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I mean, it’s a fair question to ask yourself. It’s not like money grows on trees. Perhaps you’ve searched for ‘free explainer video software’ or ‘free explainer video maker’ in the hopes that an app maker has developed the perfect program for you: click a button, put in some details about your brand and boom, pixels appear on screen with a bouncy tune to boot, effectively and engagingly explaining what your company does.

Maybe you remember the days of clipart fondly and are looking for a click-and-drag style animation program, where icons slide on screen while you pay a voice actor a sweet five bucks to narrate copy about your company. And perhaps, like many, you’ve looked at sites like Fiverr, Airtasker, and PeoplePerHour where a smorgasbord of specialty freelancers bid for projects and wondered, “Can I really get an explainer video made that cheaply?”

Here are some things to keep in mind when considering if you should get your explainer video made through a freelance bidding website or a professional production company:

Good, cheap, fast. Pick two.

It’s the project management triangle, the triple constraint, the two-sentence explanation as to why we can’t always get what we want. In the corporate world, and especially in the world of video production, the quality, cost, and output speed of your project are what determines its ability to go ahead.

So when you’re looking to get a brand video made, which two elements should you choose? Is it better to favour quality over timing? Or to stick to your budget even if it means pulling back the scope of the video? Let’s take a quick look at the pros and cons of all three options:

Finding the right animation production house for your corporate video is a bit like managing a county fair pony. There can be a lot riding on it, and a ton of crap to sift through.

But wading through the piles of faceless animation studios can become faster, easier and less daunting when you’ve got a solid checklist of what to look for. You can safely assume the first step with any of these checklist items is to research and understand exactly what it is you’re looking to get out of your new animated video. Are you looking to increase sales of one particular product? Explain a complicated service in an easily digestible way? Create a more natural company image?

But once you’re clear on your ‘why’, it’s time to look at how any given animation house will work with your project. Today we’re revealing seven things you should look at to make sure you’re betting on the right pony.