How Much Should Your Videos Cost You?

Video production is an intimidating branch of marketing for obvious reasons; the cost of either acquiring a camera or paying someone who owns a camera to shoot the video is usually high. Getting a video editor or even just software is also costly. Even hiring someone on to take care of hair and makeup can be quite daunting. Then there's preproduction work, meaning meetings with not just the crew to do the job (after you've found the right people to do it), but with other members of the board, as well as higher ups in the company and those who are actually representing the company in the video if you have someone speaking to the camera.

The thing about video as marketing tool is that while it is a definite expense, it's also highly powerful. A video placed on YouTube, for example, and given the right SEO to attract viewers on the internet, has the potential to garner thousands if not millions of views! That translates to not only thousands of dollars being brought into the company from just the video alone, but it could mean even higher in sales of products and/or services for your company. In short, video production is a lot to deal with upfront, but it pays for itself in spades in the end!

Now, the actual cost of your video varies depending on five important factors:

1. What kind of video your company wants made

Does your company want a simple animation that someone skilled in motion graphics could make in After Effects? Or does the video involve talking heads and actual company higher ups? Is it an advertisement for a product? Is it a training video? These are all important starting point questions to ask in the pre production process of making a video or series of videos. Since there are so many different kinds of videos to make on any topic a company chooses, it is important to predetermine things such as demographics, audience, and overall reach of different types of videos if a company is unsure about what type of video to make.

To put things in perspective, most corporate videos cost anywhere from $500-$10,000 per finished minute of work, with training videos costing the least ($500-$1500 per finished minute), and high budget video packages costing the most (sometimes close to $20,000 per finished minute).

2. How much your company is willing to spend on a video at a time

These are the next questions to ask in the pre production process that will determine the process of production as well. This is also based upon what was discussed in the above point, for each type of video a company has opportunity to make comes with its own budget. A brief and simple animation with a voiceover that lasts only a minute and a half, for example, will cost decidedly less than a five minute video with a talking head featuring members of the company. This is because an animation requires only software and some storyboarding, while a talking head video requires cameras (a three-camera setup is usually advised), a green screen or backdrop, lighting, and sound recording, not to mention people to run such equipment. Determining this now will save trouble in the future as long as you stick to the proposed budget as closely as possible.

3. The cast and crew

Now we are in the production stage involving the cast and crew of the video. For most companies, the cast may simply involve some of the workers, some of the higher ups, products, or even some animation detailing what their company offers. It could be as simple or as complex as the company in question desires. As for the crew, it depends on skill level and what they can bring to the table equipment-wise. They are also a significant portion of the budget, meaning that choosing the right crew is crucial in order to make the whole video run as smoothly as possible. Some crews charge a lot while doing very little; others charge a fair rate and give the best work they can muster.

Other areas to consider within the budget are hair stylists and makeup artists, catering, extras, etc. Needless to say, even simple video productions add up quickly. Figure a minimum of a third of the overall budget going towards this part of the video making process.

4. Editors, sound, music, and graphics

Editors, sound designers, and music pieces also make up a significant portion of the budget, for they take the raw footage and turn it into fully professional work in post. Because this end of the job takes a lot of time, knowledge of software, and skill to accomplish, finding the right people to do those particular jobs are just as crucial as getting the right cast and crew to make the video shine. This will likely take up another third of the overall budget.

5. Marketing of the video

The final step once the video is solidly made, and everyone has agreed it is complete and ready for people to view, is to market it properly. Some videos, such as training videos made only for the workplace, will not need a whole lot of marketing in the sense of throwing it up on YouTube and using SEO to make it searchable online; the only thing that needs to happen with training videos is getting employees being trained in the areas the video covers to sit and watch it during the workday.

Other videos, however, will likely require a marketing campaign (determined in the pre production stage) that fits the needs of the video and the company. If it is a video ad to be shown online and in television, then the video will be put on the internet as well as given to television stations in a press kit to put on the air and played for a certain length of time. Videos thrown on the internet will need proper key search words attached to it for the purposes of search engine optimization (SEO), which make the video searchable to people browsing the web. Obviously, the marketing for the video matters in the budget, and will take up at least the final third of the budget. Marketing the video properly costs money just the same as the production and post production ends of the budget, and proper marketing will develop the sales leads and reach that your company is going for with the aid of the video.

Again, while video production takes up a lot of time and money for a company depending on the type of video a company wants to produce, this method of getting the company's name out there as well as products and services offered is still incredibly effective, and worth looking into if a company can swing it. YouTube continues to grow as a popular marketing platform for videos of all kinds every day, ads are still plenty relevant, and video in general is a great way to get key points across to people as they watch. In terms of cost, what makes the difference is 1) what type of video a company wishes to produce (as some videos are cheaper than others to make, depending on what the company wants to convey), and 2) what the video requires in the way of cast, crew, editors, and others throughout the process.

So...what sort of video does your company want to make?