8 questions to ask a video marketing consultant before hiring them

What percentage of your website is currently video-based?

The most common answer to this question is “not enough,” even though Cisco found that by 2022, video traffic will account for 82% of consumer internet traffic.  

Noting this, most businesses, including yours, need to prioritize t creating unbiased, trust-building video content. 

If it’s new to you, the world of video can seem overwhelming. And while you can go it alone, hiring a video consultant might be the most effective and fastest way to overcome the steep video learning curve. 

At IMPACT, it is one of the services we offer. So, sure, we might be a little biased in suggesting it’s the best way to become confident and competent in creating internal video, but we also know every agency or consultant isn’t right for every business.

How do you make sure you hire the right consultant for the job?

Related content:

• What you should consider when hiring a video consultant? 

Working with a video marketing consultant

If you’ve decided to start creating video there are two options. 

Option 1, is that you allocate some budget and hire and outsourced video production company to create some videos for your website which can be a great way to create some professional looking videos with little knowledge, but it’s probably not a good long term solution and will result in inconsistent video content.

Option 2, is that you embrace the culture of video and learn how to create video in-house with a consultant.

Yes, it’s a steeper learning curve, but if you are truly committed to embedding video within your company culture, we’ve found this is a much more effective route to take. 

So, let’s assume you’ve chosen option 2, do you need a dedicated in-house videographer or can you make do with what you have?

Our resident video and strategy consultant Zach Basner has spent the last few years implementing video strategies for business with IMPACT. 

In that time he’s come to the conclusion that video consulting only really works if there is an in-house videographer in place. You can do it without, but in our experience it won’t be as successful. 

There are three main reasons for this:

1. Not enough content is created

Unless someone is solely focused on creating video, other things take priority. We like to see 2-3 videos per week to see success and that doesn’t happen without a dedicated videographer. 

2. The quality of the content is poor

An outsourced production company will likely not be as invested in the quality of the content as someone who is on your team. 

3. The branding isn’t consistent 

An in-house videographer is immersed in the brand and understands your target market. Without that, the quality of the content will not be the most helpful unbiased, honest, transparent and informative content.

For these reasons and more, we think that, to be really successful with video marketing, to fully integrate it into your business and sales process in a quality and consistent way, you need to have an in-house videographer along with a video consultant. 

Related content:

• How to hire an in-house videographer: selecting and interviewing the best candidate

• Inbound marketing ROI: In-house vs agency who delivers more value?

What questions should you ask to make sure you hire the right video marketing consultant?

Now you are ready to start thinking about hiring a video consultant, but you need to check that they are the right fit for your business. 

Asking the eight questions below will help you uncover exactly what your working relationship will look like, what they can help you achieve, and evaluate if those align with your needs. 

• What problems can a video marketing consultant help solve?

• Can you help with internal buy-in?

• How much does video marketing consultancy cost?

• How long will our consulting relationship last?

• What will the process with a video marketing consultant look like?

• What kinds of videos are most beneficial for the sales process?

• Can you show me examples of other clients you have worked with on a similar strategy?

• What will our results look like after video marketing consulting?

1. What problems can a video marketing consultant help solve?

We’ve already told you why we think it’s a good idea, but, before hiring a video marketing consultant, it’s a good idea to consider what the benefits to your business are going to be. 

Asking them exactly what it is they can help you with and what problems they are going to solve can be a good way of determining this. 

This will help you set the level of expectation and measure return. Some of the problems that a video consultant might be able to help you with include:

• Reviewing your current video strategy (if it already exists)
• Planning your marketing strategy going forward
• Helping you gain internal buy-in 
• Coaching members of staff to feel confident on camera
• Helping you understand how to implement video within the sales process
• Developing an SEO strategy for video
• Advising on what video technology to invest in

There are loads of things that a video marketing consultant can help you with, ut, not all consultants will be able to help you with everything. And you might not need everything. 

You need to find out what problems you have, and what problems they can help you solve prior to hiring them.

2. Can you help with internal buy-in for video?

For most companies and the people that work there, video is new, and new things can be scary. 

Therefore, one of the major challenges that organizations face is push back and resistance from the team.

Buy-in is a really important factor when it comes to video success, but is often overlooked or considered secondary.

When we say a team is “bought into video,” we mean that they fully support the initiative and are engaged in making it as successful as possible. 

If you want your company to produce hundreds of videos in a year, buy-in becomes one of the most important factors for success. 

Just as much as the CEO or CMO needs to be bought-in in order to approve the budget, equipment and resource for video, the team needs to be on board as well. 

You’ll know that your team is bought-in when:

• They are suggesting new video topics
• Volunteering to get in front of the camera
• Cheering each other on
• Enjoying the process
• Producing their video in only one or two takes

The big mistake that companies make here is that they think they just need to get a videographer in to shoot video.

They don’t think about what training and coaching their team will need to set them up for being successful in their role.

What you are looking for isn’t just any video consultant that can shoot video, but can also coach your team on and off the camera so that they not only feel confident when recording video, but are truly excited to be part of the company’s content efforts.

You’re not looking to hire someone to simply point and shoot a camera. 

A great video consultant understands the importance of the culture of the organization and will work with your team before, during and after, to help your team to not only enjoy the process, but to make sure their time is used in the most effective way.

At IMPACT, we make all of our video consulting clients go through a buy-in workshop before anything. 

This involves people across the entire company, and ensures that all departments are invested and committed to the success of the video content before we get down to the details. 

3. How much does video marketing consultancy cost?

Why you’d ask this question is a bit obvious — you want to know how much you will be spending in order to plan your budget, however, more than anything, you should be looking at this in terms of return on investment (ROI). 

If you’ve never hired a consultant before, or if it’s not common for your company to invest in developing and training your team, hiring a consultant can seem relatively expensive at first. 

To get a feel for how much this should cost you, think about how many videos would you like your team to create in the next 12 months.

Here’s an example from another article we wrote:

“To have our team come to your office for a two-day shoot and produce 13 videos for you, it would cost approximately $36k. That’s more than $2700 per video. To produce 100 videos would cost you $276,923.

What if you ended up spending $40k and hired an entry-level videographer? To create 100 videos with an in-house staff member would cost you $400 per video.”

The reality is that most companies are not in the position to invest $300k to produce 100 videos in a year, but this isn’t just about cost. Rarely is a problem solved just by throwing money at it.

Here at IMPACT we believe in insourcing, or your team owning their digital sales and marketing destiny by doing the work internally, rather than outsourcing. 

It’s not that it’s just a nice idea, history has shown us that the most successful companies that have embraced inbound marketing were successful because they invested heavily in their team.

Hiring a consultant and investing in your team is not only less expensive, but has a far greater impact in terms of results over a year and beyond. 

For example, our video marketing workshops start at $7500, and hiring a video consultant starts at $2500.

Knowing this, let’s take a simple example of what the costs may be in the first 12 months: 

• One-day workshop at $7500
• 6 months of consulting at $15000
• In-house videographer at $40000

Total = $62500 

As a leader, consider how the effectiveness of your sales and marketing team will be impacted after producing hundreds of videos, and the impact those videos will have on your sales process and potential ROI. 

To summarize, it is crucial to ask how much video consultancy costs, but make sure to balance this out with your goals and intentions with video and the costs of the alternative routes to achieving them. 

Related content: 

• IMPACT: Video sales and marketing training

4. How long will our consulting relationship last?

Going hand-in-hand with how much consultancy costs, is how long the partnership will last, especially if the pricing is monthly. This will tie into the overall cost of the video consultancy and determine what budget has to be allocated for the entire project.

Our resident video guru, Zach Basner, suggests that you should be wary of hiring a consultant that sells a relationship that lasts forever. 

A video consultant should be in place to teach your in-house team to effectively make video long-term; They shouldn’t need to hold your hand indefinitely. 

That said, we suggest that you should work with a video consultant for a minimum of six months. 

The job of a consultant is to make you look great and if the consultant is worth their value, they will continually push you to be better and teach you to be accountable to yourself, so you can do your best work without their input.

It’s likely that you will continue to work with your consultant, but over time the relationship might change. 

For example, you might dial down the frequency of the consultancy, and perhaps do quarterly reviews, planning and a skills review/update. 

Another option would be to facilitate annual training with your consultant so your team continues to develop their skills, keep up to date with trends and the culture of the organization continues to develop and improve. 

It’s good to get a timescale on how long the consulting will take and what you will learn and achieve within this time scale. This will also help you measure results and ROI more accurately.

5. What will the process of video marketing consultancy look like?

Knowing what to expect before you start working with a video marketing consultant will help you prepare and get the most out of the video process. Some of the things that your consultant should be able to tell you:

• Is there anything your company needs to do before hiring/any staff you need in place?
• What form will the consulting take? ie. In-person/online?
• How often will you be in contact with the consultant?
• Will there be homework?
• What stages will the consultation follow: buy-in workshop, consultation, implementation etc.

For example, as we’ve already mentioned, we think that having an in-house videographer is a must have to ensure successful video marketing, but not all video consultants will agree.

Understanding their process and how that fits into what you need is key to hiring the right consultant. 

6. What kinds of videos are most beneficial to our sales and marketing process?

Zach says: “The number one thing I see in most of my consulting engagements is that businesses are creating the wrong types of content.” 

We already know that consumers are using video content to inform their buying decisions. Fundamentally video is a sales tool that should influence the bottom line of a company. 

This means that video needs to be integrated to help push buyers through the sales process.

It should help increase traffic and then convert those visitors into leads and sales. Depending on where the potential customer is, different types of videos will be required. 

Video marketing consultants need to understand the value of video as a closing tool and as a result they should be able to guide you on what topics you should cover with your videos and what topics will help drive leads and sales. 

They need to be able to develop a strategy based on topics that will increase sales not just fill a video void. 

At IMPACT, we base our teachings on the philosophy of They Ask, You Answer, which outlines  five key topics that are guaranteed to drive traffic, leads, and sales. When it comes to video strategy, we use The Selling 7, seven types of sales and marketing videos that will underpin the sales process and get results.

Related content:

• Playbook: Create videos that drive revenue

• How to use video marketing for sales

7. Can you show me examples of other clients you have worked with on a similar strategy?

Can your consultant show you examples of previous clients and what their results looked like?

It’s a good idea to get a feel for the type of clients, video, and results the consultant has produced in the past. 

Of course, it will not always be applicable to your field or industry, but it can give you an idea of what to expect if you work alongside that consultant and implement their advice. 

Ask your consultant to show you examples of YouTube channels and companies that are using video on their website, but be careful not to get distracted by view counts and subscribers, which is not always an accurate signal that video is working successfully for a client. 

View counts and subscribers might seem low, but the way that the client is using video on their website and in the sales process may be attracting high quality buyers. 

With that in mind, don’t just look at quality, design and the publishing aspects of video, but also ask about the strategies and how video is helping clients to grow their business. 

8. What will our results look like after video marketing consulting?

Habit 2 in Stephen R. Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Successful People is: Begin with the end in mind - and we’re going to borrow that here. 

Before you start this project and hire your consultant, consider these questions: 

• What does success look like?
• How will we measure the success of video?
• What kind of results would we like to see? 
• What will video help our company to do achieve in the future? 

It’s good for you and your consultant to have a clear idea of what you are working towards, so you can both have a benchmark for what success looks like at the end of the project and if you achieved what you set out to do. 

The other benefit of having a clear vision of the end goal is that it gives you and your team the drive and the motivation to work towards something exciting that will help your organization to grow.

Conclusion 

Hiring a video consultant can be a costly investment, but one that we know is crucial in this age of increased video consumption.

So, you want to make sure that the consultant you hire is qualified and able to effectively deliver the type of results you want from video. 

It’s just about getting the most for your money, though. It’s also so that you don’t waste time and money doing the wrong things with the wrong consultant, which ultimately leads to missed opportunities. 

It’s important to remember that the results you see will not only rely on the competence of the consultant that you hire, but on how your company embraces video.

If you go at it half-hearted, with no buy-in and no dedicated videographer then the results you see will be greatly diluted. 

That’s why it’s important to ask all the previous questions in this article — to make sure you are prepared, you know what to expect, and that the consultant you are hiring is capable of helping you create content that drives sales. 

Ultimately, video is a sales tool and you need a consultant who is capable of guiding you through the process that will enable you to produce world class video content in-house.