How To Lower Your Costs For Video Production
Ah, the age-old question… “How can I get this cheaper?” Why pay more for something when you don’t have to? It’s a fair question.
While it isn’t always possible to lower your costs, there are a few things that you could try. Again, you get what you pay for, and it’s crucial to understand that video is an investment to the growth of a company, just like any other marketing costs. And that’s why it’s super important to find the right team to partner with.
So here are a few tips to shaving off those dollars (also see part 2 of saving money here):
Hiring on retainer
This will require a bigger commitment, but it will most likely give you a discounted price with a good video production company. This way you can get multiple videos throughout the year at a lower rate than you would on single projects. And you will also be able to lock them in on your schedule, because good video teams tend to have busier schedules. So if you have the budget for this, it’s a great way to save some cheddar.
Filming multiple videos during production days
Again, this will require some more foresight and strategy. It’s important to understand that every day of shooting is a pretty big expense. You’re paying for the talent (actors), video crew, equipment, location, and everything else, so the less days you can film, the more money you’ll save. One production day can cost in the tens of thousands of dollars. It’s not always possible, but if there’s a way to fit in multiple videos into a shoot, then this is a great way to save money. The editing costs will most likely still be around the same (it doesn’t hurt to ask for a bulk discount if you’re giving the video team a good amount of work) but you can kill two (or ten very small) birds with one stone.
Do a half-day
*Disclaimer: A lot of production teams won’t offer this, but it’s worth an ask, especially if you have a multiple day shoot and can ask if you can do a half day on one of those.
If you have a smaller budget, it might be hard to get a full production day. We get that. But there’s a thing called a half-day production. If you have a simpler video to film, say an interview, you might be able to squeeze it in within those four (sometimes five) hours. Half-day rates are a little confusing because it doesn’t necessarily cut the production day price in half, but it does lower it usually at least by 25%.
Partner with other companies and combine budgets
This is a pretty wild idea, and the circumstances have to be right, but say you’re a smaller business with a smaller marketing budget. You want a high quality video that will really help accomplish some growth for you company, but you can’t afford the higher costs of quality video. But here’s a crazy idea - you know the owner(s) or marketing director(s) of another company or two that are in the same boat or want to save some money. You could all come together and see if there was an idea where you could split the cost of the production days. Again, it’s a pretty creative (crazy?) idea, but the stars could align, and it just might work, saving you thousands.
Hopefully this will give you some creative ideas on how to get more bang for your buck, again, making you look like the beautiful/handsome and brilliant genius you already are. If you want more strategy and ideas for ways of saving money, we’d love to help!