(in picture: Dominic Anaya of Beyond The Pines Productions & Shelby Halberg of Blank Frame Films shooting on a RED Dragon X 6K with Zeiss CP.3’s)
Welcome to the future.
When small businesses contacted Commercial Video Production companies in the past that conversation was usually followed by a quote with a comma or two and at least four zeros. Once the video piece of the puzzle was fulfilled it was off to find media buyers to negotiate with major networks on the businesses behalf to find the best time slots.
Typically the more complicated something is the more it costs.
Since small business owners had zero knowledge of how this process worked and had no experience themselves they were left with one of two choices. Invest a large amount of money into the commercial video project and hope they break even, or like most businesses they were forced to walk away with their heads down.
Luckily for small business owners and e-commerce companies the times have changed!
Gone are the days of outrageous costs, sourcing media buyers, finding networks and the anxiety that comes with cleaning out a bank account.
Commercial video production had to make a shift as well. The cost of entry (gear and software) decreased as technology advanced it weeded out a lot of “bad” production companies. They could no longer hide behind fancy unattainable equipment and instead were required to earn business through skill…. and we couldn’t be happier.
Creating engaging Commercial videos that convert viewers to loyal customers isn’t about gear, or expenses, or even authority. Commercial video production relies on understanding.
Understanding the brand and the customer. What’s their story? What’s the problem? What’s the solution? How do we showcase ‘that’ in a way that is relatable, relevant and engaging to prospective customers.
Questions typically don’t illustrate the necessary experience and knowledge it takes to answer them. But let’s try to better understand how Commercial Video Production companies like Beyond the Pines production produces commercial videos that attract, engage and convert.
The best place to start is with a question.
What are you trying to achieve?
It’s a simple question really. For most businesses that answer usually comes in the form of a revenue based answer. For example “I want to sell more xyz”.
While that answers part of the question the following is even more important.
What does your product(s) /or service prevent?
Meaning, if a customer did not have your product(s) /or service what challenges would they experience. There is a core truth of why businesses exist. To solve problems. Most problems have a simple answer. If you’re cold you could buy a jacket /or maybe your house is cold so you need HVAC services.
In order to keep this article moving let’s move forward from the discovery phase.
Once the target audience is identified, we understand as a video production company the “what, who and where” we need to start identifying the “how”.
How does a video production company showcase a product or service.
Here’s a very basic list of content that most video production companies create to do just that:
Mini-Docs
Branded Entertainment
Promotional Videos
Unboxing Videos
Product Demonstrations
Explainer Videos
Live Videos
Testimonial Videos
Comparison Videos
While there are a lot of different ways for businesses to showcase their products and services through video and different platforms it all comes down to messaging. What does that video accomplish?
Most companies still need help in that department. Whether that video needs to be shot with a 30k dollar camera or a phone really comes down to your goals, audience and the subject. That’s where we come in. Great video production companies like Beyond the Pines Productions focus on the goal. Everything else along the way including coming up with creative solutions is supportive of that goal.
You may even have a rough idea already done. Or maybe you shot your own video in the past and it’s just not converting or engaging your audience the way you expected. It’s probably time to reach out to a professional. We’d love to help you. You can schedule a time to chat with us on our booking / contact page or simply give us a call.