Corporate video production is a type of filmmaking that focuses on helping businesses grow. This is often using video which can:
- Drive sales
- Reduce and improve support
- Accelerate training and reduce churn
- Increase marketing conversions
Video types under the corporate filmmaking umbrella include:
- Brand awareness
- Company introductions
- Explainer or product video
- Elevator pitches
- Customer support
- Testimonials
- Training
Questions to consider before your start your search
What should your video(s) accomplish?
Even better – how will you measure your video’s return on investment? It’s important to identify this prior to starting your search.
One example of this might be how investing into video to explain your product could shorten the sales cycle by decreasing the number of demos needed to articulate your company’s key value proposition. Your sales team can now concentrate more of their effort on chasing prospects and closing sales instead of explaining at length what you do and what makes your solution different.
Amazon’s 700-million-dollar initiative in employee video training to retain a third of its employees is another example of a measurable video initiative.
By providing more access to training videos, Amazon hopes to accelerate teaching new skills strengthening retention and providing greater opportunity for job advancement.
We discussed how training videos make an impact in greater detail in 5 key elements of an effective training video.
How experienced is the video company in supporting your goal(s)?
Corporate video companies have distinctive expertise in sales driven video production. It’s easy to look at video production as a whole and think “Video is Video.”
But there’s a big difference between creating video designed to sell, market or support compared to other types of video production such as cinematography for events such as weddings or shows, action sports and movies. Corporate filmmakers understand short and long sales cycles – often in a range of disciplines and everything supporting that eco-system.
Connecting with a video company that focuses on corporate filmmaking will most likely yield greater returns through more impactful script writing that emotionally connects with the audience.
Why I think Google Search isn’t the best medium.
It’s innate to start with Google. But Google tends to focus on local companies for service searches. The limitation is your local video company may not be equipped with the best talent or video production equipment when you open your range up nationally.
We talk about how not all video equipment is created equal in behind the lens.
YouTube and Vimeo
It only makes sense to go to the largest video platforms on the web to find your video company, right? Not necessarily. If you’re looking for a collection of corporate videos by different filmmakers, places like YouTube and Vimeo don’t make it easy.
Here is an example of my YouTube search:
Often businesses that create corporate videos don’t categorize or tag them to come up under these types of search phrases. So, we don’t get see a collection of these types of videos by different filmmakers without some hefty filtering.
How award video sites make finding the top corporate filmmakers much easier.
Video award sites like The Telly Awards allow you to see a collection of corporate videos by different filmmakers. There’s something to be said about filmmakers that submit their work to be judged.
It generally costs money for these filmmakers to submit their work to an awards site like Telly or Communicator Awards only to invite criticism by their peers. So, by default, the filmmaker believes their work is among the best of the best in that category of corporate filmmaking.
Here are some of my favorite corporate video award sites in no particular order:
- The Telly Awards
- Communicator Awards
- Ava Digital Awards
- Davey Awards
- Vega Digital Awards
See a collection of filmmaking styles that focuses on a type of corporate video type.
Once you see an awarded corporate video company you like they often have a portfolio page, YouTube or Vimeo channel where you can explore their work and see if you like their style and other work.
Kudos if that corporate video company showcases their awarded videos on their website portfolio.
Local vs Remote Filmmakers
There are plenty of advantages to looking local. To start you’re supporting your community. Going local also provides an easier way to communicate in person which is always a plus. Finally, the cost might be less than working with a remote filmmaker.
Let’s explore this last statement in greater detail.
The question should be raised – Is working with a remote video company really that much more expensive? And what do you lose by not exploring those that are remote?
The advantage of opening your search to Remote Filmmakers
The costs of traveling today is surprisingly affordable with airlines. Increased staying options through platforms like Airbnb has also significantly made travel more affordable.
Broadening your search can drastically increase your talent pool by increasing the range of capabilities that your local filmmaker might not have. Many of the top video production companies are equipped to travel – equipment and all.
Final Thoughts
There are lots of methods of connecting with a great corporate filmmaker that I don’t discuss in this article. Use what works best for you and fits with your company’s culture.
At Front Runner Films, we focus on corporate video production with or unique signature of humor and heart.
