If you plan on using video content to further your marketing efforts, then you’ll want to hire a professional video marketing agency. A video marketing agency will produce videos that are vastly superior in quality to those that are produced by amateurs or DIY-ers.
Not every video marketing agency is the same, and it’s massively beneficial to work with the right one. To ensure that your video content is produced professionally and is effective at achieving your goals, you’ll need to do a little bit of research and compare different video marketing agencies in the New Jersey area.
The following are 10 questions that you should be sure to ask each video marketing agency that you interview:
1. How much experience do you have?
Ask how long the company has been in business and what kind of experience its crew has. The longer they’ve been around, the better. It means everybody is used to working with one another and that the process will most likely go smoothly.
2. What kinds of companies do you work with?
This will give you a good idea of what they are capable of, content wise. It may also mean that they’ll have a number of samples and completed projects that you can relate to.
3. Do you have any references?
Testimonials can help you assess a video marketing agency based on the feedback provided by past or current clients. Ask if the agency can share a few contacts with you so that you can and ask additional questions and get direct feedback from others who have worked with the agency.
4. How many projects can you handle at any given time?
Not only should you ask how many different projects they can juggle at once, but also how many they typically complete at a time. Depending on your needs, you may not feel comfortable working with a company that can only handle two or three projects at a time.
5. What is your creative process like?
By asking about their creative process, you’ll get an idea of how they go about creating video content and whether or not they have a blueprint that they follow. The last thing you want is to work with a company that does the same basic thing for every client they work with – you’ll want a company that takes your brand’s messaging in consideration and that molds its ideas based on your unique needs.
6. What are your in-house capabilities?
A video marketing agency that performs production in-house is much more desirable than one that outsources all facets of production. First of all, it typically helps costs be used more efficiently. It also helps ensure that communication is fluid, and that projects move along without too much distance between the crew members contributing to the project.
7. What is your pre-production process like?
There are some agencies that agree to show up on a filming date and completely overlook the pre-production phase. A good pre-production process should include the creation of shot lists, careful scheduling, and at times storyboards and rehearsals, in order to ensure that everything goes smoothly. An agency that takes its pre-production process seriously will typically deliver a much better product.
8. How long is your typical production cycle?
The time it takes to produce a video will vary depending on various factors, from the number of locations required to the length of the video itself. However, an agency should be able to give you an accurate estimate on how long their production cycles usually take depending on some of these factors. This is information that you can use to compare agencies.
9. What kind of equipment and software do you use?
Equipment doesn’t mean everything, but it does mean something. After all, a video shot on a professional camera is going to look a lot better than a video shot on a smartphone. Ask about the type of equipment they are using, such as camera equipment, lenses, sound equipment, editing equipment and lighting. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know anything about different types of lenses or the various brand names; an agency that is willing to take the time to educate you is likely worth trusting.
10. How will you work with us?
Find out how the agency will work with you in order to determine what your needs are. Agencies that don’t work closely with their clients might as well be producing video content on an assembly line, which means it won’t be unique to your brand. Ask them how big of a part you’ll play in the production process and how they handle your input.
By asking these ten questions, you’ll be able to get a clear sense of how capable a video marketing agency is, and whether they will be a good fit for your business’ video marketing goals.
