Pricing Your Video Production Services

Pricing is where most video production business owners lose their footing. You send a quote and wait for a response. If the client pushes back, you start questioning yourself. If they accept too quickly, you assume you undercharged. If they disappear, you wonder whether you aimed too high. Over time, that constant second-guessing chips away at your confidence and turns pricing into something heavier than it needs to be.

Most people fall into one of two habits. They either try to work out the going rate, or they try to charge what they believe they are worth. Both approaches sound sensible, but neither creates stability. After more than twenty years running a production company, I have found that pricing only becomes consistent when you stop treating it as a number to defend and start treating it as a decision shaped by context.

The job matters. The client matters. The level of responsibility matters. The risk matters. And what the project might lead to matters.

The Going Rate Is a Mirage

The idea of a going rate feels reassuring because it suggests there is a safe middle ground. If everyone else charges roughly the same thing, then matching that number feels like protection. The problem is that our industry does not operate in clean averages.

Two jobs can look identical on paper and feel completely different in reality. Ten social videos for a business owner who makes fast decisions and trusts your judgement is not the same as ten social videos for a corporate team with layered approvals, brand constraints, and multiple internal opinions. The filming hours might be similar, but the pressure, communication, and revision cycles are not.

When you ask others what they would charge, you are only seeing the surface. You do not see their overheads, their staffing costs, their pipeline strength, or how much stress they carry in the background. You also do not see how much compromise they made to win that job. Copying a number without understanding the conditions behind it is not market research. It is guesswork.

Relying on the going rate often pulls you toward the centre. The centre tends to be crowded and competitive, which means tighter margins and more pressure.

Charging What You’re Worth Is Emotional

The second habit is to charge what you are worth. It sounds bold and self-assured, but it mixes personal identity with commercial reality. Clients do not pay you based on how you feel about yourself. They pay based on what they understand about the value you deliver and how confident they are that you will deliver it without problems.

You might be highly experienced and capable. If your positioning does not clearly show that, the market will not automatically price you at the top end. On the other hand, believing that your experience alone entitles you to a higher rate does not make it commercially viable in every situation.

When pricing becomes tied to ego or insecurity, it fluctuates. You push hard when you feel confident and soften when you feel uncertain. That instability is not strategy. It is emotion leaking into business decisions.

A more grounded approach is to step back and assess the real factors at play. What is the scope? What level of thinking and management does this project require? What happens if it goes wrong? Who carries the pressure? Those questions provide far more reliable guidance than self-belief alone.

Simpler Work Is Not Always Better Work

Many production companies aim to simplify their services into neat packages. That instinct makes sense. Clear deliverables and defined boundaries reduce chaos and make quoting easier. However, simplicity comes with a trade-off.

The easier something is to replicate, the easier it is to compare on price. When clients can line up three providers offering what looks like the same package, the conversation drifts toward cost. If your business depends entirely on easily replaceable services, you place yourself in a constant comparison cycle.

More complex projects often carry more value because fewer providers are comfortable handling them. These are the jobs where stakeholders are nervous, timelines are tight, and internal expectations are high. Experience matters in those situations. Calm communication matters. Judgement matters.

Instead of chasing simplicity alone, it can be more profitable to build systems that allow you to manage complex work well. That is where you begin to separate yourself from competitors who are only competing on price.

The Experience of the Quote

Pricing is not only about the total figure. It is also about how the quote feels. Some operators break down every element into separate charges, from data transfers to minor equipment choices. While it is important to cover costs, the way those costs are presented influences perception.

A long list of small add-ons can create tension. It can feel as though the client is being charged at every step. In many cases, it is cleaner to bundle certain elements into the overall project fee. The financial outcome can remain the same, but the experience feels smoother and more confident.

Clients remember whether the process felt straightforward. That memory affects whether they come back.

Price and Risk Move Together

The higher the price, the greater the perceived risk, especially for new clients. Even if the number is fair, a large first proposal can feel heavy. The client does not yet know how you handle feedback, how you respond under pressure, or whether you deliver when you say you will.

In many cases, starting with a smaller project builds trust more effectively than pushing for a large commitment immediately. A simple job allows both sides to test the working relationship. If that experience is strong, larger opportunities often follow naturally.

Some of the most valuable long-term clients I have worked with began with modest, almost forgettable projects. Pricing can either lower the barrier to entry or make it unnecessarily high.

Discounting With Intention

There is strong advice in business that says you should never reduce your rates. That principle protects you from reactive decisions made out of fear. However, context still matters.

If your schedule is thin and a project offers access to a new industry, a strong testimonial, or a long-term relationship, adjusting price can be strategic. The difference lies in intention. If you are cutting your rate because you feel insecure, that weakens your position. If you are adjusting pricing deliberately to achieve a longer-term goal, that is a calculated move.

Not every project needs to maximise margin on day one. Some projects are stepping stones toward greater stability.

Think Beyond the Single Job

Winning a new client takes effort. There are calls, emails, proposals, and revisions involved before a project even begins. If that client returns for multiple projects over time, the first job becomes only one part of a larger relationship.

When you begin thinking in terms of long-term value rather than isolated transactions, pricing decisions become more measured. You stop reacting to each job as if it defines the business and start considering how it fits into the direction you want to move.

That shift reduces anxiety and increases clarity.

A More Grounded Approach

Before sending a quote, it helps to ask direct questions. Who am I working for? How much responsibility am I carrying? How much pressure is attached to this project? What might this relationship become? Does this align with the type of work I want more of?

Those questions do not produce a formula, but they sharpen judgement. They keep pricing anchored to reality instead of comparison or emotion.

The same job can carry different prices in different contexts. That is not inconsistency. It is business thinking applied properly. When pricing is guided by context and direction, it becomes less about defending a number and more about building a stronger company.

If pricing still feels uncertain or reactive in your business, that’s exactly the kind of thing we work through in coaching. We break down your numbers, your positioning, and your decision-making process so pricing becomes clear and repeatable instead of emotional. If you’re serious about building a stronger, more stable production company, you can find details about working with me at ryanspanger.com/coaching.