Everything to Choose The Right Video Production Company

Congratulations! We suppose you’re searching for some tips and guidance on how to choose the right video production company. It’s great that you’re putting the research in and even better that you know you need a video to succeed. You can rest assured you’re already on the right track for your business, by wanting to dedicate time and energy to the creation of a video – and we’ve got the statistics to prove it…

In 2022, 72% of customers say they prefer to learn about products or services via video. Going above and beyond that – 84% of people say that it’s down to the video that has made them commit to making a purchase!
(Optinmonster)

The reality is, no matter what your business is, be it brand, e-commerce platform, yoga retreat, yacht charter or clothing factory, the only way you can really showcase your best aspects to your potential client, to let them see how they’ll feel after they commit to you, is by video…

Engaging, scroll-stopping, fantastically creative, or honestly documented video! From short, shareable social bangers, to long-length, cinematic, film-style documentaries and highlight advertisements – video is the key and video marketing works…

86% of businesses use video as a marketing tool (Wyzowl) – it brings in over 66% more qualified leads per year (Optinmonster) & marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster than non-video users
(WordStream)

So you know video is the way forward. Now it’s about figuring out how to know which company to go with. You want to ensure your marketing budget goes towards something that will last a very long time, making a long lasting impact on your clients – that is engaging and shareable and quite frankly, worth your money – but where do you even start and why is it important to choose the right one?

The importance of choosing the right video production company

Video production companies, like any business, differ hugely – from style and effectiveness, to knowledge, expertise, equipment and ability… On top of all of that, this will be a hugely personal experience, so you want to make sure you’re going to gel with the team. Communication is key here as you’ll need to ensure you can get your message across and that it will be understood.

All while knowing that they have the knowledge and skill to create the magic that you’ve been dreaming of while working to your budget, as otherwise it can be a waste of time and energy. So, here are our steps to help you find the match-made-in-heaven video production company that you know you need…

1. Know What You Want

You will need to consider a wide variety of aspects before you begin reaching out to companies, such as what your dream vision is. It’s okay to not be sure about all of the details, but the clearer you have it in your mind, the easier it’ll be for the video production team to make it a reality. As the saying goes, “if you can dream it, you can achieve it”.

So a simple way to do this is to ask yourself the following questions – and have the answers ready for when you have your initial call with whichever top video production teams you decide might be the right fit for you:

• Why do you want a video? What will its purpose be?
• Do you already have a concept for it?
• What style do you want the video to take on?
• Do you have a location idea?
• What is the deadline for this?
• What is your budget?
• What are your desired deliverables from the project?
• Will drone footage be required?
• Have you thought about animation?
• Do you have music / sound preferences?

As soon as you have this list completed, your decision making will become much easier, because now it’s time to research to see which video production companies fit your dream best.

2. Do Your Research

This one is up to you, but you’re already here reading this blog, so we know you’ll do a good job on this front! First you’ll need to find some video production companies to research – our best advice for this is to go down a few routes:
Ask for recommendations from those that you trust that are in the same niche of business as you. This will give you direct contacts with insider insight into how the video production companies have worked for them. You’ll also be able to see finished products and if they are your friends, you could just straight up ask them how much the whole process cost them to get a good idea of whether or not they would suit you too.

Look at your potential competitors or aspirational businesses’ videos and see if they have tagged the video production agency. By doing this you’ll know immediately that the video company is capable of producing a video in your niche as they’ve already done it once before. The other benefits of this is that they’ll also have ideas to help, and they will know what they can do better this time around.

Google it! Of course, where all the answers lie is on Google! However, if you do opt for this, you’ll need to do more of your own background research than if you followed your word-of-mouth option.

Once you know how to find the video production companies, your research should also include their previous work to check if they have already created something similar to what you’re looking for. As you’re going through your research, you should be checking all of your concept’s wants and needs. It’s important to know what requirements you’re looking for because, for more complex work, such as drone footage or animation, not all video production companies will offer these.

On top of that, different video styles may not be achieved by one company as well as they would by another – so this is another essential to check. You won’t gain all of this information from their showreel, so go deeper and look into their portfolio, scour their website and check their social accounts too, to really get a feel for what they are about.

As soon as you have created a curated list of companies that you’d like to approach, it’s time to reach out…

3. Make Sure You Get On With Them

Video production should be a very personal experience, with the right team taking the time and making the effort to get to know you – through video calls or face-to-face meetings and their own research. It’s so important that you feel comfortable enough with the people you’ll be working with to know that you can explain your vision to them and that you can trust them to fulfill it.

The right company should offer this initial meeting as a free service with no upfront cost before any real decisions are made – this is a clear way to know that they are passionate about what they do, and that they aren’t out to rip you off. Then the things to watch out for during your initial call are:

• Are they listening to what you want?
• Are they excited about the concept?
• Does it seem like they will be reliable and honest throughout the process?
  Does what they’re saying they have achieved, match the research you have already done?
• When you ask for references, are they confident with sharing previous clients’ information with you?
• Do you feel they asked you all the right questions / did you have to lead the conversation?
• At the end of the call, do they offer to create a creative plan or professional proposal for you that would include a project budget quote?

This initial meeting is really important as this is your space to ask as many questions as you like, so make sure you’re prepared so you don’t have any surprises crop up in the future. Some example questions you might want to clarify, could range from:

TEAM

• How much of your time / input will be required during the whole process?
• Will you be working directly with the people you are talking to during the project or do they outsource their work to others? If so, can you have a call set up with them?
• How will they communicate with you and how will the project be managed?
• Do they have any ideas that could better improve your concept based on their previous experience?
• What equipment do they have? Will they need to hire anything? How much more should you expect these costs to be?
• How quickly can they complete the project?

SERVICES

• Will editing be included in their quote?
• If you require them, are scriptwriting and storyboarding services included?
• Will they location scout or is this your responsibility?
• Will you need to provide actors or talent or is this something that they can do?
• Do they offer voiceovers? Does this come at an additional cost?
• Do you have to find the music or will they do this for you?

BUDGET

• Do they provide extra edits if you feel revisions are necessary? What will the fee of each revision be?
• Do you have to include travel budget, who takes care of booking that if necessary?
• If required, how much are day rates of actors / talent?
• Will there ever be any hidden charges or will you have a choice going forward?
• What if the shoot runs over or the weather isn’t good on the shoot day – how will this work for the budget?

You can be sure your gut instinct will KNOW whether or not this company is the right fit for you, but these questions will help you gain a better perspective on the video team’s intentions. Make sure if you have any follow up questions that pop up after the call, you just email the team you met with and see how their customer service is that way as well.
Your chosen video production company should show their enthusiasm to work with you, they should be excited by the prospect of a new challenge and now the ball is in their court, to start researching you – bonus points to them if they already did this before the initial consultation call!

Hopefully this step-by-step guide will help you choose the right video production agency. The essential elements to getting this right are all in the research, communication and questions. Equipped with all of these, you can only find the best one for your business – and hopefully a great relationship with the video company too moving forward, so you only need to do the above once in your business career!

Now if you have an idea of a concept (we can help you with this!), have already done your research on us and you’ve got your questions at hand, we’d love for you to book a free consultation call with us here. We can’t wait to meet you!