Production Value – Build a Better Bridge To Your Customer

Eggemoggin Reach Bridge, Deer Isle, Maine. Photograph by Wade Walton, Copyright 2024

I love to travel. Whether driving around my neighborhood, or on a long drive, I always notice the surroundings, weather, scenery, and the road itself. I also love noticing the bridges along the way: some soaring and majestic, others more functional and nondescript, all completely necessary. The bridges I most appreciate do not just get me and my loved ones safely over valleys, canyons and water, they also evoke a feeling of beauty and an appreciation of great design that someone took care and pride in creating. A bridge that is aesthetically pleasing as well as functional lifts my mood. Great art is everywhere.

Truly effective content is like a beautifully designed bridge. In creative production—whether in video, film, advertising, or other digital media—one factor consistently distinguishes great work from the mundane: production value. It’s what separates a brand message that soars from one that gets lost in the noise. Throughout my career, whether as an Executive Producer, video and film director, or creative director, I have made it my mission to elevate production value, ensuring that the work not only meets but exceeds expectations—always within the right budget for the message.

Missing the chance to go the distance for our audience or customer removes a key component of customer engagement. A solution that may tell the story but wasn’t artfully designed is like a bridge that was never painted, or one that is so understated we may not even have realized we crossed it. Carrying the analogy even further, content strategy that may have been created some time ago can become as rickety as a bridge that was built years ago and never maintained.

Over the past few years in business content creation, an undeniable shift has occurred. The priority for many businesses and clients has moved to cost-cutting first and foremost. Budgets are tight, and while cost control is important and ROI a responsibility of everyone, well-designed, thoughtful, artful content that stands out from the noise can be a casualty of low marketing investment. That’s a missed opportunity that costs companies engagement and sales.

Think of customer engagement like a broad, deep valley. You and your business strategy are over here, and you can see your audience over there. We need to build a bridge to them, but what kind? What materials should we use in building our content bridge, how should we design it? What should it look like, and why does it matter? Oh, and how much will that cost?

Why Production Value Matters

1. It Defines Brand Perception High-quality creative tells an audience how a company sees itself and its brand. A well-produced video signals professionalism, trustworthiness, and innovation, whereas a hastily assembled or underfunded production can undermine even the best strategic message, like laying rough wooden planks over a divide rather than taking the time and the right investment to build a proper bridge.

2. Audiences Expect It Viewers are busier than ever, and more savvy. With high-end content available on every screen, from streaming platforms to social media to television, audiences instantly recognize the difference between professionally created and amateurish production. A lack of investment in production quality can lose potential customers before they even get a chance to hear or see your message. In fact, with attention spans lower than ever, you need great design and creative just to counteract the urge to keep scrolling.

3. Smart Investments, Not Just Big Budgets Production value isn’t created by simply throwing more money at a project. It’s crafted through collaboration with trusted experts and using expertise, strategic choices, and creativity to maximize every dollar spent. Over the years, I’ve built relationships with top-tier artisans—cinematographers, designers, lighting and styling, editors and writers—who help create high-value results without high-end waste. We developed repeatable models to efficiently produce industry standard look and feel without the waste and often deliver these at or below industry standard rate cards.

How Creatives Can Advocate for Quality

So, how do we, as creatives, ensure that we continue to prioritize production value even in cost-conscious environments? Here are a few ideas:

1. Educate Clients on ROI (Return on Investment) Clients invest in creative content because they have a need, but may not understand the tactics, people and tools needed to create what they envision. We need to show how the right investment creates production value that leads to stronger audience engagement, higher conversion rates, and greater brand loyalty. By having case studies and success stories at the ready, we can reframe the discussion from cost to potential results the right investment can provide.

2. Optimize, Don’t Compromise I always tell my clients “I will spend every dollar of your money as if it was my own.” Cutting costs should never mean cutting corners. We must be proactive in finding efficiencies—trusted partners, modular, reusable set designs, bundling projects to maximize efficiencies on shoot days, and streamlining post-production workflows—without sacrificing the final product’s impact.

3. Bridge the Gap: Be the Audience’s Champion Ultimately, our job as creative professionals is to craft experiences that tell the right story, to the right people, at the right place and time. If budget constraints force decisions that degrade that experience, we must be willing to advocate for solutions that best serve the business while maintaining high production standards. Better ROI is the key to repeat business and better client and customer satisfaction.

The Road Ahead

Wouldn’t we all like to create amazing results we’re proud of, that are of the best quality we can deliver, and the client and customer will love? The pressure to cut costs isn’t going away, but neither is the demand for exceptional creative. As leaders in a rapidly evolving industry, it’s our responsibility to push for high quality content while helping clients and stakeholders understand that production value isn’t an extravagance; it’s an investment in their strategy and their brand’s success.

The best creatives I know are problem-solvers first and foremost. Let’s solve for cost constraints without sacrificing quality. Let’s continue to innovate, elevate, and deliver outstanding creative work—no matter the budgetary landscape.

What strategies have you used to bridge the gap when cost is an issue? (Cost is always an issue.) What bridges have you seen lately that caught your eye? Post a comment or a pic and let me know your thoughts.