Video marketing is more popular than ever, and for good reason. Consider these stats:
According to School of Motion:
— 87% of video marketers say video has increased traffic to their websites.
— 80% say video has directly increased sales.
— 93% of brands have gotten new customers by posting video on social media.
Motionartsmedia reports that:
— 97% of marketers say video helped their customers understand their products or services.
— Video increases ROI, and brings in 66% more qualified leads.
— Video has 135% more organic reach on social media.
— A landing page with video is 53% more likely to show up on page one of search engine results.
Additionally, video holds attention longer and works better to explain complicated subjects. It’s clear that most people should use video to market their businesses. The problem is that people can’t figure out what it costs.
The one number question people ask me about motion design (or any video) is why designers don’t typically publish rates on their websites. Googling how much video, motion design, and animation costs yields wildly different results, which is frustrating for business owners who don’t want waste their time in consultations for services they’re never going to use. But it’s almost impossible for designers to publish rates without a consultations because there are so many variables in each project. Here are your options and some things to consider:
- Doing it Yourself.
Depending on your marketing goals, how much time you have, and your budget, doing it yourself can be a very good decision. If you’re starting off by talking about your product or services on TikTok, for example, you can do that all by yourself with just a phone and maybe an inexpensive microphone and ring light.
Another way to do it yourself is to buy design software and learn how to produce your own videos. If you decide to go this route, I encourage you to make a solid plan for your videos in advance so you can get an idea of how much time and money this will cost. People outside of the field have a tendency to underestimate the learning curve with professional software, which is not to say that there aren’t people who grasp it easily. Just know going in that there is a lot to learn, and it’s not going to be cheap (Adobe Creative Cloud, for example, is around $50 a month for a single user), and most programs take most people over a year to learn without paid training. This also doesn’t include the cost of stock photos, music licenses, voiceovers, or any other extras you may need. If you have the time, money, and bandwidth to devote to it, learning these programs can be rewarding. On the other hand, they can be frustrating if you are using them to accomplish specific tasks in a rush without learning the foundations. Beware of legal issues as well, since you can be fined heavily for using any art or music you don’t have rights to. - Hiring someone.
For quick or one-off projects, many people hire someone from Fiverr, Upwork, or similar services. There’s nothing inherently wrong with these services; a lot of very good designers use them, especially early on in their careers when they need to build their portfolios. That said, it can be a crapshoot. The risk is yours to take. Sometimes, you will get an amazing piece of work at an unbelievably low price. Other times, you will end up paying more than you expected for work that you’d be embarrassed to use for fear of damaging your brand. Things that seem too good to be true usually are.
Hiring an agency or an experienced designer will likely be the most expensive choice with the highest payoff (though, as stated before, it is not the best choice for informal videos where you speak directly to your audience). Here are some of the things professionals will likely ask you during the consultation phase in order to determine price:
A. Do you already have a concept for the project or will we be responsible for coming up with one?
B. Do you already have a script, or will we be responsible for writing one?
C. What kind of footage will we need? In general, motion design and animation cost less than live action, especially if there are location shots. Character animation costs more than non-character animation, 3D costs more than 2 or 2.5 D, etc.
D. Will we be responsible for additional costs, such as hiring voiceover actors, licensing music for the project, and purchasing photographs or design assets?
E. What rights will be transferred upon completion of the project? WIll you continue to profit off the design well into the future? Will we be required to sign an NDA? Will we retain the right to use the design as a work sample?
F. Will we be responsible for any aspect of distribution (social media, etc.)?
G. How many rounds of edits do you expect or anticipate?
H. How long will we be expected to store original files?
I. What is the overall production value? How long will the finished product be? How complex is the design and how polished will it be?
Consider approaching a designer with these projects:
– A logo you own the rights to that you want to animate on a loop.
– A script you’ve already written script for a whiteboard explainer video.
– A script you’ve written for a 30 second live action commercial that must be television quality and must be filmed a thousand miles away.
– A vague idea for a thirty minute cartoon that must be animated with 3D characters with different voices, background music, and high action special effects.
These projects would have very different costs, but someone outside the field asking for the cost of a video might not be considering all of these factors. That’s why the range of price provided is so wide it’s practically useless. This complexity of factors is why experienced artists and designers will rarely quote a rate without an in-depth conversation. You can save yourself time during the consultation by thinking through some of these issues in advance, as well as writing out other things the designer will need to know, such as an overview of your business, your target market, the audience for the project, your goals for the project, and your overall marketing goals. A good designer will help you with these issues and determine the best options for you at the best price.
Substance and Style 