Tag: Videography

  • 5 Important Things That Clients Look At In A Video Production Consultancy Proposal

    The requirements needed in order to submit a video production consultancy proposal varies. Some requests for Proposals (RFP) are simple and straight forward while others are detailed and a bit complicated.
    Irrespective of the demands that the client is requiring; one thing remains clear, the client wants a video in a certain format delivered to them. E.g Documentary.

    Video – 5 Important Things That Clients Look At In A Video Production Consultancy Proposal

    Always have the ‘end product‘ in your mind. Irrespective of the qualifications the client is demanding, ask yourself;

    • Can I deliver what the client is requesting?
    • Do you have access to the tools needed or knowledge to do the work?
    • Can your experience replace the academic qualification you don’t have?

    With this in mind, what carries weight in a video production consultancy proposal, is your experience. On this blogpost, I will share with you 5 things to focus on in your proposal in order to stand out.

    Understanding TOR

    First, the client is interested in knowing your understanding of their Terms Of Reference. Terms of reference in this case is a description of what the client is looking for. e.g A 15 Minutes documentary. This must be demonstrated in your cover letter. Take time to summarize this in one paragraph.

    selective focus photo of terms and conditions written on a paper
    Photo by RODNAE Productions on Pexels.com

    After telling your client that you understand the assignment, explain your approach to solving your clients problem which is providing video production services.

    Read and re-read the Terms Of Reference while preparing your proposal to ensure you don’t miss a thing. If you find something that is not clear, request for clarification via e-mail. Its easy to prepare a proposal when you understand what client is looking for from you.

    Your Resume/Company Profile

    Your individual, business or company resume is what follows next after the cover letter. The ‘work experience‘ section of your resume is what the client will focus on.

    Does your work experience match with the type of video production skills the client is looking for? If it does, then you will be the lucky person to be invited to the next phase of this process which is the interview.

    When writing your resume or curriculum vitae, put as much detail as you can about your work experience so that you can stand a chance for the position the client is calling for.

    Also, ensure that the reference persons you have listed in your resume is up to to date.

    Links to Samples of Your Work

    wood flight fashion vacation
    Photo by Amar Preciado on Pexels.com

    In the creative industry, samples of your past projects have a lot of weight. After the client is done looking at your paper work, they will now proceed and look at links to works you have successfully completed in the past. It can be linked to your work experience. e.g Link to a documentary you produced for a client.

    Always keep record of every job you complete for your clients. In this case, if its photography, videography or graphics designs; have them saved somewhere in the cloud where you can easily share when requested.

    Note: It’s always good practice to seek consent from your client to use the content you produced for them in your website as part of your portfolio. Many clients are more willing to give you consent especially when you are sharing a link originating from them as it benefits both of you.

    Preliminary Plan and Timelines

    In many occasions, the client gives their expected start date and end date for the project in their Terms of Reference. Based on this, you are therefore required to propose your plan and timeline for the project as you foresee.

    Use details like the locations the client has indicated for filming and the subject of the shoot, stages of production you will be involved in(preproduction, production and post production) and review and revisions stage.

    Some companies indicate dates in which the contract will start and end while others don’t. Make sure the duration you have proposed does not exceed their time in days unless you have a valid reason.

    Financial Proposal

    You can only provide an accurate quote when you have a plan and set timelines in place. The plan and time will guide you to prepare your quotation.

    For instance, if you are expected to travel to 10 locations, you can evaluate the distance and allocate time as needed. Use the time to come up with the cost based on your daily or hourly rates.

    After all is said and done, Financial Proposal is what will determine who gets the contract. It’s important to mention that organizations vary. Some are operating under a budget while others don’t.

    Don’t underquote because you really want the work. Quote what you are worth because you have the skills and experience to complete the job.

    And that is it.

    Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments section below.

    And if you need Videography and Photography services, request a quote for free on Techtube Video Studio by clicking here.

    And until next time, bye and take care.

    Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.

  • Untold Wedding Videography and Photography Business Struggles

    Wedding Video and Photography business is an easy one to start but not that easy one to operate. Running a business in this niche is a struggle. That is why many creatives treat such jobs as ‘side gigs.’

    Creativity is all what it takes to get the best wedding photos and videos. PHOTO: Pixabay.com

    Before I continue, or rather start this blog. I have a disclaimer.

    Wedding Videography and Photography-in my own experience- is reliant on Freelancers with specialty in either Videography or photography.
    In this I mean, the Camera work is done by a professional who offer his/her services on a freelance basis.
    With this said, is wedding Videography and Photography business profitable? Well, for the weddings I have covered and produced in the past, it’s not.

    Watch video


    It’s a business run by emotions and conflict of interest.
    The bride in most occasions is the one that calls the shots. If she doesn’t like you as the producer, the quality of your output does not matter, you will not get that business.


    If you do get the job out of influence by the groom, you will not enjoy doing the job. Something will go wrong somehow. I mean the attitude will be off the peak.

    That’s why every Videographer or Photographer you know-who rely on wedding, birthdays and the likes- take very long to make their ends meet in life.

    In this blog post I will share with you the unknown challenges Wedding Videography and Photography business owners go through and proposed solutions.

    1. Fierce Pricing Competitions

    The competitions in the business is fierce and only the passionate in their craft survive. Reality is, in the world we are living in, you cannot eat passion unless you put value on it. And value in this case is Money.

    Everyone will want to quote low so as to get the contract

    That’s why, as a photographer, you should always promise yourself that for better for worse, you are willing to charge what you are worth despite the ‘couple’ in question threatening that they have an option of someone cheaper for the job. This is a very common card they pull and is meant to scare you as the producer so that you can lower your price.

    When looking for a wedding videographer, what most couples look for vary. Some look for Quality first then cost comes last while for others price comes first then quality.

    There are those who prioritize both.
    Any videographer or Photographer who wants to progress in life should put focus on only those clients who prioritize quality over price.

    This way, if the client likes what they see, you can give them the a quote to have that.
    In many occasions, such clients have no problem paying and they will never fail you.

    2. Church Offering Videography and Photography Services to their Members

    With televangelism becoming one way to spread the word of God-as one way of church becoming self reliant, some churches are now providing video services to their members at a cheaper price.

    Some churches offer Videography and photography services to their members. PHOTO: Pixabay.com


    In this I mean, they can give the same quality as you do at half the price. This has contributed to many wedding Photography businesses closing down.
    The difference between the two is, church have resources and can retain a Videographer and photographer for long term as they are employed by the church.

    It thus means that, for you to remain relevant, you will have to consider bidding for Government tenders and doing other independent productions i.e producing TV shows e.t.c. Otherwise, your days in the wedding photography business is counted.

    Solution to this is, Videography business owners should invest their savings on other avenues or businesses that merge well with videography like marketing and real estate. This way, they can use the team to develop marketing content and so on. This for sure will make the Photography business sustainable.

    3. Wedding Frequency Especially during the Covid-19 Pandemic

    While Covid pandemic has terrorized most businesses, I think videography and photography is the worst hit. With cancellation of events and gatherings during the pandemic, most videographers have been left with only one option; to create content and post them on YouTube to kill boredom.

    A man indoors during the Covid-19 lockdown. Photo: Pixabay.com


    Now, how you monetize will depend on YouTube algorithms…and burning out is expected.
    This is not only unpredictable, but it’s also unsustainable for any creator who knows the value their their content.


    First you have to create regularly on your budget.
    If you get no feedback, you will need to ‘tweak ‘ the content until you succeed.
    For high budget projects like drama, you will only servive if you have a sponsor.


    So, the solution is, before going on this path, see how much you will loose. For me, it’s better to create content and keep it until you find someone who sees the value in it and is ready to sponsor. It pays to have patience. Also, consulting a lawyers who understands copyright is fundamental.

    4. Couple Vanishing after the Wedding for more than 3 months sometimes 5 years


    Get this; most Videography/photography business owners pay themselves last. They prioritize paying their Freelancers first to build trust. In this context, if the client vanishes after the wedding, he is the only one left languishing in ‘bankruptcy‘ as he waits for the client to come back for their videos and pay balance.
    The only solution this , is charging more. I also recommend you request at least 70% as down payment.
    This thus means that if the client pays 70% of the agreed amount, you have some profit left to you after you have paid everyone else.

    5. One moment missed causing trouble getting balance payment

    As I mentioned at the beginning of this blog post, the bride in most occasions is the one calling the shots.
    Now, you have got the job and covered the wedding. You have edited the video and now ready to deliver. But when editing it, you realize that you forgot to take a photo to be mounted on frame during photo-shoot.

    A couple shows their rings after their wedding. Photo: Pixabay.com

    Or the ones you took are good but the bride ‘is not happy with her facial expression on the photos that are meant for the wall frame. The blame is shifted on you. There is nothing you can do.
    That’s unless you go for another photo-shoot.


    You argue until the couple accept to pay you angrily. They assure you that they will never recommend you to anyone.
    This is disheartening if you did everything good except for that one thing. Worse enough, if you made very small profit out of the project.

    Now, the solution lies again on charging more. This way, in you team, you can pay a director. The director will be the one reading the facial expressions and ensuring they give legit smiles.

    There are many other things that are killing the wedding photography business like the committee managing the wedding making unreasonable request for them to consider you for the job.

    As I conclude. I recommend that you start paying well videographers and photographers you know and be kind to them. You will thank me later for this.

    Also, what I can say to a person looking for wedding photographers or videographers is to look at the quotes offered to them. The higher the quote, the more the assurance that you will get quality.

    If you bargain too much, expect disappointments in either photography or video. Fact is, creativity is like gold, the higher you pay, the more value you get.

    And that’s it, if you are in Nairobi-Kenya and is looking for Videography services, you can request a quote here.

    Until next time, bye bye and take.

    If you are on twitter, follow me @cheptiony

  • How Clients Are Changing The Way They Search and Hire For ‘Videography Services’

    Internet has completely changed the way people do business worldwide. People can buy and sell services to anyone across the globe.

    This transformation has affected all businesses; and videography/video production has not been left out. There is a huge shift. 

    As per BBC Research, the digital photography market is growing at 3.8% and its value was estimated to cross $100 billion in 2018.

    Early adopters are the ones ripping profits out this change while late adopters are struggling to fit in.

    These changes in many ways has negatively impacted the economy. Many traditional type of businesses are closing down on a daily basis because of one reason; customers no longer walk in to their offices and shops to buy their services.

    In this blog post, I share with you the strategies Videography clients are now employing when looking for video services and where you need to go in order to meet them.

    Searching Online

    The way people used to look for a videographer 5 years ago is not the way they do now. They prefer the easy way..which is searching online. It means that if your presence online is not that serious, your prospect will not take you serious.

    Your presence online is determined by the way you Brand yourself. First, you need a website, with your own domain e.g www.techtubestudio.com. It must be well designed with your own company’s images in it.

    This is how you make your first impression online before you meet with the actual prospect. But this is not all. It’s just the tip of the ice.

    Checking Your Ratings on Google My Business

    With Google leading as a search engine-and Google my business being their product, it follows that having your Videography business listed on Google My Business is the good idea. This is where people rates and reviews your business.

    As a result, you get a chance to appear on the first page of Google. You will most probably receive an inquiry call if you have a website and your business is listed on Google my business. But that’s not all. Internet is evolving every day. With more and more people joining, the competition is becoming more fierce.

    So, how do you keep your business sustainable if you get one or two enquirers a week with no one ready to commit yet? You can only survive if you have an advertising budget.

    But if you are depending on organic Traffic, you have to work more harder to get clients. As I write this post, there is a big shift now taking place and most videographers are not ready for it.

    Videography Clients are Hiring Freelancers and Agencies

    Well, believe it or not, companies are moving from dealing with companies to dealing with agencies and Freelancers. Freelancing is taking over. With this said, videography and video production jobs are now done by freelancers remotely. Freelancing sites like Upwork have simplified the process of hiring freelancers with specialty in a given skill.

    By simply posting a job, one can get many Freelancers applying for it. And in 3 days, they will be ready to hire one. One advantage of this is that, the client is able to offer bit sized assignments to gauge Freelancers skills before committing them to do a bigger project.

    Expanding International Businesses Can Hire ‘Freelance Videographers‘ in any Country Worldwide

    This is one of the biggest reasons international companies are using Upwork and other Freelancing sites to hire. Let me give you a scenario. Let’s say Uber-which is based in Amsterdam- wants to do a TV commercial targeted at people living in Nairobi Kenya. They don’t have an office yet in Nairobi. So because of trust and security that Upwork offers, they post a job saying that they are looking for a videographer in Nairobi to film a story according to their storyboard. They receive 10 applications. And they settle on 2 since they have two scripts and they want to do 2 commercial videos for split testing purposes.

    The funds are held on escrow until they job is completed. Uber pays the freelancer once they are happy with the delivery. Because of the time saved, the Freelancer is paid well and gets a 5 star review.

    Bonus Point-Value Addition

    Videography and photography business is changing it’s face. It’s now more of ‘value addition’ rather than actual shooting of videos and photos per se. Camera’s that come with smartphones are doing a better job. So as a videographer, what value can you add to videos already recorded to grow your revenue? That’s the question you should be asking yourself. 

    On the other hand, what value can you add to existing photos to make them good and get people paying you for them? That is where the money is now. 

    Did you learn something from this article? I know you did. Leave your comment below and sign up for new post updates.

    Until next time bye bye and take care.

    If you need help to create professional Screen-cast videos, let me know here.

    Follow me on twitter @cheptiony