More and more new companies are starting up. Even during the corona crisis, the number of start-ups continued to increase steadily. Self-employed professionals in particular form a growing group of starting entrepreneurs. In Europe, the number of self-employed people has increased by almost 50% in recent years. In the Netherlands , too, there has been growth since 2003. Today, just over half of all companies are self-employed. As a freelancer you will therefore have to continue to distinguish yourself within your field. But how do you do that? Of course you make sure that you are easily found via Google, with a good website.
And social media, especially LinkedIn, is a must. They offer an opportunity for customers to find you, but also to see what you can do. Video marketing can be your distinguishing factor on social media as well as on your website. And the great thing is that you can easily make them yourself. With these tips & tricks you ensure that your videos catch the eye of potential customers.
Three apps that make it easy for you to make videos yourself with your mobile phone
There are various (free) apps available that make it easy for you to make videos with your mobile. High quality, without the need for a professional camera and production team. The top 3 apps that you should try if you want to get serious with video marketing as a freelancer:
1 - Screen capture app Xrecorder
With Xrecorder you can record your mobile screen in a simple way by simply downloading an app, also called screen capture. Such a screen capture app is especially useful when you want to demonstrate how something works. For example, if you have a webshop, you can use a screen capture app to show how you place or adjust an order. This app is free to use and very easy to use. You can have a very helpful video created in minutes.
2 - Adobe Premiere Rush
This 'all-in-one on-the-go video editing app' allows you to create professional-quality videos with ease. The app is easy to use on both the smartphone and the laptop and comes with numerous useful tools to edit a video professionally. Built-in are also all kinds of options to easily upload the video to YouTube, for example. Adobe Premiere Rush is free to try.
3 - Shot
Inshot is an app that makes it very easy to edit your videos on your mobile. Of course, just like with Adobe Premiere Rush and Xrecorder, you can edit the video by cutting and trimming, but by using all kinds of predefined filters, music and stickers you can literally create a completely different movie experience at the touch of a button. By adding text, music and using a filter you have made an attractive video in no time. It is therefore no longer strictly necessary to have a promotional film made by a video production company; you can take matters into your own hands with a fairly professional end result.
💡 Also interesting > Video for your webshop in 7 steps!
Four sites and tools to make the best videos on your laptop
Although you can already make very professional videos with your mobile phone, the laptop offers the advantage of using websites and tools that offer that little bit extra. Here are the four sites and tools that will help you make your professional video even better:
1 - Storyblocks.com
More than 150,000 people and companies already use Storyblocks and for good reason. In addition to an easy-to-use editor, this platform also offers an impressive stock database with countless hours of film material. That's handy, because that way you don't have to shoot the video yourself for every image you're looking for. Looking for a video of a busy airport, a sunset or a cool drone video of a city to support your video message? Chances are you'll find something suitable at Storyblocks.
In addition to the stock database and editor, you will also be able to add text to your video in a professional way, as well as all kinds of effects and supporting sound. It's a platform that really takes your videos to the next level, but the many possibilities that Storyblocks offers are not free. To use it you pay about 350 Euros per year, or 29 Euros per month.
2 - Royalty-free music with a free audio library or Artlist.io
YouTube Audio Library and Facebook Sound Collection both offer a free audio library. So that's a lot of sound effects and royalty-free music that you can use for your video without having to pay for it. If you can't find anything there that meets your needs, artlist.io is also worth a try.
The quality of the music and audio effects you will find here is significantly higher than on the free audio library from YouTube or Facebook. The chance that you will not find what you are looking for here is very small and due to the high quality, the use of these soundtracks and effects gives a huge quality boost to your video. The platform is unfortunately not free, but from just over 10 Euros per month you will have an almost unlimited amount of audio files at your disposal. Artlist.io is free to try.
3 - Motion Array
Do you edit videos in Adobe Premiere (Rush) or do you use After Effects? Then Motionarray.com is worth a try. Motion Array provides a platform from where you can download premium After Effect templates, royalty-free music, stock videos and more. The templates help you to easily and quickly click together professional videos, while the plugins offer useful extras for Adobe Premiere.
What sets Motion Array apart from this offering is that it is a download platform. Most of what you find on Motion Array can simply be downloaded, instead of just using it online. Therefore the following tip: Using Motion Array costs about 20 Euros per month, but you can try it for free for a month. Try to download as much useful material as possible during that period, before the trial period ends.
4 - Fiverr
On Fiverr.com it is possible to receive very professional looking digital services for sometimes extremely low amounts. Whether you are looking for a (company) logo, a corporate identity, a complete animation video or your own voice-over work: Fiverr offers it. This originally Israeli platform operates worldwide. It brings together professionals from all over the world and offers you the opportunity to make a selection from a huge range of the professionals that suit you best. Some professionals charge significant fees for their services, but there are also many who provide high-quality work for a very low price.
The main advantage? Because Fiverr easily offers you professionals who provide quality work for little money, the costs often remain low. Fiverr mediates and ensures that you always get what you paid for and otherwise you get your money back. Reviews from other customers show you how well a professional was previously rated.
The disadvantage is that you can generally only brief via a short form and then you have to wait and see how well the professional has understood your assignment. And, as always, there is of course a chance that you will not be satisfied with the end result. However, Fiverr's mediation and other users' reviews should give you enough comfort to try Fiverr. In addition, many professionals offer several rounds of corrections before they definitively mark the work as 'completed'.
What are you waiting for?
As a freelancer you have to distinguish yourself. The above apps, tools and websites give you the tools to get started yourself. Having a corporate film made by a studio can be a costly affair. A common excuse not to start with video. That is no longer the case. Nowadays, budget video production with a neat end result is feasible for basically all freelancers.
Within a short time you can have produced your first videos and thus distinguish yourself from your competitors. What are you waiting for?
This blog post was written by Niels de Groot - www.nielsdegroot.com
