Pre Production: Your Video Budget
It’s your money. And right now whether it’s personal or corporate funds, people have become more discretionary in their approach to spending valuable dollars. Even in uncertain economic times, there is a need for businesses to continue to market their products or services. This helps to maintain your market-share and continues to establish and reinforce your brand with your customer base. With these economic times, your marketing efforts may not be as broad or as deep, but they are imperative in maintaining your corporate “face” in your respective industry.
Visual media – like videos – are great ways for a company to market their products and services, and can be very efficient and economical vehicles to carry a message to a targeted audience. Videos also allow the opportunity to multi-purpose the footage across a variety of media platforms, which enhances the message and further stretches the dollars spent. In order to do that effectively, a company needs to be aware of what they are able to spend and develop a budget.
In the video industry, there is an adage that provides the “ball park” figure of what a video program/project should cost a company. Generally, the industry standard is $1,000 per finished minute of a program. So, if a company wants to develop a 5 minute corporate overview or branding video, this formula would indicate that the budget should lie somewhere in the $5,000 range. This is a great way to gain a sense of what you may need to spend based on the concept of your video, but it doesn’t always tell the whole story. Not every 90-minute movie cost the same. There are external factors that certainly can impact this logic. Multiple location shoots, travel expenditures, professional talent, outside professional services and other incidentals can affect that final budget number even though the final program running time will remain the same.
It’s imperative to have a good grasp of the video’s purpose. At PentaVision, we pride ourselves on developing solid proposals that align with our client’s budgetary needs, as well as mirror their marketing strategy to fully ensure the total respect of the project’s objectives and its budget.
It’s obvious that we live in a visual world and that people respond to the visual message. Videos can have a vital role in your company’s overall marketing efforts and dynamics. Having a secure grasp on what you are able to spend is one of the first steps you need to think about and establish. You’ll be surprised by how much you can produce with a lot of thought and a little money.
