Is video marketing in your future? Working with a digital media company on a video project will bring about a creative edge that more traditional marketing firms simply don’t have. Developing a solid video strategy with a company that understands how to market digital content is a powerful way to get ahead of the competition.
Platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, and other forms of media sharing require a different strategy than traditional marketing and a digital media company tends to have a sense of traditional marketing tactics as well as how to market in the new age using the internet and all the tools it provides.
Our field guide will help you hire the right digital media company for your video project. Since video is an important investment, it’s critical that you find a partner that you can form a long lasting relationship with.
First: Understand what kind of video strategy your company needs
To start: Avoid jumping into creating a video without a plan. It’s inevitably setting yourself and the digital media company up for failure. A well thought out marketing plan for your video creation and distribution is critical to the video’s success. The plan doesn’t have to be finalized, a good digital media company will help with that, but it should include your key performance indicators (KPIs), goals, ideas, and distribution strategy.
A Few Suggested KPIs:
- Increased awareness
- Increased sales
- Increased candidates and applicants
- Decreased training time
Once you’ve got your “goal number” down, it’s time to introduce the plan to key stakeholders and get everyone on board.
Second: Involve Key Stakeholders
Speaking of stakeholders… When you are getting ready to hire a digital media company, it’s crucial that all team members are up to speed with a new video project, including your boss.
If your boss has always stuck to more “prehistoric” marketing methods like cold calling, email, and more traditional forms of advertising, chances are, video will be a foreign concept to them. That’s why you should first understand what outcome your boss might be looking for from digital content. Set a meeting with him or her and lay out your plan from above on what video can provide for your company: Having a few of those KPIs in your back pocket can’t hurt either.
Conclude with showcasing how video doesn’t need to replace traditional marketing efforts, but rather compliments them. Once you have a better understanding of what you boss is looking for from a video company, you can start the hunt.
Third: Do Your Research
Now that your plan is in place, and your stakeholders are prepped, it’s time to find the digital media company that fits your strategy best. Start with video companies in your area, as this will help you keep your budget low.
Once you’ve identified a few companies that fit your needs – do your due diligence and ask each one to provide a few past client references that you can speak to. Here’s a few questions to help frame the conversation:
- Did the company deliver on your expectations for your video needs?
- Did the company go over budget?
- Did you enjoy your experience?
- What did you like most about working with them? Where can they improve?
- Describe the communication before, during, and after the project concluded
- Would you work with this company again?
Based on the answers you get, it’s time to start collecting proposals!
Fourth: Compare Apples to Apples
It’s extremely important to make sure that you’re comparing like proposals. Unless you know your exact budget, be as specific as possible when laying out the details of your video project. That leaves less up to interpretation and establishes an even playing field amongst all bidders. For example, one proposal may not include travel, another may not consider transcripts, etc.
Here are a few often overlooked details to provide production companies that will help the develop comparable proposals:
- Will you require transcripts or Closed Captioning?
- Will there be any travel?
- Do you envision motion graphics?
- Will you need professional talent, or will you use volunteers?
- Do you need to rent a location or buy props?
Okay! Hopefully this all helps! The good news… there’s more where this came from! Continue learning about best practices for developing video for your business. Download our latest ebook: The Fundamental Guide to B2B Video Marketing below…
