Finding a good partner in a video production team is key to have a successful video marketing campaign. This is a team you will be working with for a long time (even if its just for one video) and you will be entrusting them with one of your most important pieces of marketing material. In this article we will review a few of the key questions you should ask a prospective video production team before hiring them!

Team Structure

Ask about their team structure. Are they an all in-house? Or do they use a lot of outside freelancers? With lots of freelancers, you may not be getting a consistent result from their team since its constantly changing. Will you have a dedicated team or account lead the entire process?

Experience

Ask about their past experiences with similar projects. Have they worked on videos with a similar style that you are looking for? Have they worked for clients in the same industry as yours? Ask for examples so you can check for yourself.

References

Ask for references or referrals, most experienced companies should be able to provide you with references, reviews, and contacts of past clients that can vouch for their services and expertise in video marketing.

Custom and Unique

Ask about their strategy to develop your video concepts or approaches to video marketing. Each company / product is unique and their video marketing needs should be custom to your needs and goals. Don’t work with a company that just has a template they use for everyone.

Process

A solid video production company should have a defined process to produce their videos. If they look more like a black mystery box that is a sure sign that they are inexperienced or haven’t taken the time to develop a proven process to assure your video’s success.

Timeline/ Deadline

This should be outlined in the process but review what their planned timeline for the project is, does this align with your desires or needs for the project? Also see if there are any contingencies to assure they stick to these deadlines.

Contract

Ask to review all contract terms before agreeing to a project. Some things to look for are the number of revisions at each phase allowed before there are overages or fees. Look for any other fees that are outlined as out of scope, there shouldn’t be much if any. And lastly look for ownership of not only the final video but video footage, project files, etc. You don’t want to pay a bunch of money for a video to only find out you don’t own it after!

Flexibility

This may be more of a loose question but try to push your video marketing agency to see how flexible they are to timeline changes, adjustments etc. Making a video is always a moving target and you want to make sure your team is willing to adjust along the way.

Lastly, go with your gut

In the end, this is a relationship you are getting into so make sure you feel good about it. Go with your gut and go with a team you trust and can get behind to make you a great video.