Did you know Surrey FA is a charitable organisation?

We’re responsible for leading the development of grassroots football within Surrey, ensuring participation and enjoyment of football is for all, and we’re responsible for governing grassroots clubs, leagues, players and match officials across the county.

This year in particular, video has been our go-to way of achieving our mission. Whether your goal is raising awareness, encouraging people to get involved or inspiring donations, showing beats telling every time.

And with COVID drastically reducing the face-to-face time we have with our community, the big question is not ‘Should we create content? but instead ’Should we create content ourselves or use an agency?’

When it comes to the footage itself, we’ve found there are pros and cons for both options – that’s why you’ll see a combination of DIY and professionally filmed footage on our social feeds.

Last month, we shared how we filmed our content during lockdown and these skills have been invaluable in capturing some great, natural footage over the past few months. Sometimes, though, and where budget allows, there are benefits to calling in the pros, for example on our latest video for the Stonewall Rainbow Laces campaign.

We chatted to Chris, Capital Content’s Head of Production, who told us: “Camera technology is fast paced. We update our camera bodies around every three years to keep up with new innovations and maintain speed. Bodies range from £2k to £20k+ depending on which one you choose – and we have a few of them because a good video needs more than one static angle.

“Then there’s the cost of lighting, audio, batteries, editing machines, drones, GoPros and live streaming equipment as part of a top line list. And don’t get me started on safe storage for all those gigabytes of footage! When you use an agency, you get the benefit of all this equipment without the outlay, research or risk.”

Equipment cost aside, it’s in the creative concepts that we feel the most benefit from working with professionals on video content.

If you pick the right agency, they’ll have cross-industry experience and more successful campaigns under their belt to draw upon.

When chatting with Chris and the Capital Content team, we’ll bounce ideas around, and they’ll use their experience of the many, many projects they’ve worked on to come up with something that’s unique and effective to achieve our goals.

Bottom line, you can create great content yourself using a camera or even your smartphone, whether you’re trying to sell a product, raise awareness or promote a service. But where budget allows, we’ve found it can be great to work with a professional agency that has the knowledge and equipment to make content that looks good and works.

All the gear, and all the ideas, if you will.

For free, no-obligation guidance on creating video content, chat with Capital Content at capitalcontent.co/contact