If you are considering a video project for your business or organization for the first time, you will likely find yourself asking, “What will it cost? How much do I need to budget for my video project?” We have put together the following guide to help you answer these questions and get you on track to make the perfect video project for your needs. 

To keep things simple, we have broken the process down into three basic steps. 

1. Define Your Goal

The first step to budgeting for your video project is to define your goal. Are you trying to increase web traffic? Are you trying to convince donors to support your capital campaign? Are you trying to establish credibility within your industry?

Determining your goal is a critical first step in budgeting for your project as this is the outcome you are paying for. Without a defined goal, you will spend money on a “cool video” rather than investing in a powerful marketing asset.  

Let’s illustrate what this might look like in practice. Imagine your business is looking to increase revenue by $200k next year and your average customer spends $500 per year with you. This means your goal might be for the video to help you attract 400 new customers. 

2. Determine the value of your goal

To make an informed decision of how much you should spend on your video project, you first need to know what kind of value you expect it to return. Now that you have defined your goal for the project, this simply means determining how much achieving that goal means for your business or organization and how much ROI you expect. 

Let’s revisit our example above. If you achieve your goal, you will add $200k in revenue per year. If you expect your video investment to have a 5X ROI, then you can spend up to $40,000 on a video marketing project. Keep in mind, this allocation includes both the production and distribution of the video asset. 

3. Decide on a production partner

Now that you know how much you should spend, it is time to decide on a production partner to work with. For some smaller projects, this might be your business or organization’s internal team. For larger projects, it usually makes sense to work with a third-party production company. A good production company will know the ins and outs of how to bring your idea to life and how to stretch your budget to maximize what you can get for your budget.

In our article “Hiring a Video Production Company: The 5 Steps,” we go into greater detail about what to look for when hiring a production company. 

Here at Pollen Productions, we specialize in just this kind of video production and are passionate about helping you make the best video marketing decisions for your company or organization. If you have any questions, regardless of where you are in your video journey, we encourage you to reach out to us at contact@pollenpr.com or via our contact page. We look forward to hearing from you!