If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is priceless—especially in the digital age. And no one knows video marketing better than the Fiverr Pro team at Colormatics, a bicoastal full-service video agency. Producer Sean Jacques, director Chris Marcus, and the entire Colormatics team create commercials, short video ads, case studies, testimonials, and corporate/branded content for clients like American Express, Google, Weight Watchers, and yes, even Fiverr. Colormatics’ unique ability to harness the power of cutting-edge video technology and powerful storytelling has led to an average increase in customer engagement of 25%—at an overall production value is 50% less than many of their competitors.
Read on to learn more about what drives the Colormatics team to do what they do, their top tips for their fellow independent professionals, and why they sell—and buy—freelance services on Fiverr Pro. Then follow along on Instagram to take a peek behind the scenes as the Colormatics team brings their video skills to our Insta Stories for the day!
Tell us a little about you guys. Who you are, what you do on Fiverr Pro, and what makes you tick as entrepreneurs.
Colormatics is a visual agency that markets directly to clients and customers leveraging the unique characteristics of video. We’re passionate about merging leading-edge technology with unique filming techniques to make every product, service, and business dynamic and interesting. We sell testimonials and product demo videos on Fiverr.
Video: who needs it, who sees it, and what are most people and brands getting wrong?
Well, everyone watches video. Everyone. 55% of adults watch videos on their phones every day for an average of thirty minutes. When we’re not on our phone, we’re watching an average of 4.3 hours of TV a day. So, if you are a personal brand or a giant corporation, your audience is already spending an enormous amount of time watching video, and you need to be there.
What brands get wrong, besides not creating video content at all, is they think of video as a one-off product instead of part of a broader video strategy. The effectiveness of video supercharges every part of your marketing funnel, whether it be increasing SEO and session time on your website or conversion and click through on your email marketing.
How did you get your start in video?
I’ve been interested in video since making a homemade bootleg version of Ghostbusters staring my 5-year-old self and my Mom as a ghost. We all love to hear and tell stories, and something about telling them through video always fascinated me.
What are the key elements of videography?
As mentioned earlier, we all watch a ton of content and what we create needs to stand out. Our process focuses on making sure each detail of a project is focused on and carefully considered. We cover the gamut of scripting, directing on-camera talent, lighting, art direction, and camera movement. Our post-production process was crafted to ensure incredible sound mixing and proper color correction, to elements many producers do not even consider.
Walk us through your creative process. What information from a do you need from a buyer or client to set them up for success?
We begin by attempting to figure out what problem our buyers are trying to solve. Are they trying to increase brand awareness in their market? Or are they trying to improve conversion for website visitors? Once we understand that and delve into how the brand identifies itself, we craft a video or a video strategy to solve the problem.
Do you have one piece of advice for someone just getting started as a videographer?
Video is a strange field in that it is beneficial to be a jack of all trades and a specialist. Make sure you know enough to bring a video from script to final product but also find one area that you can truly market yourself as an expert.
What advice would you give to someone purchasing video content for the first time?
Find a seller that takes the time to understand the problems your brand is struggling through. Most video producers work on a formula that goes:
Step 1. Cool looking video
Step 2.. ???
Step 3. Profit
If your seller doesn’t have a good answer to how their work leads to improving your companies prospects, move on to the next one.
Make sure you take a good look at their past projects over the last 2-3 years. You might find someone or a company that shows off a great video, but when you dive into their portfolio, you learn that was more of a one-off. They might be up and coming but when you are investing in your brand with a limited budget, make sure you go with someone that can knock it out of the park over and over again. Video is a creative process; you don’t want to stress about if this person can actually pull off what they are promising.
Has working on (and with!) Fiverr changed the way you think about your profession?
Working with Fiverr has been an exceptional experience because we’re always being asked to try creating something new. Whether its developing livestreams for Fiverr X, creating the launch video for Fiverr Pro, developing courses for Learn from Fiverr or having a little fun on April Fools Day, Fiverr has shown us the confidence to experiment in a wide range of different types of video.
Through working with Fiverr, we began operating as Fiverr Pro Sellers. The Fiverr marketplace has reinforced our belief that, unlike most video producers would believe, price transparency increases sales. When you go to most producers and ask for video, they will often not have a good answer for a simple question “How much will this cost?” There’s truth to the idea that each video is different and requires cost adjustments, but if a potential buyer can’t get an idea for what a video might cost, they’ll never budget for it. That why we believe a marketplace like Fiverr encourages buyers by being price transparent, even if those prices are high.
Take two projects you did for Fiverr: Wyclef and our recent set of performance videos. What was the brief, and how did you tackle the project?
With Fiverr: Wyclef, we’re given a fairly standard video challenge, filming an interview and live stream at an event. With projects like this, we have the experience of doing dozens of similar projects so we already know the equipment, techniques, and personnel to make sure our interviews are dynamic, exciting and compelling but we can also adapt to the project requirement as they change on the ground. Originally, Wyclef’s mentoring sessions were only going to be captured on screen. We instead did a three camera setup that kept these sessions visually appealing, though Wyclef did a great job with that too!
On the performance videos we developed a completely unique production. Casting, scripting, production designing and shooting eight different categories for a total of 128 videos covering every platform as well as coordinating and producing photographs to support the campaign. The production was a whirlwind three days that was a lot of fun for all of us.
How do you balance being an entrepreneur with being a creative?
The truth is you spend a lot of time running the business end of being an entrepreneur, so you need to find a way to imbue your passion and creativity in that end as well. If you slog through the process of marketing and selling yourself only to get to the fun creative stuff, your business will grow slowly because you aren’t committed to that process. That said, it can be a relief to spend a few days behind the camera to remember what your business was about when you first started.
How are freelancers contributing to the democratization of creativity?
Entrepreneurship can be a daunting task. Taking that first step can feel impossible. Seeing a marketplace like Fiverr, where entrepreneurs can get a logo, website or video can be hugely empowering as if to say, this idea is real and I can take it from here.
We use freelancers on every project we create. It helps us do things that would be impossible to do on our budgets. We can get amazing quality without requiring a large full-time staff. I can submit a project request before I leave work and have it done in the morning. It helps us deliver our projects quicker and at a higher level of production.
What are your business goals for the coming year? Would you like to do next?
We’re proud at how Colormatics has grown in the past three years, but we are preparing to ramp up our expansion next year with new markets, offices, and challenges. And, of course, working with Fiverr the whole way.
Want to know more about Colormatics? Ask Sean and the team a question in the comments below—and then head over to Instagram to see some of their work in action!
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