Corporate Video Production Service Pricing Isn’t One Size Fits All

Obviously one of the first questions we receive when it comes to producing a corporate video is, “how much does it cost!” Well, before you make any investment with any corporate video production company, you need to check out the company’s work, by viewing their portfolio of corporate video samples,  if the company doesn’t do great work, than it’s not worth paying anything for it! Sure, if you search the net enough, you’ll probably find a low-budget provider, but your video will most likely appear low-budget too. This is probably not the best option if you’re serious about your brand.

Unfortunately, there’s not a clear cut answer to the question of how much does a corporate video production cost. Truth be told, it can cost as much or as little  as your budget allows. Numerous considerations are factored into the cost of your corporate video production, For instance, what will the length of your video be? Does it require multiple actors? Do you need specific formats of the video? Does it require effects, graphics and background music or voice-over?

While there’s no cut and dry answer to the question “how much?”, here’s 6 factors to consider (ranked in order of importance to the overall quality of the video) to consider when investing in the right corporate video production company for your brand.

1. Corporate Video Production & Marketing Expertise. Doctors, mechanics, lawyers, videographers… whatever profession you care to mention, experience and expertise matters more than any other factor and, all things being equal, you do tend to get what you pay for. There are a lot of moving parts in the creation of a video but at the end of the day you are paying for the expertise and experience of the key people responsible for your video. You can hire a recent film school graduate and cross your fingers and hope for the best, or rely on a top flight video veteran!
2. Concept / Script / Storyboard – Doing video for the sake of video is a waste of money! What measurable business objective are you trying to achieve? How is this video specifically going to achieve that objective? And of greatest importance, do the people creating your video have the experience or guidance to create a video that will help move your business forward? Lighting, sound, framing and editing are all important but they don’t matter in the least if what you are creating has no value to your intended audience. Like companies that spend $10,000 on website development and little or no money on content for the site, many companies waste a lot of money on beautifully shot but otherwise meaningless video without a company that provides the proper concept, script and storyboard.
3. Length of the Video. The longer the video the more it is likely to cost. Web videos tend to be around a couple of minutes although this varies considerably depending on the type and purpose of your video. Filming a 30 second commercial is certainly different than a 3 or 5 minute video.
4. Actors/Presenters. Do you need to hire professional presenters, actors or models to improve the quality of your presentation? Not everyone is good on camera. You may need to make difficult decisions about who should represent your company. In a broadcast commercial quite often it is not someone in your company. Even in a corporate video you may decide that hiring outside talent is the best decision.
5. Editing/Graphics. The editing process is highly nuanced. Editing is where you create the style and substance of the video – you sequence all of the available assets into a cohesive story that communicates your key messages in a clear and engaging manner. Some videos require simple graphic elements and some videos are completely animated – the entire video is animation. Once again this varies depending on the complexity for the required project.
6. Set, props, equipment, extras. Aside from video production equipment are there other special props or pieces of equipment that need to be included?

So, what’s the bottom line on how much a corporate video production should cost? Well, there’s no cut and dry answer as you can see, as it varies depending upon numerous factors. If you really want to get the production quality, style and desired result you’re looking for, it’s far better to present the video production company with a reference video to compare to, and say: “How much would something like ‘this’ cost, or here’s my budget, here are my business objectives, what can you do for me?” Corporate video production services are usually customized to the client’s needs, goals and budget – very much like if you were building a custom home.

We offer a free initial Discovery Session, so we can learn about the purpose of your video (web commercial, product demo, sales, etc.) as well as review your goals and objectives of your video, and creative element requirements in order to provide you with video that will achieve your desired result.