In our industry, workflow is something that's often overlooked.Seasoned Hollywood filmmakers consider an efficient workflow an integral part of a successful movie, but rare are the production companies and agencies that tout workflow as a key ingredient to successful video marketing projects. The dictionary defines workflow as the sequence of industrial, administrative, or other processes through which a piece of work passes from initiation to completion. When it comes to curating video content for your marketing communications goals, we feel like this is pretty important. Without a tested workflow in place, you run the risk of projects veering down the wrong path, straying from marketing standards, coming up short on messaging, or worse, being delivered past important deadlines. Ensuring that your video agency employs an efficient workflow is very important. Here's why.
When we talk about workflow, essentially what we're referring to are the details of the process. For a video agency like ours, this means:
Let's look more closely at each part of the process and some of the workflow efficiencies you should be on the lookout for when collaborating with your video partner.
This is the most important part of any video agency's process. This is what allows an agency to truly understand your marketing communications goals and set you up for success in the long term. Subsequently, the process here serves as the foundation for a solid workflow through the lifecycle of your project.
Already, your agency partner should have taken the reigns - guiding the process and setting your expectations. Their workflow here should resemble a standard project management platform - project tasks should be assigned to responsible parties, timelines should be established and agreed upon, up-in-the-air items should be thoroughly discussed - no stone should be left un-turned and everyone party to the process should be on the same page prior to embarking on the project.
Basically, what you should look for here is that the boxes are being checked, by your video partner. This will ensure that everything follows their workflow, which will in turn ensure that your project gets going on the right foot.
Production is where your video content is born - your partner takes what's on paper and brings it to life. During this process, keeping things on the rails can be effortless as long as the proper preparations have been made.
It's very important that you and your team are briefed, with 100% detail, on what will take place during production. For example, if you're utilizing your office space for production, you'll need to know what areas need to be clean, who needs to be available, how those people should be dressed, how much of their time is needed, etc. Lackluster communication about these things can lead to production being derailed quickly.
Also included in the 100% detail mentioned above, is being informed about the why behind the details. Why do you need to gather your executive team together for a group shot in the conference room? Why might you need to stage and repeat a particular part of your manufacturing process? Why do you need your customer to come to your site for an interview? Knowing the why behind the details will ensure that you and your team feel confident when communicating production schedules and requirements to other people, both in and out of your organization. Your confidence will bolster the comfortability and preparedness of all people involved, in turn allowing the effortless, efficient production mentioned earlier.
Having a solid post-production workflow is crucial for any video agency. Otherwise, your project could get tangled up in a labyrinth of other projects - no direction, no standards, no expectations - sentenced to death after production. Obviously, this isn't what you want.
We don't expect you to evaluate workflow solutions yourself, and then go sit with your agency to watch over your projects as they flow through the pipeline. That would be an inefficient use of your time. However, there are some simple questions you can ask yourself that may give you better insight into whether or not your projects move through an efficient workflow.
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, the chances are that your video partner is not utilizing a very efficient post-production workflow, and the chances are even greater that you've already seen some of the negative consequences this can bring. It's of paramount importance that workflow inefficiencies in this area are brought to light, discussed, and remedied so that your video content can be the best it can be.
Support is often given by video agencies in the way of asset storage and management. This is an oversimplification, but is the main consideration when discussing workflow.
When your partner finishes one project and moves onto another, what happens to everything associated with the old project? Is it treated like an "old" project? What if your company is doing twenty-five different video projects simultaneously within different business groups, all wrapping up at different times, but some of them share newly generated assets and some need to stay in line with previous marketing material? And all of them need to stay in line with your organization's messaging, right?! So much to consider.
An efficient support workflow will have been structured with all of this in mind, and have spawned from an efficient workflow in the previous areas of the process. When you're part of an efficient workflow in this area, you'll notice a few things:
Additionally, an efficient support workflow will simplify the holistic view, making the ongoing loop connecting all parts of your projects' processes tighter and more effective.
Hopefully you've come to realize the importance of your video partner's workflow practices. An efficient workflow will ensure that your expectations are set, that production goes off without a hitch, that your messaging stays accurate, and that things are simple the next time you want to start a project. When evaluating your video partner, if you want to get a clear picture of how your long term partnership will go, skip the surface level questions and dig deep into their workflow.
Seriously, how are things working for you and your marketing communications team? Maybe you're not content with your current video agency relationship, or maybe you're just starting to look for one. Either way, we'd love to hear from you and help you down the right path.
Leave a Reply