How to budget for your corporate video or other content to help you market your business online?
If it’s your first time having a video made for your company, or you’re working with a new producer, one of the biggest issues for you is cost.
I’ve been in the production industry for over twenty-five years and whether it’s commercials, corporate videos or television shows, everyone wants to know ‘how much?’ It’s a fair question. But where to start working out what to spend on your project?
Here’s the challenge…answering this question accurately. Often when we’re sitting down with clients and the issue of pricing pops up the stock answer is ‘How long is a piece of string?’ or ‘How expensive is a wedding?’ We’re not being evasive; we’re trying to put it in perspective of the scope of what you want to achieve.
So to be helpful, because we believe knowledgeable clients are happy clients, we want to take a few hundred words to cover the approach you might consider in coming up with how to budget for your corporate video(s).
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- Brand Impression: your video should reflect the attributes of your business such as quality, value, personality, and style. If these don’t line up, the viewer will notice.
- Complexity: the story you’re telling, and the ‘vision’ you have in your mind for how you ideally want to tell it.
- Scope: is your campaign for just one video or could more content be planned and produced? Block shooting is more cost-effective and efficient.
- Longevity: what is the lifespan of the video(s)? If they’re intended to serve for a long time as ‘evergreen’ content, then investing in better production value will amortise over the life of the video. They won’t look dated and your cost per sale will actually be very low.
- Return on Investment: what sort of goal do you have for your video(s)? How many leads, sales, downloads or opt-ins? Spending a percentage of your financial target is a good approach. Between 3 and 10% of your revenue goal provides scope for different creative approaches.
Taking all of the above into account, the impact you want the video to have on your audience, and the kind of business you are, now formulate a figure of how much you can invest. And it is an investment just like buying a piece of machinery or booking exhibition space at a trade show. You’re using it as a tool to win more business. What’s the minimum you can spend and what’s the maximum? Spending more doesn’t necessarily get you more results, it just opens up the range of creative options.
Now, here’s what happens when you say to your content production partner ‘I have $XX to spend on video(s) this year and I want to achieve….’ Our aim is to look at those numbers and the objectives listed above and come up with the creative solution that delivers that for your budget. We are your partner in getting the result. We’ll bring our experience and imagination to tell a story with the resources and goals you have. We’ll make suggestions and ask questions, workshop ideas with you and show you what can realistically be done.
So rather than approach the issue with ‘how to budget for your corporate video?’ why not ask ‘what is the long term outcome I want from my investment?’
Marketing service Hubspot created this report in 2023 that can give you further information about the state of using video to promote your business. There’s even a section on how to budget for your corporate video, so you can get a second opinion.
Vitamin Media is a digital marketing agency with over 30 years experience serving clients from sole traders to national broadcasters. We work with businesses who want to build lasting relationships with their customers based on shared values, authenticity and making a difference in their lives.