Find the Right Chicago Video Production Company To Realize Your Creative Vision
Video can be a great way to supplement your marketing plan and define your organization’s identity and voice. It’s important to choose a high-quality company to take the lead on your video project so your customers or stakeholders appreciate and engage with your marketing efforts. Not all Chicago production companies are the same, so you need to do your research to find the right match. These tips can help you locate the best video production company to take on your project.
Set a Budget
Before going out and looking for a production company, you need to set a budget for your project. Some professionally shot videos can be produced for a little over a thousand dollars, but if you want a high-quality production, you may need to set your allocation higher than that. Determine your overall marketing budget and set aside a portion of your costs for a video project. Shorter videos that don’t involve any special effects or location shooting cost much less than grand productions that involve multiple components.
Define Your Company’s Goals
The next step on the list before moving forward with a project is to define the goals of your organization. The company’s leaders must come to a consensus on the purpose of the video project. A good marketing company can produce better results if you have defined your objectives and understand where you want to go with this undertaking. For businesses that produce goods or services for consumers, the goal needs to be narrower than simply increasing business. Focus on marketing for a specific product or service or consider showcasing a particular aspect of your organization.
Check Out the Work of Each Contender
Once you have a better idea of what you want from your video project, you can go out and look for Chicago production companies to help reach your objectives. Before meeting with a video producer, ask for a link to the company’s portfolio or reel of its previous work. Watch the video programs the company has produced before and focus especially on creative ventures for businesses that are similar to yours. If you like the examples, you should continue to ask questions and get more details about how the process works. If a production company declines to provide a portfolio, this may be a sign that it doesn’t have the experience or capabilities to handle your project.
Compare to Other Chicago Production Companies
Shopping around for a marketing video producer in Chicago means you’ll encounter quite a few companies and production houses. In this large metro area, there may be many talented video production enterprises that create engaging, award-winning work to generate marketing results. Compare the company you’re considering to other production businesses in the area. See what makes each organization unique and take note of the exceptional characteristics of the work designed.
Understand the Project Management Process
Besides evaluating the creative product and video quality for individual production agencies, it’s also vital to find out the company’s project management process. While it is great to have a video that goes viral and attracts attention, the organization producing it must have a cohesive and logical process used to create it. Get more details about how each video task is handled before signing with any production company. Look for agencies that assign a dedicated project manager to each client. This person should be the point of contact who communicates with your organization throughout the entire production process. If possible, ask to speak to the potential project manager and ask some questions about how the company works to get a preview of what your production process may be like. At this point, it’s also helpful to ask for references and contact former clients to get information about the customer experience.
Solicit Input About Marketing Approaches
For a marketing video, it’s also a good idea to learn more about the organization’s marketing philosophy for clients and how it approaches the videos. Check out the company’s history and see if it has ever produced any noteworthy viral video projects. Understand its creative focus and its experience sharing content to social media. One way to get some insight into the production company’s approach to marketing is to check out its own promotional campaigns for video services. Look at its social media strategies on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and review its own marketing videos to see if they are effective and engaging.
Evaluate Professionalism
Throughout your discussions and contacts with different production companies, you should also assess their professionalism. Make a note if a producer contacts you right away when you call to ask questions rather than waiting days or weeks to return your call. Take into consideration how open and friendly the staff is with you during the initial discussions. Check out reviews online to see if there is any negative feedback about the company. Additionally, ask around in your industry to see what kind of reputation each organization has before booking it.
Research Qualifications
The last important step before choosing the right video production company for your marketing project is to review the qualifications of the entire organization. A quality video production company should have talented people on its staff who can handle the tasks associated with innovative marketing. Look for individuals who have a role in each part of the creative process. There should be ample administrative staff to help with the planning and project management aspects of your undertaking. Next, individuals with directing or producing experience in commercial video production should be part of the team. There should also be skilled camera operators who have experience with different types of shooting styles and locations. The company should partner with casting agencies to help fill roles for actors or actresses in the video. Finally, an in-house editing studio and capable staff should be ready to perform the post-production duties.
Ready to start your project with one of the top Chicago production companies? At MatchPoint Studio, we can help businesses achieve their marketing goals with high-quality video productions. Contact us today to let us take on your next creative video project.
