For the last few years, video marketing has been the primary mode of brand and product promotions among marketers of all industries. Compared to infographics or textual ad campaigns, videos cost significantly more thus low-budget marketing video has become especially acute. In fact, as this article shows, the cost of making a promo video can range from $3,000 to over $200,000, depending on several factors.
In some sense, this investment is worth doing: videos are powerful tools to win consumer appreciation and boost conversions.
Companies often hire celebrities to endorse their product, use high-end video cameras to make videos of the best quality, and splurge money to carry out extensive marketing campaigns.
Luckily, those who are new to marketing do not have to worry; it is possible to make quality low-budget marketing video and still get the required outreach and brand recognition you need. Here’s a motivational fact: Christopher Nolan’s first movie, Following, was made on a shoestring budget of only $6,000! With these seven tips, you low-budget videos can be on par with some of the most expensive ad campaigns out there.
Quick Overlook
7 Hacks to Make Best Low-Budget Marketing Videos
In this paragraph, we will consider the most interesting hacks.
1. Compelling Script
The underlying content in your video comes from your imagination and talent, and that is not something money can buy. Ultimately, people want to see excellent content in the video, and the fancy additions that a big-budget video can bring are secondary.
Plan every detail about your low-budget marketing video well in advance; build a compelling story that connects with the audience. You should answer questions like what the key message is, what the scenario is that you want to make around it, how you are going to highlight the USPs of your product, and other important ones before shooting the video.
2. Rent Equipment If You Cannot Buy
If you cannot afford professional cameras and lighting, you can always rent them. Thorough planning and rehearsal of the script can help you wrap up the shooting in a day or two.
If you have an iPhone or Android smartphone, you have a fantastic camera in your hands already. Many smartphones today prioritize their camera quality over other features, with a lot of professional features. Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh shot his entire feature film, Unsane, using an iPhone 7 Plus.
3. Who Gets to Act?
Indeed, a celebrity in your ad can vastly boost your views, but it is not always the case. Just like how a movie with a completely new cast gets recognition for the quality of the script and acting, all you need are a bunch of enthusiastic team members who have some acting talent. In a way, having your company employees endorse the product or service themselves low-budget marketing video makes the content more genuine.
If none of them wants to act, you can put up ads for amateur theatre actors or newcomers to films, who are willing to put up a good show for a relatively low price.
4. DIY Animation
Your other option is to do away with actors, backgrounds, and live-action: switch to animation instead. Cartoon videos appeal to people of all ages and are also starting to become popular in the marketing domain. Cartoons can sometimes convey a story better than live-action videos.
If you know how to make a video slideshow, all you need is a software tool to help you out; a simple whiteboard-style sketch video is enough to entertain your viewers about the product you want to sell. If you’re going to make it more sophisticated to increase the appeal, you can look at more expensive 3D animation options.
5. Keep Your Low-Budget Marketing Video Short
The ideal length of your vide would depend on the purpose and the platform you share it on, but, in general, the shorter the low-budget marketing video, the better. For example, Instagram videos should be 30-60 seconds long so that you can share them as stories, and YouTube videos are ideally 5-7 minutes long. An instructional video can be 5-6 minutes long, while promo videos are much shorter.
Shorter videos cut down the budget and also make it easier for people to watch and share it online. People’s attention spans are dropping, so the sooner you get to the point by making a neat, crisp video, the more likely it is that it will make an impact on your viewers.
6. Make The Most of Video Editors
To enhance the quality of your video, video editors come in handy. All editors have free and premium versions, and, based on your requirements, you can choose the appropriate software.
Free versions are excellent to stitch together segments, add audio and text blocks, and share it online. In contrast, premium versions have additional options like 4K editing, pre-loaded sound libraries, and AR/VR video formats.
You have to spend time to understand how to use all the features available, but there are several free online tutorials to aid you in those aspects. iMovie for Macbooks and Movie Maker for Windows machines is the default video editor apps, but you can check out online tools like video marketing blaster pro. Read more about the low-budget marketing video here.
7. Use Social Media to Share
Once you have made the low-budget marketing video, distribution is often an expensive affair in large-scale videos. TV commercials, posters, and other paid ads cost a fortune. The cheapest way of spreading brand awareness is to use social media: all you need are business accounts on Instagram, Facebook, and other platforms.
By sharing your content at the right time and with the right audience, people who like your content will share it from their accounts as well. Thus, your followers become advocates for popularising your brand, and you don’t have to spend anything. By replying to their comments, answering their queries, and encouraging their sharing of content, your online presence grows.
Less Is More
More and more marketers are shifting towards making low-budget marketing ads because it saves them a lot of money and time while still delivering the right content.
As the phrase “Less is More” says, if done right, a simple and straightforward low-budget marketing video can trump a grand, star-studded one too. A video that is worth a million dollars need not always cost a million to make it.