a logo anywhere to be seen.  I didn’t have my name on the shirt.  It was simply the profession.

I went all in on this idea and over time, it actually became my brand.  Every time that I walked around with that t-shirt, everyone knew who it was.  It became synonymous with who I was and the agency I was building.

Three years later, I reached out to Preston (at the time I didn’t know him beyond his site) and I mentioned this story, about how I had used that t-shirt idea as the catalyst for an agency of 20+ people.  To my surprise, he loved the story and asked if he could use it as a testimonial.  I said yes and before I knew it, I graced the very front page of his website.

Yes, the front page. Now, that’s an SEO backlink strategy!

That whole experience got me thinking – I am a movie poster on his website.

And so the movie poster formula was born!  Once this twigged in my head and I saw the leads I was getting from his website front page, I realized that I was onto something.  Here are the four things you can do to replicate this success, become the celebrity, and get those leads that you need for your business.

seo backlink strategy: The Movie Poster Formula

1. Think about the things that you use.

We all have a range of different services that we use, creators we enjoy, content we consume, etc.  This could be a book, a piece of software, a podcast, an email newsletter, or anything that you use that you are a big advocate for.  These are the things that you tell all your friends and family about; these are the brands that are loyal to.

Now, choose one of those before you move onto step number two.

2. Create a video about that product/service.

Pull out your phone or your video camera and make a simple selfie video about that particular product.  Talk authentically about this thing that you love, why it matters to you, and why its added value to your life.  Be sure to inject as much passion as you can into the testimonial and make a compelling a pitch as possible.

It doesn’t have to be long or overly produced.  You can create something of around 30-60 seconds and there’s no need to overthink it.  But you do want to make sure that you hit three main components:

• What was your life before you used this product / service?
• What was your experience like while you were using this product / service?
• What was your life like after you used this product / service?

If you just stick to that three-act structure, you’ll have something tight and polished before you know it.  There’s no need for fancy editing or production.  Just keep it raw and honest throughout.

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3. Write about the experience.

Using the same formula as above, write about the experience – putting as much passion and personality onto the page as you injected into the video.  Don’t transcribe the video though, you need to repackage your thoughts in a way that works in written format.  That being said, there’s no need to be super formal here.  Type it out in the way that you talk and it will come across as much more genuine and authentic.

This ensures that you maximize your potential awareness by covering both video and text-based platforms.  The principles and objectives remain the same though.

4. Post the testimonials.

The final part of the movie poster formula is to post the testimonials that you’ve created.  You’ll want to post them on whatever social media platforms you have available to you.  Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, whatever works for that particular product.  

When you post, be sure to tag that product so that they are notified about what you’ve posted.  For bonus points, see if you can find the actual individual that is responsible for that project and see if you can tag them.  That will give you a much better chance of success – so do your research here.

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So, those are the four parts of the movie poster formula.  It’s a really powerful strategy but you have to understand that it’s going to be a hit and miss for the most part.  Some of the times it will work, whereas some of the times you’ll hear absolutely nothing but crickets.  Knowing this ahead of time, you can try it with a wide range of products and accept that only a small percentage are going to pay off.

But when it pays off, it does so in a big way.  With a little bit of marketing savvy and a lot of luck, you might just become that movie poster.  And that could just transform your business entirely.

What are you waiting for? Start your SEO backlink strategy today!

Cheers,