We were lucky to catch up with Paul Simmons recently and have shared our conversation below.
Paul, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.
When we were first starting PA Productions, we were doing a lot of Wedding Videos. What I love about Wedding Videos is that it tells a beautiful story and the couple is always so happy to see the video and remember the day. I started learning more strategies and concepts to help businesses grow through video and quickly realized that story or storytelling is a huge part of a video marketing strategy for businesses. I absolutely love sharing the story of a business and creating an asset for them to share with the world and grow their business. I approach each client or project through the lens of a story, who is our audience, what are we showing them, how are we going to get the message out. I think that’s the other component that sets us apart from other video production agencies. A real focus on the strategy and keeping that in the framework before we even begin filming.
Paul, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
PA Productions is a Denver Based Video Production Agency that specializes in creating video assets for businesses, entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations, schools, and foundations. We are really interested in working with people who are doing good work and making an impact and see the need for utilizing video to grow their business. We start each project by having a Strategy Call where we can ask questions about your business or organization like what you do, why you do it, but also what are your pain points, your goals, and what is holding you back from reaching them? We want to gather as much information as possible to create a prescribed Video Marketing Strategy unique to each client or project with the outcomes in mind. This means that we are working alongside our clients from preproduction, through production, post-production, and implementation. We have helped our clients create videos around Brand Awareness, Promotional Videos, Training Videos, Service Videos, Testimonials, Highlight Videos, Educational Series, and more.
I feel the most proud of delivering products to our clients that represent them and their work and allow them to say “I’ve always wanted to get my message out there like this!” Being able to create authentic video assets for people that they can use over and over is something that I’m really proud to do because I feel very connected to the success of the clients I work with. I want them to succeed and grow and reach all of their goals, and so finding ways to create videos that aid in that effort is so important to me.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
When we were getting started, it was part time with Weddings. At the time, my wife worked at a school and they needed some help creating an Orientation Video. Something that could highlight all the components of their program and they could show to incoming students or for presentations about the school. We put together this video for them, and that was one of the first non-wedding videos that we did. I started reaching out to a few of people in my network that were starting businesses and created some videos with them and that’s how we started building our network. We created these videos for people who were starting out and helped them refine their message and share it with others to grow and that led us to more clients. When we got our first big contract, we decided that we would take this leap into doing PA Productions full time with my wife on board as well. This was right when the world changed with Covid and people really saw how powerful video could be. We were holding meetings almost strictly via Zoom and businesses just had to pivot and dive deeper into the digital space, so this was a really critical time for us to capitalize on that and work alongside companies to create video and share their stories.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
Word of mouth referrals or video testimonials are such a powerful way to build your reputation. There is nothing stronger than someone saying, “I did this with them and it got these results and the process was fun and professional.” There is so much power in that social proof. As we worked with clients and they had people ask them who did that video, and they put them in contact with us, it just helped us build our client base and meet so many amazing people doing good work that we get to share in. I am so grateful for those clients who share their experience working with us. I feel very connected to our clients and the products we produce for them and want them to be high quality and effective for them. It’s not enough for me to make a pretty video, I want the message and content to be what the client needs to move them forward, whether that’s getting more clients, attracting more employees, getting awarding a grant, or saving them time.
Contact Info:
- Website: paproductions303.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paul_t_simmons
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PAproductions303?mibextid=ibOpuV
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-simmonsdenver/
- Twitter: @PAProductions1
- Youtube: YouTube.com/@paproductions303