How To Choose The Right Video Production Company

Create a Clear Content Brief with a Clear Aim

Another important factor to consider when choosing the right video production company is that you need to begin the process by creating a clear content brief with a clear aim to work from.

Think of this as a two part process. By establishing goals for yourself early on in the process, you can quickly narrow down your list of potential video production company candidates from "everyone" to "only those who are capable of meeting your needs." But to get to that point, you need to establish what those needs actually are.

Why do you want to utilize video content in the first place? What are you trying to accomplish? How will you know when your marketing efforts are successful? Is it after a single live event has been captured? Is it after your website traffic or social media following has grown by a certain percentage? Answering these questions will help enormously with the rest of the process.

Beyond that, you need to create a content brief - both for yourself and for your future video production partner. This will include, among other elements:

• The aforementioned goal and purpose of your video content.
• The target audience (meaning, an overview of your ideal customer).
• The type of video you want to use.
• Any key messaging that needs to be included.
• Examples of similar videos that you like and want to emulate whenever possible.

How to Set a Budget

At that point, you have enough actionable information to work from to begin creating a budget. Assuming that you don't have an unlimited amount of money to spend, you need to make sure that every dollar is utilized wisely. That's where a budget comes into play.

Start by considering the type of video you want to create and thinking about all the elements that are required. If you're shooting live action, for example, that will almost always require hiring actors - something that will increase the budget before anyone has called "Action" on set. If you're thinking of animation, you need to also consider voice actors, talented animators, and other elements.

To properly set a budget, start by speaking to a few different agencies and giving them an overview of what you were thinking. Once you've done that, you should have a fairly reasonable range to work from when setting your expectations regarding how much you'll be spending on these goals.

Create a List of Companies to Compare

Next, you're create to create a comprehensive list of the video production companies that are available that you can then begin to pare down to only a few select candidates. You can get ideas for production companies to contact in the following places:

• Ask those around you. Do you have friends in your industry or do you attend regular networking events? Don't be afraid to ask who they go with for video production and see if you can view samples of their work.
• Speaking of other videos, you should also see who your competitors are using and, if you like their work, see who did the video production.
• Utilize search engines. Google can be an invaluable resource to find video production companies in your area.
• Pay attention to video production awards ceremonies. Is there a video production company in your area that seems to win awards and other distinctions on a regular basis? That may be someone who you want to contact moving forward.

Questions to Ask a Video Production Company

In an effort to pare down that list as much as possible, you'll also want to ask questions of each candidate production company. This serves two purposes. First, it helps make sure that you're quickly weeding out any companies that cannot help you accomplish your goals. Secondly, it also helps to properly calibrate your own expectations regarding what is and isn't possible.

Just a few of the questions you may consider asking include but are not limited to ones like:

• "Can I see case studies for past projects that show what you're capable of accomplishing?" If your primary goal is to increase traffic to your website, for example, it would be helpful to have a document that can prove that a video production company has accomplished a similar or even the same goal for another business in the past.
• "Can I speak to any of your past clients, or do you have testimonials I can see?" Any company that is proud of the work it does should have no problem putting you in contact with people who they have performed for in the past.
• "What does your video production process involve?" Again, all video production companies are unique unto themselves. Understanding their process will help you determine if their culture/approach is a good fit for your own.
• "Can you go into more detail about your team members?" You'll want to get an idea of who is actually working for this company - meaning who is working on your project. What type of experience does the crew have, for example? How many similar projects have they worked on in the past?
• "Who can I contact throughout the video production process?" As is true in all forms of film and television production, video content creation is all about collaboration. This requires communication. If you have a question, you should be able to call someone and get an answer. If you have a concern, you should be able to contact someone and have it addressed.

Make The Final Decision

As you work through every step in this process, you should be able to cross one or even multiple potential video production companies off your list. After you've had the time to meet with each one and ask all relevant questions, you won't necessarily have a final decision to make. In many ways, you'll have whittled your list down to the point where the decision will largely be made for you.

Still, just remember that you need to pick a video production company that has creativity and passion, that understands what you are trying to do and why it is important, and that has the capabilities to make it happen. At that point, go with the company that is prepared to act as a true partner in every sense of the term.

At TV Pro Gear, we offer a wide array of video production services for clients to choose from depending on their needs. In addition to our creativity, passion, experience, and technology, we also offer access to resources like our 1632 Stage + Post facility, allowing us to handle virtually all aspects of your production in-house. This puts us in the best possible position to bring your vision of your production to life in the most efficient way possible, all while staying within your budget.

If you'd like to find out more information about how to choose the right video production company, or if you'd just like to discuss your upcoming project with someone in more detail, please contact the team at TV Pro Gear today.