AdAge.com offers up for great lessons that marketers can learn from the marketing of the film, Paranormal, they are as follows:

Let consumers dictate distribution. Once “Paranormal Activity” reaches 1 million Demands on its Eventful page, Paramount will release the movie within a reasonable radius of all the fans who demanded the movie by providing their age and zip code. “It totally transforms the brand into a benefactor,” Eventful CEO Jordan Glazier said of the site’s marketing model. “You now have a self-identified list of participants who are passionate about entertainment, and the event brand has even more value to them.”

· Don’t waste money on large-scale TV campaigns when you can talk directly to your fans. “[Paramount is] using social media as a marketing vehicle as well as a market-research vehicle,” said Sarah Hofstetter, a senior VP at 360i, an independent digital-communications agency that has worked with Paramount on previous campaigns.

· Don’t create false hype. Ten years ago, “The Blair Witch Project” struck gold with one of the most successful viral movie marketing strategies to date by trying to pass itself as a documentary rather than a fictional horror movie. “Paranormal Activity’s” theatrical trailer and TV spots are focused more on marketing the audience’s terrified reactions to the movie itself.

· When there are low financial barriers, have fun. “Paranormal Activity” cost a mere $15,000 to produce, with little spent thus far on traditional media, so Paramount stands to recoup any overhead costs thousands of times over if the film catches on with a national audience. But despite the initial success, “If it all ended today we’d be very happy,” said Paul Greenstein, the studio’s co-president, marketing.

Great ideas! Any other that you’ve seen that you’d like to share?

Ad Age Offers 4 Marketing Lessons from ‘Paranormal’