In last month’s post we talked about solidifying your brand identity, looking at your competitors’ work, understanding your market and identifying your target audience. Armed with this important groundwork, it’s time to find the right company to create your video production. There are countless providers offering production services, how do you identify the right match for your project?

Clarify your needs

The first step is to think about what you need from a video production company. This is a discussion that you can have internally with your marketing team or with your external marketing professional. Ask questions such as, ‘what is the scale of my project?’, ‘What qualities will best match my company’s character and communicate it most clearly?’.

Look at portfolios

Most serious video production companies will have websites that include their reel of past projects. View their work and get a sense of the type of video work they have produced in the past. Have they worked on projects that are similar in scale to what you are looking to create? How do you feel about the quality of their past work? Do they have any experience in the country you wish to release your video in? Are they set up for international work if this is important to you?

You can also dig a little deeper and research some of their past projects. What reactions did the work trigger? Have they won awards for any of their productions? If you know the type of video production you wish to create, you can also try to identify a company who already has done similar work.

Start the conversation

Once you have identified likely matches, go ahead and start the conversation. The quality of your video production, not to mention your experience creating it, will depend heavily on the kind of relationship you have with your service provider.

While access to the right kind of equipment is important, today this is no longer really a unique selling point as whether companies have the equipment in-house or rent it for specific productions, the playing field is more or less level in this regard.

What is crucial though, is having the right people on board. What feelings do you get when speaking to the production company about your potential project? Are they willing to listen? Do you feel like they are genuinely interested in working with you? Are they excited by what you are proposing?

Do they have your best interests at heart or are they just looking to do exactly what you ask for to keep you happy? A partner who has enough experience and confidence to offer independent, truthful advice is a great find. Look for someone who gives you the feeling that they are truly dedicated to creating something worthwhile with you and to passing on your message in the right manner.

Get ready to have a great time

Video production is meant to be fun. If managed well, working with creative people on your video project will be an exciting, enriching experience that will expand your horizons and give you the opportunity to create something you are truly proud of.