A step-by-step guide to managing an animated video project for your organisation.
The age old question of "How much will it cost? is always a tricky one and whilst you can take a scientific approach to it and look at S curves and all sorts of mathematical models to work out the optimum amount to spend on your animated video project, applying some common sense is often the best decision.
Underspending could leave you with a video that damages your brand, whilst overspending might deprive you of returns and then less of a budget to do much else!
So how do you know how much you should spend?
If cost is preventing you from using video then perhaps it is the perception of cost rather than the price tag itself?
If you go for a short filmed video of say 60 seconds then it is likely to cost you around the £2,000 mark and often much more when you account for additional extras of backing music, voiceover artists, location costs and travel let alone the cost of your staff's time and possibly even starring in the footage too. We all know that this can be another stressful time consuming factor and also not all of your employees behave the same in front of the camera as they do relaxed in an office environment - and can display that 'caught in the headlights' issue! Even the best public speakers can behave differently once the camera starts rolling!
Animated video can also come in at a similar price level and can be much more especially if it is stop motion or something very technical or time consuming but it has the advantages of not being weather dependent (rather useful in the UK!), has often a quicker turnaround and the ability to amend post production and the ability to change your message at a later date as well as all the other advantages that we have outlined in an earlier blog post.
So rather than how much should you spend? How about WHY should I spend?
59% of senior executives would rather watch a video than read text (Forbes Insight)
76% of executives watch business videos at least once a week, including 40% who view them daily (Cisco)
Where a web page has video, 60% of visitors will click to watch the videos before ever reading a word (PageWiz)
Video definitely needs to be part of your marketing and educating pot - ensure therefore that you find a price that works for you and that your supplier will work with you to ensure that the content can be reused or repurposed as stills etc to offer a joined up campaign - ensure they understand the big picture and if they don't then consider an alternative vendor without delay!
Do also ensure that your story is worked up and clear then all the effort you put into video production will pay off and of course ensure that the investment is only part of it - distribution, repurposing etc are all part of the other costs associated with video production - so make sure you have a budget for this too.
Like all investments - if the return is there then it is definitely worth investing but spend time building up a relationship with your vendor and see how best to use your money and gain real value from your video project.
Now you are ready to tackle other strategic issues - so do read on to the next blog post in this series - “Getting buy-in...”