Photo Credit: nickwheeleroz
Would you like to take on fewer clients and make your video business more profitable at the same time?
Who wouldn’t?
Some video businesses seem to have a magic touch. They make a lot of money, get to work with the best clients, and they’ve built their reputations as experts. But there are many others—companies that do top-quality work—battling it out for nightmare clients.
What separates these companies isn’t always talent or luck. A lot of it has to do with how they position themselves to potential clients.
Stress and Chasing Clients
Most video production and post production companies have a tough time separating themselves from their competitors. They struggle for years to find a foothold in this super competitive market.
It usually goes like this. The production company, eager to make money and find clients, sets up a website and waits for business to roll in. Maybe they start marketing and advertising when their initial efforts don’t create the results they were hoping for.
It doesn’t take long to discover just how competitive the production and post production markets can be. So the business responds by casting their nets wider in search of more clients. They ease up on screening prospective clients and become less selective about which projects they’re willing to work on.
This puts the business in a bad pattern. Once they start chasing as many clients as they can, they have to keep chasing new ones to stay in business.
Most Video Businesses Can’t Separate Themselves from Competitors
When they’re just getting started, most video businesses expect a struggle to find clients. But they get frustrated when it doesn’t get any easier. They blame themselves, their marketing or advertising, Google’s search engine algorithms, or a million other things.
They’re pointing the finger in the wrong places. The most likely reason for their never-ending struggle to find quality clients is how they’ve positioned themselves in the marketplace.
Not specializing your production or post production services leaves you with limited options to distinguish yourself from your competitors.
Doing quality work isn’t enough. You could try to outmuscle your competition by spending more than them on marketing and advertising. Or you could slash your rates to attract clients at a lower price point.
Pursuing those options create a race to the bottom. You have to spend more money to attract clients and take on practically every lead just to make ends meet. It’s stressful because it forces you to do a lot of work you don’t enjoy, and it isn’t the most profitable way to do business either.
The Solution: Stop Trying to Make Everyone a Client
The key to breaking free of this frustrating “game”—the one where you have to keep lowering your rates or spending more on marketing just to stay competitive—seems counterintuitive:
Stop trying to get as many clients as you can. Focus on specific areas within the production industry where you can offer the most value and seek out clients there exclusively. Specialize.
Many video businesses present themselves as generalists that can handle almost any project. So when you change the way you present yourself in that market, you separate yourself from the crowd instantly.
Being pickier about whom you work with and the work you take on lets you build your reputation, raise your rates, and land top-quality clients. It’s one of the fastest ways you can make your business more profitable and less stressful at the same time.
How to Specialize and Charge Higher Rates
How can you transition to becoming a specialist if you already have your video business going? There’s no need to start over. You can turn to projects you’ve done already for insight into how to specialize effectively.
Start out by looking through your portfolio. See if you can notice any patterns or trends. If you’ve been in business long enough, you’ll probably find most of your work fits into a few niches you can exploit.
Specialization will help make your business more profitable, but there’s no reason you shouldn’t enjoy your work too. Look for the overlap between your favorite projects and ones you have the most ability or experience in.
Let’s work through an example to get a feel for this. Say you have a lot of experience scripting and shooting real estate videos. You enjoy those more than the wedding videos, corporate training projects, and other projects you’ve picked up over the past few months.
Specializing in real estate videos would be a great option. You’ve already established there’s a demand for those services and you enjoy the work. Target realtors and real estate agencies, do a good job, and you could quickly become the go-to person for that work in your area.
There’s no need to worry about getting locked into one specialty forever. Specialization is a shortcut to building your reputation. You can always add another niche or switch niches later on once you’ve made a name for yourself as an expert.
The more specialized knowledge and experience you gain in your chosen area, the higher the rates you can charge. Quality clients are happy to pay premium rates for value that only you can deliver. And when you tailor your services to suit a specific type of client, you can become the “go-to” provider for those projects.
You don’t have to compete with thousands of other production companies for undesirable clients anymore. Well-qualified clients come to you, and they’re willing to pay premium rates.
The Path to More Profits and Less Stress
Most people are eager to setup a video company and make money, so they start taking everyone on board without giving much thought to how they’re positioning themselves in the market.
This locks them into an unfavorable position of looking exactly like most of their competitors. So they have to slash their rates, spend more money on advertising, and take practically every project that comes their way to stay profitable.
You don’t have to go that route. It’s counterintuitive, but targeting fewer clients lets you work with better ones. These clients are willing to pay premium rates for your specialized expertise. It’s a great way to build your reputation and leverage it going forward.
Do you plan to specialize your video business? Leave us a comment below and let us know!
