There are numerous video production agencies, But not all of them are necessarily good choices for collaboration. The question is how to find the perfect company that can produce excellent videos and whose work aligns with your brand’s image and needs.
In this blog, we’ll explore this topic and provide a comprehensive answer to this query.
Let’s dive into practical tips for identifying suitable candidates.
Consider These Factors When Choosing a Video Production Company
Several aspects must be assessed to determine whether a video production agency is a good choice. Make a checklist of the following areas to ensure you outsource the process to a capable company.
Experience and expertise within the same industry or type of video
In the first step, you should ensure that the chosen company can create what you want. If not, remove the name from the candidate’s list and proceed to assess other options.
Note that various video forms require different skill sets. Therefore, if you want to create videos in a specific format, confirm that the team has the needed expertise and tools.
Additionally, working for diverse businesses in different industries requires handling different challenges. Ask yourself if the company you’re evaluating fits your industry well.
In addition to technical expertise, the more experience the company has in your specific line of work, the better. Because they already have experience creating videos that help businesses of your kind achieve their objectives effectively.
It’s recommended that you scrutinize their previous works and determine whether the quality of their outcomes is what you seek.
So, expertise and experience should be the first factors you consider when evaluating candidates. If everything is okay, you can go to the next factor.
Portfolio and Past Works
The most determining action you can take is to examine each candidate’s portfolio and previous projects closely and with a keen eye.
When you want to hire a specialist in your firm, you’ll ask for their resume. Reviewing the video production company’s portfolio is the same and crucial. By doing this, you’ll get information on their creativity level, the style of video in which they’re perfect, former businesses they have worked with, etc.
In the previous section, we discussed the importance of ensuring that the chosen company has the required expertise and experience. Reviewing portfolios can help you reach the right conclusion about this.
When assessing their past work, try to find answers to these questions:
- Do they offer the quality you’re seeking?
- Have they worked with businesses in your industry before?
- Can they produce the type of video you desire?
- How is their performance regarding storytelling with proper visuals and sounds?
- Do they excel in creating various video types, or are they only good in one or two areas?
- How creative are they? Are all their works similar, or can you see significant differences?
Reputable companies often have extensive previous work on their resumes, which allows you to spend time and consider their capabilities carefully.
However, newer firms with thinner resumes can sometimes be future gems you’re lucky to find in their early days.
While newer firms can indeed be innovative and cost-effective, businesses should carefully evaluate their capabilities, team experience, and available resources before committing. Established firms with a proven track record may be safer choices for high-budget or critical projects.
One final warning: don’t be deceived by one or two high-quality pieces of work. Instead, look for consistency across all samples to ensure the agency is worth collaborating with.
Pricing and Budget Considerations
Your budget is a determining factor when looking for video production services. Naturally, the more your brand can afford, the more opportunities are available to seize.
Therefore, it is crucial to research each candidate’s pricing plans. If you can’t afford to collaborate with one of them, its name should be erased from the list.
Different companies charge different rates based on portfolio, experience, expertise, etc. Additionally, various types of videos have different costs. For example, CGI advertising with high-quality visuals is usually more expensive than more traditional ones.
It’s important to be transparent about your budget for this purpose. Otherwise, you’ll encounter several challenges since providing more money is difficult.
Instead of expecting no additional fees, businesses should ensure that the company provides a detailed breakdown of costs and a clear contract outlining how additional charges (e.g., for extra revisions or scope changes) will be handled. Transparency in pricing is key, but flexibility is also important.
Ask for everything related to expenses directly. What services do they offer in exchange for a determined price? Scripting, filming, editing, and what else? How many revisions are included without extra charges?
Lastly, the quality of their work should be checked to align with the price they charge for their services. It’s not guaranteed that paying more means receiving higher quality. However, it’s best always to review the unusually cheap ones suspiciously.
Production Quality and Creativity
Although we discussed the importance of assessing quality and creativity earlier, this section is dedicated to reviewing them in depth.
You should definitely collaborate with a corporate video production agency that delivers the highest-quality work. The higher the quality, the easier it is to achieve the predetermined goals you hope to achieve through videos.
Quality must be measured from multiple angles. First and foremost, check the visuals and audio of their previous work in their portfolio. Can you spot any problems, or are they flawless in every way? Are the sounds in the videos clear? What about editing? Is it superb, in the middle, or not what you expect?
Once you have ensured that the company can produce excellent visuals with the best sound possible, proceed to the next stage of quality measurement and assess their storytelling capability. How creative is the team? Are stories captivating and attractive? Since your brand aims to narrate a specific story with the video, this ability must be assessed carefully to understand the firm’s creativity level.
Check if they pay attention to minor details, storytelling, scenario, color grading, brand tone of voice, etc. Transitions must be smooth, and animation should be designed with attention to the most minor details. This will allow you to receive the highest-quality work.
And, of course, the company you want to work with must be able to create a video that aligns with your branding principles.
Checking portfolios will help you learn about candidates’ quality and creativity. Put yourself in the shoes of the video’s target audience to see whether the video is engaging and impactful. If yes, you’re assessing a highly likely candidate to be your final choice.
Client Testimonials and Reviews
When you want to go to a new restaurant, you’ll check reviews written about it on various platforms. Also, when you want to go to a cinema and watch a movie, you’ll probably see opinions from those who have already watched it. So, studying reviews and testimonials of previous clients of a video production company you’re evaluating for partnership makes sense.
Reviews and testimonials are great sources to gather information about each candidate’s reputation and work quality.
A company can claim many things, but are they honest? Reviews will help ensure this. It’s natural that a company only highlights its strengths, while you can acknowledge its weak points by studying its past clients’ opinions and experiences. As a result, we strongly recommend you take this assessment stage seriously, to not fall for probable false claims.
No agency has 100 percent satisfaction, so don’t waste time looking for an agency with this unrealistic property. Instead, check the overall satisfaction rate.
Communication and Collaboration Process
When outsourcing video production to professional agencies, you and your team must stay closely connected to the team making your video. This will ensure that the outcome perfectly matches your needs and the brand’s image. Moreover, flawless collaboration between parties is crucial to smoothly managing every stage of the process.
Remember that any misunderstanding can lead to a colossal disaster. No one likes a video that not only fails to accomplish determined milestones but damages the brand’s image severely.
During the evaluation phase, when trying your best to find the best video production agency, check their willingness to take your feedback. Do they consider your concerns and are loyal to the core brief? More importantly, can they understand what you want and implement your requirements correctly?
The good fit must be transparent and keep you informed regularly. You and your representatives must be immediately notified of any changes or unpredicted obstacles.
Ensure the company has an open line of contact with its clients. An agency that makes it difficult to find its representative when necessary is not an ideal choice.
Let us emphasize that the chosen firm must be open to criticism and feedback since you want the video to be the best and serve your marketing and advertising goals well.
Making high-quality videos requires the latest equipment and the newest post-production software. Hence, ensure that the company you’re considering working with has the needed infrastructure to deliver a video that meets the latest standards.
While access to modern technology is a plus, businesses should prioritize the team’s expertise, creativity, and ability to tell compelling stories. Technology is a tool, not a guarantee of quality.
There is a direct relation between the quality of the video and the technology and expert human resources utilized to make it, which can’t be neglected. Besides, newer technology allows for unleashing creativity and creating stunning visuals.
Although using newer technologies means the firm will charge you more, if money is not a problem, it is definitely worth it.
These are the factors to consider when finding the best video production company. They will help you make the best decision.
Now, let’s explore some red flags that indicate you should stop thinking about signing a partnership with that firm when you encounter them.
Red Flags to Avoid When Hiring a Video Production Company
Any of these signs indicate that the candidate is a poor choice and collaborating with them is a disastrous decision:
- Vague Pricing: Lack of transparency regarding services’ prices leads to unexpected costs that may cause your business trouble in providing the money.
- Insufficient Communication Channels: Without consistent communication between the business and the video production company, misunderstandings that lead to inappropriate outcomes are likely.
- Unimpressive and Bad Portfolio: Companies that can’t prove their experience and skills with a good portfolio can probably not create astonishing videos for your brand.
- Too Eager to Sign the Partnership: If you feel the firm’s representative is urging you to finalize your decision or they are so pushy, this can be a warning sign. A reputable company will balance enthusiasm with professionalism and respect for the client’s decision-making process.
- Unorganized Structure: A good company is expected to have an organized system that can efficiently take accountability for your request. Companies that are not organized can’t explain the creation process clearly, and by choosing them, you’ll put your money, reputation, and time in danger.
- Unrealistic Claims: Too good to be true? For example, if the candidate’s agent argues that the video they make will increase your sales up to 100 percent, despite the logical reasoning, say good luck and walk away. Businesses should be wary of any claims that seem too good to be true, whether they relate to sales, timelines, or creative outcomes. A reputable company will set realistic expectations and provide evidence (e.g., case studies) to support their claims.
- Not Accepting Revisions and Feedback: In all probability, the video you receive for the first time will need adjustments to become what you expected. As a result, those companies that aren’t open to feedback and don’t accept revisions are bad choices with which to collaborate.
- Poor Online Presence: Lastly, trusting a company that has not updated its official website for a long time is indeed challenging. Being active on the Internet proves that you’re assessing an up-to-date agency that is well aware of the newest trends and can produce a video that achieves marketing and advertising goals. Of course Some reputable agencies may rely on word-of-mouth or niche markets without a strong digital footprint but there are few and far between.
This is all you should know to select the best corporate video production company. Let’s wrap up the blog.
Still Searching for the Perfect Fit?
At Dream Farm Agency, we specialize in creating animated and CGI videos for our clients. Our experienced professionals have a variety of completed projects across different industries and are ready to create videos for your next campaign.
You can see our rich portfolio and work to rest assured of the highest quality possible, which we achieve by using cutting-edge technology and thanks to the creative minds of our team members.
If you have any questions, contact us, and we’ll discuss how we can help you.
Nikan
