B2B marketers indicate desire to self-produce 75% of their video content in 2010

I am seeing some interesting data from early adopters who have worked with us on the design and implementation of our offering. Meeting with three of these clients over the last week, they all expect to self-produce the majority of their video content in the coming year. This is a surprising development; as part of our strategy – leveraging ‘best practices’ and coaching – we expected this would happen eventually. As most B2B marketers have limited or no experience with video, we expected to help them create video and guide them in how to make it a valuable part of their sales and marketing processes.

We expected many customers to leverage the great pool of production talent experienced in video creation. Over time, we also expected clients to realize that they could self-produce content on their own. This would empower them and dramatically lower the cost of video-driven communication. In equilibrium, they would use expert content creators where warranted and produce their own for the remainder.

In each of the three clients I met last week, their plans are to self-produce at least 75% of the video content they need in 2010. This contrasts starkly with having had VisibleGains produce almost 100% of their content over the last six months. Going forward, they are leveraging ‘best practices’ and coaching we’ve provided and simple HD mini cameras (see my previous blog post) to create video content in 2010. With this content in hand, they plan to use our software service to create interactive video applications to energize email campaigns, landing pages, and sales follow-up messages.

I am eager to hear about your own experiences and plans for self-producing video content. What are your biggest obstacles? How would you decide between contracted, outside production and self-production? Alternatively, are you struggling to get started?