Video production has become a key element to any marketing strategy for businesses of all sizes, all over the world. Businesses are always looking at how they can get an advantage over their competitors. The best way to set your business apart, apart from providing a quality product or service, is to get your brand in front of every potential customer possible. This is where videographers and video production companies can become an essential tool to your marketing strategy.

Video has the power to pull at your audience’s emotions. This is key to setting yourself above the competition. By invoking emotion through your company videos, you plant that seed that will make your potential clients and loyal customers think of you whenever they need what you have.

While most businesses know they need to include video as part of their branding and marketing strategy, not a lot of them know what video production entails or how to even know if they’re asking the right questions.

In this article we’ll help you figure out what type of questions you should ask your potential videographer or video production company so that you know you are going to get exactly what you need, while not getting over-sold or underdelivered.

Before you even reach out to a video production company or a videographer, you should know what you want the video to do for your business. Once you establish your goals, you might realize you don’t even need a videographer. With the tools provided by social media and your phone, you can create simple videos to update your audience via things like Instagram Stories.

If what you need done exceeds the tools (and skills) at your disposal, then a video production company can help deciding which is the best way to make a lasting impression with your audience. The right team for you is the one that can walk you through the different types of videos that could help achieve what you’re after. It could be anything from a Brand Message video to an animated explainer video… or even an epic product video that really shows off what your product can do. You could even look at something more in-depth and do a scripted video ad that really pulls on your audience’s heart-strings.

Ok. So you’ve decided that you need a professional to achieve your goals. So what now?

Here are some points for you to consider when choosing the right team to work with:

• What is your budget?

You might be thinking, “well, I have no idea what this type of stuff is worth…” and that’s totally fair! As with anything, you can find people that will do it for under $1,000 to even free, as well as companies that will have a much higher price tag. Now, this is where you have to be real with yourself. Budgets may be tight, but whatever you put out on with your name on it is DIRECT REPRESENTATION OF YOUR BRANDING. That’s not to say an independent videographer charging $500 for a job won’t do a good job, but while a production company might come with a higher cost for the service, the likelihood of the end product being better is much higher since you’ll be working with a crew of highly skilled professionals instead of just an individual.

• Do you feel like you’re being heard?

In the videography and filmmaking world, there are a lot of creative minds. Sometimes, not all of these are the best at listening to anyone other than the little voice inside their head telling them they’re the best, therefore, they know what you need better than you do. This is a big red flag. Whoever you approach should have open and clear communication with you every step of the way, ESPECIALLY at the beginning stages. Laying down the right footing for your project will ensure it reaches it’s goals. This can only be achieved if the videographer of video company you approach LISTENS to your needs and acknowledges the pains you’re trying to overcome as a business.

• Don’t get “wowed” by equipment and gear talk… but don’t get cheated either.

Many videographers will tell you they have the latest gear with the best 8k or 12k resolution cameras. I mean… That’s great and all, but is that what you need? Where is your video going to be distributed? Online ads? Your website? Social Media? Then really all those extra K’s mean nothing to you because of the way the video will be processed online. There are other factors that influence the way your final video will look a lot more than the resolution of the camera. These main factors are the writing, on-set production (lighting, sound, set design), editing styles, and coloring.

• Check out their previous work

To follow up on the last point, you’ll quickly be able to tell if the quality of the work fits with what you’re looking for. If they don’t have a lot of examples on their site, make sure you ask for more. Any business will always want to put their best face forward, so if they are only showing a couple of cool videos then maybe not every production ended up being that level of quality.

• Ask the right questions

Whoever you choose to produce your video will essentially be an extension of your business for the time they work on the project. Their final product will be a visual representation of your business. If you were interviewing someone to be your general manager, you’d want to know your business is in good hands. Booking a videographer is no different. Somethings you can ask are:

• • How long they’ve been in business.
  • Ask them to tell you about their company culture
  • What timelines they work with
  • Have them walk you through their process

Finding the right video company or videographer freelancer can be daunting. As long as you know exactly what you want out of a video, when you want it and approximately how much you can spend, the right fit will come along and you’ll feel it like Cinderella with the glass slipper. What’s most important out of all of this is that whoever you choose to work with, is someone you feel will represent your brand the way you would.

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