With an ever-expanding choice of distribution channels and ever-shrinking budgets, advertising and video production has never been more pressured. Doing more for less is no longer a one-off plea. Today, it’s the norm.

Whether you’re an agency, production company or even working in-house, it’s time to step up. In 2020, every brand will need to be a content creator, constantly entertaining fans to keep them engaged. So how can you successfully create on scale – even when faced with reduced video production budgets?

By leveraging three things: your fans, your community, and new video production tools.

Fans: encourage your fans to film, and you’ll be rewarded with user-generated content that can be shared and posted whenever you need it. Whether it’s one fan or many, you can engage your fans to aid in your content-creation process.

Community: empower your ambassadors and employees to showcase different aspects of your brand story, and give your audience an inside look at your culture. These moments, such as “day in the life” employee videos, are also great tactics for recruiting.

New video production tools: iPhone video quality is getting better and better, and the advent of 5G will change the game in terms of data transmission and video uploading. Apps like Cinebody allow you to easily take advantage of these innovations, empowering anyone with a smartphone to be a content creator.

To be clear, big-budget ads aren’t disappearing anytime soon. But they are becoming a rarer beast, with Procter & Gamble’s decision to slash its ad budgets by $750m as just one warning sign of an industry facing rapid change.

But with this new approach, any gaps in your content calendar can be effortlessly filled with a wide array of stories to be told. With just three elements – fans, community, and tools – you can quickly overcome reduced video production budgets and emerge a genuine winner in the battle for engagement. Get to work!