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How to Start a Wedding Video Service

There is a great deal of money that can be made producing wedding videos. The trick to breaking into this market is understanding the customer and separating your video production business from the rest of the pack.

Before you sign your first wedding video contract agreement, you should first consider whether or not you want to work for the typical wedding video customer. The customer is always the couple getting married, and it also can often include some common players, such as the mother of the bride, the person who will be writing your check, the uncle who's a professional photographer and knows everything about your job, the maid of honor, etcetera, etcetera. Can you handle one customer, two customers, three or maybe more? Can you handle input from multiple sources?

To make matters more challenging, the customers are also your audience. They're invested in your work, because they want to enjoy the video you're producing for years to come. Shooting and editing video is one thing, working with a bride and her family who are coordinating the biggest day of the couple's life will bring challenges that only the best producers can handle. Are you really up for this?

If you are good at working with people, build trust easily and know how to be aggressive and sensitive at the same time, you'll do just fine. And you may actually enjoy the challenges that weddings bring to the workplace.

Your wedding business is likely to fail or be short-lived if you don't identify how you can provide a superior service to this marketplace. What do you have that other producers don't? You need to identify something about your business that will allow you to stand out and that can't be easily duplicated. In the business world, this is called your unique selling proposition. It's the reason why you exist and thrive in the market.

You should spend some time researching what brides want in a wedding video and/or a producer. A good place to start is to look at the competition and see what they're offering. Identify what unique services they provide. How are they separating themselves from the rest of the competition? Is there room for another vendor in this marketplace? Do some introspective thinking about your skills. What are your strengths? What area of the production process do you enjoy most? What inspires you as a storyteller and an artist? Do any of these qualities about you have a place in the market? Come up with a list of unique qualities/services that you think have a shot in the current wedding video market.

For example, if you are a talented travel video producer, you could use this to your advantage. A videographer with this type of experience might be able to capitalize on "destination weddings" by doing a great job of mixing location into the story of the wedding. Do you travel well? Can you make great-looking video with gear that is nimble and light? Can you edit on-the-go? Do you know how to capture a special moment in a unique space? What shots will you use to build a story like this? What kind of questions will you ask the couple?

When you think about your unique selling proposition, there are a few pitfalls to avoid. First, don't try to serve the entire wedding video market. You can't be the best solution for every bride. If you try to create a business like this, you'll become an expert at mediocrity, and your competition will outdo you in every aspect of the trade.

You should also avoid the temptation of setting yourself apart from the competition by simply lowering your prices. Being a price leader is a sure way to quickly get a few clients, but it won't keep you in the business very long. Usually, there's always someone in this business who will find a way to do what you do for less. Being a price leader is very difficult and not very profitable, obviously. Remember, your customers are smart, and they know that they will get what they pay for. Wedding videos for $299 do not sound like such a great deal after more careful consideration.

Don't rely on video gear to make your case. Having top-notch video gear is not a bad way to separate yourself from the pack; however, it's usually a short time before the competition catches up or surpasses you in that category. The recent HD video trend is a great example of how video equipment won't separate you from the pack. Some wedding videographers were ahead of the curve in adopting the HDV format. They were quick to use this to gain new customers, but it didn't last long for these early adaptors. The rest of the world has caught up with them. So, don't rely on video technologies to grow your business. Besides, most couples don't really know the difference between XLRs, CCDs, codecs, 720p, fluid tripod heads, etc. They're not paying you to inform them, either. Explaining these things to them will be a waste of everyone's time. Still, technology should be a part of the equation. Just hide the boring specifications and stay focused on the benefits of the tools that you use.