I’ve decided my house needs an extension. I don’t know much about building or wiring or plumbing, but it looks easy enough. I’ve been to the hardware store and bought some tools and I’m good to go. I’m saving myself a fortune on what those so-called ‘professionals’ were going to charge me, after all, how hard can it be..?
Well, the answer is a lot harder than you might expect. In the real world of course, I would never presume that owning a drill makes me builder. And to attempt something that should be done by a professional is setting yourself up for a massive fall.
Bizarrely though, that is exactly what IBM’s Worldwide Offerings Manager Mark Leaser is suggesting companies do with their video marketing: Don’t outsource to a professional production company – do it in-house and save yourself thousands. [source]
The main reason for this according to Mr Leaser is that ‘prosumer’ level HD camcorders and desktop editing systems have become very affordable (true) and that any initial outlay on your own equipment will quickly pay for itself (debateable to say the least).
Here at Ossian Towers, it never ceases to amaze us how often many companies treat marketing as an afterthought. It can take years and potentially millions of pounds to develop a product or build a brand. So why risk wasting all that investment by cutting corners on marketing it!
Mr Leaser is right in some respects – when he says how crucial video is to the online experience and how efficiently video can communicate a message, but he is way off the mark suggesting that all you need to make a video is the right tools.
For starters, there’s the technical side. Professional video production is a lifelong learning curve that requires many different skills and hands-on experience. There’s a reason why home videos look like home videos and it’s got nothing to do with what camera was used. But it’s got everything to do with who was holding the camera.
Then there’s the talent factor. You could sum this up simply as ‘do you speak video?’ Video is its own language, quite different from the written word and not something that just happens by hitting the record button.
How do you visually explain concepts? How do you use pictures to convey meaning? How do you make something quite dry or even boring visually engaging and interesting? Because don’t forget, if your video fails to engage its audience, it has failed to do its job. And that ultimately could cost you far more than the cost of hiring someone to make your video properly in the first place.
I understand that we live in difficult economic times in which companies are under pressure to save money at every turn and there are times when it would make absolutely no sense to hire in a pro video crew. For example, if a CEO had a regular video message to staff that was made available for viewing on the company’s intranet. There’s no reason why, with a little trial and error, the comms team couldn’t organise a recording/editing set-up they could operate themselves which would be substantially cheaper than bringing in outside help every time.
But there’s a world of a difference between a CEO’s talking head video and a marketing video that is designed to sell your product or service. Consumers are bombarded every day with videos and something that has been badly or cheaply produced to save a few quid will at best be ignored, or worse, actively damage your product or brand.
Mark Leaser of course, works for a multi-billion dollar, blue chip company and there’s every reason to think he has the budget to afford to staff his in-house production team with talented and experienced people.
But for him to suggest that every company can do what IBM does is somewhat disingenuous. If your video matters then get it done properly. Working with www.ossian.tv, a professional video production company, will be a pleasurable experience. We’ll make you a video of which you can be proud and it will be money well spent – better than that, our marketing videos are an investment. And they could cost you a whole lot less than you might imagine as well.
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