Video is one of the most powerful ways to reach customers – it’s engaging, easy to share, and can bring your brand to life.
But for small businesses on a budget, creating videos can feel overwhelming.
In this guide, we’ll look at everything from how to decide on the right kind of video and how to set goals, before looking at equipment, the planning stage, shooting your video, and AI tools that can be used to speed up and simplify the process.
Deciding what kind of video to create and setting goals
The type of video you make will depend on your goals.
Video can help you…
- Increase sales: through product demos, testimonials, or promos to build excitement.
- Boost brand awareness: by encouraging social shares and engagement.
- Showcase new products
- Educate: either on how to use your products or to share expert knowledge on your industry.
- Improve customer service: by addressing common questions or issues customers have.
- Boost SEO on your website: as videos increase page quality and uptime on page.
Try to make your goals targeted.
For example…
If you want a video that will expose your business to potential customers, you might want to set a goal of getting 1,000 views.
If you’re creating a customer service video to help tackle a regular query, your goal could be cutting the number of queries relating to that issue by 50%.
The goals here are really closely linked to the purpose of the video. If you can’t think of a closely linked goal for your video idea, it’s likely that your plan is too general and you need to come up with another idea.
Equipment
Getting together the equipment you need to shoot a video may feel daunting, especially if it’s something you’ve never done before.
But really, there’s not that much you’ll need and the chances are you’ll already own the most crucial bits of kit.
To get your first video in the bag you’ll need: A camera to record on, something to keep the camera steady, some form of lighting, something to record sound, a computer for editing and some editing software.
Camera
If you’ve got a smartphone, then you’ve already got your camera. Your only quality concern is keeping your camera steady while you record. But even a cheap selfie-stick can do a decent job here. Or you can spend a little bit more money and buy a tripod if you want to.
Mics
But the sound probably may not be great, and audio quality is something that viewers pay a lot of attention to. In fact, a lot of people will tolerate poor visual quality, but not poor audio quality.
You have two options here. You can either record a separate voiceover on your computer after you’ve shot your video. If you take this path, you can either rely on your computer’s built-in microphone or use a headset mic.
Alternatively, you can spend a bit of money and buy a wireless smartphone microphone and record audio at the same time as you shoot your video.
There are loads to choose from, and compatibility will depend on the kind of phone you use, so just have a Google around and see what gets good reviews.
Lights
As for lighting. Well, you can go out and buy expensive studio lights, but really you don’t need to. Certainly not for your first video.
In some cases, you’ll find a room has enough light anyway. If it doesn’t, you can always shoot outside if that’s possible, or you can just find a normal lamp and use that to provide extra lighting. The colours might not be perfect, but that won’t really matter.
Editing software
When it comes to editing software, you have plenty of options to choose from. But the general rule is, the more expensive a package is, the more features it’s likely to have. At the very top end there’s Adobe Creative.
Of course, if you’re just creating a basic first video, you probably won’t need advanced editing features.
For your first video, stick to a free editing package you already have on your computer. If you’re using a Mac, that’s iMovie. On a Windows PC, you can use Clipchamp or another free editor that comes with on your device.
These basic editors will let you crop your video, add audio, change the aspect ratio so it’s the right size for the likes of Instagram or TikTok, change the speed, and even add filters to the video.
Whatever software package you end up using, you’ll find there are lots of tutorials out there to help you get to grips with things. Just pick your package and start learning.
What if I’ve got a budget to spend on equipment?
If you do have a bit of money to spare, you’ll want to focus on sound quality and lighting as they’re the two things that are going to make the biggest difference.
And certainly don’t feel like you should spend a huge amount of money upfront. Make a video. Work out what you need to improve, identify a piece of equipment that will do what you need, buy it, make another video and see what difference it makes.
You should also consider renting equipment if you aren’t sure how many videos you’ll be making in the future. It’s a good way to experiment without ending up with a load of equipment that you’ll only use once.
Planning your first video (preproduction)
Preproduction is where you should spend most of your time. It’s vital.
The more decisions you make before you start filming, the less time the project will take and the better the quality of your final product.
You need to have a clear idea of what you want your video to achieve and how you want it to look before you start recording. Without a clear plan, you’re likely to end up filming and refilming as you try to work out what it is you want to do.
Here are a few ways you can make sure you get preproduction right.
Have a clearly defined goal for your video
We’ve already looked at the kind of thing you can achieve using video and how to set a goal. But it really is vital to ensure each video you create has a clearly defined goal. Before you start shooting, you should know what you want your video to achieve and how you’re going to achieve it.
For example, if you want to showcase how effective your product is, you’ll need to decide how best to do that. You might want to interview a happy customer, or you might want to show your product and its features in action.
Make a storyboard
In its most basic form, a storyboard is a series of drawings with accompanying text that lays out what will happen in your video.
The idea is that by creating a visualisation, you’ll be able to see what works and if there might be any problems with what you’re planning to do.
Then, once it’s time to shoot, you can use the storyboard to make sure you stay on track.
Even a very basic storyboard – that is just a few squares with stickmen in them – can save you time in the long run.
Think about what you’ll need to shoot, what those shots will look like, who or what will need to be in the frame and what audio will be required. You may also want to take some photos of the filming locations you’re planning to use.
Write a script
A script is another great way for you to understand what will happen in your video before you start shooting it. Not all video types are suited to scripts, interviews for example, but if you can write a script it’s likely to be helpful.
Having a script will help ensure your video stays on topic and covers all your key points. It will also help you visualise your final video.
And don’t think just because you have a script you can do without a storyboard, or that because you have a storyboard you don’t need a script. Whenever possible, use both. That way you’ll have as clear a visualisation as possible before you begin your shoot.
Shooting
Hopefully you shouldn’t have any big decisions to make on the day of your shoot, but there are still some things you need to look out for.
Do a short trial run
You don’t want to get all the way through shooting your video only to discover that something’s gone wrong and you need to do the whole thing over again. Check everything is recording properly before you go for your first take.
Get the lighting right
That means no shadows on faces if you’re doing an interview-type video, and no shadows on your product if you’re doing a product video. Make sure viewers will be able to easily see what’s going on.
Make sure you won’t be disturbed
Ideally, you should have already identified a nice quiet location to film in – especially if you’re planning to record audio at the same time as your visual footage. But make sure people around you know what you’re doing so they don’t accidentally spoil a good take by creating a loud noise.
Back up straight away
Shooting a video and then losing your footage is a nightmare. So as soon as you’ve finished, make sure you get those files backed up as soon as you can. Then, if anything does go wrong, you won’t have lost everything.
Putting it into practice
Now it’s time to put it all into practice.
The good news is that your video doesn’t have to be perfect.
In fact, viewers increasingly prefer authenticity over highly polished videos.
AI video marketing tools
There are various AI tools that could help you create your first piece of video marketing.
These tools can help you…
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Create animated videos from scratch – tools like Vyond let you make simple, engaging animations.
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Turn text into video – Canva’s AI Video Generator can turn a script or idea into a video with visuals and sound.
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Add motion to still images (cinemagraphs) – Adobe Firefly can make your images move slightly for a nice effect.
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Create B-roll from stock footage – Renderforest gives access to ready-made clips you can drop into your video.
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Edit videos automatically – tools like Clipchamp can trim clips, remove background noise, and do other handy edits.
Summing up
There’s a lot to get your head around here, but really there are three main takeaways. Firstly, you almost certainly have the equipment you need to shoot a good-quality video for your business today.
Secondly, planning is key. The more time you spend planning your videos, the more likely you are to end up with a final result that does what you need it to.
Finally, the more videos you create the better you’ll get at it. Don’t expect to produce a masterpiece with your first go. Just make sure you’re refining the process as you go along.
