I recently received an interesting message from a fellow videographer that really got me thinking:

I came across your blog because I’m working on an article about how us videographers need to be working together (even though we are competitors) to promote the industry. I want to include sound and practical advice on reaching potential brides. Logic tells me that the number of weddings that do not use video is far, far greater than the number that does. We need to capture that part of the market. Any suggestions would be great.

Greg Wright
Vidmedia Productions Co
www.vidmp.com

I share Greg’s concern. I just recently decided to run for Director of Marketing for the Bay Area Professional Videographers Association (BAPVA) so hopefully I can help make a difference in my industry.

Here was my response to Greg:

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog.

You are correct, the majority of weddings, at least in the markets I am familiar with, do not hire professional wedding videographers. I believe WEVA has commissioned studies on the subject and can offer hard statistics.

There are a number of things we can do as videographers to help change our industry for the better. Primarily we need to concentrate on educating other wedding professionals, and consequently brides and grooms, on the value of video. The easiest way is to befriend the photographers and event planners/coordinators and after working with them at a few events they will begin to see you as an asset and team player and not a nuisance.

Photographers who are not pro video tend to think that videographers are low on the totem pole and do nothing but get in their way and disrupt their workflow. Planner/Coordinators not pro video think that videography is a waste of budget and better left to a family member. As professional videographers we need to dilligently work to dispel these stereotypes.

It is very important that all professional videographers strive to raise the bar for our industry by helping out one another. To this day many videographers, I would say the majority, have poor quality websites. I understand that most of us videographers, already being computer savy, fashion ourselves somewhat of web designers but that is something that should be left to professionals. It’s as simple as buying a BluDomain template (http://www.bludomain.com/) or a Showit Sites account (http://showitfast.com/#/showit-sites/). These are very creative high quality sites that add a tremendous value to your company. A videographers website is their face to the world and it directly reflects the quality and level of profesionalism representing your company.

Videographers also tend to shy away from sharing their work with their peers for fear of giving away their secrets or because they are simply unsure of the quality of their work and afraid of critisism. As trends change and the world begins to view video in a whole new light our work as wedding videographers needs to change, forever evolving. Now is not the time to withdraw ourselves from our community of creative professionals in fear but rather push out and not be afraid to receive a little (or a lot of) constructive criticism. Eventualy we will all find ourselves more often then not pushing the envelope. We will begin to see things in the works of others that intrigues us, then adapt it and put a personal twist on it making it your own. This is how art evolves. This is how we evolve as an industry.

So I say all of us videographers should go out and join the local Professional Videographers Associations and encourage all of our peers to do the same. This is the first step in uniting the video industry. Next attend many of the social events for wedding and event professionals and represent our industry proudly to the other event professionals.

Video is quickly becoming a strong marketing tool for photographers and event professionals and what better way to show your value to a photographer or coordinator/planner than by offering to and creating promotional videos for use as hand-outs or displaying on their website or blog.

I love what I do and it saddens me when I hear people speak poorly of our industry. With your help and many others we can succeed in raising the perception of the event videographer and changing our industry for the better.

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Sincerely,

James Burkart
Burkart Video Productions