Back in 2006 we had recognised that online video was going to see massive year on year growth and we set up a small satellite website, streamwebvideo.com, to focus on one-off video clips. It was rather an amateur affair and without any ranking on Google, it was promoted through pay per click. But we did get some good enquiries and produced some good work on the back of it, but it didn’t take long to see that we had to move up a gear. For a start, we needed to bring the whole company into the mix, trading on all of our existing work. So we decided to put online video at the heart of our operation and to promote it from our main site.

We continue to look carefully at the way internet video clips are being used online, and at what people are prepared to pay for professional results. We settled on a one-off all-in fee of £600 for a 90 second clip. Below this, video users might just as well buy a small camera and film and edit the clips themselves. How long would that take? How good would it look? Where would the video go, beyond your own website?

It depends what you’re trying to communicate of course. If you’re trying to sell that grandfather clock in the garage on eBay, your own video would probably be suitable for the purpose, but if you’re trying to promote your company on the internet, and the video results are poor, you can imagine what that would do for your image.

Look at it another way. Business owners, including one-man bands, usually make a significant investment in their websites. The video is going to be one of the most important features on the website – if not the most important. So it makes sense to take the professional route to ensure the best results.  

In the video production business, £600 would be considered about as cheap as it gets, and I did worry about damaging our brand by putting the package together. However, right at the centre of our brand is our ‘Video for All’ statement, which means just that – making professional video available to all who want to use it. Moreover, our business model allows us to offer it. We compete with some of the UK’s largest production companies, and they have considerable operating costs. But the Spectrecom studio is based in Deptford, not Soho, and we’re an incredibly lean and mean operation. We have our own in-house staff and equipment to help make sure the budget gets spent on the films we make, and not on fancy offices and coffee machines (Matt take note!*).

So what does the client get for their £600? Well in practical terms, a project consultation for starters, a 2 hour shoot at their premises or elsewhere, up to 90 seconds of edited video clip with titles and music and one draft edit approval, our branded video media player, and advice on propagating the video on various social networks and directories. But the marketing consequences for the client can be enormous. Not only do they get a show-stopper for their website, possibly adding that all-important human face to it for the first time, but in terms of online marketing potential they get access to a whole new range of sites and directories, and all the interest that generates to help drive people to their own site. In 2009, there can’t be many better ways to invest that £600!  

*NB: Matt has taken note - he gets his fix in the morning before work.

a.greener@spectrecom.co.uk