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What Should You Charge for Videographer in Michigan

We explain how to assess how much your video services are worth to potential clients, including equipment, travel expenditures, and the editing process.

By QamriPublished 2 years ago 5 min read
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What Should You Charge for Videographer in Michigan

We explain how to assess how much your video services are worth to potential clients, including equipment, travel expenditures, and the editing process. So now you're here. You've attended film school (or do your homework by studying internet resources and YouTube lessons). You're an expert in your field. You've got your camera. You've reached your stuff. You're ready to start working on actual, paying projects in film and product video production.

But how Much do you Charge?

If you ask around (and even go online), you're sure to get a variety of replies. Furthermore, for better or worse, many clients may tell you ahead of time how much your skills are worth. (I'm hoping they don't just say "exposed!")

The actual response, though, is personal. So here's how you can start calculating it. And while this guide will be helpful, it may not be accurate. But, on the other hand, that's a good thing since it'll help you figure out your exact worth and how to articulate it to potential clients.

What Is the Value of Your Time?

This is the most critical variable, and it varies from person to person. Finally, if you embark on a project and spend hours, days, or weeks with a customer, you need to know how much your time is worth.

Your time should be valuable to you. Your time reflects all of the hard work you've put in thus far — studying your craft and improving your skill-set — but it also symbolizes all of the other piece, growth, and leisure opportunities you're preceding by taking on a job.

According to estimates, I've heard, a good video expert might expect to earn around $600 per day. Work periods are often divided into full- or half-day engagements (e.g., $600 complete or $300 half). However, those figures may be perplexing, and individuals may mistakenly believe they include items like cameras, gear, travel, and costs (which they should not - more on that below).

What Is The Price Of Your Camera?

Many videographers in today's professional video industry must offer their camera and equipment for projects. This is all good for most people, but unfortunately, it frequently results in employment agreements that disregard the worth of the equipment. It's almost as if we're all expected to exist organically with thousands of dollars in equipment that has miraculously paid for itself.

If you're doing video work that needs you to provide your camera and equipment, you should factor that into your charge. Looking out the cost of renting a camera from a corporate video production company or agency is one of the possible ways to establish a reasonable rate to charge for your cameras.

This is also useful since you can provide this URL to your client to illustrate how much your equipment is worth. (You may also need to operate this way if you don't own a camera or require a specific one that you don't possess.)

Money You Put Into Your Gear

Along with a camera, you'll need to develop pricing that matches the rest of your including equipment. If your customer requests anything special, such as audio recording or professional lighting settings, you have every right to add the expenses of the necessary equipment. Price it as though you were renting it.

However, if your customer is ambiguous or looking to work cheaply, don't be shocked if your client refuses to pay for your excellent three-point lighting setup or a new fancy drone for some images. Instead, prepare to explain why you'll require various pieces of equipment.

The Price of Editing (and Revisions)

It's critical to value your time at the computer if you're working on a project that involves both filming and editing (or just editing). However, when numerous editing efforts are subjected to a baseline pricing for a "video edit," the effects are unpleasant.

While you must make those deals on occasion, they can quickly devalue your hourly rate — and subject you to endless revisions. So charging by the hour is the most excellent option.

I've seen rates ranging from $25 to $75 per hour for simple Premiere Pro editing assignments. You can be flexible, but the best approach to ensuring fair compensation is honest about your project-specific objectives. Even making a slight change and exporting a fresh draught can take an hour since your computer must render, and you are stuck twiddling your thumbs.

How Long Should a Video Be?

Most videos should be roughly two minutes long; however, the optimum video length varies depending on where you distribute or embed it. Again, each station has its advice.

Most video marketing services should be no more than two minutes long. First, make a sales outreach video less than 60 seconds long if possible. Generally, however, every given video's duration depends on the use case, channel, industry, and position in the marketing and sales funnel. The sooner the stage, the shorter the stage. The later, the better. There are guidelines for practically every imaginable case listed below.

• All business-related videos have an average duration of little more than six minutes.

• The bulk of videos (60%) are under 2 minutes.

• Only 3% of corporate videos are between 10 and 20 minutes long.

• The average duration of videos over 20 minutes increased by 66 percent in 2020, indicating a growing emphasis on longer-form instructional content, such as on-demand webinars.

• If a business-related video is shorter than 60 seconds long, 58 percent of viewers will watch it all the way through.

• Only 24% will watch a video that is longer than 20 minutes.

• 59.9 percent said that a too-long video would discourage them from viewing it.

• Facebook suggests that small companies attempt to keep films as short as 15 seconds. According to them, 47 percent of the value in a video is provided in the first three seconds.

• On Instagram, videos with an average length of 26 seconds attract the most comments.

The duration of the video is determined by the film's ultimate purpose, the funnel stage of the target viewer, and the viewer's level of interest and commitment to you. Also, keep in mind that the number of views does not always equate to success. Richer metrics like signups, conversions, pipeline, and revenue can assess video success.

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About the Creator

Qamri

Expert and Experienced in SEO - PPC & SEM - Over 6 years of experience in core Website Marketing and Digital Marketing.

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