Justifying Vitrina AI/Sales Agent Retainer on a Shoestring Budget?

Hey everyone, I'm Luc, a Steadicam op by trade, and I've been pouring everything into my feature doc, 'Echoes of the North,' about forgotten Canadian folk artists. We're in post and I'm really starting to think about distribution. I've been doing a lot of the outreach myself, sending out feelers, trying to connect with smaller distributors and festivals, but it's slow going and feels a bit like throwing darts in the dark.

I keep hearing about tools like Vitrina AI for market intelligence, or the benefits of having a sales agent, but the fees for either are a pretty big chunk of change for an indie film like ours, especially after covering production costs and my usual Steadicam rates. It feels like a 'chicken or the egg' situation, you need to spend money to make money, but where does that initial justification come from when every dollar counts? How do you guys on tight budgets decide if these kinds of investments are truly worth it, or if there's a point where it becomes essential?