What is the average cost of a promotional film in the UK?
As marketers, we love to budget. Budgets can sometimes be time consuming, wonderful and painful – but above all, necessary.
Once you have a budget in place, you approach a video production company with the million-dollar question; ‘’How much does a promotional film cost?’’. The usual, unhelpful, unimaginative answer comes back: “Well, that depends…”.
And in defence of our fellow peers, colleagues, creatives and artists, it really does depend! Annoyingly, it depends on quite a few factors. That doesn’t mean, however, that all hope is lost. Far from it!
In this blog, we’ll explore an average price range, the factors that you want to be aware of, and share some resources that will help you keep things within your budget.
The average price range for a promotional video
There’s a huge caveat here (not written in small print, but please think of this as the small print); in order to come to the figure below, we’ve had to make some assumptions. Here they are:
Logistics
1 Day shoot
2 person crew
Local location (outside of London)
Maximum 2 interviews
Deliverables
1 x promotional film
2 x Short snippets
SRT files (for your closed captions)
Price range = £2,500 – £4,000 (plus VAT)
Factors that increase the cost of a promotional video
Deliverables: Editing time is often more expensive and laborious than the filming. The more deliverables there are, the more editing needs to take place, and the more it will cost.
Equipment and Team: Perhaps you need 2 cameras, perhaps you need a dedicated Sound Mixer (the person that holds the fluffy thing at the end of a long pole), and you may even need make up, costumes, a Set Designer, a Lighting Specialist, a Director, a Producer and a Lawyer. The more people you add into the mix, the more expensive things get. Most shoots will operate fine with a Videographer and a Producer, but some projects require a more comprehensive approach.
Planning and Strategy: At Life Media UK, video strategy is part of our process. No client will skip the Creative Sessions, Video Strategy sessions or our planning phase. We build this into our costs, but not all production houses are the same. Some bill this time separately, and some don’t do it at all. Strategy, planning and consultancy is all about Intellectual Property, and IP comes at a cost. It’s also worth every penny, if the ‘expert’ actually has expertise.
How to keep the cost of your promotional film within your budget
The key to keeping the cost of your promotional film within budget is planning. Those that fail to plan spend unplanned money. The first thing you can do is to ask for a fixed price, as costs can quickly spiral out of control if you’re being charged for time instead of deliverables.
If you’re being charged for time, then an edit may run over and you’ll be left footing the bill. If you have some amends, then you may be asked to pay up more money again. It’s important to understand what the potential hidden charges are, and to ensure you’ve budgeted for this.
The second key point is to have a bulletproof brief. A clear brief which has been signed off by everyone (including your team and your video production company) will help you to avoid expensive mistakes, re-shoots and unnecessary additional edits.
Finally, keep your lines of communication open. Transparent and honest communication is the foundation of trust. Without trust, the project is doomed to fail, and without clear and constant communication, wires are bound to get crossed and things are certain to wrong. That can be a very expensive lesson!
Next steps
Looking for an exact price for your project? Want to pick our brains a little more on the costs involved in video? Just get in touch and we’ll be happy to help.
We really believe all businesses should be doing video, so even if we aren’t the right company for you, we’ll be happy to help you find the right solution.
