You already know the importance of video storytelling, but you might be working with limited budgets. So, how can you create high-quality videos within your means and see still results? Let's break down some options your organization can explore and some time tips on creating videos with restricted budgets.
In an informative livestream by Wisitia, they mention three E's: be efficient, create experiences, and make it evergreen.
For this post, I want to focus on efficiency and evergreen. These two directly relate to creating videos on a limited budget and any budget. Something I'm always thinking about at BairStories is how we can maximize budget and impact. This way of thinking is a form of stewardship for us.
Be Efficient
Some of the highest costs in video production is filming. Usually, production, aka filming, involves the most people and tools to accomplish the job. Thus, it can be more costly than post-production (editing, coloring, sound design, and audio mixing) and pre-production (story development and logistics planning).
One way to be efficient when filming is to batch your film days
Batch filming means scheduling a day or two to film multiple videos in one location. This way, you can maximize your time and resources and ensure you have plenty of footage for numerous videos. Batch filming allows you to produce much content in a shorter time. This helps you save money on production costs.
An example of this we've done is with our client Environmental Initiative for their annual awards event. We've worked with them to batch-film 5-7 stories over 2.5 days. There's no way we could've traveled to every interviewee across Minnesota and successfully filmed multiple people in a day without blowing the budget.
Instead, we filmed everyone at one location resulting in us using stock footage to support the story visually. This brings us to our second point about efficiency.
Stock footage is a great way to add high-quality visuals to your video without breaking the bank. But it comes with shortcomings.
Stock footage is licensable pre-filmed footage. It can be a cost-effective way to add footage to your video without the expense of filming it yourself, keeping others satisfied with the restricted budget.
In our case, working on the Environmental Initiative Awards, we maximized their budget using stock footage. Many websites offer stock footage for free or at a low cost. In the future, we'll create a post on our favorite stock sites to use. Stay tuned!
Repurposing content is also a great way way to be efficient.
You can take a long-form video and chop it up into shorter social clips. This way, you can get more mileage from your videos and reach a wider audience. This is another reason we believe in and offer episodic content development. It's designed to be repurposed in ways short content cannot be repurposed.
Gary Vaynerchuck exploded this idea with his episodic show, AskGaryVee, and DailyVee. He later wrote about how his team makes 30+ pieces of content from a single keynote. Whoa, talk about maximization! Our storytelling colleague McNabb Storytelling reinterprets this repurposing concept with a buffalo concept.
Producing high-quality video content on a budget can be accomplished by batch filming, using stock footage offset needed b roll, and repurposing content to get more mileage out of your videos and reach a wider audience.
Focus On Evergreen Content
Evergreen videos have value over time because they're not time-sensitive or tied to a specific event or campaign. This type of video content is an excellent investment for your organization. It can be used repeatedly to build awareness, engage supporters, and drive donations over time.
Videos like your evergreen cornerstone stories can also be filmed in a day or two. At BairStories, we wrote the scripts ahead of time and filmed five videos in one day. We also used stock footage to amplify the story visually.
We like Vimeo's thoughts about creating evergreen videos:
- Fuels your content efforts. Creating an evergreen video gallery can serve various people in different stages of their buyer's journey.
- Allows you to package the content into different formats. The versatility of evergreen content helps you maximize your mileage from the content you create.
- Works as a lead generation and customer experience-improving magnet. The exact purpose each evergreen content piece serves depends on the topic itself.
But if you're curious about the difference a budget makes in storytelling, check out this episodic documentary, where a video production agency was challenged to create three ads for $1,000, $10,000, and $10,000. Good stuff!
To Sum Up, Creating Videos With Limited Budgets
Creativity and planning make creating high-quality videos on a limited budget possible with the right mindset and approach. Using stock footage, batching film days, repurposing video content, focusing on evergreen videos, and keeping it simple are all great ways to create impactful videos for your organization. Remember to focus on telling a compelling story and connecting with your audience. Your videos will have a lasting impact regardless of the budget size.
At BairStories, we understand the power of video storytelling and the importance of creating impactful videos for environmental and social justice nonprofits. We specialize in storytelling that inspires action and positively impacts communities.
