Last Updated on November 10, 2022 by
You can always tell when you’re watching someone’s first attempt at a YouTube or other video. The camera work sticks to a dead-on angle or the user relies on the built-in laptop or phone camera. Lighting is bad or nonexistent. Audio quality jitters with static and electric whines and hums.
The uploader may have relied on “fixing it in post” to improve their production value without realizing that video production starts from the ground up. Don’t let your video content fall prey to this trap. If you want to include videos in your marketing strategy, you need to know what constitutes high production quality.
What Is Production Value?
First, let’s discuss what production value is. Production value is, simply put, how professional and put-together your content looks. It’s another way to refer to the quality of your video content. Several elements combine to create high production value, including:
Videos Have a Story to Tell
Every video, whether it’s intended to entertain or advertise, should tell some sort of story. Even if your goal is to sell a product or service, you should still endeavor to tell a relatable story to draw customers in.
Lights, Camera, Location
Your lighting, camerawork, and location can make all the difference in the world for your production value. Do you want your company to look sketchy? Then film in a poorly lit, unstaged corporate boardroom with a low-quality camera.
If you want your company to appeal to the masses, you need to make your videos appeal to the masses. That means that you need to shoot in fitting locations with good, natural light and with a camera that can shoot in at least 1080p, if not 4K.
Clean Audio Quality
Poor audio quality and mixing can sink even the prettiest-looking video content. So, another key part of production value for social media videos is clean, crisp audio quality.
Exceptional Editing
The last key element to quality video content is exceptional editing. How you edit the footage can be the difference between a romantic scene, a comedic scene, and a horrific one. So, to maximize the effectiveness of your video marketing, you need someone who recognizes your vision and can edit the raw footage accordingly.
Why Is Production Value Important for Your Business?
Now that you understand what production value is, let’s discuss why it’s so important for your business strategy. Your business’s reputation lives and dies by the content that you produce to advertise it. So, if your video marketing lacks good production value, it makes your business look unprepared, unprofessional, and untrustworthy.
Business videos have a nasty habit of going viral for all the wrong reasons. While it’s true that even a bad video can bring in a great deal of free marketing if it’s enjoyably bad, it’s better to have your video stand out from the masses for good reasons.
Plus, if you’re using educational or how-to videos as part of your marketing strategy, high production value can ensure that people understand the instructions you’re trying to give. A well-shot video can show clients how to use your product and what they can expect from it in terms of performance.
How Can You Improve Your Production Value?
If you feel that your video marketing production value isn’t up to the standard it should be, you might wonder how you can improve it. Some ways that you can boost your production value include:
Hire a Professional Editor and Videographer
There are countless free and paid video editing programs that any business can use to edit their video content in-house. However, access does not equal experience and knowledge, and these programs can take months to master. Plus, all the editing in the world can’t fix footage that’s not shot correctly.
If you hire a videographer, you have access to someone who can shoot and edit your video marketing content at a professional level. Don’t cheap out on this valuable resource.
Start Recording and Editing With a Goal in Mind
One of the biggest mistakes we see in video marketing is a lack of clear direction. You need to start your recording and editing with a clear final goal in mind. That means that you need to take some time for scripting and storyboarding before you even begin shooting your video footage.
Follow Filmmaking Principles
The principles of good cinematography, like the Rule of Thirds, color temperature, and lighting requirements, remain the same whether you’re filming a blockbuster or a short advertisement for YouTube. That isn’t to say that you need to attend film school in order to make solid video marketing. Rather, that you need to incorporate the fundamentals taught in those classes to upgrade your marketing production value.
Upgrade Your Equipment
There’s no sugarcoating it: The quality of your equipment matters. You will struggle to create engaging content if you record using a phone camera, a cheap microphone, and have no lighting equipment on hand. Equipment may not make the artist, but it can make or break a company’s reputation.
Make Your Videos a Performance
Everyone and their brother has, at some point in their lives, been forced to sit through a low-quality training video with unrealistic roleplay and no energy. Don’t let this be what represents your company. Put energy forward in your video marketing strategy and call on those who have the ability to act to make your videos sparkle and shine.
Let’s Review the Basics
Production value is the difference between your content receiving clicks and losing engagement. It can be the determining factor in whether a consumer trusts your company or opts to purchase from your competitor. You may not need to shoot your social media videos like they are Hollywood blockbusters, but you need to be willing to invest in your video marketing production value nonetheless.
Did you find these tips to improve your business’s video production value helpful? Are you looking for more video recording and editing tips? If so, then check out our blog. We update each day with more helpful and informative articles like this one!
