Marketing

Steps For Choosing A Video Production Service

Last updated by

July 3, 2023

Video is an essential marketing strategy for a business. Avoid doing it yourself to get your videos planned, written, filmed, and produced. Instead, trust the experts.

There’s nothing wrong with having the goal to create a video that trends. After all, you need views and conversion from your professional video productions.

It just takes one poorly crafted video clip to give customers a reason to doubt your professionalism. A damaged reputation will also impact sales.

This article has a few recommendations for businesses looking to hire a video production service.
First, let’s start with a scenario you’d want to avoid.

Table of Contents

Avoid The Bad Video Production Day

Today’s the day! You’ve stopped by the set of promotional videos you ordered to see how filming is going. But everything is in crisis. The director of photography breaks three camera lenses, the actors decide to improvise all their lines, and the grip is scrolling through his phone as a broken light teeters towards him.

This is somewhat exaggerated, but you will walk away with a horror story and a terrible end product if you choose the wrong video production agency.

How To Choose A Video Production Company

So how do you find the company that can come up with trumps and delivers to your business – video nirvana? You’ll need to get reviews and recommendations and see case studies relevant to your video production requirements.

Step 1: Go To The Movies

Sadly, this does not mean hitting up your local theater to watch the hundredth re-issue of Blade Runner. Instead, look at the videos of your prospective video production providers.

Some companies opt for “speed” filmmaking: no fancy tricks, no eloquent dialogue, nothing but what needs to get done. Some companies pride themselves on creating elaborate “masterpieces” that will cost you a pretty penny.

Based on what style and techniques you see the company using, look back at your concept and see if the studio and idea are a harmonious marriage or not, and this also lets you gauge for quality.

Producing a professional video is paramount to avoiding damage to your brand. After all, people are 62% more likely to have a negative opinion of a brand if they see a poorly made advertisement for that brand.

You don’t want to invest in a video production provider that’s not up to the task.

Step 2: Demo Reels Can Lie

If you should get a sample of the company’s work, why not watch the demo reel instead of those long-finished videos?

Well, demo reels aren’t always showing you the final video, they are a highlight show, and it’s much harder to hide any sloppiness or mistakes in a complete video. However, don’t dismiss demo reels completely, as they can serve as a great way to see what this agency specializes in, be that lighting, shot framing, etc.

Therefore use the demo reels to evaluate the agency: if they have stuff in the demo reel that doesn’t appear finished on their site, they could be hiding something.

Step 3: Know What You Want Before You Hire

Would you hire Quentin Tarantino to direct a Pixar movie? No, because the two styles would clash a whole lot, right?

A similar principle applies when looking for a video production agency to hire. You want a video producer used to create short clips for businesses identical to your company.

Think about what kind of video you’re trying to produce. Is it a 30-second ad or a product showcase video that will span several minutes? Is it live-action or animated?

Once you have the answers to these questions, you can start looking for a video production company. If you need extra help during this phase, ask your friends or those in similar fields for recommendations.

Step 4: Research As Much As You Can

One avenue to explore with video production agencies is how much experience they have. Are they seasoned veterans with award wins or fresh blood trying to break into the business?

If the companies list their crew’s names, this is an opportunity for you to learn about the crew’s expertise.

Use websites like IMDB (Internet Movie Database) to understand their prior work before the crew signed on to the video agency.

Check the web for reviews of the agency, too, so you have more data points to use regarding the agency’s proficiency. It’s a lot of work, but it’s better than getting shortchanged.

Step 5: Get All The Quotes

One of the worst things people do when shopping around for a video production house is find a price within their budget and assume they have an excellent deal.

Shopping around and seeing what prices you get gives you a wider variety of options and might expose that one price you were in love with as wildly inflated.

Video agencies know their power, and the average person isn’t going to research to find the best deal. Snap out of their expectations and break the mold.

Step 6: Money Talks In The Video World

With all that said, you get what you pay for in the video world. You hire that wide-eyed college graduate and his rag-tag crew to film your infomercial, it won’t be the crispest quality, but it will get done. If you’ve got the money, though, spring for a more expensive agency: the quality of the video you get will make the price worth it.

Step 7: Don’t Sit Back And Expect Gold To Appear

So your agency is all hired and ready to start filming. However, you need a new plan if you plan to sit back and wait for cinematic gold to appear. Remain actively involved with the company as filming progresses.

Your role is to make sure they stick to your goal and vision, and being present during filming lets the filmmakers in the room bounce ideas off with you, increasing your video quality tenfold.

You’ll get the right video for your business if you keep communication lines open and clearly know what you want from the finished product.