Why Your Business Needs Web Videos

"When you see a portfolio, inquire about specific roles they played in the production," recommends Williams. "Too many video 'professionals' will let you watch an impressive demo reel without admitting the very minor role they played on the production team."

Post-production is when the video is edited (including the addition of sound), approved and moved into its desired format. This is also the time when the video should make its way onto a businesses' Web site.

Success Secrets

Getting a promotional video made can cost anywhere from a few thousand dollars to about $25,000. Depending on a company's needs, Richter says less is really more many times.

"We spend a majority of our time trying to convince our customers that video isn't PowerPoint and that viewers can't read a hundred words in five or six seconds," says Richter. "Find a few short phrases to live by and let the images do the talking."

Williams points out that when the goal of a video is promotional, a company should make sure it gets on outside Web sites. "That's where the exposure gained through promoting a business will be more effective," says Williams. If a business puts the promotional video exclusively on its own Web site, it's addressing an audience that's already interested in that company's offerings. "Simply by visiting [a company's] Web site, a person has already expressed their interest in the business."

Royce says that when a company sets a goal for its use of video, it should think longer-term and how the material can be used in other campaigns, in a video library, or to document a company and its processes. When a video is completed, and a company has paid for its first deliverable, it should have deep resources of multimedia to be used in other ways in the future because of the flexibility that digital assets allow.