Measuring the ROI (return on investment) of your video project begins way before filming a single frame.

Some of your video content is intended to sell your product or service, while other content is strictly for internal use. What constitutes “return” is different for each video you create.

Note this is not a blog about Metrics. Metrics are vital to measuring success, but they’re just a tool. Views, watch time and even lead capturing can be deceptive. You might get 1 million views on your video, with 200k email subscribers, but those subscriptions might be coming from a country you don’t serve! While ROI is ultimately a number, deciding on how to find that number is a more abstract process.

Set relevant goals

The most critical step in video Production is often the most overlooked: setting goals. Going viral is a goal we hear often. But what exactly does going viral mean? One thousand views, one million, six-digit shares on Facebook? Does viral mean becoming a meme and having Katy Perry use you in her next music video?

Creating video content that’s so incredible the world-over wants to view it, and then tell their friends about it, might be great for your branded content, but it’s not necessarily a great thing for your internal training video. Come to think of it, if your training video goes viral it’ll probably be for the wrong reasons…

You don’t want to become an Internet sensation for cringe-worthy video content. Setting relevant and well-researched goals will help you avoid that catastrophe. 1-3 goals are the sweet spot, any more and the content tends to get watered down.

Say you’re researching the possibility of including a recruitment video with your next job posting. If a previous posting for a similar role received 1000 applicants, then you can set a benchmark of 1500 applicants. No law that states you must measure your video goals with video-specific metrics. A video, like metrics, is a tool. Film is a medium for you to tell a message or a story.

Then Budget

Chances are high you’ll need to justify to how much you spend (I wouldn’t be writing this article if that weren’t the case). We highly recommend you set a Budget after you set your goals. Sounds logical but so does facing toilet paper end outwards. Yet we’re still having that debate 150 years later…

By setting your goals first, you’ll know which team members to involve in the budgeting process. In the example I used above, you’ll want to get your HR heads involved. They’re going to be better equipped to put a number on a job applicant than your marketing team.

Audacious goals strongly correlate with big budgets. There are of course exceptions, but if you want to generate $1 million in profit, then a $10,000 video statistically won’t cut it. If you do end up making $1 million off a $10,000 video – please reach out to us. We’re hiring!

Research your competition

Espionage is no longer illegal! Well, at least not if your competitors are putting their content on social media for the world to see. Don’t go hacking into their servers to see what video content they’re cooking up. That’s still illegal. Peeking at their metrics on YouTube is not.

How well have your competition’s videos fared? How many views, shares, and likes have they received? What do you like about their videos, what don’t you like? Your competitor’s metrics serve as a benchmark for your video content. They give you an idea of what “good” results are. But please, for the love of all that is good, do not copy their video style just because it did well.

The most crucial goal in researching the competition is to decide how you will be different! How will you take your videos above and beyond? Originality and creativity push your video ROI above expectations. You don’t want video content that resembles your competition. You want to stand out in a way that cannot be reverse engineered.

Factor in time

How much time will you save by producing a video to spread your message? Explainer videos are a great time-saving tool, but are they worth the investment? A doctor’s time is worth more than their receptionists. An explainer video about a medical procedure is a better investment than an explainer video about how to fill out an intake form.

How much time will you save by hiring a video production company? You can save a ton on production costs by doing most of the work yourself, but how much does that time cost your business? Every company and has a video. There’s no question you need some form of video content. A significant component of your ROI is how much time you spend away from your core business.

From our experience, ROI on video spend isn’t merely calculated through metrics. Figuring out your goals will aid you in pinpointing the right metrics, and at times those metrics aren’t video-specific. Your budget is an obvious variable in your ROI calculations, but to maximize your ROI, we highly recommend setting your budget after setting your goals. As with all projects – time is money. Factor in how much time you’ll save by creating a video. Then decide whether hiring a video production company is worth the cost of the time you’ll save creating a video project on your own.

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