Small business video marketing can be brilliant, and it can also be a money sink if you start in the wrong place. The biggest mistake I see is people thinking they need “a video”, when what they actually need is one or two useful videos that earn their keep.
If you’re already leaning towards hiring a team to help you do this properly, have a look at video for small business. That’s the done for you route, and it’s usually the quickest way to avoid wasted effort.
In this guide, we’ll keep it practical. What to make first, how to keep costs sensible, how to avoid the common traps, and how to get more than one piece of content out of a single shoot.
Steps To Get Started With A Business Video Roadmap
This is the bit most small businesses skip, not because they’re lazy, but because it feels like “marketing planning”, and nobody has time for that. The truth is you only need a simple roadmap, just enough structure so you don’t waste money on the wrong first video.
Think of it as three decisions, what the video needs to achieve, where it will live, and what you want someone to do next after watching. Once those are clear, the rest gets easier.
- Pick one goal, for example, explain what you do, build trust fast, drive enquiries, or support a specific offer
- Choose one main home for the video, usually your homepage, a service page, a landing page, or a pinned social post
- Decide what “success” looks like, more contact form submissions, more calls, better quality leads, or fewer repetitive sales conversations
- Start with one strong core video, then plan 2 or 3 smaller cut downs so it’s not “one and done”
- Get the basics right before filming, a simple outline, who needs to be on camera, locations, permissions, and your deadline
If you keep it that simple, you end up with a roadmap you can actually use, rather than a document that sits in a folder and makes you feel guilty.
Start With The Job Of The Video
Business video marketing gets easier when you stop thinking in “content” and start thinking in outcomes. What should this video do, for a real person, at a specific moment?
For example, a homepage video might need to make a stranger feel safe enough to click “contact”. A social clip might need to get someone to pause scrolling. A how-to might need to reduce friction, so customers buy with fewer questions.
Once you decide the job, you also decide the shape, the length, the tone, and the platform. That’s where wasted money usually disappears.
A Simple “First Three Videos” Starter Plan
If you’re trying to do video marketing without wasting money, you want a starter set that covers the basics, trust, clarity, and proof. Not perfect, just useful.
- A clear promotional video, a short intro that explains what you do, who it’s for, and what happens next
- A customer testimonial video, one real person describing what changed for them, in normal language
- A practical how-to video, answering the question you get asked all the time, so you stop repeating yourself
If you want that “intro video” done as a proper piece of brand building, this is the closest match to promotional videos for business, it’s basically the grown up version of “tell people what we do”.
Choosing The First Video Without Overthinking It
This is where small business video marketing either becomes simple, or it becomes a weird, expensive procrastination loop. Most people don’t need a “perfect” plan, they need one sensible first video that makes the next step easier.
So rather than listing every possible format again, here’s a practical way to choose your first move, based on what’s actually getting in the way right now.
short promotional video
If people don’t quickly understand what you do, start with a short promotional video that explains the problem you solve, who it’s for, and what to do next. Keep it grounded and clear, it’s not meant to be clever.
testimonial video
If you get enquiries but they don’t convert, a customer story or testimonial video is often the fastest trust builder. It helps prospects hear the reassurance in someone else’s voice, not yours.
“how it works” video
If your service feels complicated, make a simple “how it works” video or a calm walkthrough of what happens when someone books you. A lot of hesitation is really just uncertainty.
offers, events, or launch Videos
If you run offers, events, or launches, you’ll usually get more traction from short, direct campaign content. That’s where promotional video ads come in, because the job is attention and action, not a full story.
behind-the-scenes Video
If trust is the main barrier, behind the scenes footage, process clips, and “this is how we work” edits can do a lot of heavy lifting. It proves standards without you needing to say “we’re professional” out loud.
If you’re looking at that list and thinking “honestly, we need the done for you version”, that’s exactly what our video for small business page is for. It gives you the bigger picture and helps you pick the right first project without turning it into a whole strategy document.
How To Spend Without Regretting It
Small business video marketing becomes expensive when you pay for “production”, but you don’t pay enough attention to planning and usage. You end up with a nice looking film and no real place for it to live.
So here’s the rule of thumb, decide distribution before filming. Where will the video sit, what page, what platform, what email, what ad, what follow up? If you can’t answer that, you’re guessing.
If you want help with that distribution thinking, this is exactly what using video for business is for, it’s the planning layer that stops you making “orphan videos”.
Another quiet budget saver, film for cut downs. If you’re paying to set up cameras, lighting, sound, and people’s time, you want more than one finished piece. One filming session can produce a homepage promo, two social clips, a short testimonial, and a couple of useful B roll sequences for later.
That’s not “content grind”. It’s sensible asset building, and it’s where small business video marketing starts to look like an investment rather than a cost.
Common Mistakes That Waste Money
If small business video marketing has burned you before, it’s usually one of these. Sometimes two of these at once, which is… not ideal.
- Making a video with no job, it looks fine but it doesn’t do anything
- Trying to say everything, so the message gets fuzzy and nobody remembers it
- Forgetting sound, people will forgive average visuals before they forgive messy audio
- No plan for where it lives, the video ends up floating around with no real impact
And just to say it plainly, a phone can be fine for some things, but if you’re trying to build trust quickly with strangers, production quality still matters. People read quality as competence, even if they’d never say it out loud.
How To Know If It’s Working
You don’t need to turn small business video marketing into a data project, but you do want a couple of signals that tell you you’re moving in the right direction.
For a homepage or service page video, look for changes in enquiries, time on page, and how often people scroll to contact. For social clips, look for saves and shares, not just views. For how-to videos, look for fewer repetitive questions, and easier conversions.
It’s also normal for the first few videos to feel like groundwork. That’s not failure. That’s you building a set of assets you can reuse and improve.
If You Want This Done Properly
Small business video marketing works best when it’s treated like a set of useful assets, not a one off “big video”. If you want help planning what to make, filming it cleanly, and turning it into versions that actually get used, start here, video for small business.
If you message us via the contact page, tell us what you do, who you’re trying to reach, and where you want the videos to live. We’ll point you towards a sensible first step, even if that first step is smaller than you expected.
Contents
- 1 Steps To Get Started With A Business Video Roadmap
- 2 Start With The Job Of The Video
- 3 A Simple “First Three Videos” Starter Plan
- 4 Choosing The First Video Without Overthinking It
- 5 How To Spend Without Regretting It
- 6 Common Mistakes That Waste Money
- 7 How To Know If It’s Working
- 8 If You Want This Done Properly
