If you manage communications in a large company, just about every agency, production company, and freelance creative would like to work with you. A big challenge for anyone, though, is evaluating vendors’ capabilities, reliability, and honesty.
Can they actually deliver what is needed?
How accurate are their estimates?
They’ve produced a dozen videos for colleagues in your company whom you’ve never met. Is there any real value in that?
Often, you’ll have little time to find, vet, and choose a vendor. With budgets being constrained and your neck on the line, how can you determine if a vendor is overpromising?
Below are some reliable red flags and what to do about them.
If you’re a video production vendor, hopefully you won’t recognize yourself in any of these. If you do, consider this your recommendation to change tactics.
“We got this.”
They get it, everything you’re saying. They agree with every statement you make before you finish saying it. The truth is: they’re barely listening. Like a disingenuous politician or a someone on a first date, they’ll say whatever they think you want to hear just to seal the deal. Or worse: they’re either not creative or confident enough to offer alternative ideas.
What to do
Ask for their opinions on a couple of your creative ideas. Do they challenge you at all? Try to determine if they’re going to bring anything to the table. Will they just deliver what is asked, or do they bring added value?
“We’ve produced all kinds of videos across the company. We know your company's brand and its style.”
Does your company really have a singular video style? If so, should there be? In a healthcare company, a marketing video usually won't look like just a cancer patient’s personal story. Even two patient stories shouldn’t necessarily look or feel the same. There should be clear brand guidelines regarding lower thirds, closing bumpers, etc. but each video’s purpose and story should guide its style.
What to do
Ask for at least two case studies, projects that are notably different from each other. What were the briefs? How did the project’s plan change over time? What were the vendors’ approaches? The key is to determine if they’ll take a cookie cutter approach to your project.
“How?”, not “Why?”
Are they asking about the video’s WHY: message, audience, purpose? Or are they primarily focused on the HOW: scheduling, budget, logistics? They’re not producing widgets. They need to understand what the video is really about in order to provide valuable, relevant ideas for bringing it to life.
What to do
Ask them if they have questions about the video’s purpose. Maybe your brief is so perfectly detailed that they don’t think they need any further background info at this point. If that’s the case, they should say so.
Your video production vendor is your partner. As in any partnership, trust is essential to success. Before working with a new vendor for the first time, look out for these red flags. You’ll be glad you did.
----------
Visit jkcreative.net to learn more about creative strategy consulting and how to work with me directly to improve your creative processes, project management, marketing, and more.
If you have any questions, comments, or would like to suggest a future topic, please email me at jesse@jkcreative.net.
Comentários