Crucial things to consider when investing in Video Content!

At first glance, investing in video content (animated or cameras!) can seem costly and overwhelming. Understandably so, when prices vary drastically from company to company with no actual clear reason as to why and where your money is going.

If you are interested in video content, would like to use video marketing or have already incorporated video content marketing for your business and want to learn more, this is the right article for you. Join us as we explore some of the most crucial things to consider when taking the dive into the deep mysterious sea that is Video Marketing.

1. Production Proposal and Planning

You would expect this to be a no brainer, but you’d be surprised how many people can overlook the basics. Investing time into the marketing outline and production proposal is one of the most crucial steps in the video content process. Most of all, having a CLEAR objective for making a video allows you to control your production costs and easily refine your message. This is your opportunity to get your team involved to express their creative ideas, brainstorm and clearly define the message you want to send to your audience.

If you don’t do this? Well, that’s when costs can get inflated. Production companies will normally add in some form of consultation or initial planning fee for the added work of having to go backwards and forwards with a client to figure out what it is they actually want and why, but won’t necessarily make this clear in the quote. 

 2.  Budget

Many marketers tend to think that investing in a video is expensive, however, this isn’t entirely true. Videos can range in price, simple and short explainer videos could start from ￡1000, of course, depending on the style of video you want to utilise. On the opposite end of this they can cost upwards of ￡10,000.

This is why it is important to know exactly how much you want to spend on your video. Even though it may be awkward to be upfront about your budget, communicating exactly how much you are willing to spend to your content creator will help you in multiple ways. Firstly, it will allow you to have an idea of what type of videos are within your budget. Secondly, it sieves out the companies that are not willing to work for that budget allowing you to narrow your choices down and shop around for a better option. Lastly, the person creating the video can have a better idea of what they are working with, allowing them to be able to suggest ideas and guide you in the right direction that is within the scope of your budget.

And let’s be honest, we all know the reason you don’t want to give a budget…. 

A potential client doesn’t want to give a number on the off chance it’s higher than what the Video would have actually cost, and then risk the video being inflated to that amount for the sake of profit. You don’t want to show your cards!

As a rule of thumb, if you say we have a budget of ￡3000, and they come back immediately and say yes we can do that for ￡3000… dig deeper to get a better understanding of what you’re getting and don’t worry about getting a second opinion. Heck, ask me and I’ll tell you if you’re being ripped off! 9/10 times, you won’t be.

3.  Style (Where and how will you be showcasing your videos?)

Our audiences are evolving, becoming pickier with their digital marketing consumption. Therefore, it is vital that you decide on the best style of video that can advertise your business or brand clearly in an authentic way. Looking into the options of 2D, 3D, motion graphics, live action video and screen capture beforehand or discussing with your video content creator about the choices could help you to come up with the best option. Verbalising the focus of your video whether you want it to be humorous and trendy or classier can help the video content creator provide you with better assistance. During this part of decision making, it is also important to communicate about where and how you will be showcasing your video as this could affect the overall outcome!

If you don’t understand where the video will go, things could easily go amiss in the project scope and budget. Why waste ￡200 on a voice over when the video is being shown in a noisy exhibition hall? Going on social media, you need to consider subtitles! Considering well known music in the video, expect to add ￡1000’s in licensing fees to use that track.

4.  Messaging

 Last but certainly not the least is your overall message. It is extremely important that you have a clearly defined message for your brand/business. Unambiguous, lengthy and wishy-washy messages will not capture the attention of your audience, and it certainly will not add VALUE to them or to your company. Articulating your message in a clear, short and sweet manner will not only capture the short attention span of your audience but it will increase the chances of them remembering elements of your content, whether it is the logo, value or goal of your company. In addition, it always is a good idea to put yourself in your audience’s shoes and think about what they would like to hear, learn or see and articulate the value that your brand/ business can add to their lives. 

Conclusion:

Utilising and referring back to the above four concepts can assist you in establishing the best video content for your brand/business. Always keeping in mind your audience, what they would like to hear, see or learn while balancing what you as a company want to advocate is very important. 

I hope this article was helpful in one way or another. Have you made a video before? Animated or live action, i’d be interested to learn what you would do differently the second time around!