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When thinking about investing in a high-quality video for your company, it can be overwhelming to know where to start your research and where you can find reliable answers. You might be wondering why your business should invest in video and what the benefits are to consider. Or maybe you’re more interested in what the video production process looks like and the cost of the overall product.
As an internationally-respected professional video production company based in Phoenix, we receive these questions frequently enough that we decided to create this guide to educate people about our industry. We dive into topics like why video is important for businesses, what goes into producing high-quality videos, the cost of video production, and even debunk some common misconceptions about video. We hope this is helpful for you to start formulating an idea of what your high-quality video production process might look like.
Why Video is Important for a Business
It’s no secret that video is one of the most effective methods to market your unique company story and brand. While we dive into the numerous benefits more thoroughly in our article on the benefits of video marketing for business, below is a quick summary you can read for an overview.
Videos can tell a unique story
Traditional static images of products, company life, or behind the scene moments still have their place in marketing, but these are getting less and less effective in telling stories. A video can add more dimension to these images and make the viewer feel immersed in the story being told.
Videos build trust in your company/brand
No matter what your goal is for building trust in your company, whether that’s improving your brand identity or telling your company story, make sure your authenticity shines through. Utilizing creative video elements that are interactive, engaging, and true to your company brand will help your audience feel like they know you. This will start building trust in your company along your audience’s journey.
Increase engagement and conversions
Video marketing’s effectiveness is on the rise and the statistics can prove it. By just including ‘video’ in an email subject line increases open rates by 19%, having a video on a landing page can increase conversions up to 80%, and 90% of customers say videos help them make buying decisions (Social Media Today).
Potential Long-term investment
Videos are here to stay. Cisco projects that nearly 82% of all consumer internet traffic will be from videos by 2021. When you take this estimated longevity that is only projected to increase and pair it with video’s high engagement and conversions, you have sound evidence that investing in video now will pay off significantly in the future.
Long-term SEO benefits
Along with being a sound long-term investment, videos also have multiple benefits when it comes to SEO. Through having videos on your website and social media channels, you can create quality backlinks, reduce bounce rate on pages, and have highly-shareable content.
Versatility
When you invest in creating your own high-quality video, you ‘ll also have added versatility with it that you won’t get with more traditional advertising in a magazine or online. Depending on your video usage rights, you’ll be able to use your video when, where, and how you want for however long you want it to be shown.
What goes into making a high-quality video
While each client and project is different, there are a few steps that most videos go through. Below are a few steps that you can expect your creative video project will go through. To read a more in-depth explanation of the video production process, check out our blog article here.
Consultation
During the consultation stage, we sit down with you and discuss your goals and how video can help you achieve them. What’s the purpose of the video you want? What’s the creative needed to tell your story effectively? What’s your end goal?
Pre-Production/Creative Development
This is where a lot of the preparation for the shooting of the video comes in. We’ll map out what we want to film, how we’ll approach it, and a rough timeline of the project. Depending on your project, there might also be script writing assistance, location securement, and casting to address in this stage.
Production
This is primarily the shooting day where everything we’ve prepped for comes together to execute the vision decided upon in the initial consultation. Time is literally money here and your video production company should be there to ensure things are done right to save you money with excellent preparation and contingency plans.
Post-Production
We edit your video ourselves to align with your goals, creative brand story, and vision. Your video production company should be there to handle whatever you need. It’s their job to communicate with you to style in what you need to achieve the final video desired.
Cost of Video Production
One of the first things you’ll probably wonder first about video production is how much it’ll cost you. Going to a video production company and asking, “I need a 30 second video. How much will that run me?” won’t get you very far. This is an extremely difficult question to answer based on virtually no other information besides time, but we can tell you the length of your desired video means nothing. It’s analogous to asking how much a car costs; you have to take into consideration a number of factors when looking at your car, like the brand, quality, model, make, trim, and extras.
For video production, these variables can fall under the following categories:
- Scouting and securing locations
- Talent hiring
- Script writing
- Unforeseen expenses/contingency plans
- Number of revisions
The best thing to do when analyzing the cost to hiring a video production company is to schedule a phone call with them and discuss what it is you’re looking to create and tell through your creative video. This will help the video producer get an idea of the scope of your project and can give you a more accurate baseline for your specific project. Everyone has a range in mind, so what’s your range?
Why Invest in Your Creative Video Project
As mentioned in our first section, video is rapidly growing in popularity. You can probably find a video for just about anything without looking too hard, largely in part to social media’s ubiquitousness and oversaturation. With this sea of videos only growing in size, it’s easy to get lost among the thousands of videos vying for eyes, especially if your content is mediocre and doesn’t have a reason for existing other than simply trying to get your brand in front of people.
As a brand, it’s becoming increasingly important to separate yourself and have something that’s actually worth sharing. Instead of throwing money at low-production videos for the sake of having visual content, you should focus on the creative storytelling aspect and invest in those video production companies that can take your story to the next level. This will help to ensure your video has a strong purpose, making it stand out from the crowd.
Investing in your company’s video involves more than a quick churn-and-burn method of content creation. While hiring a less expensive one-man band has its purpose at times, you should know when to use this option appropriately and be wary of using it consistently. There’s a reason why investing in a full production company is more expensive: you get what you pay for and the results will be drastically different.
When you hire a full service video production company, you’re paying for experienced, dedicated people who will help you take your creative storytelling over the line through video. The lower the budget, the lower the stakes will be, which can result in a lackluster final product or a lackadaisical attitude from your video production company going into your project. When you’re willing to put more money into your creative video project, you’ll have a higher attention to detail, resulting in a higher-quality final product.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when looking for a high-production video company:
Keep it under one roof
When you go to one video production company for the entirety of your project, it’ll be easier to achieve the final product you originally envisioned with a streamlined continuity throughout the video. Instead of hiring multiple companies for the different aspects of your video, you’ll be able to have a one-point contact for all of your needs. This can be especially useful if anything goes wrong or needs fixing, as it’ll be easier to pinpoint the issue and fix it when you keep it all under one roof instead of going to multiple people to try and fix one problem.
Buy nice or buy twice
We live in a day where anyone can go to Best Buy, purchase a nice camera, and start shooting videos with little to no experience. When you skimp on your video and choose one of these newcomers, there’s a good chance you’ll have to hire someone again to get the job done satisfactorily. Invest in your video from the beginning and you might actually save money and time down the line.
Develop and tell your story
A full service video production company should be skilled enough to help you develop your unique brand story and help you find ways to accurately tell it through video. This is one of the most important things we recommend vetting with any company when looking into producing your video. Having a purpose to your content and being able to showcase it in a compelling way will help it stand out from the masses and make you memorable.
More than the Sum of Its Parts
Clearly a lot goes into creating a high-quality video with a video production company. Whether you’re researching what the various benefits are to using video in your overall business strategy, or are more interested in our high-quality video production process and cost, we encourage you to contact us.
