Five sure-fire approaches to cutting your invoice in half with a videographer or graphic designer
1) Be Clear; Do Your Homework
Communicating a clear vision of what you are looking for before we begin the project is a great way to start saving money. A lot of a videographer’s or designer’s time is spent researching, trying new ideas and conceptualizing, you can streamline your investment by doing your homework, research and conceptualizing up front—be ready to discuss and have examples of what you like and what you don’t like up front. If you are really looking to save money you can provide typed out notes and examples for the videographer or creative professional to reference. Of course if you aren’t sure what direction to go, what you want or what would look best, you do want to rely on the videographer’s or designer’s expertise and ideas—this does require more of their time and effort so it entails a little more of an investment. Making sure the videographer or creative professional has clear examples (other online marketing video examples, layout, images/pictures) and a direction to follow will definitely save you money in the long run.
2) Content (text, layout and images)
Ensuring that your small business brand (online and printed) has a cohesive look and message is essential for success, it takes time and energy to conceptualize layouts, formulate what needs to be said and how to say it, and find videos/images/illustrations and pictures that support the message takes a great deal of the videographer’s or creative professional’s time.
Instead of having the videographer or creative professional write and type your content based on notes, you can save money here by writing your own content, typing it and emailing it to the videographer or creative professional in MS Word. You can also find, select or even purchase images or photos from other sources and provide it to the designer to save time and money.
3) Communicate early, often, and clearly
Communication is essential to keeping your project moving, the key is to keep the communication succinct, cohesive, and clear. Saving money here is easy, you can send over typed notes to the videographer or creative professional outlining what you will talk about. Having a clear road map in your head of the things you want to cover during the conversation will be helpful. Of course, with travel time and gas, the most cost-effective ways for you to communicate would be email or Skype, while it’s sometime worth it to set up a face to face meeting, it’s a more expensive alternative.
4) Revisions and Corrections
Videographers and creative professionals provide you with opportunities called “rounds” to further customize your project so that you get exactly what you are looking for. These rounds, provide you with an opportunity to request the videographer or creative professional: add, change, or remove aspects of the project based on your personal preference that were considered after the project was started.
To define it, a revision to your project is a new concept, idea, or tweak to the project after the initial meeting with the videographer or creative professional and creation had begun on your project, this differs from a correction, which was discussed in the initial meeting(s) and was the videographer’s or designer’s oversight. You should never be charged for a correction.
Revisions can eat up a lot of the videographer’s (video editor’s) or creative professional’s time. They do cost money, so you want to minimize them when possible. If you are a startup small business or on a tight budget, you can save a tremendous amount of money by defining exactly what you are looking for. Your ability to decide/approve a final video or design early in the process could save you a ton of money, so be decisive. The more revisions and customization you want for your project the more time a videographer or creative professional invests in the project, so the faster you like the project’s final result, the more money you’ll save. Of course some businesses, particularly large or established firms, want to ensure they get exactly what they are looking for do want to invest resources into a high level of customization.
Revisions do happen
If you do have revisions or new ideas you would like to try out, you can still save a good deal of money by explaining to the videographer or creative professional exactly what you are looking to change about the project. The videographer or creative professional can of course help you if you would rather “let him/her come up with something,” or, “just try some new ideas,” or, “something maybe like this.” However, this will require more time and more of an investment on your part.
5) Respond timely
At any one time, videographer, designers, and marketing consultants are working with a handful of clients like you. In order to keep your project moving and on schedule, it’s helpful to provide timely feedback on your project. Most clients respond within 1-48 hours, so if you can do this you’ll ensure that your project is fresh in the creative professional mind’s, and you won’t have to waste time retrieving old notes or getting back up to speed again.
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