Consultant’s Corner: Creating a Company Video

When should a business owner create a company video, and how much does it cost to create such a video?

The reasons to have marketing videos on business websites and other web pages vary based on the business products and services and other factors. To help determine if online marketing videos may be effective for your business situation, you can review and consider industry articles and suggestions like the following, which discuss these common factors:

Advantages of Video Marketing

1. Creating a corporate or promotional video makes your website more engaging to visitors, and gives you an easy way to strongly emphasize the call to action you have in place, improving your conversion rate.
2. When website visitors encounter a lot of text, many will naturally skip over it or only skim through the information. But they are more likely to watch and retain the information if you present it in a short video.
3. You have a lot of control over how you present and deliver the information you include in your video, including the visual style, any effects, what text you put on screen, etc.
4. Videos give you great communication flexibility. You can present things in many different ways, like stories, lists, or illustrations.
5. If you post your video on YouTube, you can use Video SEO (VSEO) to optimize it to improve rankings in search results and be found both on Google and YouTube search.
6. Certain types of videos, such as testimonials, bestow credibility on your company beyond simple promotionals.

Potential Problems

1. While a well-produced video can yield great benefits, having a poorly executed video can be worse than not having one at all, weakening your brand and reputation.
2. If your video is poorly integrated into your website, it can harm the use experience and cause negative impacts on many of your analytics, such as the bounce rate, time on sate, page views, etc.
3. A video that is too long may lose viewers’ attention. A video that is not well-targeted and concise can leave viewers uncertain what the message is, and unsure what to do next, and they may simply stop watching if they cannot see the point reasonably quickly.
4. Autoplaying videos creates a poor user experience for anyone who visits your site frequently (especially if it begins with loud or distracting audio).
5. Make sure your site and video are optimized for mobile

https://www.omnivisiondesign.com/pros-and-cons-of-video-on-your-website/

https://www.adspeed.com/Blog/pros-cons-online-video-advertising-1712.html

http://www.toprankblog.com/2015/03/video-content-marketing/

Online video production costs

Inexpensive video cameras and devices like smartphones have made video production affordable for many small businesses. You would have to evaluate whether videos you may produce yourself will have the sound and look quality that you desire. The following are general comments and considerations to help determine how you may want to approach video production for your business website or other distribution channels:

1. Video production. One basic consideration may be your budget or affordability. If you can afford professional services, you are typically better off hiring someone because the quality, sound, lighting, and framing will be better than if you do it on your phone. However, if you have an HD recorder like a GoPro or comparable camera to shoot your own videos, that approach will typically give better quality than using a phone device. As to background, it is common to use a plain wall for a background and it is easier for an amateur editor to not deal with background post production. Also, you can research the green screen/chroma key background for shooting and editing as an option like this example: http://www.chroma-key.com/. The most important production elements are a stable camera and good sound in order to maintain the green screen color (no wrinkles or shadows) and to have the green screen lit evenly.
2. Video costs. The budget for a 2-3 minute video would typically be in the $1,000 – $1,500 range to have an outside professional just edit the video footage that you shoot. The cost range would typically be $2,500 to $3,500 to have a professional shoot and edit the video, though the costs could be higher depending on the scope of the production and the particular professional or firm. Generally, you would want to obtain price quotes from a few professional videographers that you identify in order to compare services and prices and select the best service for your situation.
3. Professional video editing. You could probably find a professional freelance video editor through industry resources like upwork.com, but a qualified video editor may also be available through your local print and online business directories.
4. Online video presentation. In our experience, Vimeo has a more professional look for embedding branding and promotional videos on a website, but YouTube is more widely used, which may be a consideration if your goal is to attract as many viewers as possible.