Affordable Video Production Tips

Video works in delivering marketing results. That’s probably why 96% of marketers who have used video say they’ll continue to use it as an ‘important part’ of their strategy in 2023.

Consumers expect video these days and the right ones can dramatically help you drive business. You want an affordable video strategy, but when you ask how much it costs to produce a video the answer you hear is: it depends. 

Here are the five things it depends on the most. 

VIDEO QUALITY

The quality of video and the production involved to pull off a project varies greatly. For example, the resources and personnel required to shoot a superhero movie is not what you need to create 5-7 short videos to support a sales team.

Resource: 3 Places to Look for Company Video Ideas (and 1 to Avoid)

FINAL OUTPUT

Where and how your video will be used will impact its cost. If the video is only for online and social media, you won’t spend as much as you would for a TV commercial. 

VIDEO LENGTH

Simple fact: A longer video typically requires more shooting and editing. The reasons are probably obvious, but the more storyboarding, more interviewing, more setting up, more editing that is required, the more your budget will likely need to be. That said, some:30 second commercials can get pretty expensive (ie. Superbowl ads), but typically the quality is also considerably higher for those spots.

LOCATIONS

A video shot in one location is less expensive than a shoot that is conducted over multiple locations. Aside from travel time, set up and tear down can be extremely time-consuming and thus costly. Try to keep your shoot to a single location (or the fewest possible) to keep down costs.

ANIMATIONS AND EFFECTS

Often people hoping to produce a video have grandiose ideas as to what their corporate video can look like. Typically, those dreams and visions have big price tags. Understand that complicated animations and effects often take time to build and can add to the cost of a project. Video editors are artists and their time is valuable.

MAKE YOUR VIDEO SPEND GO FURTHER

Knowing what will drive the cost of your video production up, now you can think about ways to get the most ROI from your investment in video. Having a strategy before you engage a video production company will always make the process go better. 

1. START WITH AN "ABOUT US" VIDEO

These videos are the gold standard of video marketing: 2-4 minutes of well-produced video that tell prospects all "about us." Also called "key messaging," "company," or "culture" videos, they are usually posted on the homepage or the "about us" page of a website. But you can do so much more with them.

"About us" videos are usually a collection of smaller stories that tell viewers about various aspects of the organization—often the history, culture, best products, and unique qualities. Together, they paint a picture about what makes the organization special, but individually, they can be used as the building blocks of a bigger video strategy.

“About us” videos can help introduce you to new clients and customers and live on your social media channels so you can make a strong first impression with any new contact. 

2. EDIT THE SMALLER STORIES

After organizing your "about us" video, identify those smaller stories and have your production company edit them into shorter, "snackable" videos. Because you're repurposing video and production efforts that already exist, the additional cost should be minimal (perhaps another 20-25% above the cost of shooting, producing, and delivering the original video)—and you'll have many more videos to use on your website.

For example, one of our clients got six short videos out of their original company video: Who We Are, What We Make, How We Customize, Built to Last, We're Nimble, and We're Proud (testimonials from long-time employees). In other words, they got seven total videos for a bit more than the price of one.

If you want to get fancy, you can add some extra shots and sound bites to each of your shorter videos, but that's not always necessary. These short "capsules" usually stand on their own. Just make sure each video has a nice, clean start, an interesting title, thumbnail, and ends with your logo or a call-to-action (CTA) graphic. 

3. PLACE THEM ON YOUR WEBSITE

The first thing to do with your short videos is to put them on the appropriate pages (and landing pages) of your website. For example, "What We Make" goes on a product page, "We're Proud" goes on the employment page, and "Built to Last" goes on a landing page.
It's not rocket science, it's just appropriate placement for videos that tell your organization's story. Short, snackable stories are idea for enhancing your Google Adword and soical medai paid campaigns.

4. DISTRIBUTE THEM EVERYWHERE

Now the fun begins. Share your videos everywhere and engage your staff and customers to do the same. Post your videos on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter. Everyone has their own favorite social media channel these days so you don’t want to miss one where your potential customers are hanging out.

Always include a link leading to a landing page on your site so you can track traffic. Add a video to your next newsletter or email blast. Have your salespeople send links in their follow-up emails, and add one to your email signature.

DON’T WAIT, BECAUSE OTHERS AREN’T

Even if you’ve never used video to market before it’s not too late to start. But now is the time to act if you don’t want to be the last one to the video party. The same study that found 96% of marketers who are using video plan to continue doing so also found that 70% of the ones not using video yet plan to begin doing so in 2023.