10 Tips To Make The Most Of Your Video Agency

Digital marketing is the cornerstone of any business wanting to promote its brand and make a connection with its audience. And a critical role has been assumed by video marketing, which helps to weave a strong story about your brand. 

A good brand video is essential not only for you as a business but also for the video production agency making it. What you see in the form of videos and moving ads is really the result of a lot of hard work that goes into the creative process. 

And this, in turn, is a result of how well you work with your creative video agency. Collaboration and seamless communication are key to making the relationship between a brand and a video agency work. So, what all goes into making this work?

10 Tips to Work Effectively With A Branded Content Video Agency

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If you are looking for a branded content video agency or to strengthen your existing relationship with one, here are the most effective tips that may come in handy.

1. Have a shared vision

Considering that your video production agency is your creative partner, it is important to be on the same page about your brand’s vision. So, a good starting point will be to:

• Share the brand mission, values, and vision
• Explain how a particular video marketing project will contribute to the overall content plan

Doing this helps the video agency understand your thought process and to weave a story to retrofit that.

2. Curate a distribution plan

Content delivery is as important as content creation. Your creative video agency knows this. So, let it lead the way and co-create a thorough distribution plan. They should be able to recommend which distribution channels work best for specific content types.

3. Be Specific with Project Briefs

There needs to be more alignment about project goals and objectives between you and the branded content video agency to avoid disastrous results. It is best to avoid project briefs that are too:

• Ambitious or overreaching
• Vague
• Client-specific
• Lengthy

In contrast, a good project brief should clearly lay out the following:

• Objectives
• Target audience
• Brand identity information

4. Push for iterations

Don’t just settle for anything that the video-making agency gives you at the first attempt. Working effectively with a video agency does not mean that you have to settle for anything less than what you desire in the first place. This means you must constantly engage with the creative agency to ensure that the brief is being met at every step. 

If needed, brainstorm and provide feedback during the video creation process without waiting for the final product. This also ensures that your video production agency remains engaged and interested in the work throughout.

5. Provide action-based feedback

Your creative video agency is an expert in video marketing, which is why you hired them in the first place. But that does not mean they are perfect or don’t need inputs. Your feedback is important for them to improve the quality of their work. Make sure to:

• Provide written feedback over email whenever possible
• Ask questions if you don’t understand something
• You do not jump to conclusions without clarifying
• Explain why you don’t like something in the video and how to change some portions
• Refer to the brief time and again 

6. Draw inspiration from each other

A creative process requires a lot of inspiration. And that is exactly what you need to do with your branded content video agency. You can support the video-making process by:

• Providing a list of video content published by your competitors
• Looking for other creative resources that are eye-catching and provide ideas to the video-making agency
• Encourage proactive ideation from your creative agency

7. Finalize pre-production details beforehand

Impromptu creative thinking is great, but it might not act to your advantage when you are about to start shooting. To avoid last-minute changes, ensure that you sign off on everything in the pre-production phase before your video agency starts shooting. For them, too, the task is then cut out, and shooting becomes hassle-free.

8. Learn and learn some more

You own the brand, so you know best what it represents. But that shouldn’t stop you from learning from the video production agency. While shooting, you can observe and learn new nuances of what goes into video marketing. Provide inputs if you feel strongly about something, but avoid bringing baggage to the shooting floor.

9. Negotiate beforehand

Video marketing can be a costly affair. To avoid any unplanned out-of-pocket expenses or embarrassing situations regarding money, it is best to negotiate with your creative video agency at the start of the project. Keep budgetary changes to a minimum.

10. Document

Creating videos for marketing purposes is expensive. So, you would want to know how much you are getting in return, and so would the branded content video agency. After all, your success means their success. A good way of analyzing this is thorough documentation of the whole process from start to finish. So, capture ideation meetings, record iterations, document shoots, re-takes, etc.

How to Choose the Right Video-Making Agency?

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Everything said and done, how do you know if you have chosen the right video-making agency? You can start by asking yourself these questions:

1. Does the video agency care about your brand values?

Your first few conversations with the video production agency will reveal the answer. Check for cues like if they ask specific questions about your content or want to know more about your vision and goals. These are good indicators of whether or not the branded content video agency will be truly invested in the project.

2. Does the creative video agency have independent ideas?

Look for creative video agencies who come up with fresh, independent ideas. And those who are not afraid to counter your own idea with a stronger and better one.

3. Does the video making agency value your feedback?

Many creative agencies do not take feedback well. For them, it becomes a question mark on their expertise. Most likely, those agencies will not give you the best results, and it is best to avoid them in the future.

4. Does the video agency track analytics?

If you cannot measure how well the final video content will help in meeting your objectives, the effort becomes futile. A good video agency will have a tracking process at every stage of production to ensure they are on the right track.

5. Does the video production agency have good reviews?

Like buying a product, customer/client reviews are very important when choosing your video creation partner. Check out their old work and customer testimonials before making a final decision.

Benefits of Working with A Video Agency

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A branded content video agency comes with a lot of benefits:

1. Time-saving: Outsourcing the video creation work to a group of professionals will save you time, and you can then focus on important business-related work.
2. Expertise: The idea of hiring a creative video agency is to have experts and professionals working on an important piece of your content strategy. They are likely to have skills that you don’t have in-house.
3. Value for money: Yes, video-making can be expensive. But video content is the most powerful tool of digital marketing today. Hiring a video-making agency is likely to give you good returns on investments.
4. Vision to reality: You may have a vision, but only expert, creative individuals can bring that to life.
5. Partnership: When you hire a good video agency, you enter into an equal partnership that allows you to be in charge while bringing expertise into the project.

Ultimately, you will need to invest time and energy to nurture the relationship with your video production agency. And it holds true for both parties. Only then can the collaboration be fruitful and effective.

Key Takeaways

1. Communicating your brand vision with the branded content video agency at the start of the project is important.
2. Clear and specific brief, constructive feedback, clearly laid down distribution channels, and pre-production details are critical to a strong collaboration with your creative video agency.
3. Always negotiate monetary obligations before the start of the project with your video-making agency.
4. Always refer to their past work and client testimonials to choose a good video agency.
5. Good video agencies will provide value for money by tracking production analytics and delivering high-quality work.

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