Wedding Videographer - Branching into Corporate Work

[Steven Digges]

Don & Chris said it all. It is almost always word of mouth referrals for me. And putting out the effort they are talking about.

I will add that I did spend a lot of money on advertising at one time. But that is a misnomer. I did not spend the money, I wasted it. I took the advice of a professional ad man. He said go big or don’t do it. So I paid $10,000.00 for the inside cover of a convention magazine with a one year, 40,000 copy circulation. How many clients did I get? ZERO! I only got one legitimate inquiry that did not pan out. But it did make my phone ring, relentlessly, for all the wrong reasons. Everybody wanted to sell ME something. Other sales people that sell advertising were relentless. They looked at that ad and knew how much I had spent. They hounded me for years. The rest were just weirdoes.

I am surprised a few people that posted have had a negative experience with corporate work. That happens in all specialties but it has been a good life for me.

Here is the best advice I can give. I used to average about 100,000 air miles a year, that is a lot of time on the road. So I would get asked the same question a lot. “Why do you travel so much? Can’t your clients get what you do in all of those cities you go to?” The answer is one word, TRUST. I am not such an amazing videographer that they had to send me to all of those places. They do it because they TRUST ME. Yes, they trust that the product will be up to par. But just as importantly they like me and the way I do business. They trust me to represent them well when I deal with their clients and subjects. They trust me as a business man. They trust me to do all the right things. That is why I am often on the road. That is why I get referrals.

We are an unregulated and uncertified industry. We can do whatever we want and call ourselves anything we want. When Don said be honest he wasn't kidding. If you get in over your head you will only get paid once. Then some guy like me will get the client for a larger fee and I will hear all about how bad you sucked. I am not being arrogant. I have had many clients over the years I call refugees. They have been burned by the unscrupulous videographer so I go wherever they need me to be because they trust me.

Steve

[Dave Partington]

Great advice from several people on this thread. Thanks.

Originally Posted by Warren Kawamoto

If you determine their budget first, you'll have a much better feel of how to proceed with the project, and whether their objectives are achievable or not.

This was exactly my plan. But, I am running up against a lot of customers who don't have a budget as such. They know they want a video, but because they don't know how much it costs they don't have a budget in mind. No matter how you push / press them to come up with a figure they just don't have one in mind, or they do but they are hoping you'll be even cheaper. So you still end up going through the initial discussions only to find that they get sticker shock, even through they say they didn't know what to expect, and even thought they wouldn't work for as little as that themselves!

One guy charges £60 an hour for the work he does (computer repairs) but thought a video company should be working for £10-£12 an hour because you just point the camera and it's done.

There are a couple of (part time) video guys around here offering stupidly low prices - £75 - £150 for a 5 minute corporate video. Their work is TERRIBLE to say the least. Really shaky hand held stuff with live interviews done using on-camera mic (at least it seems like that) in windy conditions with lots of background noise. You can imagine it right? You wouldn't even dream of doing it - right? Yet some people (potential customers) can't see what's wrong with it simply because they are used to home movies and assume that proper videos can't be done at any rational price locally.

When you show the same people something done well they are amazed, but still then get sticker shock at only (say) £500 - £1000, let alone longer projects being £3000 - £5000.

So, networking is one way (it takes time & effort - every one knows that), but does dropping by with flyers to local businesses really make that much impact on work or are there other methods you employ too?

[Chris Harding]

Hey Dave

Over here it seems that most small/medium business are a LOT tighter with their money than brides are with weddings! I tend to stay with weddings as on most of my corporate shoots they have cried about prices!

I find that most of the cheap shooters on the commercial side are the ones who will "shoot a 2 minute video for your website" kinda people and are happy with whatever they can get. They are more often than not dealing with small business trying to drum up sales and it's unlikely these sort of businesses even have a budget. The bigger boys WILL have an advertising budget so then it purely a matter of giving them what they want as long as it is within the budget limit. A lot easier to work with but harder to get into (here anyway) Here, it's not what you know, but who you know!!

If one of the Realtors I do work for (photo or video) has a seminar coming up, they don't even ask the price, they just tell me to do it. Nice sort of work if there was enough of it!

I certainly hope you get in with a couple of good business who value your work!

Chris

[Bernie Johansen]

How do I delete a post? lol