What does your business need to consider when hiring a video production company or freelancer?

When it comes to deciding between a video production company or freelancer to create content for your business what factors do you need to take into consideration? In this blog we’re going to break down the pros and cons of both video Production companies and freelancers to help you decide what’s best for your business. To make your choice as simple as possible, we’ve broken it down into the four most important factors to consider when deciding between video production companies and freelancers: cost effectiveness, quality, turnaround time and diversity of skills. 

Cost Effectiveness

Considering the rising costs and uncertainty of the UK economy at the moment, cost effectiveness is going to be at the top of your priority list when investing in anything for your business, including videography and video production. It will come as no surprise that freelancers will generally be cheaper than video production companies when it comes to any sort of videography services. 

Freelancers have less overheads as they often operate alone, from their home and with cheaper equipment. Depending on the skill level of the freelancer and the work you’d like them to do, you can expect to pay on average between £300 – £600 per day for their services. It isn’t always the case that freelancers are the cheaper option, in fact, if you work with video production companies on a retainer basis they can often compete on price. 

With this in mind, it’s important to remember ‘cheap’ and ‘cost effective’ don’t mean the same thing. Whilst you’re paying less for a freelancer, a video production company can often bring more skills, better equipment and more manpower to a job. Meaning your money is going further and the quality of the product you end up getting is of a much higher standard. The benefit of a video production company having a team is two fold for your business. It means they will have the ability to spend more time working with you on your project and they’re likely to offer you a faster turnaround time. 

What’s more, if you’re working with them on a retainer basis, their team virtually becomes a part of your time and you have their skills to rely on whenever you may need them. Again, the key takeaway here is that ‘cheap’ and ‘cost effective’ aren’t interchangeable terms. Which brings us onto our next factor to consider, quality. 

Quality

Quality can vary wildly when it comes to freelance video production, not least because freelancers may have a different definition of video production than you. For example, most video production companies would consider ‘video production’ as a planned shoot, with ideas, shot lists and even potentially a script written beforehand. However, many freelancers advertise video production but what they really mean is simply ‘videography’; turning up with a camera on a gimbal and filming whatever you present to them on the day. 

Depending on what your business is looking for, this videography approach may not be enough to do your products or services justice. Furthermore, the best video production companies can do both ‘video production’ and ‘videography’ to a high standard. So, it’s always best to consult your freelancer first to see what their service really consists of if you choose that route. 

In a general sense, when we talk about quality we’re referring to the final product. How good does it look and is it fit for purpose? As we mentioned at the beginning of this section, freelance video production and videography quality can vary wildly. Sometimes you’ll get high quality work from someone who has the relevant experience and equipment needed to pull it off. But, there’s no guarantee that will always be the case. 

In general freelancers will be using lesser quality equipment than a video production company and won’t have the same level of experience because they haven’t got a team of skilled specialists at their disposal. Unless they’re outsourcing the work, you’ll be relying on your freelancer to plan, shoot and edit your product. Whereas a video production company will usually have a specialist for each element of the production within their team already, who can focus on making their part the best it can be.

Turnaround Time

Of course it’s never a good idea to rush any video production project, so be sure to get in touch with your video creator of choice as soon as possible to give them the most time possible to create something worth seeing. However, we know this isn’t always possible and often your business will need high quality video production work with a deadline fast approaching. Often freelancers are one person operations, so booking a good one on short notice may be a challenge. 

If you do manage to book a good freelancer on short notice it’s likely that the turnaround time will be quite long and potentially exceed your deadline. Juggling a number of clients on their own means freelancers will often have a long backlog of work to get through and yours may come in at the bottom of their list. So, be certain to confirm your deadline with them before you book. 

On the other hand, the best video production companies will often have more availability and a quicker turnaround time for your project. This isn’t because no one is booking in with them, it’s because they have the benefit of a dedicated team of specialists rather than being a one man band or outsourcing to more freelancers. Depending on their size, they could dedicate an entire team to your project or make it the number 1 focus of one member of their team. In short, video production companies can more readily guarantee you a faster turnaround whilst maintaining the highest quality of video.

Diversity of skills

Speaking of the benefit of having a team on your business’ side, video production companies can often offer a much more diverse range of skills to your business than your average freelancer. In terms of video production, they often have invested more in high level equipment meaning they can bring niche techniques to the table like drone videography, time lapse videos and VR (virtual reality) videography. Furthermore, many agencies known for video production also have other creative skills under their belts. From photography to copywriting, these dynamic creative agencies can offer your business high level work across a number of creative services. Working with these companies on a retainer basis means your business would have direct access to this bank of skills whenever you needed it, potentially across multiple projects rather than hiring a freelancer for one project at a time.

Furthermore, you might need to search for a number of different freelancers to bring to the table the same skills as one of the best video production companies / creative agencies. 

Check out one of our recent time lapse videos – we’re a video production company based in Newcastle Upon Tyne, operating throughout the UK!

Top tip: Research is key! 

In the end, it’s going to be down to your business’ requirements, budget and deadlines when it comes to choosing the right freelance videographer or video production company. There’s no right or wrong answer – both methods can get your business the desired results, but you’ve got to do your research. If you go online and begin searching with these four factors we’ve listed above in mind, we’re sure you’ll find the right content creator for your business. 

If you want to discuss in more depth video production and other creative services for your business, don’t hesitate to get in touch using the link below!