O yes, the classic old debate of value based v time based pricing! Agencies have argued forever about what is the best option and here is our two cents, and why we decided to go down the time based pricing.
I think value based pricing works well at the top of the talent pool. The top %s of minds are paid crazy sums of money for just a moment of their brain space to be spent on your project - and because of their ridiculously high calibre, they can spend just a fleeting second on your problem or design, and produce something simply incredible because of the years of time spent dedicated to becoming the very very best in the business.
Now, we are not Hollywood - and we don't pretend to be. We are a group of talented creatives who leverage our abilities to create content to a standard that is RIGHT for your project. You don't need a 10 man film crew to film a wee intro video of yourself for your Linkedin - you need 2 folk, who have a good eye, and an understanding of WHAT content should be in that video and you are golden.
No matter how many years you have been in industry, if you are filming and editing 20 FAQ videos, it is going to take basically the same amount of time whether you have 3 years or 30 years. We don't hire pros who have been at it for 30 years, because, their skillset would not be harnessed here, they would likely be bored, and also demand a 10x wage because of their experience... but we don't need that. And because of that, how long the task is going to take is fairly standard, and we can charge accordingly.
We encourage people to think about us more as paid members of the team rather than an agency. Ultimately, as your employee works with you longer, they get better at what they do, they become more efficient, and more valuable to you.
It is the same with us - we have some clients now who we are really in the groove with and 12 months down the line, we can now deliver double the number of videos compared to what we could at the beginning because it just just clicks and flows.
The price will always be based on the time it takes - because agencies pay their staff for time. The quicker they can do something, the more you can charge. The slower they are, the less you can charge. But the agency is then still charging you based on the ‘time’ it took of the employees wage.
We all do it in our businesses - we have the clients that are 'good' and 'bad' - in our case, a good client is someone who is truly invested in the process - communicates often, trusts our opinions, moves forward with actions and implements quickly - a bad client is slow to get back, un-organised, tweaks the smallest things against our best judgement, never uses the videos anyway.
With VALUE BASED pricing - If you are efficient and a 'good' business, you basically end up paying for the inefficiencies of 'bad' businesses. Because if my agency is a flat fee, I have to charge you based on the ‘average’ client - so what ends up happening is the good clients end up paying for the rubbishness of bad one. And that just ain’t fair,
It’s a win/win or a lose/lose model.
Either
Client is good, we work well with client, which means we maximise output, growing their business and repeat, and everyone is happy.
Or
You are a nightmare, there is always a bit of tension, you don’t follow systems, you don’t get good value from us, everyone gets annoyed we all lose.
YouMore’s model is: we are really good, and actually, the quicker we are, the more you get. But our speed is mostly based on your engagement with us!!! BUT, if you as a client are a nightmare, you don’t follow systems, you don’t engage with our process, you get less. But we as an agency, and also 'good' clients, are not punished for your annoying ness.
We just want to work with people who really value content, and who we can build a great relationship with. Businesses with good people, good systems and good business brains who are growing amazing businesses with a focus on really enriching the journey of your clients, your team and your own too.
If you haven't already, check out our posts on pricing, why we don't quote per project, how many videos you get for your money, and why we hate the word retainer. These posts should give you an idea of some of the factors that contribute to overall cost, and why it can quickly add up.
Here at YouMore, rather than billing per project at a flat rate, we bill time. Every minute we work on your project, or film a video with you, or travel to location, is billed against your account.
As discussed at length in our retainer post, we believe this is a much more beneficial model for both parties than the classic retainer model. The longer we work together, the more value you will get out of our time, as we get to know you and your brand and can smash out tonnes of awesome content in much less time.
This being said, some may still believe the cost is just too high. After all, can't anyone with a phone and a computer with iMovie make videos? Of course! But as with most things in life, you get what you pay for. If you pay nothing, you can most likely expect lower quality and less return for your business.
But is it really worth paying a production company to make videos on a regular basis? We have a whole section on our blog dedicated to answering this question, as well as a blog specifically unpacking whether it's worth hiring a videographer or a production company.
Essentially, we believe video is absolutely essential to your business, whether that be in external sales, social media, or internal training. And the research backs this up time and time again.
With that in mind, we believe the cost of getting videos professionally made for your business is a no-brainer. And again, you get what you pay for. If you're looking for top-of-the-range 8K, cinema-worthy videos, you'll be paying upwards of £10K per project. If you're a small business, this is completely unnecessary for you.
The good news is that, with the significantly growing demand for video, production companies are popping up all over the place, all offering a huge variety of prices. So whatever your budget, there's something out there for you.
So why IS video so expensive? Well, lots of reasons. It requires equipment (lights, cameras, lenses, microphones, recorders, cables, travel cases, batteries, memory cards, tripods, mic stands, computers, massive hard drives, software, sometimes drones, and more!). It also requires skill, creativity, time, and experience.
Finally, it's expensive because it's valuable. Video is on the rise, and is quickly becoming the biggest medium consumed online, by a country mile! And you know what that means? More eyes on your business, leading to more money in your pocket!
Interested in finding out more? Email us at [email protected] today to book in your first filming session or to chat about how we can help you.
