Cole Gentles of Röckët Stähr

Please give us a brief overview of the Introduction Phase of your Buddy system:
I bring fans in via my funnel selling my animated rock opera on DVD and BluRay, and then they get an email series. The first phase of that series lasts two weeks, and so does the second series.

Here's the two main ads:
https://www.facebook.com/rocketstahr/videos/995101445109834/
https://www.facebook.com/rocketstahr/videos/1214172903047269/

This is the ad landing page.

Please give us a brief overview of the Education Phase of your Buddy system:
I start off with a thank you email that thanks them for taking a chance on my movie. It includes a free mp3 download of a bonus track that was cut from the film (a lot of people really like this). The next few emails ask questions like "What does rock n roll mean to you" and "What was your rock n roll moment" and they include links to videos of me talking about what rock n roll means to me and what rock n roll moment changed my life. It definitely gets people interacting and replying. Sometimes with very, very long stories about themselves.

At two weeks I send an email asking if they got their package.

Then I have two more weeks of emails that ask questions and talk about subjects like "Can rock n roll bridge the generation gap?" and "Should musicians stay out of politics?".

Here's a link to one of those videos.

Please give us a brief overview of the Permission Phase of your Buddy system:
I guess that's just the same as my introduction phase, as it's how all of my fans come in.

Please give us a brief overview of the Nurturing Phase of your Buddy system:
Much like the last question, for me, the education and nurturing phase are intertwined. In my emails, which are always rock n roll related to some degree... and I send out on a week... I talk about my views on whatever the topic of the week is, or how it relates to me, and then I ask them their take to give them a chance to reach out and chat with me. Someone just last week emailed to say they love that they get to know me through these emails and that they have a chance to talk to me if they email back (and I always reply!). It can be overwhelming when it's a week with a lot of replies, but it's really cool too.

Please give us a brief overview of the Affirmation Phase of your Buddy system:
This is all intertwined with my introduction phase.

Please give us a brief overview of the Ascension Phase of your Buddy system:
8 or 9 weeks after their first purchase, I send an email that offers a discount on whatever the next product they didn't take in my funnel was. If they took everything in my funnel, then I give them a store-wide discount code for I think 25% off anything.

Please give us a brief overview of the Referral Phase of your Buddy system:
I haven't done anything with this phase yet, though I'm aware many of my fans have been doing in on their own by having watch parties for my movie, which is really cool.

Please describe your growth, achievements, and success, over the last 12 months:
I started working with Jesse in February, and I believe we launched my sales funnel in mid-March. Since then, I've sold over 2100 DVDs and BluRays, 345 2-CD soundtracks (the first upsell), and 146 of my newest CD, (which is the second upsell).

I launched a presale campaign for the double-vinyl soundtrack, which was a heavy lift as it includes a 16 page booklet that has a mini-autobio, a "making of the movie" section, the lyrics, and a minute-by-minute cultural reference guide, a poster, two hand drawing prints of two of the main characters, and two stickers. The presale ends tomorrow (12/6) and I've sold 183 so far.

My movie played in a theater in Texas, I performed in L.A. (my first live performance in 17 years!), I did a radio (real radio) interview, someone's going to shoot a documentary about me this winter, and the list goes on. Every single one of these things is due to people discovering me via my ads for my sales funnel.

I've also gained about 5000 Instagram followers (all organically), and a few thousand FB followers, hundreds of youtube followers. While my Spotify listeners isn't robust as others, that's also grown significantly relative to what it was at the start of the year (which was nearly nothing... now I'm at about 1600 monthly listeners).


Lastly, please tell us why you think you should be a finalist for the Indie Of The Year Award:
Oh gosh. I don't know. I guess I really hit the ground running and attacked every challenge that came my way (and there were many... like the time Meta yanked my best performing ad out of nowhere claiming it had sexually explicit content even though there wasn't. This was for an animation clip, mind you), and took on some big challenges that I had no intention of doing this year, like the presale for my first ever vinyl release... which is a double record. I also worked hard to find new and unique ideas for how to advertise my flagship product (my movie) which is a difficult thing to do for any indie film, let alone such an odd one. So, YAY ME, ha ha!