Hiring a loyal video freelancer as a marketing agency or creative studio is a great way to expand business capacity and add skillsets to your business at a low cost. It happens much more often than you’d think, and many agencies turn to white-label video production companies or freelancers to boost their revenue.
When you do find a good freelancer or freelance team for video production, it can seriously boost your game. It is invaluable to have someone you can trust to deliver high-quality video or motion graphics work without the hassle of paying for their downtime and the high cost of someone in house with these specialist skills.
With so many highly competent, talented video contractors who know the video production world inside out. So, how do you find the right one for you?
Here are 9 tips for finding a freelancer you can trust to help grow your business
1 Get recommendations from other agencies or studios you know
Word of mouth is still a great way of finding good people. Ask people you trust to see who they trust. This is the best place to start if you’re unsure.
2 Put your job on a specialist video/design job site
This is a good start, as it immediately weeds out more of the non-professionals.
Often, when adding a job to a generic site, especially one with no login to apply, you will receive so many replies of such varying quality that it can be daunting to go through them all to get rid of those who are not suitable.
Picking a video-specific website like motionographer, or ifyoucouldjobs may give you a better calibre of applicants to start from.
3 Look at a number of their previous jobs
If you can, go much further than just a few videos they send upon application, you’re looking for consistent quality.
If you look at up to 10 videos, you can see if the quality or standard drops; they don’t always have the level you need.
And with that many videos, you can see they are working regularly; it’s not just an evening side hustle.
Looking at more of their past projects will also help you gauge properly if their style suits your needs.
4 Find out what role they played in each video
Often a contractor will only have been involved in 1 part of a video; for example – they did the design or just the animation part.
Ask them what they did if it’s not apparent from any accompanying text (which it really should be).
You don’t want to hire someone you think does animation and design, but you find out they’ve exaggerated their animation capabilities and are good at design but lacking at animation. Or are more skilled at video editing but not design.
5 Speak to their previous clients
Speaking to a previous client may not be needed, but getting a quick recommendation will ease your mind if you are unsure.
If you have found someone who is potentially a good fit, they probably won’t mind if you request to speak to a previous client.
Ask them about the complete process end to end. Were they quickly contactable? Did they deliver on time? Were there any unexpected costs? Did anything go well / or badly? Did they work on more than one production?
6 Locality doesn’t matter
Initially, you may be looking for a freelancer to come into your studio to work or at least be quite close. But this isn’t always necessary. Local can often be very expensive or not high enough quality.
For example, freelancers in London or other major cities can be more expensive because of their location. They have way higher bills to pay and charge a higher rate.
If you are based more rurally, the right person may not be close enough to you to commute to your offices.
You can have transparent remote working relationships if the timezone isn’t too different—say less than 5-7 hours. I can see this trend of freelancers’ remote working becoming increasingly frequent.
You don’t need to stay within your country, though you may feel more comfortable.
Although we’re based in the UK, some of our leading clients are based in the USA; we communicate well with Zoom / Teams, Discord and email.
7 Have an introductory meeting
Often when agencies are looking for a video freelancer, it’s pretty last minute; they need help now! You may be in a rush to get work done – so there’s no time for an intro.
But a short meeting to introduce yourselves is vital to start gaining trust in the relationship; it only takes 20-30 mins to have a good chat and judge if they’d be a good fit for you, and vice versa, like a discovery call.
This can be in person, or using Zoom is fine these days too. It will allow you to gauge what they’re like – are they approachable? Do they seem honest? These qualities are just as important as their work.
If you like them as a person, it makes the job way more manageable, and you’re more likely to hire them again. Most agencies don’t want to be looking for freelancers that frequently; they want to find someone and stick with them, so you need to like them.
8 Collect a list
When a big video production comes in, you have to pull out all the stops. So you need a handy list of good animators or designers to turn to for quick, reliable turnaround so you don’t waste essential time.
So, if someone writes to you – they have a great portfolio, the price is reasonable, and they seem capable, but it’s not the right moment, find some way of saving their email or contact details. You’ll thank yourself later when you’re in a rush!
9 Plan your jobs/specifications well
Once you’ve decided to hire a freelancer for the job – they need a solid brief.
Freelancers are usually smart and intuitive, but for a first project, they need a good clear plan to work to. They can’t read your mind yet!
If you leave it too vague and they get the wrong idea, you’ve wasted your time (and money) when the client isn’t happy.
Give them as much guidance as you can. The initial briefing is essential for any job.
They will use all that going forward. It’s often a good idea to go through the script or storyboard line by line and make sure each section makes sense.
The more info, the better, and being very clear about deadlines, contracts, and deliverables will help the project run successfully.
If possible, I would also allow a bit more time than usual for a first video project, so you have more time to make sure they are following your process and can go through any questions without stress. These days, it is so easy to find a video freelancer online and work remotely, so go ahead!
These tips should help you sort through and find the perfect match for your company.
We offer a full-service white-label video production service; please read more about our offering. To see examples of our video work, head to our video portfolio or animated video production page.
