The Playbook · HIRING
How to choose a video company for a small business
Choose a video company by asking to see something under a minute that they made for a business like yours, then asking who wrote it. Those two questions sort most of the field. Four more below, in the order I would run them, and the one thing most owners forget to ask: where the video is going to live once it exists.
What should they show you that is under a minute?
Long videos are easy to make and hard to finish. Ask for the shortest thing they are proud of, made for a business your size, and watch it on your phone with the sound off. If you understood the offer without sound, they know how people actually watch. If it needed a voiceover and two minutes, they make films, and you need an ad.
Who writes the script?
The script carries everything. A beautiful video of a bad script is a bad ad. Ask who writes it, whether you approve it before anything is shot or animated, and whether it is written the way your customers talk. A company that starts with a mood board instead of a script has the order backwards, and the video mistakes play is mostly a list of what that costs.
Which formats do you get?
Vertical for TikTok, Reels and Shorts. Horizontal for the site and YouTube. A square cut for the feed. Captions burned in, because most people watch with the sound off. Ask for all of them in the quote. A single horizontal file delivered as the finished product is a video you will have to pay to cut again.
The formats line on my own page
The video service page lists them by name: explainers, 3D scenes for the web, short-form cut for the vertical platforms, and story, script and edit under one roof. Ask any company for the same list.
Who owns the footage and the files?
You do, including the raw footage and the project files, delivered when the invoice is paid. A company that keeps the source files is keeping you as a customer by force. The same rule I apply to websites applies here: the person you call is the person who built it, and nothing is held hostage.
Where will the video live?
This is the question owners forget. A video on YouTube with no site to send people to is a billboard in a field. A video on a homepage that loads slowly because of the video is a leak. The right answer is a video built for the page it lives on, and ideally by someone who also builds the page. That is the argument on the video service page: the two are designed together instead of bolted together.
What is in the quote?
Scope by the second, the formats, the number of revisions, the date, and who owns what. The website estimator on the start page carries a video and animation add-on, so you can see how motion moves a build's range before anyone talks. If any of the five lines is missing, the questions play gives the answers that mean hang up.
What else do owners ask?
Should I hire a videographer or an animation studio?
Hire for the job, not the label. A trade with real crews and real jobs wants a camera. A service nobody can picture, or a product that looks better in motion, wants animation. Some jobs want both, and the person who can do both under one roof saves you a handoff.
How much should a business video cost?
Enough to pay for a script, the shoot or the animation, and every format you will use. The estimator on the start page shows how the video add-on moves a build's range, and a quote without formats listed is a quote for one file.
Do I need a video company or a phone?
For a weekly short about a job you just finished, a phone and captions. For the thirty seconds that explain what you sell to a stranger, someone who writes scripts for a living.
Your move. Call or text (847) 387-0244, or price your build in six taps and I call you with the exact number.
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