We guide you through making video for business marketing and offer insights that will help you make the most of your video production budget. We reveal why video production costs should be looked at as an investment.
So, should video be viewed as an investment for a business or as a cost? Sometimes it’s really helpful to look at video and video marketing as an investment rather than a cost. If you’re talking in terms of costs, you’re thinking that your bank balances at the end of the transaction, at the end of the period of working with video is going to be lighter.
Video marketing is the same as any kind of marketing in the sense that it should be a net benefit to your business because otherwise why would you be doing it if you’re not getting any good return on investment? Video requires you to be super strategic and super planned upfront before you stop actually pressing a record or doing any actual filming.
Maximizing the efficiency of video production shoot process
If you’re going to the expense of creating video content, if you were to engage a production company for example, then how about producing video for a number of different applications in that shoot process. And that’s something that we always do is, we always want to maximize bang for buck because we understand that there is a cost. There is an outlay to getting the kit and the crew on site to film. And that’s not even taken into account, or the creative and planning and logistics that goes on before that point. But the key is to make sure that all the preparations for the shoot are really well considered so that you can maximize the efficiency of the shoot and make sure that you gather as many outputs as possible from any one day shooting.
What I mean by this is, if you’re shooting you know an interview with the CEO for example, for a customer facing news video or something like that, then at the same time you could film a load of content for your social platforms at the same time.
I think when it comes to video production, sometimes maybe people are thinking in quite a narrow sense in terms of, ‘Well, I’m from HR therefore we’re doing a load of HR videos.’ Rather than looking in a broader sense and thinking well actually maybe if I reached out to other departments we could coordinate and therefore really maximize the bang for buck we’re getting.
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Maximizing the ROI of video at the start of the commissioning process
Our job as video producers does not stop at just handing over some nice clipped out films with some nice music underneath it. It’s really about understanding how those videos can be implemented to make sure that the ROI is maximized and the idea of maximizing ROI really needs to be present right at the start of the commissioning process. If you understand the purposes of the video, each particular one what actions do you want people to take off the back of watching one of these videos? If you understand those kind of details and retain that information right throughout the production process and really zero in and make sure that every turn that you are meeting those goals those business goals, then actually you stand a very good chance of creating some incredibly effective video. For us, it’s all about the success of the end videos. How they’re implemented and the ROI. You don’t have to have all the answers upfront. We take all of our clients through a very detailed pre-planning process really understanding what the goals of these videos are and also where they fit within the overall marketing strategy of the organization.
They’re obviously a number of ways that you can go about creating video content for your business.
DIY Approach
You could try and do-it-yourself and although if you’re going to go the DIY approach I would really advise that maybe you don’t get too hung up on the whole technical side of things because I think honestly that if you are obsessed by the kit, often the editorial side of things the content side of things gets forgotten, and therefore really the power and the impact of the video you’re creating is obviously hamstrung by that. A way around that is to. Make sure that you really understand the audience you’re talking to and you have identified you’ve a clear vision in your head as to who you’re addressing when you’re making your video content that’ll ensure that the content is relevant and useful and gives value importantly to your audience.
Engage with a full-time videographer
The other thing you could do is to engage someone maybe as a full-time videographer in your business. The advantage here then is that as you have someone on site all the time. They can create content at short notice and also they’re there if you want to get them to reversion stuff. So you’ve got evergreen fresh content all the time. The negative to this perhaps would be the additional staff cost and obviously the investment you’d need in kit and general equipment and possibly also training. But frankly if your business is one where you need to create a lot of content this is definitely an option maybe you should be looking at. You could recruit some you know young buck who’s just come out keen graduate from university something like that. They would work brilliantly. They’d be keen as mustard and also it’s a great way for them to start honing their video making skills.
Engage with a video production company
Finally you could go down the route of engaging with a video production company, perhaps like our good selves who knows. The key really here is that whoever you’re talking to they really need to understand the business that you’re in and also the goals that you’re trying to achieve and the place that video has within your overall marketing strategy. Also fundamentally, you’ve really got to get on with them as people right. A good working relationship with your video production company should be a huge asset to your business and enable you to create some really effective video content that is absolutely focused in on ROI.
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Strategizing the marketing context
The other thing to bear in mind in terms of video strategy is that, you’re not always tied into one mode of working. For example, there’s nothing to say that some stuff you get made by a video production company whereas other material is generated in-house. and that’s why I believe it’s really important right at the beginning of any kind of working relationship with the production company, they need to really understand and have a full view of your video strategy so that it will work in tandem with any user-generated content they might be producing. Everything needs to work seamlessly together so that as a whole suite of material and marketing assets they can then be a real powerful driver of ROI.
Final thoughts
I think at the end of the day that’s the key it’s all in the planning in the legwork the strategizing upfront the understanding where the particular video project you’re engaged in right now fits within the greater marketing context. If you’ve got that understanding then the video becomes an investment rather than a cost your business.
