So, you’ve developed a long-term production schedule and a detailed content strategy. What’s next? You need a video agency to create and execute your video content. If you want to create a specific number of videos every month, you’ll want to work with a video agency you know and trust. This is where retainers come in.
A retainer is a long-standing agreement between you and your chosen video agency. This agreement usually lasts between 6 and 12 months, during which time the video agency will act as your in-house marketing team. They will create all of your video content, ensuring that it’s effective, consistent and in line with your key messaging.
If you want to create a specific number of videos each month, setting up this agreement makes perfect sense. You won’t need to research video production companies for each video, and you’ll work with a company that knows your brand inside and out. From a strategy point of view, a retainer makes your marketing schedule more integrated and efficient.
We’ve listed below how retainers work and some of the benefits that can effectively drive your business forward.
How a Retainer Works
A retainer sets aside a specific amount of time at a set rate for a video agency to work on your video content. Although there are month-over-month long retainers, they are usually at least 6 months long.
As this agreement is ideal for clients with a thorough understanding of their long-term marketing objectives, a retainer works out cheaper in the long run. This is because there’s a lower cost per project, as the set time has already been agreed upon and paid for. Clients will also get priority treatment over other ventures because of this agreed rate.
Throughout this period, the video agency will discuss your key projects and set a timeframe for completion. They will scope out the work that needs to be done and clarify deadlines for each piece of video content, ensuring that it aligns with your content marketing schedule.
A retainer also effectively clarifies the variable costs associated with video production. This ensures that clients aren’t overpaying for a video agency’s services.
The Benefits
From saving you resource time to offering you high-quality feedback to optimise your video content marketing strategy, a retainer has all kinds of benefits to boost your business.
Priority Access
Reserving a set amount of a video agency’s time means that your brand is constantly in its periphery. You don’t need to worry about any of your needs clashing with other clients’ projects. As a regular client, you’ll have the benefit of contacting a video agency you know and trust and scheduling upcoming activities, knowing that the video agency will act upon your requirements without any hassle. The video agency will always prioritise your working partnership above any new clients, as this will also save them from pitching their services to other clients on a one-off basis. The video agency will take your video content marketing strategy seriously and strive to help your business by putting your needs first.
Saves Time
A long-term content marketing schedule normally details a set amount of video content to be produced every month. To make sure your video content covers all the different types you require, you might find yourself spending huge chunks of time researching the services of different video production companies. If you only approach a video agency you trust on a one-off basis, there’s a strong likelihood that they won’t be able to accommodate your project within your specified timeframe. You’ll then need to go back to the drawing board and find a different video agency that provides similar services at a similar rate. This will lead to inconsistencies in your video marketing and can create confusion amongst your viewers.
Sticking with one video agency and scheduling a set amount of time with them will save you resource time, as you can rest assured that your chosen video agency will produce high-quality content that is consistent with your branding and achieves your marketing goals.
Saves Money
Different video production companies have different rates depending on the scope of your video content. If you source individual video agencies for each piece of video content, you’ll notice that both the quality and the billing will be inconsistent. The more you spend on creating videos indeed lead to a higher ROI, but experimenting with a myriad of different video agencies will lead to astronomical costs.
Through a retainer, you have already agreed on a specific amount of money with a video agency. You have, therefore, already paid for all of the video content they will produce. Rather than budgeting projects one at a time, you’ll have much more cost-effective marketing.
“Rather than budgeting projects one at a time, you’ll have much more cost-effective marketing.”
Integration
A retainer leads to video content that is more integrated with your marketing strategy. Your chosen video agency will be uniform with your branding in each piece of video content. This way, you’ll be able to repurpose your video content for various marketing purposes, such as social media promotion. Your video content will then increase brand awareness and recognition, as more viewers will be exposed to your videos and notice the consistency of your branding. Each video will become increasingly relevant to your marketing strategy and create a noticeable and appealing image for your target audience. Using one video agency for your video content will make integration easier and develop a cleaner representation of your brand.
Long-Term Support
A long-term working partnership with a video agency means you’ll have a constant source of support. This means you have more opportunities to optimise and experiment with your video content. The video agency will have more time to invest and more chances to exercise a higher level of creative flair. They will give you ideas on how to maximise the effectiveness of your video content. This will ensure that your video content is always relevant to your target audience and high-quality. Feedback from a trusted source helps clients change other aspects of their marketing campaigns. As a result, they will end up creating a much more polished brand image. This support will give you more insight into the specifics of your marketing strategy and strengthen your relationship with a video agency.
Why Choose Kartoffel?
At Kartoffel, we’ve produced over 2000 videos in over 9 years. Our retainers include Age UK, Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, University of Chicago Booth Business School, and Macmillan Cancer Support. Through these trusted relationships, we’ve been able to enhance marketing strategies and build strong working partnerships. Below, we go into detail about our process of setting up a retainer with us.
Onboarding
Content Audit
The first step of the onboarding process is to perform an audit of existing online content and other content assets. One main component of this is looking at metrics, such as page performance, views, shares, drop off rates, and backlinks. In order to complete this, we will need access to your video and site analytics.
Audience Research
We will then conduct extensive research into your target audience, including their demographics, interests, video consumption habits, likes and dislikes. This will help us build a persona to focus your content strategy and its purpose.
Competitor/Gap Analysis
We will analyse how your closest competitors are engaging with your target audience, as this is key to identifying the content gap. This provides clearer insight into the types of video content your audience is interested in.
Brand and Existing Strategy
Providing a brief overview of your brand, both in terms of visuals and key messaging, will help us understand your organization, key goals and perceived challenges.
Initiation
Video Content Strategy
We will kick off the initiation stage by formulating the video content strategy. This consists of a creative treatment, clarifying the types of content, the production schedule, and the release timeline.
Creative Direction
Next, we will develop an overarching creative approach and establish the same type of creative direction for each video and animation. This will help the consistency of your messaging and branding.
Production Schedule
We will then produce a production schedule for the body of work, including key stages for the production phase, and any requirements for everyone involved.
Release Plan
A release plan will be developed, highlighting key dates content needs to be completed.
Client Liaison
To keep clients informed, we will assign a single point of contact from our end for you to communicate any concerns. In turn, we will ask you to have a principal point of contact, so our team knows who to reach.
Execution
Creative and Planning
Before we get started, we have a meeting to understand the scope of each film or set of films. This helps us to set the dynamics of your project and further refine the creative approach.
Pre-Production
This is where we plan the logistics of the project. From scriptwriting and scouting locations to booking crew and casting talent, we will organize everything to ensure the production day runs smoothly.
Production
The production stage is where all of the elements of the pre-production stage are brought together. We will capture all of the footage you require, including interviews and b-roll to enrich your video. You will also be able to view the shoot day remotely via a Frame.io link.
Post-Production
Our video editors will cut and organize the footage into a final, polished video and add sound effects, music, and any other visual elements, such as motion graphics and animations.
Delivery and Learning
We will give you two rounds of amends to provide feedback on the video. Once you are happy with the final edit, we will deliver your video content in the required format, be it suitable for social media promotion or a holding video on your website homepage.
Video Automation
Depending on the client, we can automate the entire process, minimising the need for you to provide feedback and to be on set. Through video automation, we can simply deliver your video content assets as required.
Regular Meetings
Throughout this period, we will be available for video chats or in-person meetings to discuss the outcome of your video content. We are also available for answering queries about future projects.
Review and Learning
Monthly Performance Updates
At the end of each month, we will provide a data report on the performance of each film. This data will help in planning the next films and guide the future promotion of your video content.
Reported Measures
Some of the measures we will report on are:
- Engagement
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- Total views – How many people are watching the content
- Repeat views – If people are watching the content again and/or how long they are watching for
- Page Performance
- Backlinks to the host page – This is a link from one website to another. Search engines use backlinking to rank websites considered important
- Traffic to the page – The extent your content drives traffic to your website
We recommend Wistia as a video hosting site. This video platform has excellent metrics to help analyse the performance of your video content and your promotion methods.
Final Thoughts
If your content strategy requires a myriad of video content, it makes sense to set up a video retainer with a video production company. Not only can they help guide your videos in the right direction, maximising their potential, but they will also act as your in-house marketing team. To keep your video content strategy consistent, establishing a long-term agreement with a video agency will boost your brand recognition and awareness.
We can make video work for you, not the other way around. With over 2000 videos, both animated and live-action, we can sort all of the logistics associated with your testimonial video, meaning no hassle or stress on your part. Still interested? Contact us to get our creative partnership started.
