Work out whether video is worth the money for you.
Video is expensive to do well and obvious when it is done badly. askBizly will help you decide if it is the right spend, what to make, and what it should cost.
Free to use. Ask as much as you like.
Before I suggest anything — what would a good month look like, and what can you pay for a lead?
That’s workable. Here’s how:
- Understand your business, customers and objectivesWhat you sell, who buys, and where you want to get to
- Create your growth strategyWhere the £2.5k goes, and in what order
- Fix what’s holding you backThe changes you can make yourself
- Connect you with a partnerOnly if you need a specialist
AI built on real human expertise
askBizly applies the judgement of people who have grown businesses, led marketing teams and hired agencies — more than twenty years of it. Their criteria shape what it asks and how it answers.
A growth plan built for your business
Not a template. It asks what you sell, where you want to get to and what you have to spend, then sets out what to do, in what order, and what it should cost.
Partners aligned to your objectives
If you want help executing, askBizly briefs partners against the plan you just built — and says why each one fits. It is free to you; partners pay only when an introduction becomes work.
Start here
What’s the job for the video?
Pick the creative or brand problem that sounds like yours — then decide whether film is the right answer.
What video is actually good at
Video gets recommended more or less universally, usually with a statistic about engagement attached. That is not very useful when you are deciding where a limited budget should go, because video costs several times what the same message costs in text or images.
It is worth the premium in three situations. When you are explaining something that is genuinely hard to picture, where thirty seconds of demonstration replaces a page of description. When you need to prove a claim, because a real customer saying it is believable in a way a written quote never is. And when the thing being sold is a place, a person or a process — premises, craft, care — which words flatten.
Outside those three, the honest answer is often that the money would do more as photography, better website copy, or advertising spend. A brand film is the most commonly bought and least frequently useful piece of video work in small business marketing.
If it is worth doing, the practical advice is to shoot more than one thing per day. Crew and setup are the expensive parts, so a day that produces an explainer plus three testimonials costs barely more than a day that produces one film. askBizly will help you decide whether to spend at all, and what to get for it.
How it works
Work out whether video is worth the money for you.
Describe where the film has to work and what you can spend. askBizly says whether to film, what to make first, and what a UK production should cost.
Understand your business and your video production goals
Your goals for video production, what you’re doing now and what you’ve got to work with — in your own words, one question at a time.
Work out what’s holding your video production back
What you tell it — and any proposal, report or figures you share — is assessed against clear video production criteria, with what’s known kept apart from what’s assumed.
Create your video production strategy
An action plan, a budget, a review or a brief for video production — with its evidence, assumptions and limits shown.
Help you execute
Do it yourself, go back to your supplier with better questions, or look at video production partners — you decide.
Fix the problem
Four ways askBizly can help with video production
Get a plan for what to film, a realistic production budget, a review of a quote or treatment, or a brief for the right video partner.
Diagnosis
Video without a job is an expensive way to look busy.
askBizly works out whether you need an ad, an explainer, a case study or nothing — and when a phone and a script will do more than a crew.
- The job for the film decided first
- Ads, website and sales enablement kept apart
- When not to commission anything
Budget
Know what video production should cost before you take quotes.
A day with a freelancer and a branded film with a crew are different numbers. askBizly breaks down UK production, edit and usage — and what your budget can actually shoot.
- Self-shot, freelancer and production company ranges
- What £1,500 versus £15,000 actually buys
- Usage and revision costs included, not sprung later
Review
Check a video quote or treatment before you book a crew.
Share the proposal, shot list or fee. askBizly looks at whether the treatment matches the job, what is missing from the price, and whether you are buying a film with no distribution plan.
- Treatment judged against where the film will run
- Hidden extras in production quotes flagged
- Questions to put before you pay a deposit
Partners
A clear video brief, then only production partners who fit.
If you do need a videographer or company, askBizly turns the job, length and budget into a brief and looks for partners whose records fit. Nobody is contacted until you say so.
- You see the brief before anyone does
- You approve the brief first
- No obligation to hire
Video production questions people ask first
A simple single-camera piece — a talking head, a short customer testimonial, a basic explainer — typically costs £1,000 to £3,000 for a day of filming and an edit. A polished promotional video with a small crew, scripting, licensed music and motion graphics runs £4,000 to £12,000. Animated explainers are usually £2,000 to £8,000 a minute depending on style. The cost is driven by crew size, shoot days and edit complexity far more than by final length.
Almost always something useful rather than something impressive. Two or three honest customer interviews, or a short explainer that answers the question prospects always ask, will earn more than a brand film at several times the price. They are cheaper to shoot, they can be used on your website and in ads, and they age slowly because they are about the problem rather than about how the company looked that year.
For social content, behind-the-scenes material and quick updates, yes — a modern phone shoots better pictures than broadcast cameras did a decade ago, and audiences expect informality in those places. Where it falls down is sound and light, which are what actually make footage feel amateur. A cheap lapel microphone and shooting near a window fixes most of it. For anything on your homepage or in paid advertising, professional production is usually worth the difference.
A competent freelancer with a day to shoot and a few days to edit typically charges £1,500 to £4,000 for a short film, depending on locations and extras. A production company with a crew, lighting and a more polished grade is £6,000 to £15,000 and up. Usage rights, music licences and revision rounds are often extra. A “brand film” with no plan for where it will run is the easiest way to spend the top of that range and get nothing back.
Ads have to earn the next second from a stranger who did not ask to watch. Website video is watched by someone already interested, so it can explain and prove. An ad that plays like a brand film usually dies in the first second; a homepage film that plays like an ad feels cheap. Shoot them as different jobs, or cut two edits from the same day. askBizly will tell you which one is worth commissioning first.
A videographer is the right buy for a talking-head, a simple explainer, or a day of case-study interviews. A production company is the right buy when you need lighting, multiple cameras, actors, or a film that has to hold up in paid media. The jump in cost is mostly crew and kit, not talent. If the brief is “a person talking in a room”, you do not need a company. If the brief is “an advert that has to stop a scroll”, you might.
Yes. The advice is free for business owners and always will be. askBizly is paid by the partners it introduces, and only when you choose to be introduced. Nothing is sent to anyone and nobody contacts you until you say so.
Stop guessing. Start growing.
Describe the job for the film. Free, with no production company contacting you unless you ask.