All Production Companies Sound the Same.
Original Post:
https://www.jordanpanderson.com/blog/production-companies-positioning
I swear I’m making up this next tagline:
“We are in an award-winning team of passionate, creative storytellers who are driven to uncover your powerful story.”
None of this tells the client what you can do for them.⠀
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Production companies and many other creative businesses make a statement like this because they don’t really understand what it is they do for the client. Or better put — they don’t understand the results they create for their clients. Production companies (and many other creative businesses) believe that their clients value the fact that they won a nondescript award from a pay-to-play awards website back in 2015. And that they are passionate about plot and character arcs and mise en scène. We all love Stanley Kubrick and we’ve all written essays about him — how does this make your company different from the other production companies out there?
When They say Jump, You say “HD or 4K?”
Like a waiter without pushback, video production companies follow their clients’ instructions, wants, needs and desires. When the client’s whims change, they change. The creative team ends up desperately chasing after their client and yet they complain that the client doesn’t respect them enough to pay for “good” work.
Well, maybe that “good work” doesn’t address the client's underlying problems. Have these creative businesses asked their clients what the underlying problem is?
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Can these production companies answer any of these questions?
- Did you increase revenue?⠀
- Did you help promote an event?⠀
- Did you increase engagement?⠀
- Did you set a goal with your clients?
-OR-
⠀Did you remember to set a goal at all?
When you remove yourself from the results, your client only sees you as a replaceable tool. I love to cook and I love the work of chefs here in D.C. If they were to serve me a dish, never would I thank the chef’s knife or the pan or the stick of butter for an amazing meal. When you are a vendor for your client, you are the tool — not the chef.
Many creatives remain the vendors because they aren’t seen as experts.
Experts sell results. Vendors sell tasks.
Future Steps:
Get into the earlier planning conversations with your clients and ask them about the results they are looking for. And then ask why a result like that is meaningful to them.
Read More About Creative Goal Setting
-Jordan
