While many businesses were reeling and even closing doors during the economic downturn eight years ago, one pair of entrepreneurial creatives were given a platform to catapult their business idea into one of Australia’s most successful video production businesses, which today produces over 200 videos a week with the help of the business’ 60 employees.
Visual Domain is proof that timing can sometimes be everything and what started out as a passion has amassed to a successful and thriving business with clients including Google, NAB, Seek, Target, Bupa and Coles to name a few.
Director and co-founder Daniel Goldstein says Visual Domain’s success comes down to good timing and also the company’s ability to completely disrupt the video space by making professional-grade videos more accessible than ever before.
“People are often shocked when we tell them that they don’t need a massive marketing budget to produce a high impact video, as many businesses feel professional-grade videos are out of their reach from a budget perspective.
“When Renece and I created Visual Domain in the midst of the GFC, people were very price sensitive and we knew we could turn our passion into something that everyone could use.
“Technology has come so far that it was only a matter of time for professional-grade videos to be accessible to everyone, no matter the size of their business or the industry,” says Daniel.
There were a few stumbles at first
The overarching desire for videos to be accessible to everyone acted as the catalyst for Visual Domain’s success but wasn’t without its pitfalls in the early days.
“Visual Domain originally started out as a marketing tool for sluggish real estate during the GFC. Houses weren’t really moving and although YouTube was only just starting to take off, the power of video and its emotional capabilities were yet to be completely understood.
“We identified a real niche creating property marketing videos and set ourselves a target of creating five videos a week and within six months, this had accelerated to 50 videos a week due to the sheer demand.
“The power of video was beginning to be understood, particularly in the real estate industry where people were realising the emotional connection they could create with potential buyers.”
But Daniel says growing too quickly wasn’t without its downfalls as the workload intensified more staff were brought on and offices were opening left right and centre.
“When starting Visual Domain we never had any investment or start up capital and were literally running on a shoe string trying to keep to our vision. I don’t think Renece or myself ever expected the business to grow as big or as fast as it did, so this presented us with some unique challenges with growth and structure early on’
“One of the biggest things we learnt overtime was to say no and I think it’s something everyone starting their own business needs to be prepared for. In the early days we were jumping on everything but it’s important to step back and realise perhaps it’s not the right fit.”
How is Visual Domain doing today?
Eight years on, people are often surprised to learn that the company’s prices haven’t changed but Daniel says they remain the same because the company vision has remained the same.
“In order to keep up with the high volume of videos we create while still being affordable, we’ve had to build a lot of in-house technology and software that allows us to deliver videos within a 48 hour timeframe,” he says.
To date, Visual Domain has created over 25,000 videos for businesses all around Australia, from ASX Listed Companies through to one-person start-ups, with Daniel watching every single video that comes through.
“There is a real disruption happening in the communication landscape and video is becoming a dominant force for all businesses.
“Every brand, whether offering a service, product or process, can connect with their audience through emotion and video is one of the most powerful mediums when it comes to making you feel something,” says Daniel.
Today, Visual Domain operates Australia wide with Daniel and Renece showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
