What to ask before starting a video project

Before starting your video production it’s helpful to ask yourself a few key questions that will maximize your funds and help you to create a video with a strong ROI. It might feel overwhelming, but if you take it one step at a time everything will fall into place. Start with these questions, and then you’ll be ready to really get started.

Ask: What’s my video strategy?

A video strategy is how you plan on getting your video seen. This step is often overlooked yet is crucial. We often get clients who have heard that they need a video, but haven’t put any thought into how to drive traffic to that video. Don’t falsely assume that putting it on Youtube is enough. Consider using videos as a part of social media ad campaigns, on landing pages, as email attachments, or a combination. Can you just put it on your website? Of course, but remember that you’ll need to be driving traffic to your website in order to get eyes on your masterpiece. Your budget will determine how much of this strategy you can outsource and how much you’ll need to do internally. If you need to do it on your own, don’t underestimate what you can gather from a quick Google search. Also—don’t be afraid to ask for help. Talk to people you know who use online marketing already or try talking to some agencies to get valuable insights into how to implement your strategy.

Ask: What is my budget?

Starting a project without any sense of budget is a recipe for disaster. Videos are like weddings these days: you can spend and spend and spend unless you limit yourself to a number. It’s best to have this budget in mind before approaching a video company. Remember—knowledge is power. Research standard video costs in your area. If a video company knows your budget they’ll sometimes be willing to negotiate or include services they wouldn’t normally in a blind quote. If you’re a not-for-profit organization, make sure they know. Some companies will be more lenient for those organizations.

Ask: Can we repurpose footage to maximize the investment?

You’ll get the best bang for your buck when if you can find multiple purposes for your video. Use it on your website, at conferences, and even as an email attachment. Sometimes one video won’t smoothly translate across different platforms. To get around this you can make different versions of the same video, which will cost less than paying someone to make multiple videos or be creative and repurpose footage in other ways. Consider chopping the video up into smaller pieces and using these snippets as video previews on your social media channels. Pull still photos from the video. Making an educational video? Take out the audio and consider making a podcast. The creative opportunities are endless.

Ask: What’s my timeline?

Have a timeline in mind for your video, and expect whomever you hire to stick to it. Sometimes things will come up that derail a timeline, but your video team should be experienced enough bring the project back on time—unless the wait is on your end. Think your timeline is too quick? It might be, but bring it up anyway. Most video companies are used to rush jobs and can find a way to make it work.

Now you’re ready!

By putting a little thought into your project you’re bound to get the most out of it. Now get going—make your video, it’s gonna be worth it.