When planning a business marketing strategy today, it’s imperative to add video production. Video content is the future of digital marketing, with its consumption now at its highest. This type of content is fun to make, and it is popular with internet users who want such kind of content. But is there a corporate video production budget?
A recent study shows 85% of all internet users in the United States viewed visual content monthly. A similar report says over 54% of consumers prefer to see more video content from their favorite brands.
It gets better; there’s another report showing that video is consumers’ favorite content on social media. These studies highlight the potential in corporate video production.
Such brands have moved beyond traditional video meant for advertising. Smart businesses are now tweaking their marketing strategies to leverage the popularity of video on the fast-growing digital landscape.
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Why Video Production?
Corporate video production is the new trend; intended for a specific audience. It tells about a brand, its vision or story rather than promoting products to the general public.
From explainers, product demos, customer testimonials to corporate social responsibility (CSR) videos, there are many video formats you can choose for your production.
Whatever the type of corporate video you choose, there are multiple benefits, including improved ranking on:
- search engine result pages (SERPs)
- boosting social media presence
- great ROI
- visibility through shares
- better conversions
- a strong call to action (CTA)
- improved mobile traffic.
Through video, your company can tell its story compellingly.
About a Corporate Video Production Budget
So, how much does it cost to produce your corporate video? Every production is unique, and as such, the costs will vary. What’s more, professional video production companies will also give different quotes, making corporate video production more complicated.
However, it’s possible to estimate the corporate video production budget. The best way is by looking at multiple components that go into the projects.
Therefore, let’s looks at all factors that drive the budget to help you develop an appropriate plan.
How much will My Corporate Video Cost?
This is a common question every client asks any company whenever they approach them for a quote. However, there’s no straight answer to this question because every project is unique and varies in length, size and complexity.
Furthermore, the video production landscape has significantly changed. Gone are the days when much of the action happened during the filming. Today, the best production teams tend to spend more time in the pre-production phase. This entails the planning process that takes place before production begins. It means more costs will be consumed at this stage.
Here are some factors that will determine your corporate video pricing:
1. Pre-Production Work
From the scriptwriting, hiring production teams, development of the storyboard, casting of talent, scouting and securing locations to paying for permits and insurance, there are significant costs accrued at this stage.
You’ll need a creative team, plus experienced writers at this stage. Moreover, the cost of hiring these professionals ranges from $75 to $250 per hour.
2. Actors / Presenters
For the best production, you need professional presenters, actors or models extras. Of course, these cost a lot. However, you might not need professional actors if you want to shoot a customer testimonials or behind the scenes video at your company.
The fees for professional actors can start at $50 per hour but can shoot to $500 per hour or more. Having a corporate video production budget will, therefore, help a lot.
3. Coaching talent
If you don’t have great actors in your company, you might need to pay for training from a professional coach. This option is best if you don’t want to hire professionals to retain authenticity.
4. Video directing
You might need a video director to drive the production. These experts are responsible for the look and feel of the video. Hence, they guide actors on what to do and say.
In smaller productions, the camera operator can double up as the director. The average rate for a qualified director comes between $75 per hour and $250 per hour or more.
5. Video Shooting
There’s a team responsible for collecting raw footage using available camera equipment. Being technicians, they can include the camera operators, camera assistants, DOP (Director of Photography). These can take on multiple roles, and their pay will range from $50 per hour to $175 per hour.
6. Lighting and Equipment
In addition to your camera crew, you might need lighting technicians and equipment. Most video production companies are offering all these technicians in a package.
7. Video Editing& Color grading
This is a crucial part of the post-production phase. It ensures the raw footage flows logically and in harmony. Moreover, editors use cutting-edge technology, which sometimes requires exceptional technical skills to get the work done.
You can hire an editor from $50 per hour and $150 per hour or use online editing solutions, which might be cheaper.
8. Other Post-Production Tasks
From animations, graphics, image acquisitions, music, B-Roll Coverage, narrations to voice-overs, anything that your production requires to flow naturally will add to the final cost.
There’s a lot of work that goes into raw footage: from digitizing, transcoding, transferring, rendering and finally uploading it. You will also have to pay for language and translation if necessary and formatting before distributing the content.
9. Production Company Size
The size of your professional video production company will also determine the fees. If you have a small project, there’s no need to hire the most significant production company in town. Look for a company that offers tailored production solutions.
10. Production Equipment
The type of video production you need also determines the kind of equipment your producer needs. In turn, this will dictate the cost of your production. For instance, if you need a composite motion video, the use of drones and other multiple cameras will increase the corporate video production prices.
11. Studio vs Location Shooting
Some corporate videos are best done in studios, while others need a realistic location. Either way, the choice will affect the final cost. Consequently, the choice of location will depend on the kind of video you want for your audience.
12. Geographic Location
Your location can also determine the total cost of your production. For instance, if your business is in New York, you can expect the video production rates to be higher than say a small town in Maine.
13. Length of the Video/Production Time
The best online videos to promote a brand are short and concise. This is because internet users have a short attention span. Fortunately, this is good news: longer videos cost more and might not covert. While there’s no ideal length of a corporate video, it’s advisable to keep it short and compelling.
The length of time taken on production can also drive up the cost. Many producers insist on spending more time on the pre-production phase and with a good reason.
This is because pre-production planning, scripting, casting, location scouting, guarantees an impressive final product. If you have a large project, it means you’ll need more people. Thus, it takes more time to cast talent.
14. Licensing/Insurance/Legal Fees
It’s essential to query all your operations and determine if there are any legal fees required due to content use or any licensing for technology.
15. Miscellaneous/Contingency
Some random costs might come up during the production even though you haven’t factored these in your corporate video production budget. Therefore, it’s essential to leave some funds for such emergencies or unforeseen expenses.
Such rainy day funds are a smart move, ensuring your project doesn’t grind to a halt.
Video Production Cost vis-à-vis Quality
Over the last two decades, the cost of video production has continued falling due to the availability of cheaper equipment and technology. Making a video is now possible through using a smartphone or a cheap camera. You can also use free online editing software to refine production through audio and visual enhancements.
However, this reduction in costs, in most cases, comes at the expense of quality. The results are poorly done branded videos that end up hurting these companies. You only have to look at some branded videos on YouTube or other social media platforms to appreciate how cutting on corporate video production costs can impact the quality.
As many companies hire digital content production teams, they expect these experts to double as video experts. While this might cost more, you’ll be able to meet key metrics such as higher ROI, better conversions, more clicks, shares, customer engagement, click-through-rates (CTR) for your emails and other benefits.
If you want to harness video content for your brand, you’ll need to invest in the best production quality.
You Get What You Pay For
For many businesses, the idea of hiring professional video production services might sound too extravagant. They might even opt for in-house production using simple equipment or hiring cheap video services.
If this is what you have in mind, you should remember that in video production, you get what you pay for. For that cheap production package, you shouldn’t expect the producer to bring along talented actors, cutting-edge equipment and technology.
Cheap video producers will reduce their expenses by going for low-quality equipment and technology they can get. Ultimately, this affects the quality of your video. If you want to make the best first impression, it’s advisable to look beyond cost.
Hiring an experienced and reputable video production company not only helps you leverage the popularity of video, but it also impacts your brand visibility.
Your target audience will identify with your high-quality video and share it with other users. This, in turn, promotes your brand and leads to higher conversions.
Wrapping Up on a Corporate Video Production Budget
Are you thinking of producing a corporate video for your brand? Whatever the objective of your project, this is one of the most powerful marketing tools today. It reaches more people and easily connects with your target audience. With these tips on what affects corporate video production rates, you can now start to plan your project diligently.
