Here at Beast Production we have grown a Production Company from the ground up so we know it can be a struggle at first to get clients.
So in today’s article we’re going to answer the question, “How do I go about getting clients for my UK Production Company?” We guess this applies to clients for any type of freelance work, so if you’re a photographer or offer any other creative video services this will apply to you as well.
There are a whole bunch of ways you can go about getting new clients for your UK production company and were going to go over a handful of ways, some of which will be geared toward those of you who are beginners and want to get your first clients, and some of these will be helpful for those of you who are already experienced but want to branch out and find new clients so without further ado let’s get into some of these tips.
A successful production company needs a creative portfolio
The very first thing as a freelancer that you’re going to want to do whether it’s videos or photography is to set up a portfolio of some sort where you can show people the work that your UK production company has produced, and for this you will need a video hosting platform. If you’re just starting out you can use YouTube, Vimeo, your own website or you can even use Instagram to show your videos. A tip though is that if you’re going to use Instagram don’t make it your personal account that shows you and your friends goofing off because you don’t want clients to see that, keep it professional. Now you might be one of those people that says, well how do I make a video portfolio if I don’t have any existing videos from existing clients, and if this is the case then the only thing you can really do is to either shoot some videos for very cheap or for free. When we started out we shot tons of free work. We actually sent out emails to various small businesses and said, “hello we are Beast, a new creative force in the UK, we make videos were just starting out and we like your brand”, you now tell them a little bit about you or your production company, and then the icing on the cake is, “we would like to offer you a free video for your business and in return we would like to use it for our portfolio.” Every now and then you’ll be surprised that you will actually get a response and a lot of people like free stuff so if you’re offering a free video and your stuff is good, they will let you do it and boom you have your first client video.
Throw it on your portfolio and then repeat the process again. Now that you have a portfolio and you have some stuff to show people this is where you can move onto some of the other ways you can go about getting some new clients and getting paid. One little thing we would say is a good amount of videos to have in your portfolio would be at least 5, obviously the more you have the better, but 5 is a good number when starting out. As we said now you have your portfolio you have a few videos that you can show people so that when they hire you to do some work they know what they’re getting into. You will also have gained a tremendous amount of experience in the process of those five video productions. And it will be that experience and knowledge along with your creative ability that will win you the next job.
What Should You Value More, Goods Or Service?
Now before you even start thinking about marketing and little tricks to find clients and things like that, you need to first structure your production company into two parts – Goods and Services. If you’ve ever taken a marketing class then you will know exactly what we are talking about. Goods are a tangible thing that someone can buy from you and they now have it and they own that thing. In this case that is the video the final product that you throw together and edit and send to them, that is the goods you are offering your clients. The service you are offering is exactly what it sounds like, the customer service, the relationship you are offering to the client and how attentive you are to their needs, how responsive you are and how you handle yourself in a professional way.
This is equally if not more important than the actual video or whatever the good is itself because even if you provide a good final product if your service is bad then they’re not going to recommend you to anyone else. By the way, recommendations are very important when it comes to video production, so when you do have a satisfied customer, ask them to leave a google review.
We would say a big chunk of our business comes from referrals because the clients not only like our work but they like us, they like how responsive we are to their emails they like how quickly we get back to them, they enjoy our willingness to meet up with them and discuss ideas with them and to collaborate. They enjoy how patient we are and how we can offer revisions to make sure that they get the video they want. These are the things you have to think about every time you take on a video production service in the UK for a client because in the past they’ve liked our service they’ve recommended us to all their friends, who also have businesses and do all sorts of things and we get emails and calls all the time from people that want videos and they say hey so-and-so recommended me they said you were really great so I’d love to work with you.
Visit Small Businesses
Another tip we have is to go into small businesses whether its pizzerias, or any similar food establishment, go into those places. Go into little stores stay away from big corporate places with many locations and franchises, stick to the ones that are like one-off or two location businesses and walk in there introduce yourself politely mention that you make videos or photos whatever it is you do and hand them your business card, and say, if you ever need anything feel free to contact me I would love to work with you. Go to as many places as possible and just get your name out there and you will be surprised that people will actually email you.
Network, network, network
This last tip is perhaps our favourite it is a secret we have kept for a while but we are going to share it. That is to go to events. Now when we say go to events, be sure to look for events in your city that revolve around a creative industry – for example here in London you could go to London Fashion Week. That would be a great opportunity to see some of the vendors and pretty much just network and get your name out there to some of these creative fashion brands. There will be a whole bunch of small businesses that were trying to get their brand name out there who had kiosks and booths. Just go around and hand out your business cards and introduce yourself. You might actually get a few companies contact you saying they were interested in having a chat with your Production Company. London also hosts any number of trade shows. You don’t have to have a stand, simply turn up with your business cards and a sharp outfit. Apart from the London trade shows, any sort of place where people go simply to network in is a perfect opportunity for you to go and spread the word about your service. After all, the need for video production services like yours is growing exponentially thanks to the possibilities of online advertising.
The bottom line here for getting clients, is to get creative and just put your name out there. You are selling videos, so make video your weapon. Make a video about your own company. Show people what is special and unique about your directors, your video editors, your producers and show people how creative and innovative you can be The most important thing is not only to have a good product, but make sure your service is on par with the quality of products you are producing.
You want to be friendly, you want to be nice, and you want to be helpful and patient.
Here’s a Behind The Scenes Video that we made for one of our first Clients, “Cambridge Audio”.