Answered : How do I find the best video production company?
5 Items To Keep In Mind To Help You Find The Best Video Production Company for Your Project
You may be asking yourself : How do I find the best video production company for my marketing project ? And we have the answer in 5 easy tips. When looking to find the best video production company for your brand, keep three things in mind : portfolio, reviews and recommendations, pricing, client service, industry awards and recognition.
This blog post continues our client education series, in which we help brand marketers make the right decisions when engaging with production companies. This is the 4th part of the series, and in prior posts we had dealt with how to much to budget for video production, explored the issue of budgeting further to help determine the cost of corporate video. In the latter post, we had even provided a sample email that you can copy and paste when reaching out to evaluate video production companies.
In the case you need to find the best video production company, and are caught searching on the web, here is a simple but efficient guide to help you find the very best.
1. Portfolio
Production companies live and die by their portfolio. You wouldn’t go to get your custom-made wedding suit to someone whose tailoring you haven’t seen. Or whose tailoring you don’t like. You must fall in love with the video production portfolio of the company, you just must. Production companies put out their best work on their sites, and usually, they have culled and sifted everything else they do not want you to see and show you only that which they believe represents their best work. Trust your eyes. If it looks beautiful, sounds beautiful, then very likely your project too will also be beautiful. When deciding between two or three production companies, the easiest way is to have your team hold an instant beauty contest : which of the two portfolios is more beautiful ? The adage of you get what you see holds very true for this industry. A production vendor that has delivered good work before will deliver it again for you, and a vendor that has subpar portfolio – then you best be assured that you will likely end up with subpar results with your own project.
2. Reviews and Recommendations
Another way one can Online reviews have become more and more familiar within the world of professional services, and advertising production is also seeing a shift, with satisfied clients more likely to leave a review or online recommendation than was the case 5 or 10 years ago. As such, reviewing online review sites for the business is good practice. The experience of other clients is likely to be close to your own experience. Many years ago I remember hiring an construction company for a new building. Everything about the team was fantastic, and their online reviews were pretty solid. However, amidst the so many reviews they had online about three people had complained about their lack of transparency when it make to invoices. Mind you, they had almost 300 reviews, and the negative reviews were only three. We went ahead and hired them, and boy oh boy ! Did we just absolutely regret it when the first invoice was sent in. Our own experience was exactly the same as what those three reviewers had said.
3. Pricing
Like most other professional services, production expenses fall mainly into two parts : equipment and wages. When you see that the pricing of one company is too low compared to others in the region, it is fair to question why that is the case. Is it that they are using low, cheap equipment, or is it that their people are inexperienced, and hence, cheaper ? On the flip side, if the pricing is higher than the median price in the region, it would be wise to dig in and find out more. Is it that the equipment is premier and high end, and how exactly would that translate to quality for your project ? Additionally, if the people on the project are expensive, what makes them so ? Are they industry veterans ? Do they bring a certain level of quality assurance ? Do you need that level of assurance for your project scope ? Are you willing to pay a premium for it, or would you be OK with a slightly more affordable director or photographer ? When mulling “How do I find the best video production company” then it is important for you to have those discussions with your production company.
4. Client Service
You likely will be working with your production team very closely until they deliver the campaign. How fast do they respond to emails ? How clear is their communication ? Is their style of working professional ? Do they offer efficient solutions to challenges ? Do you feel like they would go over and beyond ? Did the online reviews mention about their client service, and did you feel like it would match or complement your own team’s style ? Find a production company whose client service you are comfortable with, and hire them.
5. Industry Awards and Recognition
The advertising production industry has several awards and industry recognition benchmarks to help clients answer the question : How do I find the best video production company. Ask your vendor if they have won any awards, and in what fields. Below are some of the most prestigious awards in advertising, and a production company that has achieved some of these means that they are highly recognized for their craft and skill.
- Telly Awards
- Clio Awards
- Digiday Awards
- American Advertising Awards
Sinematic has won 8 Telly Awards in directing, cinematography, editing in several areas including, but not limited to, finance, beauty, wellness and food and beverage. If you are asking yourself : how do I find the best video production company for my project, well, you may be in luck. Email us at production@sinematic.tv to discuss further.