Richard Boullemier, Producer, First and Ten Productions offers his thoughts on the content creation industry in the Middle East.
“The need to feed your social media platforms, market your business or product and keep fans and consumers coming back for more is vital for a successful business.”
Creating content is a lot like going to brunch. (Stay with me on this).
There are tonnes of brunches to choose from in the UAE. Some cheap and some, not so cheap. But ultimately, if you want a champagne product with a great experience, you get what your pay for.
Content has become the buzz word in marketing speak across the GCC, and with good reason. The need to feed your social media platforms, market your business or product and keep fans and consumers coming back for more is vital for a successful business.
Despite being an established production company, our daily battle revolves around clients claiming they have someone that will do it cheaper. Followed by the inevitable line… “Can you match this quote?”.
This used to make us question our prices, but quality content comes at a premium. “Pay cheap, pay twice” is a good rule of thumb. A lesson we have learned as a company is that if you don’t stick to your guns, you will end up working harder for less because you are too professional to hand-over a video that is not up to your usual standard.
If you want your brand to be heard in a competitive market, it’s important to invest in yourself.
My advice for forward-thinking business owners is to focus on the amount of deliverables that you can produce with the content, rather than looking at it as a one off transaction.
If we film for a day, two days or a week, that content SHOULD be used in numerous ways to drive greater awareness of your brand. Our job doesn’t end when we turn the cameras off. The edit suite is where the magic happens. Just ask our friends at Arabian Adventures – who have been our main clients for the last three years – and they constantly dip into the huge bank of content to continually wow their clients and market their services across the globe.
So build that bank of content. You never know when that light bulb idea will happen and you wish you had the footage that could be edited into something amazing.
Content works in numerous ways and has multiple forms, so make sure you’re creating content that is relevant to your source market.
By all means, smash that 199 Dirham brunch. But if you’re trying to impress someone – you’re gonna need to dust off the credit card. And don’t try to bring your own plates to reduce the price.
Don’t get me wrong, I love cheap and cheerful. But be prepared for a killer headache.
