Episode 87
Thriving in a Small Market (ft. Tower 3 Productions)
Most people think you need a big city to build a big video company. Alden Wood proved otherwise. After a career on network TV production teams (MTV, VH1, FOX, Teton Gravity Research), she moved to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and in 2010 started Tower 3 Productions as a one-woman operation, shooting and editing everything herself. Fifteen years on, it is one of the largest production companies in Wyoming, a woman-owned studio spanning commercial, corporate, wedding, and aerial drone work.
In this episode, Alden joins Dario and Kyrill for a candid conversation about the realities of thriving in a small market: overcoming early struggles with confidence and pricing, developing real sales skills, why a strong freelance network beats a bloated payroll, how to balance corporate and wedding work under one roof, and how SEO let her reach clients far beyond the Tetons. It is essential listening for anyone building a video business outside a major metro.
Key Takeaways
- Build confidence through experience. Industry experience is what dissolves self-doubt and finally lets you price and negotiate from a position of strength.
- Price with purpose. Standing firm on pricing keeps you from undervaluing your work and protects the long-term health of the business.
- Match gear to the job. High-end equipment is not always necessary. Choosing gear suited to the project’s scope and the client’s expectations keeps you efficient and competitive.
- Thrive locally. Success in a small market rests on strong local relationships, unique local opportunities, and smart positioning.
- Build a freelance network. A reliable roster of specialized freelancers gives you the flexibility to scale up or down with each project.
- Manage multiple niches deliberately. Balancing corporate and wedding video takes clear operational structures and distinct client-management approaches for each.
- Use SEO to expand. Effective SEO is how a small-market studio reaches beyond its local area and attracts a broader clientele.
- Own your value. As a woman-owned studio, Alden built authority by delivering consistently and knowing the value she brings to every project.
- Grow from solo to team on purpose. Tower 3 scaled from a one-person shop to a real company through a deliberate mix of core staff and trusted freelancers.
Timestamps
From Network TV to the Tetons
Alden did not start in a garage, she started at the networks, working on production teams for MTV, VH1, FOX, and Teton Gravity Research. When she moved to Jackson Hole, she launched Tower 3 Productions in 2010 as a true solo operator: shooting, editing, and running the whole business herself. From there she built it slowly, with a mix of full-time employees and freelancers, into one of the biggest production companies in Wyoming.
Building something durable out of a one-person start is the heart of the show’s ethos, and it is worth comparing notes with the other Jackson Hole studio the podcast has featured, KGB Productions on mastering a niche.
Confidence and Pricing
The most honest thread in this episode is about confidence. Alden is open about early struggles with self-doubt and pricing, and how developing real sales skills changed the trajectory of the business. Her hard-won lesson: price with purpose, and stop undervaluing your work. Confidence, she found, is a product of experience, and it is what finally lets you charge what you are worth.
Getting pricing right is a make-or-break skill, and it helps to anchor it in real numbers, our guides on what a video costs and videographer day rates, a clean competitive quote, and a confident approach to pitching as a producer.
“Confidence is not something you start with. It is something experience gives you, and it is what finally lets you charge what you are worth.”
Alden Wood, Tower 3 Productions (thematic paraphrase)Thriving in a Small Market
How do you sustain a real business in a town most people only visit? Alden’s answer is relationships and positioning. She breaks down competition and pricing in small markets, the power of strong local ties and unique local opportunities, and how the shift to video calls transformed the way she meets and wins clients, shrinking the disadvantage of being far from the big cities.
Deep local roots are a genuine moat, the same lesson behind finding work in your local community and building the kind of relationships that generate leads without a big-city address.
The Freelance Network Model
Rather than carry heavy full-time overhead, Alden scales Tower 3 through a reliable network of specialized freelancers layered on a small core team. That flexibility lets her staff up for a big commercial one week and stay lean the next. She also offers a refreshingly practical take on gear: high-end equipment is not always necessary, what matters is matching the kit to the project and the client’s expectations.
A strong bench is one of the highest-leverage assets a studio can build, closely tied to how you vet and manage talent and invest in your team. And on gear, remember clients hire outcomes, not cameras, part of what separates a production company from a videographer.
“Clients are not buying your camera. They are buying whether you can tell their story.”
Alden Wood, Tower 3 Productions (thematic paraphrase)Balancing Corporate and Weddings
One of Tower 3’s defining choices is running two very different lines of work under one roof: corporate and commercial video alongside a thriving wedding business. Alden is candid that this takes clear operational structures and distinct client-management approaches, and that marketing weddings is a fundamentally different game from marketing corporate services.
Running multiple niches well is a real skill, and a smart way to diversify your income. On the wedding side, a dedicated brand can help you speak to couples the way a corporate reel never could, the thinking behind Silver Leaf Weddings, while a studio like Lapse Productions keeps the corporate and promotional work sharp.
Expanding Beyond Local with SEO
Finally, Alden shares how she broke past the ceiling of a small market: SEO. By investing in search, Tower 3 reaches clients well beyond Jackson Hole, expanding regionally and attracting a broader clientele that would never have found a Wyoming studio otherwise. She closes with reflections on being a woman-owned production company and the story behind the Tower 3 name.
Search is one of the most powerful equalizers for a small-market studio, exactly the ground covered in adaptability, sales, and SEO with Pickle Pictures and our guide to ranking video with SEO. It is also how you start breaking into new markets.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Alden Wood?
Alden Wood is the owner of Tower 3 Productions, a full-service video company in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, that she founded in 2010. She came from network TV production, with credits including MTV, VH1, and FOX, and is an FAA-certified drone pilot.
What is Tower 3 Productions?
A Jackson Hole, Wyoming video production company specializing in commercial, corporate, wedding, real estate, and aerial drone video, serving clients locally and worldwide since 2010.
How do you thrive in a small video market?
By building strong local relationships, leveraging unique local opportunities, positioning strategically, and using SEO to expand regionally beyond the local client base.
How does Tower 3 scale without a huge full-time team?
Through a reliable network of specialized freelancers layered on a small core team, which provides the flexibility to take on projects of any size.
Does high-end camera gear matter for winning clients?
Not always. Alden’s view is that matching your equipment to the project’s scope and the client’s expectations matters more than always owning the most expensive gear.
The Hosts
Dario Nouri and Kyrill Lazarov are the co-founders of Lapse Productions, a Toronto video production company, and the hosts of Creatives Grab Coffee, a weekly show about the business of video production.
About
Creatives Grab Coffee is a podcast about the business behind video production: sales, strategy, pricing, team building, and everything that happens off camera. New episodes every week on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
Lapse Productions is a Toronto-based video production company serving tech, finance, healthcare, and manufacturing clients with corporate, promotional, and event video. Wondering what a project costs? Read our guide on how much a video costs.
Tower 3 Productions is a full-service video production company in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, founded in 2010 by Alden Wood. It specializes in commercial, corporate, wedding, real estate, and aerial drone video for clients in Wyoming and worldwide. Learn more at tower3productions.com.
