Hire a videographer or a content partner? Compare on cost per published video, not on day rate.

What does hiring a videographer buy you?

Hiring a videographer buys you the shoot: good light, clean sound, steady camera work and someone who puts you at ease in front of the lens. That is a real craft, and a good videographer is worth the day rate.

We write this from the inside. Menno worked as an editor and then as a videographer before he built the agency, and he saw the same thing happen again and again: beautiful footage ending up unused on a hard drive, because nobody had decided beforehand why the video had to exist, and nobody knew afterwards what to do with it.

That is the problem with comparing on day rate. You compare what the recording costs, while what you want to know is what a video costs that is live and brings something in.

Which steps does a videographer leave with you?

A video that brings in clients takes five steps, and a videographer covers one of them, usually very well. The other four stay with you.

• Covered: the image. Professional light, sound and camera work, and a shoot day that runs smoothly. This is the craft, and a good videographer masters it.
• Not covered: the idea. Why this video, for whom, and which format is proven to work. Without that layer a shoot day becomes a collection of nice shots without direction.
• Not covered: the edit. Raw footage has to be cut per channel, with captions, pacing and a thumbnail. Unless it is in the quote, that is a separate bill.
• Not covered: publishing. Titles, descriptions and posting at the right moment. This step decides whether anyone sees the video at all.
• Not covered: the numbers. Every month a look at which videos brought in inquiries, so the next shoot is better than the last.

How do you compare the cost of each route?

Compare the routes on what one published video costs you per month, including your own hours, because the day rate leaves out most of the work.

The biggest cost in the first two routes never appears on an invoice: your own hours on ideas, scripts, posting and reading the numbers. Count them at what an hour of your time is worth, and a cheap route often stops being cheap. For market rates per route in dollars, pounds and euros, see what personal branding costs for founders.

For transparency on our side: a shoot day or trip with our own crew is 850 euro a day, travel at cost, equipment included, and retainers start in the low four figures per month, month to month, no lock-in. Every way to work with us, with the price on it.

When is a videographer the right choice?

A videographer is the right choice when the job has a clear start and end, or when everything around the shoot is already in place.

• One-off projects. A company film, an event, a product launch or a set of testimonials. The video does not have to carry a monthly flow of clients.
• You already run a working system. You know which formats work, you have an editor and a publishing rhythm, and you only miss image quality. Then you buy exactly the missing piece.
• Your budget is tight. Then be honest with yourself: consistent talking-head videos filmed on your phone beat two expensive shoot days a year with no plan behind them.

When does a content partner make more sense?

A content partner makes more sense when you want content every month that brings in inquiries, because then you are buying a system, not footage: positioning, formats, recording, editing, publishing and the monthly numbers.

That is how we work: done for you, in your voice. You stay the face and the source, and a team of six does the rest, from the ideas to the report on booked calls. Filming can be done by you, by your own videographer or by our crew, who also coach you on camera. How that looks in practice.

What it adds up to when it runs: two e-commerce founders went from $12.5K to $80K per month in 7 months, from about 50 to about 320 community members at $250, almost all of it organic, mostly through YouTube and Instagram. Not because the footage looked better than what a good videographer delivers, but because every video was part of a plan with a clear measure. The full case.