How to Make a Promotional Video on a Budget

A promotional video is a great way to connect with your audience and build up your brand. However, creating a promotional video can be expensive. Fortunately, with the right strategy and tools, you can create a high-quality promotional video on a budget that still effectively showcases your brand, products, and services. In this blog post, we’ll take a look at a few tips to create a promotional video on a budget.

How to Make a Promotional Video on a Budget

Define Your Goals and Audience

Before you start creating your promotional video, it’s important to define your goals and audience. Knowing your goals and audience will help you determine what kind of message you want to convey through your video. It will also help you choose the right visuals and music to match the theme and mood that your audience is most likely to connect with.

Knowing who you’re targeting will help you create a video that resonates with your audience and motivates them to take action. Consider factors such as age, gender, interests, purchasing habits, and what platforms they’re most likely to see your video on. This will help you create a promotional video on a budget, but it will also help you create a focused video marketing strategy.

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Plan Your Video

Once you’ve defined your goals and audience, it’s time to plan your video. Start by creating a storyboard or a script that outlines the message you want to convey, the dialogue or monologue you want to use, the visuals you want to include, and the call-to-action you want to include at the end of the video. Tools like Canva or Storyboarder can help you create a neat and appealing storyboard in a short amount of time.

Use Affordable Equipment

You don’t need expensive video equipment to create a high-quality promotional video on a budget. Your smartphone’s camera can do the job, provided you know how to use it. Alternatively, you can buy a budget-friendly camera or a used camera.

With a bit of extra equipment, you can take your footage from amateur to near-professional. First, use a stabilizer or tripod to make sure you don’t have a shaky camera. Optimize your lighting by using the natural lighting in the room or purchase affordable LED lights. These

Edit Your Video

Once you’ve captured your footage, it’s time to edit your video. Affordable or free video editing software can help you make a promotional video on a budget. If you’re looking for more detailed effects, try Lightworks or DaVinci Resolve. If you’re looking for simple clipping and sound overlays with a short learning curve, try OpenShot or Machete Video Editor Lite. You can also use templates and premade graphics to create a professional-looking video quickly and easily.

Add a Call-to-Action

Finally, don’t forget to add a call-to-action at the end of your video. You’ll need a call-to-action to encourage your audience to take the next step, like visiting your website, subscribing to your channel, or purchasing your product. Make sure your call-to-action is clear and visible, and includes a link or a button, if possible, so your audience can move smoothly to the next step.

Once you’ve made your promotional video, the last step is to share it! Decide what platform you’d like to use, and write a caption where appropriate. If you’re posted on a platform like YouTube, use good SEO practices to make sure your audience can find it. If you’re using a platform like Instagram, use the right hashtags, so your audience can discover it. You might also use your video on your website. Whatever platform you use, it’s a good idea to learn the best practices of the platform before posting.

You might share your video on multiple platforms and share multiple times, with appropriate spacing between each share. Combine your video with other content, like a blog post or a guide, to get even more value from it.

12 Promotional Video Ideas on a Budget

Now that you have a general outline of how to make a promotional video on a budget, it’s helpful to have a few video ideas that work well with a lower budget. These ideas can help you get started.

1. Showcase Your Products

One of the easiest and most effective ways to create a low-budget marketing video is to showcase your products. Capture some footage of your products and showcase their features and benefits. You can also add some text or use a voiceover to highlight some key selling points.

2. Highlight Your Brand’s Story

Sharing your brand’s story can help create a connection with your target audience. In this video, you can simply talk about your business and explain how you got started, what you value, or how your business is unique. Use images and video clips to showcase your brand’s journey, your values, or your competitive advantages.

3. Customer Testimonials

There are many creative ways to use testimonials in your video marketing strategy. If you have a long testimonial, highlight a small section to use as a social media ad. Combine testimonial video clips to create a commercial.

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4. Animated Explainer Videos

If you don’t have the time or resources to make your own video clips, try an animated video. This low budget video production method is simple and often free, but doesn’t have to be low-quality. Edit a video template from a site like Biteable to make a quick, animated explainer or promo video.

5. Behind-the-Scenes

Showing your audience behind-the-scenes footage can help build a connection and create a sense of transparency. You might show your team working, the production process, or the daily routines of your business.

6. How-To Videos

Creating how-to videos can help showcase your expertise and provide value to your target audience. You might show how a process works, how your products solve a problem, how your products are made, or something else.

7. Picture Slideshow

Do you already have a number of compelling graphics? Then you can use a simple video editor to place pictures, transitions, text and subtle movements. You might give customers a brief tour of your business, introduce your employees, use infographics to illustrate a point, or highlight your products.

8. Film An Event

Events are dynamic, not scripted, and viewers will generally overlook low budget video production quality in an event video. Use your smartphone and film a grand opening, trade show, convention, or party. Use video editing to cut out any bloopers and use a filter to adjust for lighting. As you film, get contact information from your stars so you can share the video with them.

9. User-Generated Videos

Call on your customers to submit their video clips or images. User-generated content not only helps you create a video, but also makes it easier to promote. Create a contest to encourage submissions and tag your customers when sharing in social media. Make sure you get your customers’ permission before using their videos.

10. Employee Videos

Make it easy for employees to submit videos and incentivize them with a bonus or giveaway. You might suggest an interview with their favorite customer, a video of them making a special product, or giving a behind-the-scenes glimpse into their work. This low budget video production technique can be creative and fun, but always make sure you have the final say in what videos are shared.

11. Live Video

Live video is a quickly growing video marketing trend. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other platforms all offer live video broadcasting, and more users watch live videos than pre-recorded videos. Since many live videos use a smartphone, low budget video production is expected, allowing you to focus more on the content. Use a script or rehearsal, but remember mistakes are okay; live videos humanize your brand and make it more approachable.

12. Screen Recording

If you work mostly on a computer, smartphone videos probably aren’t a viable low budget video production option. However, screen recordings will give you higher quality video with less set-up time. Install one of the many free screen recording apps like TinyTake or CamStudio, and choose a task or challenge you face that you’d like to tell others about. This might be solving a common problem for clients, creating an image, or making a program.

Creating a promotional video on a budget can be easy and fun with the right strategy, tools, and ideas. Remember that creating great promotional videos takes time and practice, just like anything else. Make changes to your strategy and production process as you learn more about what works and what doesn’t, and don’t be afraid to get creative.