How to Produce Great, High-Quality Videos On a Small Budget
As a growing business working with other businesses, we know how important it is to create valuable content that can be easily distributed to your target audience. Blogs are great, guest articles are fabulous, but video blogs, we find, are even more effective to provide consistent, valuable content to the folks who need to hear from you most!
If you’re a solopreneur, small business or even a medium sized business with a small budget, we want to share how easy (and inexpensive) it is to create high-quality videos that don’t break the bank!
Let’s start with WHY videos are so important to grow your business….
First and foremost, there’s value in seeing another human being. Period. Business owners should consistently strive to create an emotional connection with their viewers, and video blogs serve that purpose perfectly. Show your face! They will love you for it.
Additionally, the easiest and one of the most practical ways to learn something new is through video because it actually SHOWS the process. You don’t have to demonstrate something to use video – showing yourself on screen is enough. There’s plenty of ways you’re able to offer value to your audience – many of the different types of video are monologues (where one person is talking on screen), interviews (including two or more people) and of course, demonstrations of a particular action or subject.
How you should prepare for your video…
First, you should know the number of people that will be in your video. Let them know what is expected of them and what they should expect in return. This is a great time to prepare any scripts (if necessary) and provide any information to the person(s) in the video.
It’s also extremely important to tape in a safe, non-judgmental place, so the folks on your video feel at ease and happy to be there. Interestingly enough, most people that post YouTube videos are introverts. They go on camera in a safe place to ensure nothing will peak their anxiety levels or entice criticism from others.
It also helps to practice in front of a mirror to prepare for the final product. During this practice period, you can determine how you would ultimately like to look, feel and sound in your video. It’s important to take all factors into consideration such as your energy level, facial expressions, posture, tone of voice and more.
What you should use for your video…
If you’re on a shoe string budget, your iPhone (or any smartphone with a high-quality camera) is your new best friend – if it wasn’t already. The best practice is to use two phones so you can tape from different angles. This will provide the viewer with a different perspective – something they would gain naturally if they were watching you in person.
You’ll also need a tripod to ensure the proper stability and position of the frame. You definitely don’t want to ask your shaking Uncle Harry! Depending on what you’re shooting, a smaller tripod works great if you’re traveling so you can take your video shoot virtually anywhere. If you need a larger, more substantial tripod, perhaps for interview shoots, this works great, too.
As a side note, make sure your phone is on airplane mode to avoid any interruptions while shooting. We know you’re popular, so phone calls must wait!
How you should conduct your video…
It’s really important to have multiple takes of your video – in case something was missing in the first or second take. Once you begin the editing process, you’ll want to make sure you have a lot of footage to work with so you don’t have to reshoot. Having multiple takes of the intro and outro is especially important because you’ll want variety while introducing a topic and creating a call to action.
Secondly, make sure the lighting, framing and composition are perfect. Take a few “dummy” takes of someone sitting in the same position of where you’ll shoot to make sure it’s not too dark. Natural light is ideal but if you’re in an office or home setting, light bulbs work just as great!
How you should edit your video…
If you’re using your smartphone to record videos (which is definitely recommended if you have a small budget), there’s a great variety of editing tools you can use.
Adobe Premier Clip is super simple to use – all you need is an Adobe account attached to an email address. For iPhone specifically, there’s iMovie and FilmoraGro, and for Android, there’s CyberLink Power Director. Many of these platforms allow you to loop background audio, edit clips together, cut footage out, and even has color grading filters.
It’s also important to take audio quality into consideration. You want to make sure everyone in the video is talking clearly and the volume is easy to hear for your audience. The editing tools you choose to use can help polish your audio in case there’s an echo, background noise or if someone in your video isn’t talking clearly. If you predict that audio can become a problem while shooting, make sure you choose an editing tool that can make these changes.
How you should distribute your video…
It’s probably safe to assume that you want to create your video so you can share it with people that are interested in your topic. So, it’s very important to know what distribution channels are available and which channel provides the best platform for which you can share your content.
YouTube and Vimeo are great video platforms to share your content because the people that WANT to see videos hang out there! YouTube and Vimeo are visual, story-telling vehicles for which people visit to learn information and gain a different perspective. From there, you can also distribute your content across your social media profiles such as Facebook and Instagram so that your friends, family and audience can view the content you share.
So, there you have it! Creating high-quality videos are not only easy but super fun and affordable. Now you don’t have an excuse to not connect with your target market via video – even all you introverts out there!
And in case you were interested, here’s a video Website Jungle produced using the techniques mentioned in this blog.
Please tell us in the comments, what did you find most useful in this blog? What are your favorite takeaways? We’d love to hear from you!