Money isn’t everything. But it sure does play a role in how effective your video marketing will be as a business resource. Spend too much for a bad product, and you’ll be on the back foot for the rest of your financial year – as well as losing ground to your competitors.
HSQ Productions place ‘cost-effectiveness’ high on our list of the essential Cs: the values we uphold when making an offer to clients. It’s part of the six principles we abide by, and we firmly believe you should go for videos that make for a great return on investment, rather than ones that are cheap.
Here’s how we get the best results from video budgets:
Cutting the unnecessary stuff
Some production crews will push for big, bold additions to what should be (really) a simple video shoot. They’ll say they need to deliver complex graphics, props and camera angles – all of which absorb more time or funding. We aren’t saying there’s never a time and a place for such extras, but they shouldn’t be ‘do or die’. It’s possible to make a strong video that just uses the basics of scene, lighting, sound and a good script.
HSQ don’t sell you a package that’s weighed down with too many additions – at least, not if you don’t want them. A tight budget is fine, necessity breeds invention after all. Some of our most memorable projects have been simple, stripped-back videos that focused on little more than a place or an interesting subject.
Talking heads. Tracking shots. Quick, clever editing. Video agencies should be able to do great things with what they’re given, instead of making expensive requests that fill the gaps in their skill set.
You only pay for the final result
This is a subject we’ve discussed before the benefits of going for a video production service that charges for delivering on the brief as opposed to the hours they spend on achieving it.
Pay-per-hour is bad for a number of reasons. Chief among them is the chance for wasted work, which you’re still being billed for. There’s absolutely no certainty that the time recorded is A) accurate, or B) adds any value. What if the production team is swamped with assignments? Might they be holding off on the deadline because they haven’t planned their schedule effectively? Promises like this are half-baked. Such payment plans are a sign that the agency doesn’t value your budget as much as you do.
By agreeing to a weekly or monthly delivery list, on the other hand, you have confidence that your funds are being used properly. If the video is late, that’s the problem of those behind the camera. Your aims are entwined. And the budget, by all accounts, will be healthier for it. You can see how the costs stack up against the benefits you’re set to get far in advance.
HSQ Productions will never fleece you for a subpar video. It’s against what we believe in, and our clients respect that. Contact us to make a booking or to discuss how we can create a cost-effective video for you. With HSQ, every penny spent will be right there, in the frame.