We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Eric Benner a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Eric, thanks for joining us today. Let’s jump right into the heart of things. Outsiders often think businesses or industries have much larger profit margins than they actually do – the reason is that outsiders are often unaware of the biggest challenges to profitability in various industries – what’s the biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

Entering into the film industry or content creation market is not for the faint-hearted. Being a videographer, photographer, & video editor I have learned over the years that you have to constantly and consistently be learning to stay up to date with the technology and trends. It is a fun and engaging craft, but can be difficult at times to keep it going as a career. There is a lot of competition so you need to keep up with promotion, content, and growing your skills. The key to be profitable in this industry is to always be valued and realize what your time is worth. For myself, I realized that learning multiple skills, focusing on quality, and exceptional time management increased my value. Work hard and keep learning to get better at your craft and you will be successful.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

When I was very young, I knew I wanted to go into a creative industry. Growing up, I used to frequently watch movies that sparked a lot of interest in me and led me to the Film Industry and Content Creation Market. I studied Film at Cape Fear Community College under Duke Fire. The program taught me all the necessary skills to be well rounded in this industry. I started to to realize after graduation that I wanted to be a videographer, photographer, and video editor full-time independently. I knew it would be difficult and a lot of work, but ultimately knew it would be rewarding in the end. I have been doing this for 9 years and have loved every minute of it. I really found my stride when I started specializing in the music industry through The Kaya. At first I was filming, editing, and promoting videos for the company before becoming the new owner. I am constantly filming concerts, shooting promotional photos, and creating/editing music videos, lyric videos, social media ads, and much more. I work for both Blue Avenue Music Group & Right Call Media filling content needs for promotional campaigns as well as having a long list of personal clients that I work with consistently. Over the past year, I have been able to work on content for so many great artists including Tinashe, Mariah Faith, Buckstein, Kaya’s Embrace, Carly Waddell, Too $hort, Signal Fire, and many more. The area I am most proud of is the multi-cam live performance videos I offer. I get in my zone when filming live music and excel the most in video editing when it comes to feeling the music and making the right creative cuts in the editing process.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Growing your client list is very important in this industry. There are many other videographers/photographers/video editors that people could go to for their content. Having a quick turnaround while maintaining quality will help you keep the clients you have and grow organically because they will then refer you to others. Which leads me to the most important strategy of gaining new clients: NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK! Word of mouth is very effective. When you are on set, filming events, or just going out for fun, make sure to talk to people. Spread the word of your business and skills. For me, specializing in the music industry, networking is even more important. Most of my filming work takes place at concerts and music festivals. It is very important to stick around after the event to meet the bands and the crews behind making the event possible. Making connections and building lasting relationships will keep you relevant and help you grow in your career.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

There are a few resources I really wish I knew about in the early days when going into content creation. Being a video editor gives me the ability to take on extra jobs that I have not filmed or do not necessarily have to do any filming for. Stock Video/Effects Subscriptions and Creative Video Apps have been tremendously helpful in my day-to-day and project work today. They would have saved me so much time when starting out in this industry and also would have increased my level of quality earlier. I definitely recommend paying for a few premium stock footage subscriptions to give yourself a huge library of clips to work with in creating content for clients. Most of these sites will also have effects and graphics to use in editing so that you can give your work that extra edge. Creative Video Apps are also helpful if you make a lot of social media content for clients. Being able to create certain kinds of content for clients while on the go will improve your productivity greatly.

Contact Info:

• Website: YouTube.com/TheKayaMedia
• Instagram: @thekayamedia
• Facebook: facebook.com/TheKayaMediaNC

Image Credits
Sean Heilingoetter, Positive Vibe Media, TAS Visuals, Melissa Benner, & Michael Allison