How Much Does Professional Video Production Cost for Marketing?

The most asked question we get asked is: how much does a video production cost? Grapes on the vine shots, aerial footage, the tasting room, pouring beer in slow motion. You should document it all. However, there is much more to a video production than what you see on screen. Or at least there can and should be a lot more. What seems like a short 30 second production can actually take days, even weeks to complete. On the flip side, a 10 minute production can actually take as little as an hour to produce (we don’t recommend this option…). So how much does a video production for marketing your beverage company cost?  

 To answer that question, we are going to review a few different options of how you can go about tackling your beverage company’s video production along with how much you could expect to spend in each scenario.

At the end of the day, it depends. Similar to the quotes you probably received to design your winery website or beer event flyers, prices were all over the spectrum. 

We will also be covering how you can best go about choosing a particular video direction for your business. No matter what option you ultimately decide on going with video, it’s important to make sure that your upcoming project is aligned and based on your needs, goals and business building priorities. More importantly, you want to make sure the quality of  your video is aligned with the quality of your brand (more on how to do that later). Similar to how you produce your wine or sell your beer or spirits, there is a video process that should be followed and each turn you take influences the outcome of your video production.   

Here’s a sneak peek of the reasons we will cover:

  • The DIY Approach to Video Production 
  • The Freelancer/Specialist Option 
  • The Video Production Marketing Agency Option  
  • What to Consider in Selecting the Best Video Option for Your Beverage Company 
social media wine video on iphone

DIY – The Do It Yourself Video Production

The Do It Yourself option for producing your beverage videos can be anywhere from $500 to $3,000+. The following range is determined by the most basic setup to trying to squeeze as much as you can with a smaller budget video production. Essential equipment includes the camera, a tripod, backdrop, lighting, and microphone and there are multiple options for purchase or rent. The Do It Yourself video option is the most budget conscious option. For those on your team who are more creative and feel confident behind the camera, this may be able to work for ad-lib social media content or simple ways for your audience to see and hear you.  

The quality of a DIY production is lacking compared to that of a commercial production, however, there are very creative ways for you to keep in touch with your audience and build a meaningful relationship with your customers with a simple DIY. It’s quick, agile, and if you ever are in need of quick video content, the DIY approach may be a good option.  

Benefits of a DIY Approach:

Low budget

Extremely agile and no need to plan

Quick access and publishing

Things to Consider:

Low quality 

Mistakes and production hiccups 

Not scalable – not recommended to share as large scale media 

freelance videographer for wineries

How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Freelancer for Video Production?

Looking into hiring a freelance videographer for your upcoming beer, wine or spirits video production? Rates can vary, but for a short commercial production, you can expect to pay anywhere from $1,500 to $10,000+ per video. To see how much freelance videographers cost in your area, you can even search Thumbtack to get an estimate. More than likely, your videographer will have an assistant on production day to assist with shooting or you can chalk up a large amount of time to the freelancer setting up and getting gear in place for shots. Most freelance videographers will incorporate the costs of travel, their assistant, day rates, along with any time spent in pre-production reviewing what type of video you will want to have produced.     

Using a freelancer will produce more high quality results than the DIY approach. You will also be spending a lot less time having to execute, like having to worry about equipment rentals/purchasing, shooting, and editing. However, you may not have access to the strategy and pre-production you need to ensure a successful video campaign. Ensuring that your video project is tied to a goal and solving a marketing problem helps to get the most ROI for your investment. Remember, investing in marketing needs to have a clear goal and you should know exactly how commercial video marketing can do what you need it to do like increase bottle or can sales.   

Pro Tip:

Consider using a freelancer platform to find freelancers in your area. The following platforms have reviews, previous work and general availability so you can hire as needed.  

Benefits of hiring a freelance videographer for your video production:

Quality production 

More time to focus on the winery so the videographer can focus on video 

No need to invest in equipment or editing software 

Acts as an extra pair of hands for video needs 

Things to Consider:

Can lack overall marketing strategy 

Limited resources for storytelling 

Limited resources for marketing partners 

Dependability and availability  

winery video production shoot

The Video Production Agency Option and How Much It Could Cost

Hiring an agency or video production team for your beer, spirits or wine marketing can cost as little as $7,000 all the way up to $50,000+ for a single video. (Now that’s a range!) Your timeline, strategy, number of locations, production quality, shoot-day dynamics, and post-production are all factors that can influence the cost of your project. Who’s in the video? Will there be actors? Narration? The agency covers all bases and makes sure that the upcoming video explores every option that is aligned with your vision and expectations.  

Video production agencies tend to follow a proven process to ensure that every gap is filled leading up to shoot day. That means that they want to know what your goal is, how your story relates to your overall message, and how you want your video to be used to solve the marketing problems your business might be experiencing. Also, and that’s a big also: who is the competition and what production value are they already bringing to the table if you intend to compete?

In other words, agencies do not just show up and shoot a collection of video samples and piece them together for the sake of delivering a cool video. The agency’s responsibility is to create a composition that helps your audience to engage with your brand and ultimately be moved to act so you hit your marketing goals based on the investment your business is making.  

Pro Tip:

If you’ve ever asked yourself, how much should I allocate toward a video production? Ask yourself a different question.  

“How much revenue would I like to realize as a result of investing in a video production? From there, ensure that your investment is a portion of that expectation (I know, it sounds simple! But it’s a lot harder to slow down the conversation when we see that shiny video our neighbor just posted…) 

How long does video production take with an agency?  

You can expect the typical engagement with an agency to last anywhere from 2 to 8 weeks for a full production. This includes a discovery video collaboration where you discuss things like what message you want shared and with whom and how. From there, a script is built and a storyboard (if necessary) is drafted by the team so you know exactly what story is being told and what shots will be captured to support that story. Once logistics and scheduling is completed, the fun begins. The video agency will take care of shooting, project management and all post production where you simply approve each milestone from there or ask for edits if necessary.   

Pro Tip: There isn’t much need for edits if pre-production is performed properly. Ensure that you work with an agency with a number of sign-offs so you know exactly what type of video will be produced, what will be said and what shots will be captured.  

Pro Tip: Building a relationship with your video production agency partner is recommended so you are able to continue to create videos well into the future. This will greatly reduce the amount of time it takes to onboard in the beginning of each project and you can typically get discounts on a per video basis when spread out over time.  

Benefits: 

Consistent process and framework to follow 

Access to resources – partners who can help promote your video and make 

recommendations based on marketing need 

Thorough strategy 

Hands-off approach minus the initial discovery and collaborative efforts 

Things to Consider: 

The expense/investment should be a portion of what you hope to gain (ROI) 

video production call sheet

So how do I choose the right video production for my beer, spirits or wine brand? DIY vs. Freelance vs. Agency 

Brand guru Marty Neumeier of Liquid Agency in San Francisco says that, “Your brand isn’t what you say it is. It’s what they say it is.” https://www.martyneumeier.com/ Because that’s what video is really all about at the end of the day; how will your beer, wine or spirits video production reflect your brand. For example, this is probably not breaking news, but the wine industry is difficult and standing out is paramount. Wine.net reports,  

“When it comes to choosing between bottles of wine, it turns out looks really do matter: More than 80% of people picked a bottle of wine based on the label’s look, 65% chose based on how expensive they thought the wine looked, and just over half considered the shape and color of the bottle itself.” 

If a brand can be defined by what others say it is, what they’re saying when you’re not in the room, then making sure your video is “on-brand” is key when selecting what direction to go with your video production. Every touch point you have with your customers, including video, from a winery brochure to a social media post, is a portrayal of your brand; your promise. Based on that interaction with your brand, people are going to make an assumption about what you’re like and how your wine tastes. Be consistent and allow your wines and story to be told at the same level and quality you would tell from your own point of view.  

Pro Tip: To help get closer to what direction to move in, you can ask yourself the following questions:  

  • What level and quality of beverage do we sell? What quality of marketing do we currently have? What quality of marketing would I like to have? 
  • What can my beer, wine, or spirits label expect when investing in video marketing? What can we hope to gain both monetarily and brand-image wise? 
  • Is my current video production for marketing consistent with the quality of the product we sell? Does our current content support what we are sharing with the world?  

What We Covered

So how much does a video production for beer, wine or spirits marketing cost? It depends on the direction you choose to go, whether DIY, a hired freelancer or video production agency. We explored a few cost ranges of each, along with how to go about selecting the best option for your upcoming project. Whether you choose to do it yourself, or whether you choose an agency, remember to make sure that the reason why you want to explore video in the first place is aligned with your goals and how it can better portray your brand and wines. One thing that’s great about shooting video in the wine space is that it’s hard to make all of our beautiful vineyards and tasting rooms look that bad so explore all three scenarios and approaches and see what option appears to fit best with your goals. Be ambitious and more importantly, have fun.  

 

If you’d like to learn more about the costs of doing a video production, let us know by connecting with us here or you can leave a comment below about what your last video experience was like. We’d love to hear your feedback! We’re local to Sacramento so if you’d like to learn more about Sacramento video productions, explore more here!

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