Using Video for Business: I want to use video to market my business… Now what?

Think about your resources.  You have two main routes available: you can speak to outside video content creators or production companies, or you can talk internally with your team.  As with most things, the route that gets you there the fastest, cheapest and with the best-value-for-dollars-spent is a good option. If your team has video production knowledge and can brainstorm a video content strategy internally, this is a great starting point.  And also know that many production companies will discuss potential projects during a free consultation and this could be a good option if video content is unfamiliar to your team.

Using Video for Business: I want to use video to market my business… Now what?
Focus your energy on the following questions & answers:

1. Discuss budget considerations. You’ll need to set a realistic budget for the type of video you want to produce. Again, think about the project – are you crafting a new product feature that should sell 10,000  or 1 million items? Or are you looking to connect to your followers on social media about the soup kitchen your office staffs weekly?  To set a realistic budget, your team will need knowledge of what goes into a video production at the quality level you want to achieve.  Here is where talking with a professional production company has advantages. As with sourcing other vendors, a good rule of thumb is to solicit several project quotes.  Make sure you talk with a few vendors, get a range of the services they provide, the scope of projects they handle, and the cost. Then compare. To find out more on costs that go into a quality video production read the next chapter on Finding and Choosing a Production Company.
2. How do I prepare to use video? 
   

   Photo credit: Miceli Productions

   Decide on the best type of video for your immediate needs or make a plan for producing a series of videos for a library.  (Libraries are good for larger topics like a suite of How-To videos, all products from a specific product line, etc). Talk about what company goals generating video content will meet and which video type fits each goal. Then decide who from your team will be your point person for this project. Perhaps a designated marketing manager. Perhaps a senior level VP. It’s important to give someone direct decision-making powers on this since that is most efficient.  You also will want to determine how will your company balance the scheduled launch of both professionally produced video content and in-house videos? where will these videos fit into the overall company marketing plan? Many companies save professional crafted content for their brand messaging (web, adverts, events, products) and generate in-house content for social media sharing.

3. What types of video content can be created in-house? As part of your brainstorming session, you may have to address the question of cost vs. benefit on your video investment.  Ask what content should be done with a professional video production company and why? You may choose to create all your content with an outside production company in order to build a relationship with a reliable partner that will get to know your business.  Or, you may designate someone on the marketing team to capture social media events with an iPhone and keep video content dollars for the more polished Company Overview and product unveilings.  There is a wide range of choices here and the best plan may be a combined approach. You do always want to be producing high-quality content for your company, but what level of production matches with your marketing plan? Side note: There is often the misconception that video is “easy” when done in-house, or “cheap”.  We can tell you from experience that producing high quality video in house is never as easy or cheap as you’d like to think, and poorly produced video reflects badly on the company sending it out. Having said that, you probably don’t want to spend $10,000 on capturing the office holiday party or summer picnic even though it could be great for PR – it could be a great story, a place where everyone gathers to support the office charity, etc.  So think about it as a positive iPhone behind-the-scenes opportunity for social media, then, remember to budget for the pros for your multi-million dollar new product launch. Right? Right.

These questions are meant to start your journey – there are many more that you will encounter along the way.

Now what? Download our USING VIDEO FOR BUSINESS Success Kit for a more in-depth discussions of the process.

Using Video for Business topics discussed include:

Chapter 1: Video Content Basics.
Chapter 2: Types of Videos to Use for Business.
Chapter 3: A discussion of where and how and to use different types of video.
Chapter 4: I want to market using video… Now what?
Chapter 5: Finding and choosing a great production company.
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