Introduction

Video production is a crucial component of any modern marketing strategy. Video content engages, informs, and converts your audience better than any other medium, driving a high ROI and dramatically improving your internet visibility. In light of this, it is no wonder many brands and organizations are making the move to hire professional video production services to meet their needs. below we cover the top 5 things you should look for when hiring a video production company for your needs.

Why not check out Pollen?

Pollen Productions is a professional video production company that has experience providing clients with cinematic, high-quality narrative marketing videos. What is a “narrative marketing video”? Well, humans are hard-wired to engage with stories, it’s in our DNA. Pollen Productions specializes in figuring out how to tell your brand’s story to engage customers, create brand loyalty, and drive conversions rather than just making videos that tell you about product specifications. In an increasingly video-saturated market, these videos stand out! You can learn more about us and check out some of our work here: pollenpr.com

1. Define your objectives

The first thing to do when you are in the process of hiring a video production company is to define your objectives. Are you trying to increase brand awareness, drive web traffic, receive donations, or convert more customers? You must understand what your objective is so you can track the outcome of the project. Once you have established your objective you should establish your current baseline metric for this objective, This might be the number of website visitors, donations, or conversion rates. Next, determine what your goal for this metric would be and determine the value of this improvement. This will help you determine your project budget. For example, if you are a company selling products in an industry where a lifetime customer is worth $4,000 and you are looking to increase your customer base by 100 customers then the value of this increase is $400,000. If you expect a 10X ROI on your video production investment then you should budget $40,000 for this project.

2. Define your budget

This brings us to the topic of budget. Budget tends to be an uncomfortable topic when it comes to video production. It is very important to have a concrete budget when looking to hire a production company. When you hire a realtor to help you purchase a house one of the first criteria you give them is your budget. It is the job of the realtor to find the best-fit house for your needs within this budget. Likewise, a good video production company will create the best-fit video content for your needs within your budget. This is why it is critical to communicate your budget and objectives with video production companies rather than asking them “How much would this project cost?” and make the company guess what your budget might be. 

3. Find a good fit

Identifying the right company for your needs is not as challenging as it might seem. There are a few key factors to consider when looking at your options: quality of portfolio, style of portfolio, and quality of clients, are usually the best indicators of their fit for you.

The quality of the company’s portfolio is a fairly obvious starting point. If they do not provide the level of professional quality that you expect for your project they will not be a good fit. 

As for the style of their portfolio, look to see if they have produced any content that would match the brand image and creative direction you expect for your project. When considering this it is important to note the diversity of projects the company has worked on because if their portfolio includes a variety of styles they are more likely to be able to tailor a project to your specific needs than if they have a very limited variety. 

The quality and notability of their past clients is a strong indication of the quality of service you should expect from a company. If they have done work for well-known companies, universities, nonprofits, etc. they likely do good work and have a very professional workflow.

4. Look for creative solutions

If you are looking to stand out from the ever-present advertising noise in the digital age you need something that sets your video project apart. Look for companies that demonstrate an ability to produce unique and impactful videos, ones you don’t forget. This will mean finding a company with skilled storytellers. People engage with stories so give them the best stories you can: the story of why your product was created, the story of how your service increases joy, the story of how your organization makes real change in the world. 

5. Look for Comprehensive Services

It is important to find a video production company that offers comprehensive service. This means that they will, for a fixed contracted price, provide all of the resources and manage all of the logistics involved from preproduction to postproduction. It is important to review proposals and contracts to make sure that you are not responsible for costs incurred in the production process, fees for revisions to early versions of the project, or other hidden charges. A good company will conventionally bill for a portion of the project up front and not bill you again until the final version of the project is delivered and approved. The more transparent and comprehensive a company’s policies are the better their service will be.

Conclusion

Hopefully, these five steps will help you get on track with your video production project. If you have any questions or want to see what an exemplary video production company looks like we encourage you to check out our website at pollenpr.com.