Marketers are always looking for new and effective methods to help share their message with their target audiences. In this quest, online video marketing has quickly become one of the most effective tools in the marketer's’ quiver. Quality is important in every marketing medium, but arguably plays the most important role in the production of video marketing executions. Poor production value has a huge impact in the overall effectiveness of the execution. With video, poor production value is the easiest to see even to the untrained eye. Poor video production quality can single handedly undermine your entire effort no matter how strong the overall message is.
Part of the problem is that many marketers incorrectly think that they are capable of handling the production themselves. They assume the hard work is crafting the message and the video production is something anyone with a camera can handle. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Effective video marketing requires technical expertise along with creative messaging. The best way to insure that you have both sides of this equation is to leverage an experienced and reputable video production company. The right video production company has the ability to marry your message with the technical expertise required for a truly effective marketing video.
Ineffective Marketing Videos Start at Home
Many people think making a decent video for their business is no different than shooting a video in their home life. The common misconception is that you can get away with using the same camera and approach that they use at home. An on the fly production approach coupled with basic lighting and sound may suffice for creating a video of a cat taking a bath or recording your cousin’s wedding reception, but it is nowhere near what is needed to market your business to the masses. You are producing a video to provide a powerful visual reputation of your products and services, why then settle for visuals that fail to do that?
A high-end home video camera or an iPhone may technically have the capabilities and features needed to capture high quality images but it isn’t as simple of just “point and shoot.” Just because someone can write doesn’t mean they are qualified to craft the messaging for your business. So why would you entrust the crafting of your visual messaging for your company to someone just because they know where the on button is? You need someone that has the experience and expertise to operate the hardware to effectively capture high quality video.
What Goes Into Professional Video Production
There are several things professional videos possess that most homemade videos lack. Professional videos display an understanding of the overall process and what it takes to get the most out of your message, which only a video production company can provide. When you work with a seasoned video production team you gain access to a variety of professionals who all apply their specific expertise in the development of the final video product.
- Producers in pre-production focused on the cost-effective and efficient use of your time and insuring that everything required for your video will be accounted for
- Scriptwriters taking your marketing messaging and molding it to the specific narrative of the video medium
- Directors during the actual production translating the script into video and making sure that everything needed is captured on video
- Video Editors taking and compiling video and adding all special effects and background music
- Account Managers working with your team on things like SEO optimization to maximizing a video rank higher in Internet searches
Each of these individuals brings years of creativity and experience to each project. A video production company leverages this experience to each project resulting in fresh concepts and innovative ideas. This is much more effective than applying an approach that worked for a home video or something that seemed “cool” online to be poorly emulated. While professionals with the right training and experience can do a lot with very simple equipment, the best video production organizations achieve stellar results from empowering their staff with the latest and greatest video production equipment including:
- Cameras
- Sound equipment
- Lighting kits
- Editing software and hardware
Hiring the Right Video Partner
Having a better understanding of what really is required to do video right can also make it a daunting task in finding the right video production company to partner with. There are a people out there that claim to possess all of the capabilities required to produce high quality video. Unfortunately too many people that claim to be video production companies are actually just a one man/woman band. There are some talented people that can do it all but they are often few and far between. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. In most cases they are just a person that slaps together teams of freelancers on an ad hoc basis. More often than not this approach results in an ad hock final product as well.
In looking for the right video production partner we recommend:
- Ask business colleagues and friends about their experiences with having marketing videos made. Get a sense of what your objectives are and the type of company you would like to partner with.
- Check out any online video the company posts on the website, social media sites, or on the sites of their existing clients. Don’t just look for “cool” stuff but look at their work to see if they have done work in line with what you envision your final product to be. A video production company that has produced great work for the latest energy drink may not be the right company to produce video for a B2B software solution.
- In addition to sample work also look for a list of hardware and software capabilities on their website. If they don’t have it listed ask for them to provide one. If they can’t produce one then they aren’t the partner for you.
- Ask what their production process/approach is to see if that is a good match with your production style/approach.
- If production company has sample work on their website ask them if you can speak with a representative from that company about their experience with the video production.
- Ask to take a tour of the video production company’s facilities. Far too many production companies say they can do certain things of have certain capabilities but in actuality they have nowhere near what they claim to have. Don’t assume they have what they say the do, ask to see it for yourself.
- You want a video to communicate your company’s message. If a video agency fails to engage you in a conversation about what you want, how well can they relate your story on screen? A large part of the process should be about the things they ask you. Some may see themselves as “artistes” who have the “perfect vision” of what a business needs despite never asking the client what they want or need.
- Ask about their budget management process. Budgets are there for a reason, and working with a group bent on producing their vision on your time clock may mean out of control expenses.
By Bill Johnson
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