10 ways to create video on a budget

by Steve Keenan

1. Do it yourself - slowly
Colm Hanratty of Hostelworld (pictured, above) started visiting London in 2008 and, over the course of a year or two, filmed himself speaking outside capital highlights including Camden, Carnaby Street and the Tower of London with money-saving tips and good common sense for backpackers heading to town. ‘London - 10 things you need to know’ is warm, informative and obviously useful - type London into YouTube search and it’s the first video you’ll see (and has been seen by more than one million).

2. Do it yourself - quickly
I was speaking at the Association of Independent Tour Operators (Aito) conference in Maderia in the spring, promoting video. Jono Vernon-Powell of tour operator Nomadic Thoughts liked the idea - so set off that afternoon for a pre-planned walk across the top of the island with his smart phone and took video of the walk. He obviously has an eye for a photo because the film (edited by his 13-year-old son) is beautiful, and would compel anybody to book a holiday.

3. Get your staff to do it
Expert Africa have a lot of safari lodges. But they also have ‘themed’ holidays, such as walking holidays. So we briefed three staff who travel extensively to Africa, worked out the story line and gave them basic training in cameras, light and sound. The film they brought back wasn’t perfect (watch that wind!) but we edited it professionally and the film gives a strong favour of a walking safari. Cost? Just two training and editing - way under £1k (and will get cheaper and better as staff progress).

4. Run a competition
InsideJapan Tours had no video. So they decided to run a competition for bloggers and writer who hadn’t visited Japan, asking them to submit some multimedia to say why they should. Nearly 100 entered, the company posted three finalists on Facebook and opened it to votes (earning some £5k in SEO along the way), found a winner (who displayed an ability to video) and sent him and a partner to Japan for 15 days with a brief to blog - and video daily. Virgin provided flights. Cost? Under £1k.

5. Hire a (good) vlogger
Intrepid Travel wanted to promote its food tours of Vietnam. And they found The Perennial Plate, a blogging duo from North America who combine writing with video. Intrepid paid for their trip and, in return, got a highly professional video which they could use on their site, with a credit on the video. The target was 20k views - it got 300k, thanks to exposure on HuffPost, Vimeo and the New York Times. Intrepid have since sent PP to China and Japan. Cost? Under £4k each film, all-inclusive.

6. Video a blog trip
MSC Cruises invited six bloggers along to a jaunt around the Med - and then invited Media Ark to film their story suggestions, such as using the spa, mixing a cocktail etc., The company got nearly 20 videos out of the trip, in different languages, to use as an awareness raising campaign about the diversity of cruising. All targets were achieved - and MSC plans another project in 2013. Cost? Under six figures - but for that they got a huge library of (well-watched) video.

7. Think retro
OK, what’s the next big thing!! Oh, lots, and always changing. But DON’T forget where you’ve come from, your past. Erna Low marks it’s 80th anniversary this winter and is still a ski leader - but happily, the firm unearthed 33 rolls of 16mm film shot by its founder, which we could digitalise and turn into a series of films celebrating ski style, school - and gear - from the 1950s-70s. If you had to choose between two firms on price, and one had video to show its pedigree, which would you choose? Cost? Under £4k all-in for five videos.

8. Timelapse video
Not new, but so effective. There has been a spurt of enthusiasm in the UK this year for timelapse, with strong showings from Yorkshire and Dorset. Take a look at this blogpost to get a list of our favourites - I particularly recommend the Dorset by Night film, showing off the night sky and coastline to stunning effect. Cost? Nothing, but your time and patience.

9. User-generated content
The elephant in the room, this. But 2012 was another year where Content is King became the mantra following changes to Google’s algorithms creating panic among spammed sites. They, and everybody else, is now turning to UGC as creating fresh content for thousands of pages is proving too costly. Several large online travel sites are starting to play with UGC and I say nothing - except you have to think about how to get it, ask for the rights to use and tag/host it. Big subject.

10. Google Hangouts
I’ve just started to use these but can see big potential. Get up to 10 people together to chat about a subject - let’s say, the temples of Laos, or the Amazon river boats or restaurants in Florence. Tell clients about to go on one of these trips to watch the hangout and join in with questions - or get clients who have already been on one of the trips to talk. See the potential? And the best thing - the hangout recording is posted straight to YouTube, so you can start to build a library of specialist subjects….