Videography is a tough career to get into and can be tough for the most experienced professionals. In this article we will look at some of the ways in which you can have a successful videography career, how you can run a successful videography business and general tips and tricks for the industry.
So with all of that said, let’s start with getting clients as you don’t have a business without them.
Start with family and friends
People say that you shouldn’t work with your family or your friends and in some situations this is true but as a videographer you should make it your mission to tell everyone you know about what you do for a career. If someone in your family or friendship knows that you can film videos you can bet that the next time they hear that someone needs a videographer for a family event you will be at the top of their list.
Telling your family and friends is like setting up a mini-army of salespeople who will randomly bring jobs into you for many years to come. If you wanted to increase the rate in which customers come to your business through word of mouth you could also consider giving your friends and family a commission of sorts. It doesn’t have to be of monetary value either, a gift as a token of your appreciation would probably go down better than if you were to say to them you will give them a 4% commission on any sales they send to you, remember they are your friends and family first.
When I started my videography career I got most of my customers through word of mouth and I would recommend you doing the same too, even if it’s something as small as filming a cousin’s birthday party.
Social Media and Website
You could set up your social media and website before you get any clients but in my opinion, clients are the lifeblood of a business so it’s more important to get them first. When you then have client work to show off you can add them to your website and use them to attract potential customers.
With your website, you can leave it as it is and promote it through your social media channels to attract customers or what I have found effective is getting your website to show up on the search engines when someone is looking for a local videographer. This is known as search marketing and it’s too much to include in one article, but some resources can be found below:
You can pay someone to help you to do your website but if you’re just starting your career as a videographer you can put the work in yourself and save yourself the money which you can then invest in more video equipment.
Work with local small businesses
Small businesses need video content for their blogs, for their online shops, for testimonials, for their social media and much more. What’s more video content is out of reach for most businesses to make themselves so getting in touch with local businesses through cold email or contacting them on LinkedIn is a great way of generating business.
If you do target local business owners you should think of businesses that can afford your services otherwise you could be spending too much time on projects that don’t pay well.
In my experience, real estate agencies are a great target to pitch your video services to as video content can sell a house much better than static images.
Use freelance websites
Freelance websites such as Upwork.com can bring a good source of leads into your business but the only thing wrong with freelance websites is the competition on them is fierce. People are willing to do jobs at a much lower rate than what you should be charging but you can find good clients on freelance websites if you take your time to look around.
Being more profitable
Profits at the end of the day decide if your business is a success or failure and anyway in which you can become more profitable is going to help your business succeed. Being more profitable is difficult but there are some things that can be done to help.
Working with a singular niche, for example, could mean that you learn what content works, how to create it and how to edit it much quicker than if you were to work with multiple clients in different industries. If you want to speed up your video editing you can use look up tables too which save you time by correcting and grading your films quickly.
Improving your skills
One thing that’s always helped me is by keeping up-to-date with the latest technologies and changes in the industry. I have done this through reading industry blogs, been an active member of videography forums and kept learning through tutorials as and when I come across them.
Conclusion
Videography is a difficult career to be successful in as the competition is fierce but if you can get your first few clients and keep producing good quality work you can do it. The most important part is getting your clients, keeping them happy and then using the existing work to get more clients. If you can do this, you can be a videographer.
If you have any questions about videography please leave them below.