Have you ever noticed you spend more time on a website when there’s a video to click? In that amount of time, your customers are getting to know you better, which improves your credibility, trust, and familiarity. Video helps increase engagement on your website by 5X. So how can you make a plan to help you start creating your own videos for your business? This simple business video production plan can help grow your business with a low cost marketing strategy that yields a high and measurable return.

1. Decide if you are comfortable making your own videos, or if you prefer to hire help. The benefit of making your own business videos is that you will control the creative, branding, look, feel, and overall direction of the video content with an affordable budget and consistent schedule. The risk of making your own business videos is that you will probably need to invest a small amount of time and money in training yourself how to do it or take the time to train someone on your team, along with getting some basic equipment. If you’re not sure how you feel about being on camera try Vsnap to record video and send it to yourself for free. (Recommended time: 5 minutes)

2. Set goals for your videos. The fancy term for this step is creating a video content strategy. Do you want your business videos to build brand exposure, educate your customers, recruit employees, or drive sales? All of these goals would lead you to create a very specific kind of video content strategy. To start out, create videos that provide an added layer of value for your potential customers so that they get to know, like, and trust you. Treat videos as an opportunity to win over the hearts of your customers. (5 minutes)

3. Research your competition. Do you know what kinds of business videos are already out there in your industry? Which ones are working and why? Take the time to research your competitor’s videos and choose the elements that you like or don’t like. What qualities will you choose to emulate, and which qualities will you aim to avoid? List those elements out and use them as your guideline. (5 minutes)

4. Identify the kind of videos you will be making. Since you’ve already chosen the goals for these videos, you have a good idea of the kind of video you want to make. In general, a business video that is educational or provides thought leadership will do a great job of building up your brand and adding value, whereas if you’re looking to promote an event or drive sales, you’ll want to create a video that has a more specific structure and call to action. (5 minutes)

5. Create a schedule to make and release your videos. It is advisable to create a video release schedule and set aside a few hours to shoot multiple short videos on a single day. That way, you don’t have to shoot all the time, and you can save up your videos to share with the world on an ongoing basis. (5 minutes)

6. Get the right equipment. You’ll need a basic DSLR camera to obtain high image quality, and a lavaliere microphone or external microphone to either plug directly into the camera or into an external recording device. You can also use a webcam or cell phone, however with a higher end camera you will be investing in a higher production quality video that will lend you and your business valuable credibility. For lighting, find a great window or purchase a small light kit. Grab a tripod, and make sure you have batteries and SD cards to hold your footage. Finally, store your final footage on an external drive and edit on editing software. General price breakdowns for equipment:

•  DSLR Camera ($350 – $750)
• Lavaliere Microphone ($25 – $150)
• External Microphone ($50 – $100)
• Lights ($150 – $300)
• Tripod ($50 – $100)
• External Drive ($100)
• Computer for Editing $500-$1000
• Editing Software (Free to $25/m) try: WeVideo, Adobe Premiere Elements, iMovie
• External Recording Device ($230) – Optional

7. Setup a shoot day. Pick the day you’re going to shoot your video. That will create a deadline to assure you write material so you stick to your plan and finish the videos. (5 minutes)

8. Write the scripts. You are the authority on your business; you already know what to say! Start small and simple. Bullet the points you want to make assure you cover to keep yourself on track. (60 minutes)

9. Shoot your videos. Since you picked the day to shoot, setup your lights, setup your sound, and wear clothing you are comfortable in — assure it fits your business. Have a friend or colleague help you focus and hit record.

10. Edit and post your videos. Once you are happy with the take or takes that you shot, connect the parts you liked, pick music if desired, and add in a branded logo or animation sequence that you can import or have simply designed for you. After editing, you’ll upload the video to your preferred video hosting service, and post it on your site by copying and pasting the embed code and voilà! You’ve just completed your first business video! (15 minutes)

Brought to you by: Michael Tringe, CreatorUp co-founder

Content generously provided by CreatorUp. Learn how to become a filmmaker, screenwriter, digital producer, or marketer with CreatorUp, the online web series school. To learn more please visit CreatorUp, where you can get one month free of demand video tutorials like “How to Make Business Videos for Customers,” “How to Make DIY business Videos,” and “How to Run Social Media for Business.” Try their video tutorials for free for 30 days by visiting www.creatorup.com.