Video Pricing: How Much to Spend on Video Marketing

Pricing and quoting in the wacky world of video marketing can be awkward when clients and video companies aren’t clear on the process required and the desired end product.  Below I’m giving you the inside scoop to help you figure out costing on your next project.

At Chockablock world headquarters we produce video marketing within a pretty wide range of budgets.  Our work usually falls in the range of $2500 to 50K.  There are a number of factors influencing budget so I’m giving you a couple inside tips and some numbers to help you decide what pricing best fits your video marketing project.

Identify your expectations: Before you start crunching numbers, figure out what your expectations are.  Do you need a video marketing company to come up with your concepts, write your script, create a social campaign around the video and guide you through the process from prep through to final delivery, or do you simply need a video company to execute the video you’ve already conceived and prepped?  Make sure to be upfront with video companies about which experience you require.  The two processes are very different and are very different price points.

Identify the expectations of your audience:  Is the video that you want to create targeting high-end clients?  Or high-giving donors? If you are selling premium products and services make sure to budget for professional video as those types of clients and donors are expecting it.

Where will the video live?  Where is your video going to be posted and how long will it be there?  If its destination is your homepage and the video will be setting the tone for your company or institution for the next year or more, you will want to budget for a professional video you’ll be proud of.  If the video is a day-in-the-life or behind-the-scenes for your Youtube channel or a fun posting on Instagram or Vine you can do it yourself or have a videographer capture a bunch of short social content vids for you.

Can you batch shoot?  If you have a few videos you can shoot with the same people in the same location in the same day, then share that with the video companies that you are speaking with.  That will stetch your marketing dollar further and the companies you are getting estimates from can give you a more accurate post-production (editing) budget.

Now for some numbers!  In North America right now, for 1 -2 minutes of edited professional video content you can expect to spend between $1,000 – $3,500 for prep, shoot and post-production.  If you are requiring a real show stopper of a video, that requires lots of GFX and perhaps multiple shoot days, actors, car rentals, hair and make-up artists, several versions of the video in different languages, subtitles, location rentals etc then you will need to have a larger budget in mind.  For 1 – minutes of edited video content, videos with some of these requirements run from between $5, 000 – $50, 000 and beyond.

Every video project is distinct with its own unique requirements.  The points I listed above will help you in your quest for accurate estimates from video companies and will help you budget for your upcoming marketing projects.

Thank you for tuning in and please leave a comment or question as I love hearing from you!

Have a wonderful weekend and good luck with your video projects,

Allyson