How much does a brand story video cost in NC?
The honest answer: it depends. But here's what actually drives the cost.
If you've started looking into brand story videos for your business, you've probably run into some frustratingly vague pricing. Some production companies won't even publish a number. Others give you a range so wide it's useless. We're going to try to do better than that.
Here's a straight breakdown of what goes into the cost of a brand story video in North Carolina and what you should actually be thinking about before you hire anyone.
What Is a Brand Story Video?
A brand story video is typically a 2-4 minute video that introduces your company to a prospective customer. It answers three questions: who you are, what you do, and why a buyer should trust you over the alternatives. It usually lives on your website homepage, gets sent in sales outreach, and shared on LinkedIn.
Unlike a commercial (which sells a product) or a testimonial (which features a client), a brand story video is about your company's identity. Done right, it's the video that makes someone go from "I should check these guys out" to "I'm calling them this week."
What Drives the Cost
1. Shoot Days
Most brand story videos for small and mid-size businesses require one shoot day. That day typically covers interviews with the owner or leadership, b-roll of your facility or team in action, and enough footage to build a 2-4 minute finished piece. If you have multiple locations, a larger team to feature, or complex production requirements, you may need two days.
More shoot days means more crew time, more equipment, and a higher overall cost. It also usually means a better product.
2. Crew Size
A one-person crew can produce excellent results for a conversational, interview-based video. Add a second camera operator, a dedicated audio engineer, or a lighting technician and the day rate goes up but so does the production quality and the efficiency of the day. For most small business brand story videos, a focused two-person crew is the sweet spot.
3. Post-Production
Editing, color grading, sound design, motion graphics, and music licensing all happen after the shoot and they take time. A polished 3-minute video typically takes 15-25 hours of post-production work. If you want custom animation, complex graphics, or a particularly heavy revision process, that number climbs.
4. Strategy and Discovery
This is the one most companies forget to ask about. A good brand story video starts with a discovery process figuring out who your buyer actually is, what they care about, what questions they're asking before they hire you, and what talking points will land. Some companies don't offer this at all. Some charge for it separately. At With A Twist Media, discovery is built into every project because a video without strategy is just an expensive decoration.
So What Does It Actually Cost?
The honest answer is that it varies and any production company that gives you a number before understanding your goals, your timeline, and what the video actually needs to do is guessing. What drives the cost isn't the video itself, it's the strategy behind it, the scope of the shoot, and the complexity of the edit.
What we can tell you is that there's a meaningful difference between a video built to sit on a homepage and close clients and a quick clip filmed on a phone. The investment reflects that difference. A properly produced brand story video with discovery, a real shoot day, and a polished edit is a business tool, not a commodity. Pricing it like one tends to produce results that match.
Rather than publish a number that may or may not apply to your situation, we'd rather spend 20 minutes on a call learning what you actually need and give you a straight quote from there. No range, no ballpark just a real number based on your real project.
How to Get the Most Out of Your Video Budget
Be specific about the goal before you hire anyone. "We need a video" is not a goal. "We need a 2 minute video that our sales reps can send to mid-size contractors before the first call" is a goal. The more specific you are, the better the result.
Plan for repurposing from the start. A single shoot day can produce a 3 minute brand story, a 60 second social cut, three 30 second clips for ads, and a handful of short interview pulls for LinkedIn. If you plan for this in pre-production, you get 6-8 pieces of content from one shoot instead of one.
Ask about strategy upfront. If a production company doesn't ask about your buyer, your sales process, or your goals before they start talking about cameras and shoot dates, that's a sign they're going to make you a video that looks good on a reel but doesn't do much for your business.
Don't chase the lowest number. The cheapest video is almost always the most expensive in the long run because it doesn't work, and eventually you'll pay someone else to do it again.
Ready to Talk Numbers for Your Specific Project?
We're happy to give you a real quote based on your actual needs not a ballpark pulled from thin air. Schedule a free strategy call and we'll spend 20 minutes understanding your business, your audience, and what a successful video looks like for you. From there, we can build a scope that fits your goals and your budget.
What makes a great construction recruitment video?
Struggling to hire skilled trades? Here's what makes a construction recruitment video actually work and how to make one that attracts the right candidates.
The trades hiring problem isn't going away. But the way you recruit can change.
Ask any GC, specialty contractor, or construction company owner what keeps them up at night and hiring is almost always on the list. There aren't enough qualified tradespeople to go around, the ones who are available have options, and a job posting on Indeed is not going to close that gap.
A well-made recruitment video will not solve the skilled labor shortage. But it can do something genuinely useful: it can make your company the obvious choice for the candidates who are already out there, actively looking, and deciding who to call first.
Here's what actually works.
Lead With Culture, Not Just Compensation
Every construction company offers competitive pay. If that's your opening line, you're already blending in. The candidates you actually want the experienced tradespeople, the reliable crew members, the workers who take pride in what they build are looking for more than a paycheck. They want to work somewhere they'll be respected, where the company is organized, where they'll have steady work and not feel like a number.
Your recruitment video should lead with culture. Show what a Monday morning looks like at your company. Show your super talking about how they communicate with the crew. Show a carpenter who's been with you for seven years explaining why they stayed. That's what separates you from the other job listing.
Let Your Crew Do the Talking
Nothing you say about your company carries as much weight as what your current employees say about it. The most effective construction recruitment videos we've made have a simple structure: the owner or PM speaks for 60 seconds about what kind of company this is, and then existing crew members speak for the next 90 seconds about what it's actually like to work there.
No scripts. No prompts on a teleprompter. Just honest conversations filmed on the job site or in the shop. That authenticity is what a candidate trusts.
Be Specific About What the Work Actually Looks Like
Vague videos don't convert candidates. If you're looking for commercial framers, show commercial framing. If you run mostly federal contracts with steady schedules, say that explicitly. If you have a safety culture that actually gets followed in the field not just posted on the wall put that on camera.
The more specific your video is, the more it will resonate with the right candidates and filter out the wrong ones. That's not a bad thing. You'd rather have ten applications from people who watched your video and thought "that's exactly where I want to work" than fifty applications from people who clicked apply on twelve companies simultaneously.
Keep It Short and Usable
The ideal construction recruitment video is 60-120 seconds. Long enough to make a real impression, short enough to actually get watched. You can post it on LinkedIn, pin it to your Indeed profile, embed it on your careers page, and share it in a text message to a referral. If your video is four minutes long, most of those use cases fall apart.
When we film recruitment content for construction companies, we also cut shorter 30 second versions designed specifically for social media ads, so you can put money behind it on LinkedIn or Facebook and reach passive candidates who aren't actively searching but might be open to the right opportunity.
Film It Where the Work Happens
A recruitment video filmed in a conference room or against a white wall misses the point. Candidates want to see the actual environment they'd be walking into. Film it on the job site with appropriate safety gear, in a real workflow moment, showing the scale and type of projects you take on. That visual context tells a candidate more in 10 seconds than two paragraphs of job description copy.
One More Thing
The best time to film a recruitment video is before you desperately need it. We've worked with construction companies who called us in a panic because they'd lost three crews and needed to hire fast. We can move quickly, but the best recruitment content is built thoughtfully, not under pressure.
If your pipeline is full right now and hiring is stable, this is exactly the right moment to get it done so it's ready and working before the next gap hits.
5 ways nonprofits use video to increase donations
Discover five proven ways nonprofits use video to raise more money from campaign videos to donor thank you messages. Practical tips for Greensboro organizations.
Video doesn't just show donors what you do. It makes them feel why it matters.
There's a reason the most successful nonprofit fundraising campaigns almost always have a video component. It's not because video is trendy or because a board member read an article about it. It's because video does something written content can't it puts a human face on the work, in motion, with real emotion, in a way that cuts through the noise of a donor's inbox.
If you're running a nonprofit in Greensboro or anywhere in the Triad and you're trying to figure out where video actually fits in your fundraising strategy, here are five approaches that consistently work.
1. The Fundraising Campaign Video
This is the most straightforward application and often the highest leverage one. A 90 second to 3 minute video built around a specific campaign goal raise $50,000 for a new program, fund 200 meals this month, close the gap on a matching gift and anchored in one person's story.
The structure that works: open with a problem, introduce a person who lived that problem, show how your organization intervened, and end with a clear, specific ask. The donor watching needs to know exactly what their gift will do. Not "support our mission" something specific, like "provide three months of counseling for a family in crisis."
This video should live on your donation page, get featured in your campaign emails, and be the centerpiece of your social media push for the duration of the campaign.
2. The Impact and Annual Report Video
Most nonprofits produce an annual report. Some of them actually get read. A short 2 - 3 minute video version showing real faces, real outcomes, and real numbers brought to life through storytelling is far more likely to be watched, shared, and remembered by donors, board members, and community partners.
These videos work particularly well when you have a strong outcome story from the past year. Not just "we served 1,400 people" but "here's one of them, and here's what changed for her family." One specific story, told well, carries more emotional weight than a year's worth of statistics.
Share it at your annual meeting, in your year-end appeal email, and on your social channels throughout the fourth quarter.
3. The Event Opener or Gala Film
If your organization hosts a signature fundraising event, a short film played at the start of the program is one of the most reliable tools for warming up a room before the ask. The goal is simple: by the time the video ends, everyone in that room should feel connected to the mission on a personal level.
We've filmed these for galas, golf tournaments, luncheons, and walk events throughout the Triad. The ideal length is 3-5 minutes. The ideal content is one powerful beneficiary story combined with a brief word from leadership. Simple, human, direct.
Bonus: that same film becomes a year-round fundraising asset on your website and in major donor meetings.
4. The Donor Thank You Video
This one is underused and almost universally effective. Instead of a standard thank you letter, send a short video message filmed by your executive director, or even by a program participant to donors who gave above a certain threshold. It doesn't need to be polished. In fact, a slightly more personal, less produced feel often lands better.
We've helped nonprofits batch-film donor thank-you messages in a single two-hour shoot — enough personalized content to reach a full major donor list. The retention impact of a personal video message compared to a form letter is significant.
This is also one of the most cost effective video projects a nonprofit can do because the production is simple and the return in donor loyalty and repeat gifts is measurable.
5. The Program Explainer Video
This one often gets overlooked because it feels more internal than external, but it serves a real fundraising function. When a new donor, a corporate sponsor, or a grant reviewer wants to understand what you actually do not your mission statement, but your specific programs, who they serve, and how they work a clear 2 minute explainer video is far more effective than a page of text.
Program explainer videos also give your referral partners the social workers, the case managers, the community health workers who send clients your way something concrete to share with the people they serve. That kind of warm referral traffic is hard to quantify but valuable.
Where to Start
If you're new to video or working with a limited budget, start with your next campaign video. It has the clearest connection to a fundraising goal, which makes the ROI easy to track. From there, a gala film or an impact video is a natural next step.
If you're in Greensboro or the Triad and want to talk through what video would do the most for your organization right now, schedule a free strategy call. We've worked with enough nonprofits in this community to give you a straight answer about where your dollar will go furthest.
Manufacturing video production: what to expect on shoot day
Never had a video crew in your facility? Here's exactly what to expect on shoot day from pre-production prep to final delivery for manufacturing companies.
Most plant managers have the same first question: "How much is this going to disrupt production?"
The short answer: less than you think, if the crew knows what they're doing. The longer answer is what this article is about.
If you're a manufacturing company in North Carolina that's considering a video project a brand story, a facility tour, a recruitment video, or a safety training series and you've never had a production crew on your floor, here's an honest, step by step look at what the process actually looks like from first call to final file.
Before the Shoot: Discovery and Pre-Production
Every project at With A Twist Media starts with a strategy conversation, not a quote. We want to understand what this video needs to accomplish whether that's impressing a prospective buyer, attracting skilled labor, training new employees, or all of the above. That goal shapes everything that comes next.
Once we've aligned on the goal, we move into pre-production. This is where we:
Identify who should be on camera (leadership, floor supervisors, equipment operators, customers)
Develop the interview questions and talking points nothing scripted, but a clear framework for the conversation
Build a shot list of the facility areas, equipment, and processes we need to capture
Coordinate with your operations or safety team to understand the facility protocols, required PPE, and restricted areas
Schedule the shoot day around your production calendar to minimize any impact on output
How We Work Around Production Schedules
We've filmed in facilities running three shifts, in clean rooms, in warehouses with active forklifts, and on floors where shutting down a single machine for five minutes has real downstream consequences. We know how to get what we need without creating a problem for your operation.
That usually means: we film the noisy or active sequences first when energy is highest, we use longer lenses to capture detail without getting in the middle of the workflow, and we communicate clearly with your floor leadership throughout the day so they're never caught off guard.
After the Shoot: Edit, Review, and Delivery
After shoot day, we head into post-production. For a standard brand story or facility overview video, the edit process looks like this:
First cut - We deliver a complete rough edit within 2-3 weeks. This is the full video with all the elements in place but before final color, audio mix, and music.
Revision round — You review and send notes. We address them. Most clients request one or two rounds of revisions.
Final delivery - Polished, color-graded, fully mixed final video delivered as an MP4 via Dropbox. We also deliver shorter social cuts and any additional formats discussed before the project is filmed.
One Thing Manufacturers Always Appreciate
We ask a lot of questions before we show up. That front-end investment in understanding your facility, your product, and your customer saves time on shoot day and produces a better video. When you watch the final cut, it shouldn't feel like a video made by someone who visited your plant once. It should feel like it was made by someone who actually understands what you build.
That's the standard we hold ourselves to. If you're ready to talk through a project for your facility, the strategy call is free and takes about 20 minutes.
Why small businesses in Greensboro are investing in video
More Greensboro small businesses are using video to win clients and grow. Here's why it's working and how local companies are putting video to use right now.
Something has shifted in how Triad businesses are showing up for customers.
Five years ago, a small business in Greensboro could get by on a decent website, a few Google reviews, and word of mouth. That still matters. But the threshold for what a prospective customer expects to find when they look you up has moved. They want to see you. They want to hear from your customers. They want to understand who they're dealing with before they ever pick up the phone.
Video has become the most direct way to meet that expectation and more local businesses are figuring that out.
The Trust Gap Is the Real Problem
Most small business owners know they do great work. Their existing clients know it too. The problem is the space between those two groups the prospects who have never worked with you and have no particular reason to trust you over three other companies they're also considering.
That trust gap used to get closed through referrals and in-person meetings. It still does, but the window between a prospect finding you online and deciding whether to reach out has compressed. People make that judgment call in minutes, sometimes seconds, based on what they see on your website and social profiles. A well-made two-minute video can do more to close that gap than ten pages of website copy.
What Greensboro Businesses Are Actually Using Video For
Based on what we've seen working with manufacturers, contractors, nonprofits, and service businesses across the Triad, here's how local companies are putting video to practical use:
Winning bids and proposals - Several of our clients now include a short company overview video in their proposal packages. One contractor told us it helped them get shortlisted for a project they later won. The video gave the client a feel for the team before the interview.
Sales outreach - Instead of a cold email with a link to a website, sales reps send a 90-second brand story video. It gets a response rate that a text-only email rarely matches.
Recruiting - The skilled labor shortage is real in manufacturing and construction. A recruitment video that shows your facility, your culture, and why people stay is one of the few tools that actually reaches passive candidates.
Donor and grant cultivation - Nonprofits in the area are using video to open annual galas, anchor end-of-year campaigns, and supplement grant applications. The ones doing it consistently are seeing stronger engagement from major donors.
Google and social presence - Video content on your website improves time-on-page, which search engines take as a signal of relevance. A YouTube channel with even a handful of well-optimized videos can drive organic traffic that compounds over time.
The Businesses Seeing the Best Results Have One Thing in Common
They treated video as a strategy, not a one time project. They didn't just commission a brand video and call it done. They thought about where it would live, who would see it, what they'd do with the shorter cuts, and how it connected to the rest of their marketing. Some of them planned for repurposing from the start one shoot day, multiple deliverables, content that stretched across six months of LinkedIn posts and email campaigns.
That kind of thinking is what separates a video that pays for itself from one that collects dust on a Dropbox folder.
Is Video Marketing Right for Your Business?
If your business relies on trust, relationships, or a longer sales cycle which describes most B2B companies, service businesses, contractors, and nonprofits then video is almost certainly worth exploring. The question isn't whether video works. The question is what type of video, for which audience, at which point in your sales process.
That's the conversation we start with every client. If you're a small business in Greensboro or anywhere in the Triad and you want a straight answer about where video fits in your marketing, schedule a free strategy call. No pitch. Just an honest conversation about what will actually move the needle for your business.
How a Brand Story Video Helped Kingston Vybes Grow in Greensboro, NC
Reggie Coles, the owner of Kingston Vybes, sets up at the Flat Iron, a local bar in #DowntownGreensboro with his soul food island fusion ready to serve and get customers here and there from a small social media presence and word of mouth.
After producing a video advertising him and his food using his passion to sell himself in the video more people flocked to purchase his food. This video was posted on both the Kingston Vybes Instagram account as well as on Go.Greensboro Instagram account. Go.Greensboro is an social media brand with 11.8k followers on Instagram that I collaborated with to get Kingston Vybes more business.
After producing a video advertising him and his food using his passion to sell himself in the video more people flocked to purchase his food. This video was posted on both the Kingston Vybes Instagram account as well as on Go.Greensboro Instagram account. Go.Greensboro is an social media brand with 11.8k followers on Instagram that I collaborated with to get Kingston Vybes more business.
Then I produced a video advertising him setting up at the Smoke Stack Social, which was a weekly event during the summer and into September at Revolution Mill in Greensboro, NC. This time included more customer interaction, customers speaking genuinely about their overall experience, and again including Reggie's passion for making the food.
After posting that brand story video, people flocked left and right to Reggie's business coming from all over every week. Just the next week after the video came out he sold out, meaning he didn't prepare enough food for the demand he had.
Here's Reggie Coles, the owner of Kingston Vibes, a food/catering company specializing in soul food island fusion, talking genuinely about his experience.
I recently created a short brand story video for him and his company, showcasing their presence at The Bearded Goat at Revolution Mill Apartments in August and September.
Here's Reggie Coles, the owner of Kingston Vibes, a food/catering company specializing in soul food island fusion, talking genuinely about his experience.
I recently created a short brand story video for him and his company, showcasing their presence at The Bearded Goat at Revolution Mill Apartments in August and September.
Why a Brand Story Video Saved Aspen Irrigation Time and Won More Business
Here's a brand story video we created for Aspen Irrigation Systems some time ago. It saved the owner of the business a ton of time, got him more business, and made him more money.
This video provided John McPhail, the owner of the business, with significant value. When John McPhail hired us to create this video for him, he hadn't been in business for very long, and he was also somewhat old school. He had no website or social media presence for his business. He had obtained the limited work he had for his irrigation company solely through word of mouth.
Then, we created this video for his business and suggested to him to establish social media accounts and a website for his business to feature the video. Maintaining his old-school approach, he chose not to pursue these suggestions, but he used the video we created to enhance his word-of-mouth marketing.
When someone inquired about his business, he would send them the video instead of having to explain, either through text or over the phone, why his services were superior to those of his competitors or having to reiterate everything in the video.
The video we created for his company saved him a considerable amount of time, as it effectively conveyed the quality, passion, and values of the company.