How To Make A Small Business Video in Mississauga

Do you run a small business in Mississauga? Your goal, as is the goal of every business, is to expand, improve and flourish. There are many different approaches you can take to do this depending on the nature of your operation and it is understandably difficult to decide what’s best, especially because this often involves investing some of your hard earned profits. The one thing that is universal though is that most businesses need the Internet to improve their standing. But how do you stand out in the busiest of busy platforms? Even if you do manage to stand out, how do you manage to articulate quickly, clearly and concisely your message to customers and/or potential customers? The answer is video.

More than two thirds of Internet traffic is driven by video and this number is expected to go up to 80% by 2019. Therefore video is not only important for bringing people to your site but also to get your message across in the best way possible and in the quickest time possible. People’s attention span online is short and distracted so it’s important to be sharp. Video is the best medium to achieve this.

Small Business Video In Mississauga

Ok so you know you need to make some savvy videos for your website in order to promote your business in Mississauga. You want to make one video that explains your business, one that showcases your best selling product and a customer testimony. Where to begin? Well you have made a start. You have identified the number of videos you want and their purpose. Next you need to decide if you going to make it yourself or outsource it. Lets look at just a few of the headline pros and cons for each.

An In-house production

Pros

Cost- Without a doubt the biggest advantage of producing videos yourself is the amount of money you will save because making high-end video takes time and money.

Ownership- It’s your project from start to finish. You can create a video and change it as many times as you want or if you don’t like it, throw it in the trash and start again.

Cons

Time- Making video is surprisingly time consuming. The planning, story development, shot selection, editing and the actual filming all take a lot of time.

Equipment- You either use the video function on your camera and free editing software on your computer or you have to spend A LOT of cash on professional equipment.

Outsourcing

Pros

Quality- This is the biggest fundamental reason to outsource your video production needs. You can easily tell if a video has been created by professionals, or not, and the quality of what is on screen will reflect your business. You know what it is like when you land on a poor website, you immediately discredit that company.

Creativity- If you need video in Mississauga you will know exactly what you need in terms of content but being able to communicate your message in a creative way takes talent and experience.

Value – Outsourcing video production offers a fresh perspective for your brand/product. More value for your money usually comes with using a professional video production company. Professionals bring in specialized knowledge and expertise from working with other brands in the market. Since a video would be the first point of contact for the end customer it is essential to position the brand/product effectively, thats when the expertise of a professional comes into play. Lastly, outsourcing video production gives you access to the latest equipment and technology the industry has to offer resulting in superior quality and expertise.

Cons

Cost- I know we mentioned this as a con for keeping video production in-house but it’s worth reiterating it under the cons to hiring professionals. Creating high-end and effective video isn’t cheap but at the end of the day you get what you pay for. It’s worth referring to this article for more cost information.

So if you decide to outsource, a production company will meet with you to tie down a brief and then set about creating that video for you. You will then be invited to review the content and suggest any edits, or raise any concerns you may have. The video will then be finessed based on this and a final product will be delivered to you. If on the other hand you decide you want to do it in-house this is the rough outline of the steps you need to go through:

• Decide on the purpose of the content
• Creative brainstorm to decide look and feel of content
• Storyboard
• Location Scout
• Cast
• Select filming, lighting and audio equipment
• Shot list and write script if necessary
• Shoot
• Edit
• Deliver in the appropriate format
• Make available on the correct platforms

It can be completely understandable for small business owners to want to create their own videos due to cost and the feeling they will have more creative control. That said these videos would always pale into insignificance when stood against professionally produced content. At VCM we would be happy to talk you through the various options you have when it comes to producing video, whether you chose for use to produce it for you or not.