Skip to content
Form icon

Outsourced video creation: Are long-term retainers worth it?

Are long-term recruitment video retainers worth it? When you’re considering whether to outsource video creation for your next recruitment campaign, you may find yourself weighing up the pros and cons of a once-off project versus committing your organisation to a long-term contract.

In our decade of delivering award-winning recruitment videos to some of the world’s leading brands, we’ve found each approach has pros and cons. What is best for your company depends on so many factors there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Here are five key insights that help you determine whether a long-term recruitment video production retainer would be better suited for your particular goal, at this particular time (or whether a once-off project is all you need for now).

Five reasons a long-term retainer trumps a once-off project

In most cases, the benefits of outsourcing video production in a retainer model far outweighs those offered by hiring a recruitment video production service on a project basis. Our top five pros include:

1. Retainers are cheaper than projects

Retainers increase the efficiency of productions generally, allowing your video production service to make savings, which they are able to pass onto you. This makes a retainer typically cheaper than multiple individual project contracts.

2. Long-term partnerships are more efficient

Not only do you avoid paying a higher price for every individual project, retainers are more efficient as you save on administrative costs and onboarding time. With a trusted, long-term recruitment video partner, you’ll enjoy streamlined communications, a deeper understanding of each other’s processes (and your brand), save on repetitive onboarding and/or briefing costs and gain valuable production time.

3. There’s space for more proactive work

With every project, your recruitment video services partner gains more insight into your recruitment campaign needs, company culture and preferred way of working. That means there’s more opportunity for them to offer unique ways recruitment videos can help achieve your particular goals. They’d also be your ideal partners in helping you make your investment stretch — by knowing your brand deeply, they’ll know exactly how to make your video content go the extra mile with existing footage, social cut-downs and the like.

Related: Get the most from your investment in our Guide To Attracting Top Talent With Recruitment Video.

4. You’re guaranteed accountability and quality

Signing a long-term retainer with a reputable video production agency is a sure sign that they don’t plan on going anywhere. For the duration of your contract, you’re guaranteed high production quality and accountable practices for every project (big or small), as they’ve a vested interest in delivering on your overall agreement.

5. Retainers allow for more accurate forecasting

Billing surprises are never a good thing. Thankfully, long-term retainers allow for more accurate forecasting as you’ll have signed off on scope of work and budget ahead of time. Certain agencies, like Casual Films, offer line-item costings that ensure you know exactly where your money is going.

Related: Find nine more reasons to choose Casual Films for recruitment video services in this blog post.

A possible case for project-based video outsourcing

Committing to a long-term working relationship with anyone can be daunting and does come with shortcomings if you sign on unprepared. Here are some reasons why you might consider outsourcing for just one project at a time.

1. You don’t have enough work for a retainer.

A great recruitment video production service will make sure that every penny you’ve committed to a retainer will help you solve your business challenges and hit your recruitment goals through the power of video. You may only have an idea for one project, but an experienced team can consult on long-term video content strategy, ensure you get extra mileage from every minute of video, and make proactive suggestions for more content that ultimately boosts your ROI.

2. You’d be committing to an unknown video production agency.

Nobody commits to marriage on the first date, and signing a long-term retainer with an unknown agency can feel just as daunting. Thankfully, some agencies such as Casual Films offer both project-based and retainer-based contracts — so feel out potential long-term partners with one or two smaller commitments first. Doing some digging on potential candidates is also a great way to minimize the risk of bad investment.

Related: See what our clients have to say about us on the Casual Films Clutch profile page.

3. Video isn’t an essential part of your recruitment strategy.

If video marketing isn’t a major part of your plan to attract top quality candidates, then a lengthy retainer may not be necessary. However, without video as a cornerstone of your recruitment strategy, you risk losing out on some of the world’s leading talent. Find out why we consider it an essential investment in our blog post, Why You Need Recruitment Video To Attract Generation 2030.

How Casual Films can help

We’ve delivered on thousands of briefs for Fortune 500 companies and some of the world’s leading brands, and many of our valued clients started by signing on for a single project. We’d love to help you achieve your recruitment goals with outsourced video production, and can help you tease out whether you’d get the best value from a single project, or a longer-term retainer with us (and you never have to commit immediately).

Check out our portfolio for a taste of what we could do with you.

EXPLORE THE CASUAL FILMS PORTFOLIO

Related posts

Frame (13)

Competition for mind space is fierce.

To stand out and stand apart, brands must work doubly hard.

let’s talk