While there is a mix of DIY and professionally-produced video online, most videos are user-generated – and for good reason. It can be easy to think about the positives of DIY, such as affordability, accessibility, and authenticity for smaller organizations. When it comes down to it, both DIY and professional video have their positive and negative factors, but DIY videos can be more effective for informal situations.
At the same time, it’s crucial to weigh the pros and cons of DIY video production. Which route you should choose comes down to your intentions and experience with producing and distributing videos.
DIY Video Production Tends to Lack Strategy
Many organizations want to create videos, but they often feel lost as to where they should start. If you don’t know exactly how to produce a high-engagement video that resonates with your audience, then your attempts to DIY your video marketing will be a huge waste of time.
When discussing a video marketing strategy, you should know your target audience, the message behind your video, and exactly which shots you’ll need to accomplish the finished product. You’ll also need to know exactly where and how this video will become a part of your marketing funnel. If all of that is foreign to you, then I highly recommend talking to your video strategist partner.
Production Quality Often Suffers
A marketing video doesn’t need to be the same caliber as a Hollywood film, but there are still a lot of baseline standards for producing effective video content. You could have the most expensive equipment like cameras, lights, and microphones, but if you don’t know how to set them up properly and use them, the quality of the finished product will only be as good as your skill.
Rookie mistakes like filming with a window behind the subject,obnoxious distractions and poor audio quality are enough to turn away an audience member before they get through the video. If your target audience isn’t making it to the end of the video, they almost certainly are not following through to the next step of your marketing funnel.
DIY Is Sometimes Appropriate, but Sometimes It’s Not
Think about where and how you will use video. Will your videos be embedded on the home page of your beautifully-designed website? Will it be the first impression of your brand? Or will it be distributed to existing customers? While an informal DIY video might be fine to communicate with current clients or post on social media, it certainly will disturb your otherwise pristine first impression on your website.
Brand Development Matters
While we never like to say that we judge a book by its cover, prospects will subconsciously judge your brand based on discrepancies between professional brand assets and DIY ones. If you can show your audience that you value investing in them through professional videos, they’ll be more likely to work with you.
First impressions matter. Prospects might lose trust in you if they see you tried at first to make a good impression with your website but gave up halfway through the process to DIY your video.
Time Is Money
Time is so valuable, and you cannot get time back. When you invest money, you do so with the intention of making it back. We can’t invest time that way, which is why DIY video production is so risky. It takes an enormous amount of time to learn how to use a camera properly and to understand the right setup for producing high-quality footage and audio.
Many DIY video producers also underestimate the amount of time it takes to edit until you get to your polished end product. Further, time is wasted if there’s no effective marketing strategy for the distribution of the video.
Save Yourself the Trouble – It’s Worth It
While I completely understand the draw of DIY video production – and I affirm its value in less formal situations – I recommend professional production for the majority of the time. When an organization has little to no experience with video production and marketing, it will almost certainly fight an uphill battle and come out on the losing side of video marketing.
If you choose the DIY route, understanding the cons will help you avoid common mistakes. Plan out your videos in detail, have a good strategy, invest in learning about video production and distribution, and avoid video faux-pas that cause a loss of viewership.
If you’re interested in professional video production for your next campaign, contact Monzo Media Productions.
