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Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Simple Business Plan

By Joe Weller | October 11, 2021

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A business plan is the cornerstone of any successful company, regardless of size or industry. This step-by-step guide provides information on writing a business plan for organizations at any stage, complete with free templates and expert advice. 

Included on this page, you’ll find a step-by-step guide to writing a business plan and a chart to identify which type of business plan you should write . Plus, find information on how a business plan can help grow a business and expert tips on writing one .

What Is a Business Plan?

A business plan is a document that communicates a company’s goals and ambitions, along with the timeline, finances, and methods needed to achieve them. Additionally, it may include a mission statement and details about the specific products or services offered.

A business plan can highlight varying time periods, depending on the stage of your company and its goals. That said, a typical business plan will include the following benchmarks:

• Product goals and deadlines for each month
• Monthly financials for the first two years
• Profit and loss statements for the first three to five years
• Balance sheet projections for the first three to five years

Startups, entrepreneurs, and small businesses all create business plans to use as a guide as their new company progresses. Larger organizations may also create (and update) a business plan to keep high-level goals, financials, and timelines in check.

While you certainly need to have a formalized outline of your business’s goals and finances, creating a business plan can also help you determine a company’s viability, its profitability (including when it will first turn a profit), and how much money you will need from investors. In turn, a business plan has functional value as well: Not only does outlining goals help keep you accountable on a timeline, it can also attract investors in and of itself and, therefore, act as an effective strategy for growth.

For more information, visit our comprehensive guide to writing a strategic plan or download free strategic plan templates . This page focuses on for-profit business plans, but you can read our article with nonprofit business plan templates .

Business Plan Steps

The specific information in your business plan will vary, depending on the needs and goals of your venture, but a typical plan includes the following ordered elements:

• Executive summary
• Description of business
• Market analysis
• Competitive analysis
• Description of organizational management
• Description of product or services
• Marketing plan
• Sales strategy
• Funding details (or request for funding)
• Financial projections

If your plan is particularly long or complicated, consider adding a table of contents or an appendix for reference. For an in-depth description of each step listed above, read “ How to Write a Business Plan Step by Step ” below.

Broadly speaking, your audience includes anyone with a vested interest in your organization. They can include potential and existing investors, as well as customers, internal team members, suppliers, and vendors.

Do I Need a Simple or Detailed Plan?

Your business’s stage and intended audience dictates the level of detail your plan needs. Corporations require a thorough business plan — up to 100 pages. Small businesses or startups should have a concise plan focusing on financials and strategy.

How to Choose the Right Plan for Your Business

In order to identify which type of business plan you need to create, ask: “What do we want the plan to do?” Identify function first, and form will follow.

Use the chart below as a guide for what type of business plan to create:

Is the Order of Your Business Plan Important?

There is no set order for a business plan, with the exception of the executive summary, which should always come first. Beyond that, simply ensure that you organize the plan in a way that makes sense and flows naturally.

The Difference Between Traditional and Lean Business Plans

A traditional business plan follows the standard structure — because these plans encourage detail, they tend to require more work upfront and can run dozens of pages. A Lean business plan is less common and focuses on summarizing critical points for each section. These plans take much less work and typically run one page in length.

In general, you should use a traditional model for a legacy company, a large company, or any business that does not adhere to Lean (or another Agile method ). Use Lean if you expect the company to pivot quickly or if you already employ a Lean strategy with other business operations. Additionally, a Lean business plan can suffice if the document is for internal use only. Stick to a traditional version for investors, as they may be more sensitive to sudden changes or a high degree of built-in flexibility in the plan.

How to Write a Business Plan Step by Step

Writing a strong business plan requires research and attention to detail for each section. Below, you’ll find a 10-step guide to researching and defining each element in the plan.

Step 1: Executive Summary

The executive summary will always be the first section of your business plan. The goal is to answer the following questions:

• What is the vision and mission of the company?
• What are the company’s short- and long-term goals?

See our  roundup of executive summary examples and templates for samples. Read our executive summary guide to learn more about writing one.

Step 2: Description of Business

The goal of this section is to define the realm, scope, and intent of your venture. To do so, answer the following questions as clearly and concisely as possible:

• What business are we in?
• What does our business do?

Step 3: Market Analysis

In this section, provide evidence that you have surveyed and understand the current marketplace, and that your product or service satisfies a niche in the market. To do so, answer these questions:

• Who is our customer? 
• What does that customer value?

Step 4: Competitive Analysis

In many cases, a business plan proposes not a brand-new (or even market-disrupting) venture, but a more competitive version — whether via features, pricing, integrations, etc. — than what is currently available. In this section, answer the following questions to show that your product or service stands to outpace competitors:

• Who is the competition? 
• What do they do best? 
• What is our unique value proposition?

Step 5: Description of Organizational Management

In this section, write an overview of the team members and other key personnel who are integral to success. List roles and responsibilities, and if possible, note the hierarchy or team structure.

Step 6: Description of Products or Services

In this section, clearly define your product or service, as well as all the effort and resources that go into producing it. The strength of your product largely defines the success of your business, so it’s imperative that you take time to test and refine the product before launching into marketing, sales, or funding details.

Questions to answer in this section are as follows:

• What is the product or service?
• How do we produce it, and what resources are necessary for production?

Step 7: Marketing Plan

In this section, define the marketing strategy for your product or service. This doesn’t need to be as fleshed out as a full marketing plan , but it should answer basic questions, such as the following:

• Who is the target market (if different from existing customer base)?
• What channels will you use to reach your target market?
• What resources does your marketing strategy require, and do you have access to them?
• If possible, do you have a rough estimate of timeline and budget?
• How will you measure success?

Step 8: Sales Plan

Write an overview of the sales strategy, including the priorities of each cycle, steps to achieve these goals, and metrics for success. For the purposes of a business plan, this section does not need to be a comprehensive, in-depth sales plan , but can simply outline the high-level objectives and strategies of your sales efforts. 

Start by answering the following questions:

• What is the sales strategy?
• What are the tools and tactics you will use to achieve your goals?
• What are the potential obstacles, and how will you overcome them?
• What is the timeline for sales and turning a profit?
• What are the metrics of success?

Step 9: Funding Details (or Request for Funding)

This section is one of the most critical parts of your business plan, particularly if you are sharing it with investors. You do not need to provide a full financial plan, but you should be able to answer the following questions:

• How much capital do you currently have? How much capital do you need?
• How will you grow the team (onboarding, team structure, training and development)?
• What are your physical needs and constraints (space, equipment, etc.)?

Step 10: Financial Projections

Apart from the fundraising analysis, investors like to see thought-out financial projections for the future. As discussed earlier, depending on the scope and stage of your business, this could be anywhere from one to five years. 

While these projections won’t be exact — and will need to be somewhat flexible — you should be able to gauge the following:

• How and when will the company first generate a profit?
• How will the company maintain profit thereafter?

Business Plan Template

Download Business Plan Template

Microsoft Excel | Smartsheet

This basic business plan template has space for all the traditional elements: an executive summary, product or service details, target audience, marketing and sales strategies, etc. In the finances sections, input your baseline numbers, and the template will automatically calculate projections for sales forecasting, financial statements, and more.

For templates tailored to more specific needs, visit this business plan template roundup or download a fill-in-the-blank business plan template to make things easy. 

If you are looking for a particular template by file type, visit our pages dedicated exclusively to Microsoft Excel , Microsoft Word , and Adobe PDF business plan templates.

How to Write a Simple Business Plan

A simple business plan is a streamlined, lightweight version of the large, traditional model. As opposed to a one-page business plan , which communicates high-level information for quick overviews (such as a stakeholder presentation), a simple business plan can exceed one page.

Below are the steps for creating a generic simple business plan, which are reflected in the template below .

• Write the Executive Summary This section is the same as in the traditional business plan — simply offer an overview of what’s in the business plan, the prospect or core offering, and the short- and long-term goals of the company. 
• Add a Company Overview Document the larger company mission and vision. 
• Provide the Problem and Solution In straightforward terms, define the problem you are attempting to solve with your product or service and how your company will attempt to do it. Think of this section as the gap in the market you are attempting to close.
• Identify the Target Market Who is your company (and its products or services) attempting to reach? If possible, briefly define your buyer personas .
• Write About the Competition In this section, demonstrate your knowledge of the market by listing the current competitors and outlining your competitive advantage.
• Describe Your Product or Service Offerings Get down to brass tacks and define your product or service. What exactly are you selling?
• Outline Your Marketing Tactics Without getting into too much detail, describe your planned marketing initiatives.
• Add a Timeline and the Metrics You Will Use to Measure Success Offer a rough timeline, including milestones and key performance indicators (KPIs) that you will use to measure your progress.
• Include Your Financial Forecasts Write an overview of your financial plan that demonstrates you have done your research and adequate modeling. You can also list key assumptions that go into this forecasting. 
• Identify Your Financing Needs This section is where you will make your funding request. Based on everything in the business plan, list your proposed sources of funding, as well as how you will use it.

Simple Business Plan Template

Download Simple Business Plan Template

Microsoft Excel |  Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF  | Smartsheet

Use this simple business plan template to outline each aspect of your organization, including information about financing and opportunities to seek out further funding. This template is completely customizable to fit the needs of any business, whether it’s a startup or large company.

Read our article offering free simple business plan templates or free 30-60-90-day business plan templates to find more tailored options. You can also explore our collection of one page business templates . 

How to Write a Business Plan for a Lean Startup

A Lean startup business plan is a more Agile approach to a traditional version. The plan focuses more on activities, processes, and relationships (and maintains flexibility in all aspects), rather than on concrete deliverables and timelines.

While there is some overlap between a traditional and a Lean business plan, you can write a Lean plan by following the steps below:

• Add Your Value Proposition Take a streamlined approach to describing your product or service. What is the unique value your startup aims to deliver to customers? Make sure the team is aligned on the core offering and that you can state it in clear, simple language.
• List Your Key Partners List any other businesses you will work with to realize your vision, including external vendors, suppliers, and partners. This section demonstrates that you have thoughtfully considered the resources you can provide internally, identified areas for external assistance, and conducted research to find alternatives.
• Note the Key Activities Describe the key activities of your business, including sourcing, production, marketing, distribution channels, and customer relationships.
• Include Your Key Resources List the critical resources — including personnel, equipment, space, and intellectual property — that will enable you to deliver your unique value.
• Identify Your Customer Relationships and Channels In this section, document how you will reach and build relationships with customers. Provide a high-level map of the customer experience from start to finish, including the spaces in which you will interact with the customer (online, retail, etc.). 
• Detail Your Marketing Channels Describe the marketing methods and communication platforms you will use to identify and nurture your relationships with customers. These could be email, advertising, social media, etc.
• Explain the Cost Structure This section is especially necessary in the early stages of a business. Will you prioritize maximizing value or keeping costs low? List the foundational startup costs and how you will move toward profit over time.
• Share Your Revenue Streams Over time, how will the company make money? Include both the direct product or service purchase, as well as secondary sources of revenue, such as subscriptions, selling advertising space, fundraising, etc.

Lean Business Plan Template for Startups

Download Lean Business Plan Template for Startups

Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF

Startup leaders can use this Lean business plan template to relay the most critical information from a traditional plan. You’ll find all the sections listed above, including spaces for industry and product overviews, cost structure and sources of revenue, and key metrics, and a timeline. The template is completely customizable, so you can edit it to suit the objectives of your Lean startups.

See our wide variety of  startup business plan templates for more options.

How to Write a Business Plan for a Loan

A business plan for a loan, often called a loan proposal , includes many of the same aspects of a traditional business plan, as well as additional financial documents, such as a credit history, a loan request, and a loan repayment plan.

In addition, you may be asked to include personal and business financial statements, a form of collateral, and equity investment information.

Download free financial templates to support your business plan.

Tips for Writing a Business Plan

Outside of including all the key details in your business plan, you have several options to elevate the document for the highest chance of winning funding and other resources. Follow these tips from experts:.

• Keep It Simple: Avner Brodsky , the Co-Founder and CEO of Lezgo Limited, an online marketing company, uses the acronym KISS (keep it short and simple) as a variation on this idea. “The business plan is not a college thesis,” he says. “Just focus on providing the essential information.”
• Do Adequate Research: Michael Dean, the Co-Founder of Pool Research , encourages business leaders to “invest time in research, both internal and external (market, finance, legal etc.). Avoid being overly ambitious or presumptive. Instead, keep everything objective, balanced, and accurate.” Your plan needs to stand on its own, and you must have the data to back up any claims or forecasting you make. As Brodsky explains, “Your business needs to be grounded on the realities of the market in your chosen location. Get the most recent data from authoritative sources so that the figures are vetted by experts and are reliable.”
• Set Clear Goals: Make sure your plan includes clear, time-based goals. “Short-term goals are key to momentum growth and are especially important to identify for new businesses,” advises Dean.
• Know (and Address) Your Weaknesses: “This awareness sets you up to overcome your weak points much quicker than waiting for them to arise,” shares Dean. Brodsky recommends performing a full SWOT analysis to identify your weaknesses, too. “Your business will fare better with self-knowledge, which will help you better define the mission of your business, as well as the strategies you will choose to achieve your objectives,” he adds.
• Seek Peer or Mentor Review: “Ask for feedback on your drafts and for areas to improve,” advises Brodsky. “When your mind is filled with dreams for your business, sometimes it is an outsider who can tell you what you’re missing and will save your business from being a product of whimsy.”

Outside of these more practical tips, the language you use is also important and may make or break your business plan.

Shaun Heng, VP of Operations at Coin Market Cap , gives the following advice on the writing, “Your business plan is your sales pitch to an investor. And as with any sales pitch, you need to strike the right tone and hit a few emotional chords. This is a little tricky in a business plan, because you also need to be formal and matter-of-fact. But you can still impress by weaving in descriptive language and saying things in a more elegant way.

“A great way to do this is by expanding your vocabulary, avoiding word repetition, and using business language. Instead of saying that something ‘will bring in as many customers as possible,’ try saying ‘will garner the largest possible market segment.’ Elevate your writing with precise descriptive words and you'll impress even the busiest investor.”

Additionally, Dean recommends that you “stay consistent and concise by keeping your tone and style steady throughout, and your language clear and precise. Include only what is 100 percent necessary.”

Resources for Writing a Business Plan

While a template provides a great outline of what to include in a business plan, a live document or more robust program can provide additional functionality, visibility, and real-time updates. The U.S. Small Business Association also curates resources for writing a business plan.

Additionally, you can use business plan software to house data, attach documentation, and share information with stakeholders. Popular options include LivePlan, Enloop, BizPlanner, PlanGuru, and iPlanner.

How a Business Plan Helps to Grow Your Business

A business plan — both the exercise of creating one and the document — can grow your business by helping you to refine your product, target audience, sales plan, identify opportunities, secure funding, and build new partnerships. 

Outside of these immediate returns, writing a business plan is a useful exercise in that it forces you to research the market, which prompts you to forge your unique value proposition and identify ways to beat the competition. Doing so will also help you build (and keep you accountable to) attainable financial and product milestones. And down the line, it will serve as a welcome guide as hurdles inevitably arise.

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• Development

How to Create a Production Company Business Plan [FREE Template]

H ighly successful video companies start with a strong production company business plan. Whether your company has been around for a while, or you’re a freelancer ready to take your services to the next level, this post will provide you with actionable strategies for success to compete more effectively right now.

It all beings with formulating the business plan that will get you where you want to go. If you don’t have a business plan, don’t worry. We provide a  free business plan template below and will walk you through it. 

Step by step.

• Production Company Business Plan
• The Executive Summary
• Perform a Video Company Self Assessment
• How to Get Started
• Financing a Video Production Company
• Marketing Plan
• Day to Day Operations

Freebie: Business Plan Template for Video Production

Download your FREE printable business plan template for your video production. Just enter your email address and we'll instantly send it to you!

business plan template

1. what is a production company business plan.

Essentially it's a tool for raising funds, creating a roadmap, or altering course and plotting out the next steps.

One purpose of any business plan to so convey to investors, or a bank, why they should put money into this business.

Think of creating a business plan you could bring to them

What does that mean?

It means you need this business plan for a production company to prove that you will make money. To prove it to you, but also to any investors.

After all, nobody invests to lose money. Or break even. So with that in mind, let's forge ahead into the actual writing of the business plan.

how to make a business plan

2. what is an executive summary.

Every business plan starts from the top down, with an executive summary.

What is that, exactly?

An executive summary is a short part of a larger proposal or report that summarizes the main points so the reader can become quickly educated on the whole document without having to read it all.

So it’s a detailed overview.

Of course, "executive summary" has a nice ring to it...

Your job here is to lay out the big picture of your plan. Some questions to ask yourself: Why do you want this business in the first place?

Similarly, what inspired you to start it? What's going to make it work?

Next, start to answer the questions your investors might have. Try getting into their head-space.

"Why would YOU invest in this business?"

You might want to write about the competition. The targeted demographic. Be specific here.

What need does your business fill? Which kinds of customers and clients are you targeting?

Think about your target market

Furthermore, what else sets you and your business apart?

Especially relevant is using concrete examples and not only ideas. Can you cite previous work you've done?  

This brings us to...

Your production companies competition

What does the rest of the field looks like. Your investor will want to know if they don't already.

What sets this company and this production company business plan apart from others?

Knowing the entire field of competitors you have is a good idea, even if it's a very long list.

Your production company business plan must factor in what else is being offered. That way you can adjust, and target a more specific niche.

Or, you can figure out what you can do better.

For example: what can you identify in your competitor's list of services that you know you can nail?

This is what your video company plan needs to convey.

Finally, remember to think of it from the investor's standpoint. How is this an opportunity for them?

how to create a business plan

3. why a video company self-assessment.

This step is easy to do, but hard to do well.

Can you take a good long look at your video production studio? With the intent to circle problems? Areas that need improvement?

The second part of this step might be easier. Find the areas where your video production studio can really shine.

In contrast, you don't want to elaborate on weaknesses in your video production company business plan. Rather, you want to identify them so you can find ways to address them.

You need to have answers to the questions these flaws might bring to the mind of your investors.

  You are not required to sing “Man in the Mirror” 

Then go beyond looking in the mirror.

Look back at the field before you.

This is a business plan for a production company. What opportunities exist for that?

Most of all, try and tailor this production house business plan to specific needs.

Here are a few methods of company self-analysis:

This is a way to identify changes in your industry, to target potential growth opportunities. The acronym stands for:

P olitical Factors

E conomic Factors

S ocial Factors

T echnological Factors

 P roduction company business plan would include a PEST

We've mentioned elements of SWOT:

W eaknesses

O pportunities

The one to focus in on here is threats. Don't assume everything will work out for the plan just the why you'd like it to.

Because it won't. Investors will know that. You should not only know it, you should expect it.

Most important of all: prove that you're prepared for whatever may happen.

Here's a cool way to approach your SWOT analysis. Try applying your strengths to your opportunities and see what kind of leverage you can create.

Then theoretically expose your weaknesses to your threats. Are you in trouble? Do you need to address something to better protect your company?

Think of this as planning for a battle. Therefore, you don't want to ignore cracks in the wall if your enemy is bringing a battering ram.

Business plan can benefit from SWOT

Strategy, structure, systems, style, shared values, staff, and skills.  The 7S model  was developed by business consultants  Robert H. Waterman Jr. and Tom Peters . It's also known as the McKinsey 7S framework.

The idea here is that your business needs these elements to be aligned and "mutually reinforcing". Let's go over each "S".

Strategy: How does this business plan to gain an advantage.

Structure: How do you divide the various operations of the company.

Systems: Procedure for measurement, reward and resource allocation.

Skills: the companies core and distinctive capabilities.

Staff: Human resources.

Style: Behavior patterns of the key groups like managers.

Shared values are in the middle of them all on the diagram. It's somewhat self-explanatory.

In theory, using these methods of self-analysis will help you a great deal. Due to them you'll know, and decide, all sorts of things about your production company.

The 7 S model of analysis

Start putting these ideas onto paper now! If you haven’t already…

Gentlemen, start your engines

4. how to get started.

A business plan for a production company must lay out how you will get started. This is also referred to as a "roll out plan".

How you engineer your beginning is critical to your cash flow. What do you need to get started?

And can you start at a sustainable level?

Will you open a physical office space right off the bat?

Overhead is a major cost. If this is more of a production house business plan then you’ll want to factor that in.

Do you have existing clients?

Equipment or gear already in place?

A video production business plan suggests that your focus will be on video production. Things like equipment will be critical.

In addition to considering this an entertainment production company business plan you may also want to focus on creative development.

How you want to focus effects how you want to phrase things. And it matters almost immediately.

START FEES YOU CAN AVOID

It's a good idea to propose that you start small.

There are two reasons for this.

The first is that you will scare away investors if you ask for too much up front, almost without fail they can tell if you are asking for more than it seems like you need.

It also throws into question how serious you are about sustaining success.

Which leads to the second reason.

It'll be much harder for you to sustain success if you ask for big upfront funding that you aren't sure you can earn back plus profit.

Let's say because you know of a few jobs you'll have early on, that you ask for less up front.

You'll be able to get rolling right away, earning back the initial investments and then some.

Above all you want to start off with easy wins.

Or as close to easy wins as you can get when launching or re-launching a video production business plan.

Seems like it would somewhat obvious not to ask for more than you can earn back...

Rather, it's a mistake people make all the time.

Speaking of which...

do have the capital?

5. financing a company.

Any business needs capital. As a result, you need a section where you lay out the cash flow for the production house business plan.

What kind of money do you expect to have coming in, and how much do you expect to be spending?

Make the budget, while also estimating how you'll be earning.

If you can't demonstrate this, then you need to go back to the drawing board.

Just pose like this and you’ll reassure any investor

You will want to get involved with an accountant at some point soon.

But remember, this is a business plan for a production company. So you may have a lot of costs coming at you early just to get started.

What is a marketing plan?

Your video production business plan is almost complete. Another section worth including would be one on marketing.

Here is a good additional resource on small business accounting .

You want to prove that business will be coming in, and not assume it will on faith alone.

Building a strong portfolio is a must. Consider again what niche you may be able to serve best. Find a solid "bread and butter" to start with.

Remember, good businesses expand when they need to. They don't bite off more than they can chew right out of the gate.

INVEST IN A GOOD WEBSITE

Do some research on how you’ll be building the best website for your product.

Get your production company a few social media accounts, and start trying to create a presence there. You'll need to find many ways to attract clients, and show your work.

Do some additional research on how to market a production company.

All this needs to find its way into the marketing section of your production company business plan.

what's your daily workflow?

7. day to day operations.

The day to day operations are a critical part of the plan. Have you visualized what the daily workflow will be?

Now is the time to do that. Who is going to be on your team, and how will it grow and change over time?

Determine what tasks will take priority each day, and how to best utilize your resources and finances.

This will be a key step in determining if your production company business plan is sustainable.

Ask yourself a few of the following questions:

How much time per day will you spend building your client base? What elements of each job will you tackle in-house? Which tasks might you outsource?

What equipment and gear do you own?

When will it need to be replaced and/or upgraded?

Are you going to hire anyone to start? Will they be full-time employees?

Will you hire independent contractors per project? How many, roughly?

As mentioned in the finance section, you need to know how you'll plan your reporting for taxes and your bookkeeping process.

These questions will help you start to determine what each "day at the office" will look like.

The clearer a picture you can paint here, the better.

Write a Business Plan

Get as specific as possible in each section of your entertainment company business plan. The more you know... right?

Now, let's get a little more advanced. In our next post we'll dive into writing a 4 part business plan. 

Up Next: Write a 4-Part Business Plan →

Project management for video creatives. tasks, file sharing, calendars and more..

Manage video production timelines, tasks, storyboards, shot lists, breakdowns, call sheets. Made for video creatives, new media and film.

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How to Write a Business Plan, Step by Step

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What is a business plan?

1. write an executive summary, 2. describe your company, 3. state your business goals, 4. describe your products and services, 5. do your market research, 6. outline your marketing and sales plan, 7. perform a business financial analysis, 8. make financial projections, 9. summarize how your company operates, 10. add any additional information to an appendix, business plan tips and resources.

A business plan outlines your business’s financial goals and explains how you’ll achieve them over the next three to five years. Here’s a step-by-step guide to writing a business plan that will offer a strong, detailed road map for your business.

ZenBusiness

A business plan is a document that explains what your business does, how it makes money and who its customers are. Internally, writing a business plan should help you clarify your vision and organize your operations. Externally, you can share it with potential lenders and investors to show them you’re on the right track.

Business plans are living documents; it’s OK for them to change over time. Startups may update their business plans often as they figure out who their customers are and what products and services fit them best. Mature companies might only revisit their business plan every few years. Regardless of your business’s age, brush up this document before you apply for a business loan .

» Need help writing? Learn about the best business plan software .

This is your elevator pitch. It should include a mission statement, a brief description of the products or services your business offers and a broad summary of your financial growth plans.

Though the executive summary is the first thing your investors will read, it can be easier to write it last. That way, you can highlight information you’ve identified while writing other sections that go into more detail.

» MORE: How to write an executive summary in 6 steps

Next up is your company description. This should contain basic information like:

Your business’s registered name.

Address of your business location .

Names of key people in the business. Make sure to highlight unique skills or technical expertise among members of your team.

Your company description should also define your business structure — such as a sole proprietorship, partnership or corporation — and include the percent ownership that each owner has and the extent of each owner’s involvement in the company.

Lastly, write a little about the history of your company and the nature of your business now. This prepares the reader to learn about your goals in the next section.

» MORE: How to write a company overview for a business plan

The third part of a business plan is an objective statement. This section spells out what you’d like to accomplish, both in the near term and over the coming years.

If you’re looking for a business loan or outside investment, you can use this section to explain how the financing will help your business grow and how you plan to achieve those growth targets. The key is to provide a clear explanation of the opportunity your business presents to the lender.

For example, if your business is launching a second product line, you might explain how the loan will help your company launch that new product and how much you think sales will increase over the next three years as a result.

» MORE: How to write a successful business plan for a loan

In this section, go into detail about the products or services you offer or plan to offer.

You should include the following:

An explanation of how your product or service works.

The pricing model for your product or service.

The typical customers you serve.

Your supply chain and order fulfillment strategy.

You can also discuss current or pending trademarks and patents associated with your product or service.

Lenders and investors will want to know what sets your product apart from your competition. In your market analysis section , explain who your competitors are. Discuss what they do well, and point out what you can do better. If you’re serving a different or underserved market, explain that.

Here, you can address how you plan to persuade customers to buy your products or services, or how you will develop customer loyalty that will lead to repeat business.

Include details about your sales and distribution strategies, including the costs involved in selling each product .

» MORE: R e a d our complete guide to small business marketing

If you’re a startup, you may not have much information on your business financials yet. However, if you’re an existing business, you’ll want to include income or profit-and-loss statements, a balance sheet that lists your assets and debts, and a cash flow statement that shows how cash comes into and goes out of the company.

Accounting software may be able to generate these reports for you. It may also help you calculate metrics such as:

Net profit margin: the percentage of revenue you keep as net income.

Current ratio: the measurement of your liquidity and ability to repay debts.

Accounts receivable turnover ratio: a measurement of how frequently you collect on receivables per year.

This is a great place to include charts and graphs that make it easy for those reading your plan to understand the financial health of your business.

This is a critical part of your business plan if you’re seeking financing or investors. It outlines how your business will generate enough profit to repay the loan or how you will earn a decent return for investors.

Here, you’ll provide your business’s monthly or quarterly sales, expenses and profit estimates over at least a three-year period — with the future numbers assuming you’ve obtained a new loan.

Accuracy is key, so carefully analyze your past financial statements before giving projections. Your goals may be aggressive, but they should also be realistic.

NerdWallet’s picks for setting up your business finances:

The best business checking accounts .

The best business credit cards .

The best accounting software .

Before the end of your business plan, summarize how your business is structured and outline each team’s responsibilities. This will help your readers understand who performs each of the functions you’ve described above — making and selling your products or services — and how much each of those functions cost.

If any of your employees have exceptional skills, you may want to include their resumes to help explain the competitive advantage they give you.

Finally, attach any supporting information or additional materials that you couldn’t fit in elsewhere. That might include:

Licenses and permits.

Equipment leases.

Bank statements.

Details of your personal and business credit history, if you’re seeking financing.

If the appendix is long, you may want to consider adding a table of contents at the beginning of this section.

How much do you need?

with Fundera by NerdWallet

We’ll start with a brief questionnaire to better understand the unique needs of your business.

Once we uncover your personalized matches, our team will consult you on the process moving forward.

Here are some tips to write a detailed, convincing business plan:

Avoid over-optimism: If you’re applying for a business bank loan or professional investment, someone will be reading your business plan closely. Providing unreasonable sales estimates can hurt your chances of approval.

Proofread: Spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors can jump off the page and turn off lenders and prospective investors. If writing and editing aren't your strong suit, you may want to hire a professional business plan writer, copy editor or proofreader.

Use free resources: SCORE is a nonprofit association that offers a large network of volunteer business mentors and experts who can help you write or edit your business plan. The U.S. Small Business Administration’s Small Business Development Centers , which provide free business consulting and help with business plan development, can also be a resource.

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How to Write a Business Plan for YouTube: 14 Rules and Tips

Knowing how to write a business plan for a YouTube channel is important.

You can do it as a project or even just a simple draft. But should have a clear vision of what you want your channel to look like at the end. This is the only way to avoid getting lost in the process.

Once you have your plan, you’ll be able to see how far you’ve come and how you can improve along the way.

One of the main reasons why many people fail at turning their YouTube channel into a profitable business is that they don’t know where to start or how to act later.

As a result, you need to know what you’re going to do before you do it. That’s why we’ve created this guide.

What Every YouTube and Vlogging Business Plan Must Have

1) create a strong vision for your channel.

First of all, you need to have a clear vision of your channel.

In other words, it needs to be something that’s achievable in the short term but also something that will make you stand out from the crowd.

To demonstrate this, here is a list of questions you should ask yourself:

• What will my channel be?
• How will I get people to watch my videos?
• What will my channel look like?
• How much time will I spend on this channel?
• How much money will I pay?
• Who will I connect with?
• Why should people subscribe to my channel?

Naturally, if you’re passionate about what you do, you’ll be more motivated to keep going. The best way to come up with a strong why is to figure out what you really want.

For example: “I want to help people by making videos on how to solve their problems.” “I want to connect with other people and share my life story.” “I want to make an impact in the world by changing lives for the better.”

Write down your why in one sentence or paragraph. Make sure you have a clear vision of what you want your channel to be.

2) Define Your Target Audience

Once you have a clear vision of what your channel will be, you can start thinking about who you want to reach.

You need to know who your audience is, where they are, and what they like. If you don’t know who your target audience is, you might end up creating a channel that no one wants to watch.

If you don’t know where they are, it’s very likely that you won’t be able to get them to watch your videos.

Obviously, you need to do some research before you start creating videos. However, if you know your audience and where they are, you can use that information to create videos that will resonate with them.

Here are a few questions you should ask yourself to define your audience:

• What kind of people will my videos appeal to?
• Who will my videos benefit from?
• What do my viewers want?
• Where will my viewers be?
• How much time will they spend watching my videos?
• How much money will they spend?
• What will people say about my channel?

3) Connection with Your Audience

Your videos have to be entertaining, but you also need to make sure that they provide value. This means you need to understand your audience and create videos that they will actually want to watch.

But how do you know what kind of content they want?

You can start by using analytics tools to find out what kind of videos are performing well and what kind of content your audience likes.

For example:

• For Generation Z, you’ll want to make sure the content they share is funny.
• For Millenials, you’ll want to find content that’s relevant to their interests.
• For Baby Boomers, online tutorials are a great option. Baby boomers are interested in learning new skills, whether it’s learning how to make new recipes or how to master new apps. They’re also looking for content that gives them the latest health news.

4) What Products or Services are you Going to Promote?

Like any business, you need to have a plan for how you are going to monetize your channel – sooner or later.

Basically, you don’t need to focus on specific products or services but if you know your targeted audience and channel niche you could do quick research on your potential partners who could agree to work with you.

Here’s the deal:

Most products and services that are promoted on YouTube are e-books, apps, coaching programs, and online courses.

Once you know what products you’re going to promote, you can create videos that will resonate with them.

With that being said, you should also make sure that your videos are relevant to your products and services. That way, you’ll get more people to watch your videos and you’ll have a better chance of converting them into customers.

Aside from selling your own products and offering your services, there are other ways of monetizing your channel, namely:

• Affiliate marketing – promote and sell products/digital products and earn a commission. Affiliate marketing typically involves the sale of other people’s products or services. These products or services have an affiliate program that pays affiliates a commission if they bring traffic to the advertiser’s website and if the traffic converts into a sale.
• Sponsor videos – A sponsor is someone who pays you for showing/ mentioning their brand/product in your videos. If you get paid to promote a brand, it’s called influencer marketing. If you’re not familiar with sponsorships, they are a great way to make money on YouTube . The best part is that you don’t even have to be a very popular YouTuber to be able to get paid to mention a product. The easiest way to get started with sponsorships is to create a free account on YouTube. After you do this, you can start creating a list of brands you want to work with and start making requests.
• Crowdfunding – Crowdfunding is similar to a traditional fundraising campaign in that it involves people pooling their resources in order to make a bigger impact on a particular project. There are a lot of different types of crowdfunding platforms that you can use, such as Kickstarter , Indiegogo , RocketHub , GoFundMe or even Patreon – which is super popular nowadays . Each platform offers different ways to promote your campaign and get funding. But the bottom line is that crowdfunding is a great way to get a project off the ground and is usually less expensive than traditional fundraising.
• YouTube Ad Revenue – Advertisers pay for advertising based on the number of views a video receives. If your video has more views than others, you can expect to make more money from the same ad budget. However, there are other factors that affect how much you make from your ad campaigns, including the quality of your content and whether or not it’s suitable for the target audience.

5) Video Capture Hardware

Needless to say that you don’t need a big budget to get started uploading videos on YouTube. You could easily start creating vlogs with a smartphone .

It is impressive to see how much impact a simple smartphone can make on the internet.

You could record amazing vlogs that thousands of people will watch with your smartphone.

But, there is a catch:

There is a difference between devices that you are filming your videos blogs. It correlates with the number of views you get from a video uploaded with a smartphone and a video uploaded with a high-quality camera.

So, if you are thinking of uploading a video, it is best to use the best equipment you can afford that will allow you to make the best possible video, which will result in more views. In other words, it should be like an investment for you.

Formerly, video production was very expensive and only professionals could afford it. However, these days, video production tools and services are cheaper than ever before. So, if you have the budget for it, you can have professional vlogging equipment that will help you grow your channel.

If your smartphone doesn’t record very well, the best way to start is to get a flip-screen camera and an external microphone .

Moreover, you could need to have lighting for videos and a tripod .

The most important elements of a good video are the video itself, the message it conveys, and the quality of the video. A video with a good message and high quality can attract a lot of views and comments. The more likes and comments your video gets, the more people will be interested in watching your videos and subscribing to your channel. This is a compelling way to grow your YouTube channel.

6) Hiring a YouTube Creative Content Team and Your Budget

The key is to find people that can help you with your vision and that you can trust.

As your channel grows, you will find that you’ll need to add more people to your team.

Once your channel starts expanding, it is normal that you will start struggling with some tasks.

Here are some positions that you could think of hiring.

• Project manager – A project manager will be in charge of everything related to your YouTube channel. They will be in charge of managing the people on your team, scheduling their work, and keeping them on track. Your project manager will take care of the day-to-day management of your channel and ensure that everything runs smoothly. They will also be in charge of all the tasks that come up along the way. Surprisingly, the best person to choose as your project manager is someone that has already been in your shoes. They know how it feels to manage a YouTube channel . If you have a lot of experience managing other channels, you will know how much work it is and how much time it takes to keep things running. You can also ask your previous managers or your clients if they can recommend someone.
• Scriptwriter – You might not think that your content is very creative. But what if you could make it even more creative by writing the script? A good scriptwriter will be able to add some spice to your content and make it stand out from the rest. You can look for a scriptwriter on Fiverr.com or Upwork.com.
• Editor – If you want to make your videos more professional, you should consider getting an editor to do the job for you. An editor will help you keep your content on track and make sure that everything runs smoothly.
• Producer – Producing your videos is one of the most important jobs in your channel. It will help you get your message across and give your content a professional look. You can hire a producer from freelance platforms as well.
• Cameraperson – It depends on your videos. If you are filming yourself then you could do it on yourself, but if you are doing multiple scenes and different types of videos, usually it is better to have at least 1-2 persons behind the cameras. The first person will be responsible for shooting the action, while the second one will be in charge of taking care of the technical side of things.
• Marketing team – You should be careful when hiring someone to work on your marketing team. You don’t want to end up with a freelancer that is not trustworthy. Instead, you should consider hiring a marketing team that has experience in your industry. They can help you with everything from social media to email marketing and everything in between.
• Product development team – You might not know it, but your channel doesn’t have to be just about videos. In fact, your channel can include other types of content, such as articles or even a blog. The key is to create content that is valuable for your audience. You should hire a product development team if you want to add more content to your channel. They will help you develop new products that you can sell to your audience.

7) Find Locations

You may want to invest in a studio, but that depends on the type of niche you choose. The cost of a studio varies depending on the size and design of your space. But it’s always worth investing in one.

Once you have your studio set up, you’ll want to start recording. You can either do that yourself or hire a video editor to do it for you.

It’s always a good idea to have someone else watch your videos, especially when they’re first being created. They’ll be able to spot any mistakes you might make.

It’s better to hire someone to help you with the setup, so you can focus on your business plan. Again, you need to have a good idea of what you want to do and where you want to be filmed.

One of the most important vlogging rules – you should also make sure that you have permission to film in those places. If you don’t have permission, you could get in trouble. And you might not be able to use the footage at all.

• Do you want to shoot in the office? Or outdoors?
• Do you want to use a set or not?
• Is it private property?
• Will you have access to the area?
• How much time is needed to film?

If you can’t answer all these questions, you’ll need to rethink your plan. The last thing you want is to spend a lot of time and money only to find out that you can’t shoot there.

Obviously, you must know the weather condition of the location you’re going to film your video. For example, if you want to shoot in the middle of winter, you need to know what temperatures you’ll encounter. You should also know how you can protect your equipment from extreme conditions.

Moreover, you should think about every aspect of your channel before filming. You should also check the laws of your country and state regarding filming. This will ensure that you’re protected legally and you’ll be able to use all the footage you shot.

Think about the following:

• How much time is needed to shoot your video?
• Are you going to use a set?
• Where are you going to film?
• What is the weather condition going to be like?
• What is the temperature?
• Is it public or private property?
• Are there any restrictions on filming?
• How will you transport equipment and your crew?

8) Look for Creative Ways to Find New Content Ideas

You have to innovate to keep your audience’s attention.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to come up with a new idea every week. If you don’t come up with new ideas, you’ll soon start to notice your subscriber count dwindling.

So, what should you do?

The quickest way to get fresh ideas is by following what’s trending on the Internet (you could use Google Trends for help). But the problem with that is that you’re only getting ideas from what’s already popular. And that’s just not going to help you grow your channel and become a successful YouTuber .

Here are some proven techniques to come up with new ideas:

• Create a list of the top 10 videos your competitors are creating . Then ask yourself: What would make mine better? Ask your customers what they want. Start a list of all the things you know about your audience. You can use this list to get inspiration for future content. The more you do this, the more ideas you’ll have.
• Do an analysis of your competitors’ channels . You can get their channel analytics from the YouTube Analytics tool. Look at how other channels are using similar content to yours. You can also look at how they’re making money off of it. Use your social media accounts to find out what people are saying about your brand. This is a great way to find out what they like and what they don’t like about your business.
• Get feedback from others about what you’re doing well and where you need improvement . By seeing what kind of comments you’re getting on your YouTube and social media accounts, you will find out if you’re doing something right or wrong.
• Create a list of all the things that are important to your audience . You can do this by asking them or by using tools like Google Analytics. This will help you create your video content strategy and your overall business plan.

9) Stick to a Recording Schedule

This may cause you to lose focus and motivation, you’ll end up with videos that don’t really add value to your channel.

Instead, try to spread out your content creation over the course of the week so you don’t have to decide on what to create next.

In contrast, if you try to record more than 2-3 videos in one day, you become too tired that it affects the quality of the editing, that is, if you don’t have anyone who will do it for you. You’ll also be less likely to share those videos with your audience, which means they won’t see any value in watching your videos. This will lead to a lack of subscribers, which will ultimately be bad for your channel.

Accordingly, it’s important to keep your channel content fresh.

So, how do you know if you’re doing too much? There are a few ways you can find out.

First, you can use the YouTube analytics dashboard to figure out how many views and subscribers your videos are getting. If you’re not getting enough views or subscribers, it’s time to slow down and take a step back. You should also consider how long it takes you to create a video. If you’re spending too much time creating content, then you might want to reconsider your strategy.

So, we highly recommend setting the estimated number of videos per week in your YouTube business plan.

10) Promotion Plan

Undeniably, YouTube is the best place to produce video content. As you create your YouTube channel business plan, consider all the ways you can connect with your audience and get them to engage with you.

There are three main ways to do this:

• Interactive – through questions, polls and comments;
• Social – through sharing and liking your videos;
• Promotional – through paid advertising.

With interactive, social and paid advertising, you can target your audience on their level of engagement. For example, if you’re looking for a way to increase your reach, you’d want to focus on people who are most likely to engage with your content.

You don’t need to go searching for people outside of YouTube to find your target audience. Most of your views will be from users who are already on YouTube.

However, to get those views and to build your audience, you’ll have to do SEO – which is where you’ll find what you need to attract customers from inside YouTube.

SEO is the process of making sure that when someone searches for a specific topic, they find your channel among the results. To do that, you’ll need to create a strong description and title that covers all the keywords in the description. It’s not just about posting a catchy title and description. You need to make sure that those two elements are optimized for YouTube and other search engines.

Search engines, such as Google and Bing, work by using complex algorithms and artificial intelligence to provide the most relevant results in a fraction of a second. YouTube works similarly, but with videos instead of pages.

You need to learn how to use SEO to get videos recommended by YouTube to other viewers, and to make sure that the viewers see your videos. Here’s is a great article on how you could do a perfect YouTube SEO .

11) Design Effective Thumbnails

You must find or do it by yourself an effective, clickbait YouTube thumbnail to attract more views.

Always keep in mind the psychology of human beings when designing thumbnails.

Make sure that you design them in such a way that they make people want to click on them. The first impression is the last impression. So, always keep in mind that people are going to see your thumbnail before they see your video. When they do so, they’re going to judge it by its appearance.

If it doesn’t grab their attention, they’re going to leave your channel immediately. So, make sure that your thumbnails are unique and attractive. They should be eye-catching and compelling.

So before you create any YouTube video, make sure that you already know what will design your YouTube video thumbnail.

12) Your Audience is a Digital Asset. Keep Them!

Keep in mind that you don’t own your subscribers on YouTube. That’s why your biggest concern has to be how to keep them watching your videos day by day.

So how do you keep your YouTube subscribers?

First things first:

We won’t say anything new to you, but your priority task is to motivate them to subscribe to your channel and click on that ring bell.

So, you have to prepare a plan on how you are going to achieve that.

We have one great strategy that works:

In the first 30 seconds, you have to say that “this video is sponsored by…you – viewers, so please click subscribe for more videos”, or you should convince your viewers that it will be very supportive for your channel.

So instead of launching useless ads, do it at least two times per video and you should see how the number of subscribers will increase.

13) Product Development and Marketing

It’s essential to create attractive products for your audience and test different pricing models until you find a balance between price and demand. Then develop it and start creating your new product funnel .

So it doesn’t matter whether you will build and sell your own product or do affiliate marketing – you need a plan for that.

You need to understand the benefits of your potential customer and why they would want to purchase from you.

Here are some things to think about:

• Which demographics are you going after?
• What are your competition’s strengths and weaknesses?
• Who is your ideal client?

14) Scale, Expand, or Step Back

Having a YouTube channel or making vlogs is a business.

As a business owner, it’s important to do the same thing that you did when you first started your business. You need to continually improve the quality of your video first and get a decent number of subscribers too. By improving your YouTube channel, you could integrate some products to earn money.

Once you start earning money from YouTube videos, it could be a snowball effect .

At the same time, you must track your budget and see how it goes. Sometimes it is recommended to step back, stop creating videos, re-think your plan and implement actions. That’s why this part is needed.

This article is more for those who view YouTube as a business niche. If you are not interested in making money in the near future and are creating video blogs for yourself, you should not take some steps.

Anyway, we hope these tips on how to write a business plan for YouTube will help you get started with building a successful channel. It might take a while before you become profitable, but I’m sure you’ll eventually get there.

You can use all of these tips and techniques as long as you have a passion for what you do and are willing to learn how to create a profitable YouTube campaign.

In the end, it all comes down to having the right mindset. If you’re going to do something, you’ve got to enjoy it, and you need to love what you’re doing. After all, your audience wants to see your passion for your work. They want to see your energy and enthusiasm.

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I am Glen and I’m a 100% tech-addicted guy, Blogger, Video Editor and Entrepreneur. I spent a lot of my time learning how to properly edit videos, I've tested a lot of vlogging equipment and now with my team, I share all these tips with you.

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25 business video ideas for inspiration (+ templates!)

We’ve compiled a list of every kind of video your business may need, from the obvious to the obscure. Peruse these business video ideas and pick the ones that are right for you.

When you’re done, head over to Biteable to  make your business video  in no time. Choose from hundreds of templates, then make it your own with brandable video scenes and one-of-a-kind animations. If you can make a PowerPoint, you can create a video for your business with Biteable. (We’re not kidding. It’s that easy.)

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Social media & YouTube video ideas

Video on social media is huge. Like, bigger than Godzilla in platform heels huge. On average, videos on social media get shared  1200% more  than text and images. (Thank you YouTube for getting the ball rolling.) Your business can benefit bigtime from the social video trend.

If you haven’t tapped into this traffic and engagement goldmine, it’s time to get started with your own  social media videos . Take inspiration from these business video ideas as you create your own social content.

1. Social media video content

Social media platforms are now prioritizing video content over text and static images. By simply posting a video in your feed, social algorithms give you a big pat on the back and reward your business with more views in people’s feeds.

Encourage engagement by creating some scroll-stopping social content. The Biteable library has video templates for every type of business, so if you’re stuck for ideas, we’ve got you covered. Here’s an example to get you started.

2. Facebook & Instagram ads

Instagram and  Facebook ads  are the perfect place to flex your business video muscles.

Videos get a lot more attention than static images, and this is super important if you’re paying for ad space as part of your business’ marketing campaigns. If you’re creating an ad for special offers, seasonal promotions, or new products, using video is one of the best ways to stop those scrolling thumbs and get eyes on your ads.

Here’s a colorful video template we created for a business sale ad.

3. LinkedIn ads

It’s no secret the LinkedIn algorithm loves video. Not only that, but research shows  59% of executives  love watching videos on the platform. If you need to reach key people to  promote your B2B products  and services, video content is the best choice to help build your business.

This next video idea comes from one of our business recruiting templates.

4. Twitter ads

Twitter is one of the  most popular platforms  for B2C marketers. If your business targets consumers, creating some  snappy twitter ads  on this platform is a smart move. Videos get three times more engagement here than your average tweet.

Take your marketing to the next level with this business video idea that fits Twitter to a tee.

5. YouTube TrueView video ads

TrueView is one of the three flavors of  YouTube ad placements . These ads show up in stream or in the discovery bar, so they need to have an immediately captivating poster image and intro to hook viewers and keep them watching.

If you want to capture the attention of the  1.9 billion people  that use YouTube daily, a TrueView add is your first stop for business video content.

6. YouTube intro

If your business has a YouTube channel, getting the intro right is critical for  growing awareness and getting viewer engagement . It needs to be catchy, short, and on-brand. Your intro is something your business will use over and over again, so it’s important that it makes an impact.

A lot of weight rests on your intro. But Biteable has come to your rescue with our range of  templates especially for intros . Check out this YouTube intro idea for starters.

You probably have billions of ideas to boost your business, and  video advertising  is probably top of the list. You’re not alone. Video advertisements are the best way to drive engagement and increase returns on your ad spend.

Check out these ideas for business video advertisements.

7. Funny video ads

Here’s an example of a lighthearted video ad we created. Feel free to use this business video idea, edit it with Biteable and make it your own. Or check out or other templates in the  video add template library .

If a picture says a thousand words, a video probably says a million. If you need to explain something new or something complicated,  business explainer videos  are one of the most effective ways to do this — without sending your audience to snooze town. Start with one of these business explainer ideas.

8. Explain your business

Whether you’re an established business or a bright young startup, having an explainer video on your website helps keep people on your site for longer. Video content can sum up what your business does and who it serves without the great wall of text some companies rely on.

9. Explain your product

Got a product ready to launch? We’ve got a business video idea for that. Showcase your products in motion or in a real-life context to build excitement and anticipation around your new offering. Integrate your  product reviews  in your video to build trust with customers right away.

10. Internal product launch explainer

Your employees need to know about product launches well ahead of time. For people not directly involved in the launch, create a quick business video explaining the rollout. Keep everyone on the same page with this business video idea.

11. Explain a concept

Concepts are difficult to explain with words. Even after pages of text, trying to connect a concept with your audience can often miss the mark. This is where video beats words hands down. Use this business video to quickly explain an idea to viewers – leaving them feeling smart and inspired by your handiwork.

If you need to make  presentations  to share with your team or to seal a deal with prospective clients, ditch the pointer and the whiteboard. Check out these ideas for business video presentations instead.

12. Sales presentations

Video takes some of the pressure out of presentation day. Stand back and let a sales presentation video do all the hard work as you reap the fame and rewards from your efforts.

We won’t tell anyone it only you a few minutes to put together…  wink wink.

13. Updates

Need to present updates to your team? Stop all the eye-rolling and groans and win their hearts with fun, informative videos instead.

Check out this business video idea: a team-focused “new tool” tool update that’s easy to make and even easier to watch.

Internal comms video ideas

Video can play an important part in your company’s  internal comms . Whether you need to update, onboard, or announce things to your people — video cuts through the noise of a busy workplace to get your messages heard and remembered.

Start with these business video ideas for internal comms.

14. Team update

Need to announce those important updates, financials, or team bloopers for the month? A team update video is a simple and effective way to communicate the things that matter in your business.

15. HR videos

Video and HR were a match made in heaven. Activate your employees and align your teams by  making an HR video  for just about every occasion. From recruiting ads, to benefits explainers, to training materials, video does it all.

Check out our list of  21 HR video ideas  (with templates) for inspiration.

16. Onboarding

Wow your new employees with a short, engaging  onboarding video  to get them excited about becoming a part of your company. Video captures the essence of your business values and work culture much better than yet another stuffy email or onboarding packet.

If you’re in the business of selling products, whether on Amazon, Shopify, or  your own e-commerce website , you’ll know that online competition is fierce. Stay ahead of the other guys by using video to display and promote your products. This next business video is a great idea if you need sleek, informative content for your product pages.

17. Product videos

Trying to sell anything online with static images is hard. With video, you can create desire by showcasing your product being used and enjoyed in different situations.

People buy based on emotion, and video is one of the most effective ways to  connect a potential customer  to the feeling that buying your product will give them.

Conferences are a huge time and money investment for your business. To make the most of them, your collateral needs to be polished and powerful — ready to make a big impact on your audience. These video ideas for business conferences helps get you there.

18. Sponsors

If you’ve got sponsors on board for your conference, you need to make sure you promote their logos during the event.

We’ve got a bunch of  marketing templates  that can be tailored and tweaked to add your sponsor logos, photos, or quotes to your videos.

19. Event invite

Get more bums on seats for your conference with an invite video that sparkles. Find the event invite of your dreams  over here  or make a quick start by dropping a photo and some event details into this template.

20. Branding

Keeping your business on-brand during a conference is a must. Videos help showcase your brand identity and ensure consistency of your brand colors, message, and personality throughout the event. Add this logo loop template to all your conference content.

You’re probably familiar with most of the business video ideas we just listed. But have you ever thought of sending a  video thank you note ? We think there’s no better way to show your appreciation than sending personalized videos to people.

21. Employee thank you

When an employee goes above and beyond, forget the cliched “thank you” email and send something with style. Our animated templates are just the ticket: super cool and super easy to edit. A few clicks and you’re ready to send — no previous video experience required.

A good  sales strategy  is central to your business. Whether you’re pitching your own services or you have a sales team working hard on your behalf,  creating a sales video  as part of your process sets you apart from the competition.

22. Personalized sales videos

If you’re using cold emails as a form of lead generation, a video can take the icky, salesy feeling out of this form of outreach. No matter which industry you’re in, sales videos can help you form a more genuine connection with the recipient and turn those cold leads into toasty warm ones.

23. Launch videos

Launch videos are a great way to build the hype about the new thing you’re selling. Whether it’s a new product or service, launch it with a bang with a video like the one below.

24. Sales enablement

Video is also a great addition to your sales enablement content. Engage and align reps with on-demand videos they can watch quickly and reference on the fly. Our business video ideas list wouldn’t be complete without this stand-out example.

Make training videos  to help people learn information in an engaging, memorable way.

25. Course outline

Increase anticipation and attendance for your course by whipping up an engaging and informative course outline on video. You can easily add and delete scenes and change the music to give your students a good feeling for what they’ll learn in the course.

Bonus idea: video resumes

Stand out from the boring mountains of PDF and paper CVs circulating in the business world by whipping up an eye-catching  video resume . This bonus business video idea could be just the competitive edge you need to land the job of your dreams.

Video resume

Unlike a traditional CV, a video resume captures more of what you’re like as a person through the images and music you choose, and any personal photos or footage you include. It gives employers a clearer sense of what you’ll be like to work with and if you’ll fit well into their existing team.

Here’s a template we prepared to give you a head start.

Business video FAQs

Business video ideas are just the starting point. Once you’ve landed on the right content for your business, check out our answers to the most frequently-asked questions about all things video.

What are some good ideas for videos?

There are plenty of good ideas for videos for your business. Try one of these:

• Create a how-to series for YouTube
• Make a product explainer video
• Update your team through video
• Send an engaging event invite
• Thank employees in style
• Nail your next client with a video pitch
• Align reps with sales enablement content

What should be included in a business video?

In your business video, always include branding (company colors and logo) throughout . Also include an intro scene that tells viewers what to expect from the video, and an outro scene for one last chance at branding. Beyond that, consider adding a call-to-action button at the end of your business video.

How do you make a cool business video?

To make a cool business video:

• Define your audience
• Look at other business videos for ideas
• Decide on your style
• Write an outline/script
• Use an online video maker for ready-made content
• Share your video using a trackable link
• Keep an eye on your video analytics
• If engagement is low, tweak your content until you get it right

How do I start my own business video?

Starting your own business video seems daunting if you have no experience. We recommend using an online video maker like Biteable. You get access to tons of content and easy editing tools, so you can start (and finish!) your entire business video without shooting any footage or wasting a lot of time editing.

Turn your business video ideas into reality with Biteable

We hope these business video ideas got your creative juices flowing. Now it’s time to get to work. Turning your business video ideas into reality is easy with  Biteable .

Biteable has hundreds of business-focused templates, ready-made video scenes, and unique animations to get you started. Customize your business video as much or as little as you like with smart editing tools and an intuitive workflow.

Let Biteable fetch your brand colors and logo from your website and automatically apply them to your entire video with a single click. It’s that easy! Single-link sharing and video analytics drive the point home. You’ll make your first video in less time than it takes to say, “Open for business”.

Make stunning videos with ease.

Take the struggle out of team communication.

Try Biteable now.

• No credit card required
• No complicated design decisions
• No experience necessary

The Ultimate Guide to Video Marketing

Learn the art of video marketing with these videos, templates, tips, and resources.

THE ULTIMATE VIDEO MARKETING STARTER PACK

Videos, templates, resources, and tips on how to get your video marketing strategy off the ground.

Updated: 09/15/22

Published: 05/24/22

If you’re looking for a video marketing guide, you’re not alone. 79% of marketers who aren’t using video plan to build a video strategy in 2022. And 99% of those who already use video are planning to use it more.

There’s no strategy like video marketing for educating, generating leads, and converting customers.

Brands need a video marketing strategy — this idea isn't new. What has changed is how important video has become on every platform and channel. So what do you think you know about video marketing, and what do you want to learn?

Video production is more cost-effective and easier to accomplish than ever. Today you can shoot in high-quality, 4K video, even with your smartphone.

But between strategy, equipment, and editing software, video marketing is still pretty complicated. Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about video marketing strategy or use the links below to jump to a specific section.

The Importance of Video Marketing

Developing a Video Marketing Strategy

Types of Marketing Videos

How to Make a Video for Your Business

Video marketing distribution.

Measuring Your Videos

Video marketing started in earnest in 2005 with the launch of YouTube. Google bought YouTube in October 2006, and by 2009 there were seven different ad formats on the platform.

As the technology to create quality videos gets easier, it’s become more popular with marketers. But that’s not the only reason video is the dominant form of communication today.

First, there was the rise of smartphone technology that made watching videos easier and more convenient. Then the pandemic boosted online media consumption by 215% in the U.S.

Fast forward to 2022, and audiences are spending an average of 19 hours a week watching videos online. Ignoring video marketing is no longer an option for brands who want to excel.

Video marketing encourages social shares.

Video is the second most popular content type on social media for increasing engagement.

Platforms like YouTube and TikTok have always been about video. Platforms like Instagram and Facebook are focusing on video. 

Even platforms that don’t offer native video uploads emphasize the value of video marketing.

• Tweets on Twitter get 10x more engagement.
• 68% of video marketers plan to use LinkedIn video this year.
• People watch almost a billion videos a day on Pinterest.

Video marketing improves SEO and boosts conversions and sales.

31% of marketers add video to improve SEO . Websites see a search engine boost when they add video because it increases page quality and the time visitors spend on the page.

More than 60% of marketers say their customer acquisition cost has gone up. At the same time, 83% of video marketers say that video helps them generate leads.

That’s because video hasn't only transformed how businesses market and consumers shop; it's also revolutionized how salespeople connect with and convert prospects and how service teams support and delight customers. In short, video is incredibly useful throughout the entire flywheel — not just to heighten brand awareness .

Video can be a versatile tool for salespeople throughout the entire customer buying journey, and it can do much more than increase engagement. Backend analytics also help salespeople qualify and prioritize cold or unresponsive leads.

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The Ultimate Video Marketing Starter Kit

Access everything you need to get started with video marketing.

• Video Script Templates
• Video Best Practices
• Example Videos

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Video marketing appeals to mobile users.

Mobile users are a driving force for video consumption. According to a Statista study, 77% of those surveyed use a mobile or tablet to watch online videos. And Facebook says it’s 1.5x more likely for people to watch video every day on a smartphone than on a computer.

Video marketing is great for educating and building trust.

While 91.9% of users are content to watch any type of video at all, 31.3% want how-to videos and another 29.8% want educational videos.

The options are also endless for service teams — onboarding videos, knowledge-based videos, meet the team videos, support video calls, and customer stories are just a few ways that video can create a more thorough, personalized customer support experience.

And users aren’t just learning from brands. Millennial and Gen Z users are different, but most of them want to learn from each other. According to HubSpot Research, consumers and customers prefer lower quality, "authentic" video over high-quality video that seems artificial and inauthentic.

This is part of the reason influencer marketing has grown from $9.7 in 2020 to an estimated $16.4 billion in 2022.

Video is within reach for businesses of virtually any size — team and budget alike. The data is clear. To succeed, your business needs a solid video marketing strategy.

Fill out this form to download the kit.

How to create a video marketing strategy.

• Choose your target audience and find out where they spend their time.
• Connect with stakeholders to align on a plan for the video.
• Set a timeline and budget for your video.
• Choose the best platform to distribute your video.
• Develop messaging and choose the right types of video for your personas.
• Decide which metrics you want to track and how you will measure success.

Before you set up, record, or edit anything, start with a video marketing strategy . Why? Because every decision made during the video creation process will point back to your video's purpose and what action you'd like your audience to complete after watching it.

Without a clear purpose agreed upon by your team, you'll find yourself in a whirlwind of re-shooting, re-framing, and editing. That wastes a lot of precious time. So, begin the process with a clear strategy.

1. Choose your target audience and find out where they spend their time.

The popularity of video and user-generated video content means that you need to target a specific audience with each video. If you don’t already have strong buyer personas, start creating them now. If you already have a set of buyer personas, make sure to update your personas to include the most recent video research.

2. Connect with stakeholders to align on a plan for the video.

There are typically a lot of players when making a video. How can you ensure they're all aligned?

Create a questionnaire using Google Forms or SurveyMonkey and pass it along to the stakeholders of the project. This way, you can ask the same questions of everyone and keep their responses in one place.

3. Set a timeline and budget for your video.

Think of video as a shorter, quicker, and less expensive version of your favorite film. While a video needs fewer resources to succeed, it can still be a time-consuming and expensive process. You can save time and money with planning and project management.

Create a clear timeline for every step of the process and plan for occasional delays. Even a small video production relies on the skills of many different people. So, you want to make sure that even with unexpected challenges and changes you can still deliver your video on time.

4. Choose the best platform to distribute your video.

Before you start making your video, think about where you’re going to broadcast it. YouTube SEO is becoming as important as website SEO. source Think about what people on that platform are looking for. You’ll also want to consider:

• Average view time
• Size and sound limitations
• Communities

While videos are often used for advertising, a video doesn’t just promote itself. Some platforms have built-in vehicles for promotion, while others will need you to put in some time and effort to get more eyes on your video content. This list of video platforms can help you decide what platform is best for your video campaign.

5. Develop messaging and choose the right types of video for your personas.

It’s important to communicate a message with your videos. If you’re not sure where to start, use one of these examples of marketing videos to inspire your video strategy. If you’re not sure what kind of message is best for customers at different stages in the buyer journey, align your video messages with the flywheel .

With your budget, skills, and resources in mind, think about the creative roadblocks that might arise. Do you need a designer to create lower third graphics? Are you going to create an animated video or a live-action video?

6. Decide which metrics you want to track and how you will measure success.

Before you dive into production, you need to define your video goals and find the best metrics to help you understand whether you've accomplished those goals.

You can default to using the metrics available in your platform of choice. But this can make it difficult to figure out if your video strategy is performing over time. It can also make it difficult to measure the effectiveness of multichannel video strategies.

Instead, choose several key performance indicators that correspond with your video goals. This list of metrics is a good place to start if you’re not sure where to start with tracking your video marketing.

Your Video Marketing Guide Through the Flywheel

Too often, companies jump at the opportunity to create their first video.

They spend the whole budget on an explainer video for their homepage, but as soon as the project is complete, all future video plans screech to a halt.

Other businesses churn out a slew of social videos. But they often just copy fads they've seen, so their videos don’t connect to their audience's challenges or habits.

Video marketing can't be an impulsive guessing game. Instead, you need to create a comprehensive video marketing strategy that applies to every part of your flywheel .

Start with the inbound methodology.

The inbound methodology is the marketing and sales approach focused on attracting customers through content and interactions that are relevant and helpful.

In the following sections, we'll cover the types of videos you should create for each stage in the flywheel . To start, plan to create at least two videos for each section.

Don't forget to include call-to-actions to help lead your audience through their purchase journey and into the role of "promoter." Over time, you can improve based on conversion rates and the content gaps you discover.

When you attract, you’re turning strangers into visitors. Consumers at this stage are identifying their challenges and deciding whether they should seek out a solution.

So, the videos you create should empathize with their problems and introduce a possible solution with your product or service.

The goal of this kind of video is to expand reach and build trust. Because you are looking to garner shares for your video, you may want to focus on entertaining and evoking emotion. It’s also important to provide enough information to establish authority on the topic.

Examples of videos in the "attract" stage include:

• Short videos that show off your brand's personality
• Thought leadership videos that show your leaders are a source for industry news and insights
• Brand films that share your values and mission
• Explainers and how-to videos that provide relevant tips for solving your audience's pain point

As you attract a new audience, avoid speaking too much about your product. Instead, let your brand values and personality take center stage.

Because these videos can live on a variety of channels, keep the strategies of each platform in mind. This overview of video and social media platforms can help.

Once you've attracted video viewers and website visitors, it’s time to convert these visitors into leads. With most inbound marketing content, this means collecting contact information with a form.

Video can aid this process by offering a solution to the buyer's problem. The goal of videos in the convert stage is to educate and excite.

"Convert" videos may include:

• A webinar filled with tactical advice
• Product demos sent by email
• Landing page promotional videos
• Case studies
• In-depth explainer and how-to videos

For example, while an "attract" video might provide a quick tip for nailing a sales pitch, a "convert" video could be an animated explainer video that breaks down the inbound sales methodology.

You've attracted a new audience with your videos and converted the right visitors into leads. Now's the time to close these leads into customers.

At this point, the consumer is weighing their options and deciding on the purchase. So the goal of these videos is to make your audience visualize themselves successfully using your product or service.

There's a reason that 88% of marketers report positive ROI with video. Videos can explain how a product works and trigger emotions in ways that a product description can’t.

Great "close" videos include:

• Testimonials of customers with relatable stories
• In-depth product demos
• Culture videos that sell viewers on your quality of service
• Personalized videos that explain exactly how your product could help their business

You closed a sale, but video can also improve the post-conversion stage of your flywheel.

During the "delight stage" of the inbound methodology, your goal is to continue providing remarkable content to users that add value to their experience with your product or service.

You also want your customers to tell their connections about their experience or promote your brand themselves. So, the goal of this type of video is to encourage your customers to embrace your brand and become brand evangelists.

Your first opportunity to delight comes directly after the purchase. Consider sending a thank you video to welcome them into the community.

You can also send an onboarding video to get them rolling with their new purchase.

Then, build out a library of educational courses or product training videos to cater to consumers who prefer self-service or simply want to expand their abilities.

As you develop your video marketing strategy, there are other types of marketing videos you can create for every stage in the flywheel.

12 Types of Marketing Videos

Before you begin filming, you need to decide what type of video you want to create. Check out this list to better understand your options.

1. Demo Videos

Demo videos showcase how your product works — whether that's taking viewers on a tour of your software or unboxing and putting a physical product to the test.

Learn how to use video in each stage of the buyer's journey.

2. Brand Videos

Brand videos are typically created as a part of a larger advertising campaign , showcasing the company's vision, mission, or products and services.

The goal of brand videos is to build awareness around your company and to intrigue and attract your target audience.

3. Event Videos

Is your business hosting a conference, round table discussion, fundraiser, or another type of event? Produce a highlight reel or release interesting interviews and presentations from the gathering.

4. Expert Interviews

Capturing interviews with internal experts or thought leaders in your industry is a great way to build trust and authority with your target audience. Find the influencers in your industry and put these discussions in front of your audience.

The video above is more than just a surface-level interview, it's a deep dive with industry experts offering concrete takeaways for viewers. Don't be afraid to get tactical with your interviews — your audience will grow from your hard work.

5. Educational or How-To Videos

Instructional videos can teach your audience something new. These marketing videos can also build the foundational knowledge they'll need to better understand your business and solutions. Your sales and service teams can use videos like this as they work with customers.

6. Explainer Videos

This type of video can help your audience better understand why they need your product or service. Many explainer videos focus on a fictional journey of the company's core buyer persona who is struggling with a problem. This person overcomes the issue by adopting or buying the business's solution.

7. Animated Videos

Apple created this animated video to share its carbon neutrality goal.

Animated videos can be a great format for hard-to-grasp concepts that need strong visuals or to explain an abstract service or product.

8. Case Study and Customer Testimonial Videos

Your prospects want to know that your product can solve their specific problem.

One of the best ways to prove this is by creating case study videos that feature your satisfied, loyal customers. These folks are your best advocates. Get them on camera describing their challenges and how your company helped solve them.

9. Live Videos

Live video gives your viewers a special, behind-the-scenes look at your company. It also draws longer streams and higher engagement rates.

According to Google in 2021, 85% of people have watched a live stream in the last year. And live-stream interviews, presentations, and events encourage viewers to comment with questions.

10. 360° & Virtual Reality Videos

With 360° videos , viewers "scroll" around to see content from every angle — as if they were physically standing within the content.

This spherical video style allows viewers to experience a location or event, like flying down a hill with Olympic skiers .

Virtual reality (VR) allows viewers to navigate and control their experience. These videos are usually viewed through devices like an Oculus Quest 2 or a Valve Index.

11. Augmented Reality (AR) Videos

AR videos add a digital layer to what you are watching.

For example, you can point your phone's camera at your living room and AR would allow you to see how a couch would look in your space. The IKEA Place app is a great example of this.

12. Personalized Messages

Video can be a creative way to continue a conversation or respond to someone through email or text.

Use HubSpot Video Hosting or Loom to record yourself recapping an important meeting or giving personalized recommendations. These videos create a delightful, unique moment for your prospects and can drive them deeper into the purchase journey.

Now that you’ve planned your video marketing strategy, it’s time to start making your first video.

• Script your video.
• Set up your studio.
• Prepare your talent.
• Plan your shot list and get used to your equipment.
• Shoot your video.
• Edit your video

Choose your music.

Record your voice over..

• Upload your video.

There's a lot that goes into making a video. This section will walk you through the detailed process of creating and publishing a video for your business.

1. Script your video.

While there's a time and place for videos to be off-the-cuff , most video marketing needs a script .

If you skip this step, you'll find yourself editing more than you need to, releasing a video longer than it should be, and probably losing your audience along the way.

Start writing your script the way you would begin a blog post — with an outline. List out your key points and order them logically.

Try drafting in Google Docs to promote collaboration and real-time commenting. Use the "Insert > Table" function to create a two-column script. Write your audio script in the left column and insert matching visual ideas in the right column.

Two-column scripts are a common practice in television because they help you organize how the audio and visual parts of your script work together.

Don't make the viewer wait until the end to understand the purpose of your video. They won't stick around. Be sure to include a message near the beginning that states your video’s purpose, especially for educational and explainer videos.

As you begin creating videos, you'll notice a key difference between video scripts and your typical business blog post — the language.

Video language should be clear, relaxed, and conversational. Avoid using complex sentence structures and eloquent clauses. Instead, connect with your audience by writing in first person and using visual language. Keep the language concise, but avoid jargon and buzzwords.

Most video scripts are probably shorter than you think. Keep a script timer handy to check your script length as you write and edit. For example, a 350-word script equates to a video that is nearly 2 minutes long.

Words on paper sound different from when they’re read out loud. Try organizing a table read of your script before you start filming. The point of a table read is to smooth out the kinks of the script and nail down inflection points.

Have your writer and talent gather around a table with their laptops and read the script multiple times. This is a great time to make script changes so that the language sounds more natural.

2. Set up your studio.

When you begin creating your in-office studio, purchases can add up quickly. You might need a camera, tripods, lights, microphones, and more.

But setting up your studio doesn't have to be overwhelming. There are plenty of cost-effective ways to create professional videos in your space.

Basic Equipment

You’ll usually want to shoot with a tripod. Tripods will help you maintain a steady shot.

The type of tripod you choose should depend on the camera and lens you’re using.

If you're recording with your phone, you can use a table mount like the Arkon Tripod Mount or a full-size tripod like the Acuvar 50" Aluminum Tripod . For a DSLR, Manfrotto makes a variety of trustworthy tripods starting with the Manfrotto BeFree and increasing in quality and price from there.

You’ll also want to stock up on camera batteries and SD cards. Recording video will cause you to run through these quickly.

Audio Equipment

While many cameras have an internal microphone to record audio, you’ll want to invest in some quality sound equipment.

Most internal microphones aren't powerful enough to adequately record audio.

When you're shooting with your iPhone, there are many easy to use and inexpensive microphone choices. For example, the Movo VXR-10 PRO microphone will give you a plug-and-play solution for capturing audio on the move.

There are even more options for recording audio with a DSLR. You've likely seen many videos that use a lavalier microphone — the small piece that clips below the collar of the talent's shirt.

Lavaliers can be wired or wireless. But lavaliers can be uncomfortable and distracting for the talent (who has to have a wire threaded down his or her shirt) and for the viewer (who has to see a microphone for the whole video).

Instead, try recording with a shotgun mic. They're reliable, remain out of the shot, and record background noise in a natural-sounding way.

To set this up in your office studio, you'll need a shotgun mic like the Rode VideoMic NTG . You’ll also need:

• Shotgun clips
• A light stand
• A Zoom H4N recorder

The Zoom recorder will allow you to record audio separately on an SD card and adjust the gain for the space you're shooting in.

These audio purchases may sound expensive. But a shotgun mic setup is a sound investment that will last for years. If you're looking for a more cost-effective solution, the Rode VideoMic is a great alternative.

Lighting Equipment

You have a camera. You have audio. Now, let's talk about lights.

To outfit your studio without breaking the bank, head over to your local home improvement store. Pick up extension cords and a few clamp lights with bulbs. You'll also need three light stands , which are available on Amazon.

Three-point lighting is a traditional setup for video lights. It involves three lights placed strategically around the subject. This approach creates a soft light that makes your subjects look their best on camera.

First, you'll need a key light. Place this at a 45-degree angle to the left or right of the subject. Lift the light above their head and aim it downwards.

This light should be bright enough that it could be the only light in the scene.

Next, place the fill light at a 45-degree angle on the other side and lift it close to or just above eye level. The purpose of the fill is to soften the shadows created by the key, but without getting rid of them completely.

The fill should be dimmer than the key light. If you have to use the same type of light for both, scoot the fill back and diffuse it by clipping a clear shower curtain onto the clamp light with clothespins.

Finally, the backlight will add a third layer of dimension. Move your subject away from the background. Lift a light above the subject's head and place it behind them and off to the side so it's out of the frame.

Aim the light at the back of their head. This creates a line of light that separates them from the background.

Setting Up Your In-Office Studio

Once you have all your equipment, you're ready to create your office studio.

If you can create a studio, you'll save hours of prep time for each shoot. You can turn any room into a great studio, just make sure it isn't too empty. You can bring in a couch, chairs, or blankets to minimize the echoes in the room.

Try to find a room with minimal noise. Think about buying photography paper to create a background that's a little more appealing than a white wall.

When it’s time to shoot, turn off the overhead lights. With your three-point lighting setup, there will be no need for harsh fluorescent lights.

Show your talent that you value their time, and don’t ask them to wait while you turn lights on and test your camera. When everything is in place, you’re ready to move to the next step.

3. Prepare your talent.

If you have experienced, confident actors in your company, you're lucky. Video talent is a rare resource. But with a little bit of coaching, you can help your teammates thrive in front of the camera.

Don’t forget that getting in front of the camera can be scary. Give your talent the script early and let them know they don't need to memorize it.

Instead, place a laptop below the eye-line of the camera. Break the script into short paragraphs and record each section until you capture a great take. Plan in advance for extra footage or screenshots. You can have your talent read those lines directly off the laptop like a voice over for those sections.

4. Plan your shot list and get used to your equipment.

Before and during your video shoot you’ll want to maintain a list of shots you want to get and an inventory list to make sure you cover every aspect of the plan.

For example, if your marketing team wants photo stills from your video shoot to use for the blog, get those photos before breaking down the set. This will help your team get more value out of your time and resources.

You may not be familiar with everything it takes to get great shots for your video, so let’s go over some basics.

Composition Basics

Composition is one way to create a visually powerful video. The rule of thirds is a simple composition technique that can improve your videos. In this technique, you’ll place key elements at the intersection of two horizontal and two vertical lines, like in the example below.

In this example, the kitten's eye lines up with the top horizontal line on the right. This is a good screen composition for interviews.

For this "talking head" shot, you can also improve your composition by leaving some empty space between the person's head and the top of the screen.

Image Source

Another way to improve the look of your video is to include b-roll. B-roll is the supplementary footage included as a cutaway.

This might include shots of:

• A customer service rep talking on a phone
• A designer editing your website
• Visuals of your office
• Screenshots of your product

The key with b-roll is to make sure every piece enhances the story. Create a shot list of more b-roll ideas than you think you'll need and mark them off as you record them.

When you're collecting b-roll, include a mix of shots from varying angles and distances. Try a mix of the following common video shots.

Establishing Shots

These are wide shots that allow the viewer to see the entire scene. These are great to use at the beginning of a video or scene.

Medium Shots

These are shots like the one in the interview example above.

Close-ups are tightly cropped shots zoomed in to show detail. These might feature someone's hands typing on a keyboard or pouring a cup of coffee.

For practice, try telling a story with your b-roll and planning out a shot sequence.

For example, your subject might open a door from the hallway, walk into their office space, sit down at their desk, open their laptop, and begin typing.

A shot sequence showing this 10-second scenario could include six or more different b-roll clips.

Create Continuity

Continuity is the process of combining shots into a sequence so that they appear to have happened at the same time and place.

A key part of continuity is making sure any extra objects in the scene, like a cup of water on a desk, stay in the same place through every one of your shots.

Understand your camera.

Fear of new equipment can keep businesses from video marketing. But learning to shoot video doesn't have to be overwhelming.

You probably have a great, easy-to-use camera right in your pocket: your iPhone.

Recording with Your iPhone

Before filming with your iPhone, make sure your device has enough storage. And don't forget to enable your iPhone's Do Not Disturb feature to avoid distracting notifications while filming.

Once you open the iPhone's camera, flip your phone horizontally to create the best possible viewing experience. Then, move close enough to your subject so you don't have to use the zoom feature — it often makes the final video look pixelated and blurry.

Your iPhone might do a great job of focusing on the subject when you take photos, but when it comes to video the camera will adjust as you move around the scene.

To solve this problem, lock the exposure before you press record. Hold your finger down on the subject of the video until a yellow box appears with the words "AE/AF Lock."

Shooting with Prosumer and Professional Cameras

While iPhones are great for filming when you need to or getting used to video, you may want a more advanced tool. There are a ton of digital cameras to choose from. These are a few options we like.

If you're interested in going the prosumer route, take a look at the Canon PowerShot ELPH 360 . The GoPro HERO 10 is also fun for adventurous shoots with lots of movement.

Considering the expense of a DSLR camera, research your choices and read plenty of reviews. Top cameras (from most expensive to least) include the Sony Alpha 7 IV , Nikon D810 , and Canon EOS R5 . For a more cost-effective choice, check out some of these DSLRs .

If you’re not sure which type of video camera will work best for you, there are some key differences to consider.

Prosumer cameras are easy to use. They’re perfect for someone who wants the option to just press record. Most have a fixed lens because these make it easier to see what you are recording.

Professional cameras, like DSLRs, give you fine control over the manual settings when you’re recording video. They allow you to create the shallow depth of field (background out of focus) that people rave about.

DSLRs are small, work great in low light situations, and pair with a wide range of lenses — making them perfect for video. But, DSLRs do require some training and you may need to buy more add-ons, like lenses.

Understanding Your Camera's Manual Settings

If you choose a DSLR, there are a few settings you need to understand before your first shoot.

This is a high-level overview of each setting. There will be a different method for adjusting these settings based on your specific camera. If you want to learn more, refer to your camera's instruction manual.

Most videos have a frame rate of 24 frames per second (fps) or 30fps.

Video experts often credit 24fps with a more "cinematic" look, while 30fps is more common, especially for videos that need to be projected or broadcast on a larger screen. Ask the end-user of your video what they prefer. Then, be sure your resolution is at least 1920 x 1080 to maintain quality footage.

Once you've set your frame rate and resolution in your camera's settings, it's time to get to know your aperture, shutter speed , and ISO. These three variables work together.

Be sure to turn your camera to manual mode to control these settings.

Aperture refers to the size of the opening in the lens. Like a human eye, a lens opens and closes to control the amount of light reaching the sensor. Aperture is measured by f-stop. The smaller the f-stop number, the more open the lens is. A larger f-stop number means the lens is more closed.

What does aperture mean for your video? When a lot of light comes into the camera, you get a brighter image and a shallow depth of field. This is great for when you want your subject to stand out against a background.

When less light comes into the camera you get a deep depth of field and can focus across a larger portion of your frame.

Shutter Speed

Shutter speed is a term from still photography. When taking a photo, shutter speed is the length of time the camera's sensor gets exposed to light. Think of it as how quickly or slowly the camera blinks.

If you want a perfectly timed photo of a hummingbird frozen in time, shoot with a fast shutter speed If you want to shoot an image of blurred headlights at night use a slow shutter speed.

Shutter speed is measured in seconds, or in most cases, fractions of seconds. So, 1/1000 would be faster than 1/30.

But what does shutter speed mean for video? To pick the right setting, you'll have to do a little math.

Here are some common shutter speeds and how to calculate them:

• At 24fps, 24 x 2 = 48, equalling a shutter speed of 1/50
• At 30fps, 30 x 2 = 60, equalling a shutter speed of 1/60
• At 60fps, 60 x 2 = 120, equalling a shutter speed of 1/20

Remember, this is just a guideline for choosing shutter speed. There's always room to tweak shutter speed to achieve the desired effect.

In digital photography and videography, ISO measures the camera sensor's sensitivity to light.

On your camera, you'll see the settings referred to with numbers in the hundreds or thousands (e.g. 200, 400, 800, 1600, etc).

The higher the number, the more sensitive your camera is to light. The lower the number, the less light-sensitive it is.

ISO also affects the graininess of the image. Low ISOs produce a crisp shot, while high ISOs create a more noisy, grainy shot.

When choosing an ISO, consider the lighting. If your subject is well-lit, like when you’re outside, you can get by with a lower ISO, around 100 or 200. If you're indoors in a low-light situation, you'll need to bump up the ISO — just be careful of how grainy it makes your shot.

This is how the three factors of the Exposure Triangle work together. When you have a low-lit situation, for example, you may choose a lens that can shoot with a low f-stop to let more light into the camera and avoid making the shot too noisy with a high ISO.

If you're just starting out with manual video settings, don't get overwhelmed. It takes time and a lot of practice. While understanding aperture, shutter speed, and ISO can help you shoot great videos, there is one more important factor: white balance.

White Balance

White balance tells your camera the color temperature of the environment you're shooting in.

Different types of light have different colors. For example, incandescent bulbs (like what's in most living room lamps) have a warm color. Fluorescent lights (like office lighting) are a little bit cooler. Daylight is cooler yet.

Before you begin recording, you have to adjust your camera's white balance according to your setup.

Most cameras have an auto option, presets, and a custom setting for white balance. Try to avoid auto white balance and opt for a preset or custom setting instead.

To understand the importance of setting your white balance, take a look at these two photos. The space is lit with yellow fluorescent lights. You can see how the appropriate setting looks natural, while the daylight setting adds a blue tint to the scene.

Focus is also important to keep in mind. With a DSLR, you can shoot with autofocus or manual focus.

Manual focus is usually best. Use the (+) and (-) buttons to enlarge the viewfinder and move close to your subject's face. Then, adjust the focus on the lens.

For shooting setups like interviews, make sure the subject's eyelashes are in focus — that way, you can be certain your footage is clear and sharp.

5. Shoot your video.

Recording a video is tricky because you need to balance many different ways of thinking. A great video should have:

• An emotional draw
• An interesting storyline
• Strong visual cues
• Compelling sound
• A clear message and call-to-action

To accomplish this, you need to be a coach. Balance critical feedback with support and encouragement after each take.

This is why conducting a table read during the scripting process is so important: It's easier to give feedback when there's not a camera in the room.

Try to get a little silly during the shoot or your talent will be on edge and uncomfortable and it will show in the footage.

In the hectic rush of shooting a video, it can be easy to forget crucial details. Video marketing is more than the art of communication. Marketers creating video marketing also need to:

• Stick to a budget and schedule
• Work with the cast and crew to follow a plan
• Maintain clear communication
• Factor in extras like props and special effects

So, while you're maintaining the fun level on set, pay attention to the little things. For example, make sure all your mics are on and watch for any lighting changes.

Record each section many times and have your talent experiment. When you think they've nailed the shot try to get one more.

If you can, try to circle back to the beginning of the script at the end of your recording. Chances are your subject got more comfortable throughout the shoot. Since the beginning is often the most crucial part of the video, record that section again when they're feeling the most confident.

Shoot for the edit.

Some video marketers are better at recording while others are better at editing. It’s a good idea to understand the process and pain points of each.

For example, as the person behind the camera, you may believe you collected ample footage and asked all the right interview questions. But to the editor, you may have gotten too much of one type of shot and missed out on some that would make their job easier.

So, shoot for the edit. Remember that you’ll need to edit all the footage you record. This can help you make decisions that will save you countless hours in the editing room.

There are a few different strategies for shooting with the edit in mind.

1. Leave a buffer at the beginning and the end of each clip.

This can keep you from cutting too close to an important shot.

2. Record extra footage for jump cuts.

As a producer, your job is to capture plenty of b-roll to make sure your editor never runs out. In the section on preparing talent, we talked about recording your script in short sections.

Extra b-roll can help mask these jump cuts so that your video looks and feels more natural to viewers. Another way to mask jump cuts is to shoot with two cameras. This strategy is helpful if you're recording an interview without a script.

If you plan to shoot with two cameras, try this setup:

Make Camera A a traditional, straight-on shot. Then place Camera B at a 30 to 45-degree angle.

With this setup, the editor can flip between these two views to make the cut appear natural. You can see how to cut these two camera angles together in the example below.

A note about shooting with two cameras: Your editor will need to sync the footage between the different views. To help them do this, clap your hands loudly in the view of both cameras right before you ask the first interview question. Modern editing software has auto-sync features, but this loud clap will help you initially line up the clips.

3. Mark your good clips.

Even if you're recording a scripted video, you might have to record a section 10 or more times. This can be a lot of footage for an editor to sort through.

So, when your subject nails a take, wave your hand in front of the lens like in the example below. Then your editor can look for this visual cue when they review your footage.

6. Edit your video.

This phase will sometimes overlap with your video shoot, but not always. During this stage, you’ll edit a rough cut of your video, and forward it on for stakeholder reviews.

Some videos go through several editing reviews before they get to the final product. This is also the phase where the team adds visual effects, music, and sound design.

Let’s walk through these important steps for editing your video.

Organize your footage.

File organization can be boring. But it’s essential for video marketing.

As you organize your video footage, there are a few things to keep in mind.

First, video format files are incredibly large , so it's unlikely you'll want to store them on your internal hard drive. You'll quickly run out of storage, and your computer's processing speed will begin to lag.

Instead, invest in an external hard drive like one of the Lacie Rugged models and store your project files on this hard drive. This method also makes it easier to collaborate with teammates because you can easily share the drive.

Second, video editing programs are very particular about where you keep your files. If you don't stick with the original file structure, you may get a lot of error messages.

On your external hard drive, think about creating a separate folder for each project.

For example, when you import your footage from your camera, place it in the "footage" folder on your hard drive.

Then create a template project folder that you can copy and paste for each project using the image below as a guide.

It’s also important to back up your files. Without backups, you’ll risk losing hours of video footage. It's not unusual for video marketers to have an external hard drive for everyday work, another for backups, and a third set of backups in the cloud with Dropbox or Google Drive.

Edit your video.

You've filmed your video footage, now it's time to talk about editing.

Video editing can be confusing. But there is a range of great options for video editing based on your skill level, operating system, and budget, including free programs and mobile apps . Let's go over some of our favorites.

Intermediate: Apple iMovie

iMovie is Apple's video editing software. iMovie is simple, user-friendly, and free on all Apple products. iMovie allows you to create and edit your videos by cutting together clips. iMovie also makes it easy to add:

• Sound effects
• Basic color correction
• Special effects

It also has helpful templates that simplify the editing process. The platform supports high-quality clips like 4K video footage and makes it easy to share your work directly to a video hosting platform.

This software isn't commonly used by professionals, because it has limited access to advanced color correction and editing features. But iMovie is a great option if you're just getting started. Suppose you are on Windows or thinking of switching. In that case,  you can still enjoy the same video editing experience on your computer as there are plenty of alternatives to iMovie for PC that have a similar set of features or even more. 

Advanced: Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe Premiere Pro is a leading video editing software program used by amateurs and professionals. With a customizable interface and advanced editing tools, the platform is an industry-standard for video editing.

Premiere makes it easy to collaborate with other editors, organize your material, and sync with other programs in the Adobe suite like After Effects and Photoshop. The platform supports high-quality footage (4K and higher) and includes advanced, built-in color correction and grading tools that set it apart from cheaper or free software like iMovie.

The only downside to Premiere is the cost . A year-long subscription to the latest Premiere Pro CC costs about $240. If you're new to video editing, you may want to experiment with a less expensive tool like iMovie or Adobe Premiere Elements before investing in the Premiere Pro. If you’re trying to decide if this software is your best option, you can check out some Adobe Premiere Pro tutorials here .

Music is a powerful tool that can alter your video's mood and tone. The right music can elevate an at-home project to a professional piece of content. The right music and sound effects can help keep your viewer's attention, evoke emotions, and define your overall editing style.

Adding music to your video marketing takes more than one step, so let’s walk through the process.

1. Set a music budget.

Before you start filming, set a music budget and research your local copyright laws. Copyright law can be difficult to decipher, especially when you're dealing with digital content. Most music isn't free. If you use another artist's music without permission or proper licensing, you risk video removal and legal action.

2. Figure out what music your target audience responds to.

Think about your audience and the overall feel of your production. While some videos feel unfinished without background music, others just need a few tunes to tie the project together. Pay attention to videos that have a similar style to see how other brands use music.

Are you targeting a small audience that will appreciate the newest hip-hop track, or do you need something that will appeal to many demographics? Are you creating a practical tutorial or an upbeat event recap? Be sure to choose music that lines up with audience expectations.

3. Decide what kind of music and sound effects you’ll need.

Next, think about the purpose of the music. Do you need background music or something with real impact? Will you be narrating or speaking in the video? If so, don't let the music get in the way of your content. Sometimes the best music is the music you don't remember at all.

Finally, decide whether you want to add intro and outro music. Intro and outro music can serve as a theme for your content. These are a great choice if you don't need music throughout your entire video.

Bookend music can help set the tone for your video, naturally split your content into chapters, and leave your viewers feeling they had a complete experience.

If you’re looking for music for your video, you have a couple of options. You can pay a composer to create an original score, but most video marketing uses royalty-free music .

Royalty-free songs aren't free to use; they're quality songs available for a single flat fee. This means you don't have to worry about paying extra licensing fees or royalties in the future. YouTube , Pond5 , and PremiumBeat are all great sites to find royalty-free music.

4. Choose the right song.

After you know what type of music you need and where to get it, it's time to start analyzing potential songs.

Consider the song's pacing. Songs with a steady rhythm are easy to change to suit your video style.

Try to choose simple songs that are easy to loop. And think about whether instrumental music or something with digital samples is best for your audience. The wrong song can make your video feel unprofessional and out of date.

Once you have your video footage and music it's time for voice overs .

A voice over is the narration that's not spoken by someone on-camera. Voice overs are an effective tool that can help make your content more relatable, emotional, and fluid.

You don't have to hire a professional to record a great voice over. Below are a few tips to capture audio on a budget.

If you can't go to a professional studio, try to pick a quiet room away from distracting sounds like sirens, opening and closing doors, and people talking on the phone.

Try reading your script aloud in the space, and pay attention to the room's acoustics. Does your voice echo or sound muffled? If so, consider recording in a different space or adding furniture to fill in the room.

Do a practice read before recording.

Read through your script a few times and take note of any difficult pauses, transitions, and words.

We recommend running through your script a few times, especially the first few paragraphs, to ensure that your voice is fully warmed up.

You’ll also want to invest in a good pair of headphones because they make it easier to hear recording errors. For example, if you hear popping or hissing sounds, try standing further away from the mic or invest in a pop filter .

Record, test and listen.

Think you can record the perfect voice over in just one take? Even professional voiceover actors can need 10 or more takes to record a voice over. That may seem like a lot, but it's easier to get a new take of audio than it is to try and fix a voice over during the editing process.

On the day you plan to record, be sure to avoid wearing noisy clothing or jewelry. Also, use a stand, laptop, or teleprompter while recording so you aren't rustling through a printed script.

Remember to relax, read slowly, pause, and take breaks while recording your voice over. Sometimes all you need is a sip of water to get back on track.

You're ready to publish your video. You shot the footage, edited it together, and added sound. Now it's time to export your video and get it online so your audience can start viewing, sharing, and engaging with it.

Now it’s time to post your video.

7. Upload Your Video

Your video is ready, but you need more than a brilliant video to get eyes on your video marketing. Every video hosting platform will have slightly different requirements, but let’s talk about a few things you should know before you upload your first video.

Video File Formats

There are many file formats for videos, and you want to be sure that your favorite platform supports your format of choice. These are some common formats that most platforms accept:

Other file formats for videos include:

• HEVC (h265)

After you export your video in the right format for upload, there are some extras you can add to your video upload that will make it easier for your audience to find your videos organically on platforms like YouTube.

You'll want an eye-catching headline and a description for your video. Your description can be up to 5000 characters, and the keywords in your title and description can make it easier for your audience to find your video.

Visual Add-ons

Design an eye-catching video thumbnail image. You can also design and add unique end screens and cards to increase video engagement.

Closed Captions

Some platforms let you add closed captions to your videos. There are many free captioning tools you can use to create captions that will make your video marketing more accessible. When you upload you’ll just need to choose the language and upload your file.

Video Hosting Platforms

Video marketing isn’t just about what people are watching, it’s where they’re watching. There are many places to host videos online, and in this section, we'll talk about some of the best ones.

When you ask your friends which online video platform they use, the answer you probably hear the most is YouTube .

YouTube is the largest video hosting platform, second largest search platform , and the most visited website in the world.

Every single day, people watch over five billion videos on YouTube. It's also free to upload your videos to YouTube and optimize them for search .

In addition to its massive audience, YouTube offers several other features that make the platform a good choice for hosting your video.

• Build an audience of subscribers. Because you can host YouTube videos on individual channels, users who follow your channel are more likely to see other videos you upload.
• Organize your videos into playlists. You can add videos in your channel to playlists. This makes it easy for your audience to search within your content.
• Target and engage a specific audience. As a social platform, viewers can engage with your videos by liking and commenting on them, providing you another chance to interact with your audience. YouTube also offers a variety of advertising strategies for more sophisticated targeting.

Although YouTube offers the benefit of reaching a large audience with no cost to upload and host videos, there are several downsides to the platform.

While video ads can be a great tool for promoting your content, the number of ads on the platform from other advertisers can detract from your viewer's experience.

If your friends aren’t watching YouTube they’re probably using Vimeo , the second largest video hosting platform .

Vimeo's audience is much smaller than YouTube's, with 1.58 million subscribers in 2021. But there are still many benefits that make it a favorite for content creators and viewers alike. These features include:

• Fewer Ads and Commercials. Vimeo has limited ads and commercials that would otherwise detract from your viewers' experience.
• More Professional Content. Videos on Vimeo also tend to be higher quality than on YouTube, and the audience on the platform is likely to be more professional.
• More Options for Businesses. Vimeo offers several different premium account choices for businesses. The premium accounts provide more storage, advanced analytics, customer support, player customization, access to lead generation tools, and much more. Besides premium accounts, Vimeo also partners with businesses to produce quality marketing content.

If you're looking to showcase high-quality, artistic content, Vimeo might be the platform for you. But if you want to increase your reach, let’s explore some other platform options.

Vidyard is an online video platform for business. They offer tools to create, host, and share videos to enable sales and service teams to connect with customers.

Tools that can enable your video success on this platform include:

• Native publishing. This platform allows you to post and update video content to multiple online channels from a central location.
• Data Reporting. Their tool also offers analytics of viewer insights. That data can connect directly to your marketing automation software or CRM. For example, if that prospect you've been monitoring views your latest case study video, they'll let you know right away.
• Video personalization. Vidyard also helps businesses personalize videos with the viewer's name or company. This is a creative addition as you work video into your marketing and sales strategies.

Video Marketing for Social Media

Now that we’ve covered the biggest video hosting platforms, let's drill down into best practices for social media.

Expect viewers to watch your videos without sound.

Did you know that Instagram was the first social channel to show silent, auto-playing videos? This type of video is popular on social media because it makes it easy for viewers to watch videos when they are in public.

Here are a few best practices you can use to make silent videos engaging:

• Start with action to grab your viewer's attention.
• Videos that feature people speaking are great for landing pages or your website, but try to stick to visually stimulating videos for social media.
• Add text or include captions so that viewers can follow along with or without audio.

Short videos are best.

The most popular videos on social media vary in length by platform. While some strategies call for a longer video, shoot your video in a way that makes it easy to break into more bite-sized pieces. This will help you get more traffic and engagement from your video marketing.

Grab attention fast.

When you’re posting to social media, your video content is competing with a lot of information on the screen. If your viewers are watching from their mobile devices, there’s even more competition. So, it’s a good idea to get into your content quickly and to make it clear what your video is about in the first 8-10 seconds.

Shoot video that works on many different screen sizes.

As you shoot your video, be sure to compose each shot for a range of screen dimensions and shapes.

For example, your audience can watch a widescreen video on their mobile phone while scrolling on Facebook or LinkedIn, but the same video might cut off important visual information if it’s posted as an Instagram story.

Follow best practices for each social media platform.

Facebook video best practices.

In 2016 Facebook emphasized video content with a dedicated video tab, and the platform's focus on video has grown from there.

Using video on Facebook seems to give brands greater reach in the newsfeed. This is probably because they emphasize viewer engagement in their algorithm. And according to recent Biteable research, their video ad test got 480% more clicks than a still image. This shows that audiences are currently more engaged with videos on the platform.

Brand awareness videos that are light-hearted and entertaining tend to perform well on Facebook. They also offer a detailed best practices guide that outlines how to succeed with video on the platform. It includes recommended video length and priorities for mobile viewing.

Their goal is to better surface videos that are most relevant to the viewer. This means that creating the right content for your audience is more important than churning out videos to keep up with what’s popular.

It’s also a good idea to upload videos directly to Facebook because their algorithm considers a user's previous video-related actions when determining what videos to show them on later visits.

Instagram Video Best Practices

Instagram's latest strategy is prioritizing video and social selling. This makes it a perfect platform to launch your latest marketing video.

To impress viewers on Instagram, offer your viewers something they value. IG's content best practices recommend videos that are consistent, original, and full of personality.

There are four different video formats on the platform:

Reels are 15-30 second videos that you can edit with in-platform tools including:

• Timer and speed controls

This IG video format also lets users add sound to their videos from an in-platform audio library.

Stories are 15-second videos, or 15-second sections of a longer video, that disappear after 24 hours.

You can also save Stories to your profile. Stories give brands a chance to post direct links that make it easier for people who see your products on Instagram to start shopping.

Instagram Video

Instagram video replaced IGTV in 2021. These videos can be as long as 60 minutes, which gives you a lot of room to experiment.

Instagram offers live video too .

Instagram is also the most popular social media platform for influencers. You may want to work on some collaborative videos if you want to make the most of Instagram for video.

Twitter Video Best Practices

Daily video views on Twitter increased 95% from 2020 to 2022.

Brevity is a core factor on this popular channel. So, when teasing a blog post or piece of content on Twitter , always keep your video short and to the point.

Short clips that are easy to consume tend to perform the best. According to Twitter, short means 6-15 seconds. They don't recommend you make videos longer than that.

If you want to get a little more experimental with using video on Twitter, you can try making custom videos to engage with your audience. Personal, one-on-one response videos are a smart way to make your brand more human while building personal connections with your followers.

Some other recommendations from Twitter's team include:

• Try pinning your video to the top of your profile for some added exposure.
• Show your logo and keep a permanent placement in the upper-left or upper-right corner of the frame
• Open your video with your products and services

LinkedIn Video Best Practices

LinkedIn users love video and video has been a focus on the platform since 2017. This is a professional platform and users spend a lot of time networking and searching for jobs. Keep that focus in mind as you create videos for LinkedIn.

For example, if you have a time-saver or just learned something new that might help other people in your network, video is an effective medium for sharing that knowledge.

Industry news is another relevant topic on this platform. If you have thoughts on a recent announcement or news article, let people know what you're thinking in a video.

And if your company has some news like a great recent hire, a video can offer a personable take that you can add to a press release.

If you're looking for more inspiration, check out these ideas:

• Showcase new technologies in video format
• Offer tutorials on how a new physical product works
• Broadcast from industry conferences and events

TikTok Video Best Practices

TikTok hit 1 billion monthly active users in 2022 and the most popular app in the U.S. in 2021. While this app started as a spot where Gen Z teens could learn the latest dances, it's become a force for users of all ages.

Trending content with a high number of views gets priority with TikTok 's algorithm. Frequent posting, humor, and authenticity are key on this platform.

If you're interested in advertising as well as organic posting, they have a helpful guide for top niches like gaming and ecommerce.

Pinterest Video Best Practices

Pinterest added video to their platform in 2016 and added live streaming in 2022. Pinterest loves creativity, and they recently launched Creator awards to emphasize this focus.

If you're not sure if Pinterest is the right platform for your audience, take another look. Product searches increased by 20x in 2020 on the platform, and 75% of surveyed users say they're always shopping.

So, promote a new blog post, engage with your audience, or even drive viewers to a landing page with Pinterest videos.

To drive traffic on Pinterest, create videos that encourage viewers to act, whether it's saving a pin, reading a blog, or buying a product. Don't forget to include visual cues for your brand and to create consistent and visually stunning videos for your pins.

Live features on social media let users post live video streams of what they're doing at that very moment.

And live video is more popular than ever. According to Statista , live streaming is the video content of choice for over 30% of viewers.

Most social media platforms offer live video streaming, including Facebook and Instagram. To get the most out of live video, make sure you’re maintaining the same production values for your live video as your pre-recorded videos. High-quality live videos will set you apart from other videos on social media.

For example, If you’re recording live video footage on the go, keep in mind that background noise is easily picked up by microphones. You may want a more controlled environment if you’re recording a more serious or professional broadcast.

Here are a few more tips to make your live videos stand out.

Think about timing.

Keep in mind that your live video will be broadcast from the platform itself, so that's mostly where you'll be promoting your broadcasts. Do some research on your target audience to find out when they're most engaged with your posts.

Even if some of your followers miss out, most apps will save your videos to the app by default. You can delete them manually if you want to but they’ll usually be available for viewing by your followers after your live stream ends.

Come up with a compelling title.

Your title should describe what your video is and why people should either tune in now or replay your stream later. Adding the word "exclusive" to your title lets users believe they're seeing footage no one else has seen before. This can make your video more exciting for potential viewers, so they’re more likely to tune in.

Respond to comments live.

On many platforms, people who are watching your stream in real-time can comment and "like" the broadcast.

Other viewers can see these comments and the number of likes your video has. Acknowledge or respond to these comments on the live broadcast to encourage engagement. This makes the experience feel like more of a two-way conversation.

Experiment and keep an eye on your data.

Be sure to experiment with different ways of using live video and what types of content your audience likes most.

Most platforms will offer data that you can analyze to figure out what works.

During this final phase, you’ll share your video with the world. Some videos will be broadcast on many platforms, while others will be just for a specific platform or campaign.

Channels for Video Marketing: Owned

Owned marketing channels are properties that you have free access to and can control. These channels give you the freedom to experiment with your video content and test what works before investing in paid channels.

Besides organic social media, think about posting on these channels.

Adding relevant videos to your website can bring a boost in traffic. It also offers an opportunity to educate prospects about new products and the best ways to use your products.

For example, this video for stovetop cookware went viral because it showed people a helpful product feature they didn’t know about before.

Many of the most popular blogs teach readers something new. Adding a video to your most popular blogs can give viewers another way to quickly learn about a topic and another way to engage with your brand. Videos can also improve traffic because of their influence on SEO.

Email clicks go up by 300% when you add video to your emails . If that’s not enough, videos convince people to buy a product or service and they can decrease the number of incoming support calls. This makes them excellent add-ons for customer and prospect emails.

Channels for Video Marketing: Paid

Paid channels aren’t an extra anymore, they’re a necessity, and brands new to paid media need to be smart about where and how they go about it.

Marketers' top priority is generating leads, and 86% of marketers say that video is effective for lead generation. Whether you’re posting retargeting campaigns or using PPC to build your audience, videos can help. And paid social media ads aren’t your only option.

But what are the best choices for paid media placement?

Display ads

Display ads are text, image, or video advertisements that compel the viewer to click to a landing page and take action like signing up for a free trial or buying a product.

Outstream Video Ads

Outstream ads are video ads that automatically play on mobile devices in a large format player. Users navigate to them in on-page, banner, and text content. For example, news websites and blogs often feature outstream video ads.

Instream Video Ads

Instream ads are the opposite of outstream ads. In instream video ads, the advertisement is part of existing video content, like a TV commercial.

Instream ads play before, during, or after other types of video content.

Interstitial Video Ads

These popup video ads are another consideration. In these ads, a user can navigate past your ad by clicking the ad or closing it to continue what they were already doing.

Native Advertising

Native ads will match the look and feel of the media format where they appear.

For example, if you sell sunglasses and partner with a bathing suit company, you can place an ad on their site.

Native ads feel more natural than some other paid ads. They can be expensive, but also have high conversion rates because they often align with something the viewer is already looking for.

Sponsored Content

Sponsored content is like native advertising because it matches the tone and feel of where it’s placed.

It’s media that a business pays for, but it’s created and shared by another brand or publisher.

Influencer Marketing

You can ask influencers to create your videos or collaborate with a favorite influencer to create videos together. From there, you can decide which channels are best for distribution. This is an excellent strategy to grow your brand reach.

Defining Your Goals and Video Analytics

Before launching any marketing campaign, it's important to decide your primary video goal. You built goals into your initial video marketing strategy, but these goals can sometimes change during production.

It's a good idea to pick out just one or two goals for each video. Any more than that, your video will seem unfocused, making it difficult for viewers to understand what they should do next.

For example, a single video can bring awareness to a new product and your brand, but adding the story of your founder to that same video could be too much.

Next, let's talk about metrics. Understanding video analytics will equip you to define and measure your success.

When you post a video, it's easy to get obsessed with one metric — view count. While view count can be an important metric, other metrics may be more relevant to your campaign.

As you choose which video analytics to track, try not to collect more data than you can analyze. Choose the metrics that are most relevant to your video marketing goals.

These are some popular metrics you'll see when you publish and track video.

View count is the number of times users have seen your video. It’s also referred to as reach.

This metric is great to track if your goal is to increase brand awareness. But it's important to remember that every video hosting platform measures a view differently.

For example, most articles state that a view on YouTube is 30 seconds while a view on Facebook is only 3 seconds but no one is really sure. So try to read the fine print before reporting on your video view count.

Play rate is the percentage of people who played your video divided by the number of impressions it received.

This metric helps figure out how relevant or appealing your video is to your audience. If thousands of people see your video, but only a handful of people play it, it's probably time to optimize your content.

Social Sharing and Comments

If you're on social media, you're probably familiar with sharing and commenting. Social shares and comments are good indicators of how relevant your content is to your target audience.

If a viewer watches your video and takes the time to share it with their network, you probably created a great piece of content. Social shares are also important because the more times your viewers share your video, the higher your view count will be. If your goal is to reach a lot of people, social shares are a good metric to track.

Video Completions

A video completion is the number of times users play your video in its entirety. This metric can be more reliable than view count when trying to gauge your video's success.

Completion Rate

The completion rate is the number of people who completed your video divided by the number of people who played it.

Completion rate and other engagement metrics are a great way to gauge a viewer's reaction to your video. Do you have a low completion rate? Are people all dropping off at a certain point? This might be a sign that your video content isn’t resonating with your target audience.

Click-Through Rate

Click-through rate (CTR) is the number of times users click your call-to-action (CTA)divided by the number of times it's viewed.

CTR is a great indicator of how effective your video is at encouraging people to take your desired action. If your CTR is low, consider revising the design or copy of your CTA.

Conversion Rate

Conversion rate is the number of times visitors completed your desired action divided by the number of clicks on your CTA.

If your goal is to have your viewers complete an action like signing up for a free trial, try adding a video to your landing page to see if your conversion rate increases.

Bounce Rate and Time-On-Page

Are you thinking about adding a video to a web page? Take note of the page bounce rate and how long people stay on the page before you add the video. Be sure to check the metrics after you place the video to see if your video changes the way people interact with your other content.

How to measure the effectiveness of your video marketing strategy.

Measuring performance on each platform and channel provides valuable information. This can help you decide whether a video is the right content type for your audience.

Across all platforms, in addition to the metrics above, be sure to measure views over time to determine the lifespan of your videos. You may find that you need to refresh your videos every few weeks or months to stay relevant to your audience.

Keep tracking and comparing engagement with your videos. This will help you find which topics encourage the most sharing and have a better lifetime value.

Ready, Set, Action

Video marketing can be overwhelming at first, but with a little practice and patience, you can easily produce high-quality video content that is unique to your brand.

Pick up a camera, start filming, and watch your engagement levels increase. It's time to make video a key part of your marketing strategy.

Take one step at a time and keep learning. You never know how a new idea or strategy can help you meet your goals.

Editor's note: This post was originally written in August 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Don't forget to share this post!

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How to Create a YouTube Channel for Your Small Business

Victoria Greywing

9 min. read

Updated February 9, 2024

Millions of people all around the world use YouTube as their primary source of internet entertainment. There are numerous advantages to creating a YouTube channel that will help a small business.

The success of your YouTube efforts is highly dependent upon finding an effective strategy for optimizing your account. If you want to know how to start a YouTube channel for your business, there are several steps you must complete. This article covers the ways to build a massive channel that will attract customers to your website and generate income for you. 

• Why does your company need a YouTube channel?

Before we dive into the specific details, let us go over how YouTube could benefit your company. 

The major advantages are building an active, targeted audience for your website and increasing your visibility to search engines. Secondly, you can develop relationships with other businesses and influencers by commenting on their videos and collaborating. Thirdly, you can brand yourself and your website as experts in your chosen niche when you get enough exposure.

So, how does all this work?

The amount of time people spend online has drastically increased, especially in the last two years due to the pandemic. This eventually led to larger video consumption –  82% of internet users  prefer videos to  other types of content . And that opens a whole lot of new opportunities for marketers.

In 2020,  88% of marketing specialists  claimed to use YouTube as a part of their digital strategy. And that’s not surprising at all — the platform has an audience of 2 billion people, providing a wide range of niches your business can fit in. When you reach the right audience, you increase  brand awareness , loyalty, and sales — and these are the ultimate goals of any business.

• How to create a YouTube channel

As part of your  digital marketing strategy , you must understand that YouTube offers several unique features that can help you promote your small business. Among them are advanced analytics, video optimization, search engine optimization, and more. Let’s take a closer look at the step-by-step process of starting a YouTube channel.

1. Set up an account

A Gmail account automatically creates a YouTube profile as soon as you log into the platform. For security reasons, it’s better to create a separate corporate account so that only your current employees can have access to the channel:

• Log into your Youtube account via Google.
• Click on the profile picture icon.
• Choose “Create a channel” from the drop-down menu.
• Enter your channel name and upload the profile picture.
• Confirm your actions with the “Create channel” button.

Now you have a channel. You can access it via the “Your channel” button in the drop-down menu. It opens the dashboard where you can customize the look of your channel and manage videos. But first, you need to fill out the profile information.

• Go to “Customize channel,” then click “Basic Info.”
• Add channel description and contact info.
• Add links to your site or social media accounts.
• Change the URL to your channel to a custom one. Note that you can do it only after you have 100 subscribers and your account is at least 30 days old.
• Go to the “Branding” tab.
• Add a profile picture (if you haven’t already) and a banner image.
• Upload a watermark logo that will appear on all your videos. Preferably, it should be your company’s logo.

Since it’s a corporate channel, you may want to have several people take care of it. Ideally, you should have a whole team of specialists – a videographer, a community manager, and a content manager. To give access to several people, go to the “Settings” section in the left-side menu, then click “Permissions.” There, you can send out invites to the people of interest and choose their roles:

• Managers can edit everything as well as add or remove other people.
• Editors can change profile information but can’t delete videos.
• Viewers can only view the profile but can’t change anything.

You can also give out limited editing or viewing permissions. Plus, the only person who can delete the channel is you, the creator.

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2. Match the market

The next important thing to do is to  research the market . Ask yourself these questions: “Are my competitors present on YouTube? What content do they make? How do they promote themselves?”

And most importantly, “How can I beat them?”

That’s right. You should never copy other brands, but make sure your company stands out. You need to invest some time and effort into the visual layout and  branding  of your channel, not to mention the quality of content. For now, let’s talk about your channel’s appearance.

Make a channel trailer

This will be the first thing people who are not subscribed to you see when they first visit your channel. It can be a short compilation of the best of your videos or a welcome video presenting the company. 

Highlight a featured video

This video is meant for your subscribers. You can use your latest video for this section or choose the one you think they should watch right away.

Add navigation sections

Help your followers navigate through your channel by making themed playlists: uploads, live streams, and custom lists.

Work on channel art

The design of your YouTube channel should match the whole brand strategy and color book. Having the same patterns, colors, and fonts will invest in the trust and loyalty of your fanbase.

Get verified

A small gray checkmark next to a channel’s name means a lot, as it adds trust. It will let people know that your channel is the official representation of your brand on YouTube. To verify your account, you need to go to “Settings” – “Channel” – “Feature eligibility.” There you will find the button that lets you get verified. After the process is finished, you will be able to post longer videos, stream live, and add custom thumbnails.

3. Optimize for search

All of your efforts will be in vain if you don’t have enough  search engine exposure . Now that you know how to create a YouTube channel, it’s time to learn how to optimize it for your purposes. 

The title, description, and tags should be optimized so that viewers searching for related items will find your content. You should do it for individual videos, but you can also have a pool of generic keywords that you will use every time.  SEO on YouTube works the same way as in Google, Bing, or any other search engine. The easiest way to  research the keywords  is by typing them into the search bar. If you have a match in bold, that’s the phrase you need.

Alternatively, you can use services like Google Ads, Ahrefs, and Semrush to get the whole picture of what’s happening in your niche SEO-wise. Among other tools are vidIQ and TubeBuddy, which have YouTube in their primary focus.

One more important thing that differentiates YouTube is that you have to actually use keywords in your videos. Not just pronounced separately, but used in your speech and subtitles. That’s how search algorithms understand that your video is relevant and answers the users’ intent.

4. Dive into content-making

Making a cool video may take a lot of time, so, as we’ve mentioned before, you should consider having a dedicated YouTube team. They will take care of the video production and marketing, as well as building a community.

If you, however, are on a budget, you can rely on  free tools for video-making  and have a marketing specialist help you do the promotional part.

You will need: 

• An online video editor like Fastreel, Magisto, or Kapwing
• An illustration-maker for channel art: Canva, Venngage, or Crello
• A content planner like Loomly, Trello, or Agorapulse

When you have all the tools you need, it’s time to find out how to make a YouTube channel more interesting with different video content.

• Types of content that perform well on YouTube

You will find dozens of video content types across YouTube. But which ones to pick for promoting a small business? The ones below work great for corporate accounts, so let’s take a closer look.

Brand introduction

A brand presentation is arguably the most important video on your channel. Tell your audience who you are, what you do, and what your content is about. This type of video works great as a channel trailer for the newcomers to get to know you. You can also make a series of short “meet the team” videos when introducing your employees. These videos can include short interviews, time-lapses of workdays, and little anecdotes about their lives.

Product overviews

If you produce cool items, develop handy software, or provide great services, YouTube is the best place to showcase your offerings. Product overviews are basically advertisements where you talk about features and benefits for users. These videos fit very well when you launch new products or release updates to your existing goods.

Instructions

Instructional guides are a must-have if you want the audience to treat you as an expert. Teach your subscribers how to use your services or products and make QA videos about the most troublesome moments. If you have your own profound guides and instructional videos, people won’t need to search for them anywhere else.

Educational videos

These differ from instructions in a way that they cover a wider range of topics. These topics, however, should be related to your product or service. For example, if you are a digital design agency, you can educate your audience about current design trends or color theory.

Customer testimonials

Client testimonials will draw viewers to your channel and provide valuable content for your subscriber base. A customer testimonial can include specific details about the benefits of a product or service based on real-life experience. Such feedback is more believable than bragging from the brand’s side.

Live streams

A scheduled live stream event will cause anticipation among your subscribers. You can tease the public on your other social media accounts and then talk to the audience in real-time. Live streams are perfect for product launches, QA sessions, and educational webinars.

• Creating a successful YouTube channel takes time

As you can see, there are a lot of advantages to  making use of YouTube . Not every company is successful in doing so, but with enough time and effort, you can reach your goal. A YouTube account will attract new audiences, improve relationships with customers, and draw more traffic to your site.

Plan out your digital strategy first, research the market, and you’re good to go. Don’t forget to optimize your content for search engines, upload videos regularly, and the followers won’t take long to come. By balancing the amount and types of content, you can keep your clients entertained for a long time.

Clarify your ideas and understand how to start your business with LivePlan

Victoria is a content manager in Movavi. She specializes in writing user-friendly content and researching complex topics to make them easy to understand in her articles.

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How to write a business plan for a video production company?

Putting together a business plan for a video production company can be daunting - especially if you're creating a business for the first time - but with this comprehensive guide, you'll have the necessary tools to do it confidently.

We will explore why writing one is so important in both starting up and growing an existing video production company, as well as what should go into making an effective plan - from its structure to content - and what tools can be used to streamline the process and avoid errors.

Without further ado, let us begin!

In this guide:

Why write a business plan for a video production company?

• What information is needed to create a business plan for a video production company?
• How do I build a financial forecast for a video production company?

The written part of a video production company business plan

• What tool should I use to write my video production company business plan?

Understanding the document's scope and goals will help you easily grasp its structure and content. Before diving into the specifics of the plan, let's take a moment to explore the key reasons why having a video production company business plan is so crucial.

To have a clear roadmap to grow the business

Running a small business is tough! Economic cycles bring growth and recessions, while the business landscape is ever-changing with new technologies, regulations, competitors, and consumer behaviours emerging constantly.

In such a dynamic context, operating a business without a clear roadmap is akin to driving blindfolded: it's risky, to say the least. That's why crafting a business plan for your video production company is vital to establish a successful and sustainable venture.

To create an effective business plan, you'll need to assess your current position (if you're already in business) and define where you want the business to be in the next three to five years.

Once you have a clear destination for your video production company, you'll have to:

• Identify the necessary resources (human, equipment, and capital) needed to reach your goals,
• Determine the pace at which the business needs to progress to meet its objectives as scheduled,
• Recognize and address the potential risks you may encounter along the way.

Engaging in this process regularly proves advantageous for both startups and established companies. It empowers you to make informed decisions about resource allocation, ensuring the long-term success of your business.

To maintain visibility on future cash flows

Businesses can go for years without making a profit, but they go bust as soon as they run out of cash. That's why "cash is king", and maintaining visibility on your video production company's future cash flows is critical.

How do I do that? That's simple: you need an up-to-date financial forecast.

The good news is that your video production company business plan already contains a financial forecast (more on that later in this guide), so all you have to do is to keep it up-to-date.

To do this, you need to regularly compare the actual financial performance of your business to what was planned in your financial forecast, and adjust the forecast based on the current trajectory of your business.

Monitoring your video production company's financial health will enable you to identify potential financial problems (such as an unexpected cash shortfall) early and to put in place corrective measures. It will also allow you to detect and capitalize on potential growth opportunities (higher demand from a given segment of customers for example).

To secure financing

A detailed business plan becomes a crucial tool when seeking financing from banks or investors for your video production company.

Investing and lending to small businesses are very risky activities given how fragile they are. Therefore, financiers have to take extra precautions before putting their capital at risk.

At a minimum, financiers will want to ensure that you have a clear roadmap and a solid understanding of your future cash flows (like we just explained above). But they will also want to ensure that your business plan fits the risk/reward profile they seek.

This will off-course vary from bank to bank and investor to investor, but as a rule of thumb. Banks will want to see a conservative financial management style (low risk), and they will use the information in your business plan to assess your borrowing capacity — the level of debt they think your business can comfortably handle — and your ability to repay the loan. This evaluation will determine whether they'll provide credit to your video production company and the terms of the agreement.

Whereas investors will carefully analyze your business plan to gauge the potential return on their investment. Their focus lies on evidence indicating your video production company's potential for high growth, profitability, and consistent cash flow generation over time.

Now that you recognize the importance of creating a business plan for your video production company, let's explore what information is required to create a compelling plan.

Information needed to create a business plan for a video production company

Drafting a video production company business plan requires research so that you can project sales, investments and cost accurately in your financial forecast, and convince the reader that there is a viable commercial opportunity to be seized.

Below, we'll focus on three critical pieces of information you should gather before starting to write your plan.

Carrying out market research for a video production company

Carrying out market research before writing a business plan for a video production company is essential to ensure that the financial projections are accurate and realistic.

Market research helps you gain insight into your target customer base, competitors, pricing strategies and other key factors which can have an impact on the commercial success of your business.

In particular, it is useful in forecasting revenue as it provides valuable data regarding potential customers’ spending habits and preferences.

You may find that there is a growing demand for video production services from businesses that are looking to produce promotional content for their online channels. Additionally, you could discover that there is a potential market for producing educational videos, as more people may be turning to online learning platforms.

This information can then be used to create more accurate financial projections which will help investors make informed decisions about investing in your video production company.

Developing the marketing plan for a video production company

Before delving into your video production company business plan, it's imperative to budget for sales and marketing expenses.

To achieve this, a comprehensive sales and marketing plan is essential. This plan should provide an accurate projection of the necessary actions to acquire and retain customers.

Additionally, it will outline the required workforce to carry out these initiatives and the corresponding budget for promotions, advertising, and other marketing endeavours.

By budgeting accordingly, you can ensure that the right resources are allocated to these vital activities, aligning them with the sales and growth objectives outlined in your business plan.

The staffing and equipment needs of a video production company

As you embark on starting or expanding your video production company, having a clear plan for recruitment and capital expenditures (investment in equipment and real estate) is essential for ensuring your business's success.

Both the recruitment and investment plans must align with the timing and level of growth projected in your forecast, and they require appropriate funding.

A video production company might incur staffing costs such as hiring a camera operator, sound technician, lighting technician, and editor. They might also incur equipment costs such as renting a camera, lighting, microphones, and other necessary production equipment.

To create a realistic financial forecast, you also need to consider other operating expenses associated with the day-to-day running of your business, such as insurance and bookkeeping.

With all the necessary information at hand, you are ready to begin crafting your business plan and developing your financial forecast.

What goes into your video production company's financial forecast?

The objective of the financial forecast of your video production company's business plan is to show the growth, profitability, funding requirements, and cash generation potential of your business over the next 3 to 5 years.

The four key outputs of a financial forecast for a video production company are:

• The profit and loss (P&L) statement ,
• The projected balance sheet ,
• The cash flow forecast ,
• And the sources and uses table .

Let's look at each of these in a bit more detail.

The projected P&L statement

Your video production company forecasted P&L statement enables the reader of your business plan to get an idea of how much revenue and profits your business is expected to make in the near future.

Ideally, your reader will want to see:

• Growth above the inflation level
• Expanding profit margins
• Positive net profit throughout the plan

Expectations for an established video production company will of course be different than for a startup. Existing businesses which have reached their cruising altitude might have slower growth and higher margins than ventures just being started.

The forecasted balance sheet of your video production company

The projected balance sheet of your video production company will enable the reader of your business plan to assess the overall financial health of your business.

It shows three elements: assets, liabilities and equity:

• Assets: are productive resources owned by the business, such as equipment, cash, and accounts receivable (money owed by clients).
• Liabilities: are debts owed to creditors, lenders, and other entities, such as accounts payable (money owed to suppliers).
• Equity: includes the sums invested by the shareholders or business owners and the profits and losses accumulated by the business to date (which are called retained earnings). It is a proxy for the value of the owner's stake in the business.

Analysing your video production company projected balance sheet provides an understanding of your video production company's working capital structure, investment and financing policies.

In particular, the readers of your plan can compare the level of financial debt on the balance sheet to the equity value to measure the level of financial risk (equity doesn't need to be reimbursed, while financial debt must be repaid, making it riskier).

They can also use your balance sheet to assess your video production company's liquidity and solvency:

• A liquidity analysis: focuses on whether or not your business has sufficient cash and short-term assets to cover its liabilities due in the next 12 months.
• A solvency analysis: takes and longer view to assess whether or not your business has the capacity to repay its debts over the medium-term.

The cash flow forecast

A projected cash flow statement for a video production company is used to show how much cash the business is generating or consuming.

The cash flow forecast is usually organized by nature to show three key metrics:

• The operating cash flow: do the core business activities generate or consume cash?
• The investing cash flow: how much is the business investing in long-term assets (this is usually compared to the level of fixed assets on the balance sheet to assess whether the business is regularly maintaining and renewing its equipment)?
• The financing cash flow: is the business raising new financing or repaying financiers (debt repayment, dividends)?

As we discussed earlier, cash is king and keeping an eye on future cash flows an imperative for running a successful business. Therefore, you can expect the reader of your video production company business plan to pay close attention to your cash flow forecast.

Also, note that it is customary to provide both yearly and monthly cash flow forecasts in a business plan - so that the reader can analyze seasonal variation and ensure the video production company is appropriately funded.

The initial financing plan

The sources and uses table or initial financing plan is a key component of your business plan when starting a video production company.

It shows where the capital needed to set up the business will come from (sources) and how it will be spent (uses).

This table helps size the investment required to set up the video production company, and understand how risks will be distributed between the business owners, and the financiers.

The sources and uses table also highlights what the starting cash position will be. This is key for startups as the business needs to have sufficient funding to sustain operations until the break-even point is reached.

Now that you have a clear understanding of what will go into the financial forecast of your video production company business plan, let's have a look at the written part of the plan.

The written part of the business plan is where you will explain what your business does and how it operates, what your target market is, whom you compete against, and what strategy you will put in place to seize the commercial opportunity you've identified.

Having this context is key for the reader to form a view on whether or not they believe that your plan is achievable and the numbers in your forecast realistic.

The written part of a video production company business plan is composed of 7 main sections:

• The executive summary
• The presentation of the company
• The products and services
• The market analysis
• The strategy
• The operations
• The financial plan

Let's go through the content of each section in more detail!

1. The executive summary

The executive summary, the first section of your video production company's business plan, serves as an inviting snapshot of your entire plan, leaving readers eager to know more about your business.

To compose an effective executive summary, start with a concise introduction of your business, covering its name, concept, location, history, and unique aspects. Share insights about the services or products you intend to offer and your target customer base.

Subsequently, provide an overview of your video production company's addressable market, highlighting current trends and potential growth opportunities.

Then, present a summary of critical financial figures, such as projected revenues, profits, and cash flows.

You should then include a summary of your key financial figures such as projected revenues, profits, and cash flows.

Lastly, address any funding needs in the "ask" section of your executive summary.

2. The presentation of the company

In your video production company business plan, the second section should focus on the structure and ownership, location, and management team of your company.

In the structure and ownership part, you'll provide an overview of the business's legal structure, details about the owners, and their respective investments and ownership shares. This clarity is crucial, especially if you're seeking financing, as it helps the reader understand which legal entity will receive the funds and who controls the business.

Moving on to the location part, you'll offer an overview of the company's premises and their surroundings. Explain why this particular location is of interest, highlighting factors like catchment area, accessibility, and nearby amenities.

When describing the location of your video production company, you may want to highlight the local access to a variety of resources that could benefit your business. You could point out the potential to tap into a large pool of creative talent that may be available in the local area. Additionally, you may want to emphasize the potential for easy access to a wide variety of filming locations, as well as potential tax incentives that could be available. All of these elements could be attractive to a third-party financier.

Finally, you should introduce your management team. Describe each member's role, background, and experience.

Don't forget to emphasize any past successes achieved by the management team and how long they've been working together. Demonstrating their track record and teamwork will help potential lenders or investors gain confidence in their leadership and ability to execute the business plan.

3. The products and services section

The products and services section of your video production company business plan should include a detailed description of what your company sells to its customers. 

For example, your video production company might offer customers video production services such as filming, editing, and animation; video marketing services such as creating and promoting videos for social media platforms; and video consulting services such as helping clients to develop a video strategy. These products and services can help customers to create content that is engaging and tailored to meet their needs, while helping them to reach new audiences and grow their business.

The reader will want to understand what makes your video production company unique from other businesses in this competitive market.

When drafting this section, you should be precise about the categories of products or services you sell, the clients you are targeting and the channels that you are targeting them through. 

4. The market analysis

When outlining your market analysis in the video production company business plan, it's essential to include comprehensive details about customers' demographics and segmentation, target market, competition, barriers to entry, and relevant regulations.

The primary aim of this section is to give the reader an understanding of the market size and appeal while demonstrating your expertise in the industry.

To begin, delve into the demographics and segmentation subsection, providing an overview of the addressable market for your video production company, key marketplace trends, and introducing various customer segments and their preferences in terms of purchasing habits and budgets.

Next, shift your focus to the target market subsection, where you can zoom in on the specific customer segments your video production company targets. Explain how your products and services are tailored to meet the unique needs of these customers.

For example, your target market might include small businesses. These customers may be looking for an affordable way to create promotional videos to market their products or services. They may also be seeking assistance in making short videos to post on their social media channels.

In the competition subsection, introduce your main competitors and explain what sets your video production company apart from them.

Finally, round off your market analysis by providing an overview of the main regulations that apply to your video production company.

5. The strategy section

When writing the strategy section of a business plan for your video production company, it is essential to include information about your competitive edge, pricing strategy, sales & marketing plan, milestones, and risks and mitigants.

The competitive edge subsection should explain what sets your company apart from its competitors. This part is especially key if you are writing the business plan of a startup, as you have to make a name for yourself in the marketplace against established players.

The pricing strategy subsection should demonstrate how you intend to remain profitable while still offering competitive prices to your customers.

The sales & marketing plan should outline how you intend to reach out and acquire new customers, as well as retain existing ones with loyalty programs or special offers. 

The milestones subsection should outline what your company has achieved to date, and its main objectives for the years to come - along with dates so that everyone involved has clear expectations of when progress can be expected.

The risks and mitigants subsection should list the main risks that jeopardize the execution of your plan and explain what measures you have taken to minimize these. This is essential in order for investors or lenders to feel secure in investing in your venture.

Your video production company could face a variety of risks. For example, there might be a risk of not meeting deadlines due to unanticipated events, such as equipment malfunction or illness. Additionally, there could be the risk of not obtaining the necessary permissions or rights to use copyrighted material. Taking the time to understand these risks and plan for them may help to mitigate potential losses.

6. The operations section

The operations of your video production company must be presented in detail in your business plan.

The first thing you should cover in this section is your staffing team, the main roles, and the overall recruitment plan to support the growth expected in your business plan. You should also outline the qualifications and experience necessary to fulfil each role, and how you intend to recruit (using job boards, referrals, or headhunters).

You should then state the operating hours of your video production company - so that the reader can check the adequacy of your staffing levels - and any plans for varying opening times during peak season. Additionally, the plan should include details on how you will handle customer queries outside of normal operating hours.

The next part of this section should focus on the key assets and IP required to operate your business. If you depend on any licenses or trademarks, physical structures (equipment or property) or lease agreements, these should all go in there.

You may have key assets such as expensive camera equipment and editing software that could be of great value to the company. Additionally, the company might have intellectual property such as scripts that could be used to produce original content or existing footage and audio that could be used to create compelling videos.

Finally, you should include a list of suppliers that you plan to work with and a breakdown of their services and main commercial terms (price, payment terms, contract duration, etc.). Investors are always keen to know if there is a particular reason why you have chosen to work with a specific supplier (higher-quality products or past relationships for example).

7. The presentation of the financial plan

The financial plan section is where we will include the financial forecast we discussed earlier in this guide.

Now that you have a clear idea of what goes into a video production company business plan, let's look at some of the tools you can use to create yours efficiently.

What tool should I use to write my video production company's business plan?

There are two main ways of creating your video production company business plan:

• Using specialized business planning software,
• Hiring a business plan writer.

Using an online business plan software for your video production company's business plan

Using online business planning software is the most efficient and modern way to write a video production company business plan.

There are several advantages to using specialized software:

• You can easily create your financial forecast by letting the software take care of the financial calculations for you without errors
• You are guided through the writing process by detailed instructions and examples for each part of the plan
• You can access a library of dozens of complete business plan samples and templates for inspiration
• You get a professional business plan, formatted and ready to be sent to your bank or investors
• You can easily track your actual financial performance against your financial forecast
• You can create scenarios to stress test your forecast's main assumptions
• You can easily update your forecast as time goes by to maintain visibility on future cash flows
• You have a friendly support team on standby to assist you when you are stuck

If you're interested in using this type of solution, you can try The Business Plan Shop for free by signing up here .

Hiring a business plan writer to write your video production company's business plan

Outsourcing your video production company business plan to a business plan writer can also be a viable option.

These writers possess valuable experience in crafting business plans and creating accurate financial forecasts. Additionally, enlisting their services can save you precious time, enabling you to concentrate on the day-to-day operations of your business.

It's important to be mindful, though, that hiring business plan writers comes with a cost. You'll be paying not just for their time but also for the software they use, and their profit margin.

Based on experience, a complete business plan usually requires a budget of at least £1.5k ($2.0k) excluding tax, and more if revisions are needed after initial meetings with lenders or investors - changes often arise following these discussions.

When seeking investment, be cautious about spending too much on consulting fees. Investors prefer their funds to contribute directly to business growth. Thus, the amount you spend on business plan writing services and other consulting services should be negligible compared to the amount you raise.

Another aspect to consider is that while you'll receive the output of the business plan, you usually won't own the actual document. It will be saved in the consultant's business plan software, which will make updating the plan challenging without retaining the consultant on a retainer.

Given these factors, it's essential to carefully weigh the pros and cons of outsourcing your video production company business plan to a business plan writer and decide what best suits your business's unique needs.

Why not create your video production company's business plan using Word or Excel?

I must advise against using Microsoft Excel and Word (or their Google, Apple, or open-source equivalents) to write your video production company business plan. Let me explain why.

Firstly, creating an accurate and error-free financial forecast on Excel (or any spreadsheet) is highly technical and requires a strong grasp of accounting principles and financial modelling skills. It is, therefore, unlikely that anyone will fully trust your numbers unless you have both a degree in finance and accounting and significant financial modelling experience, like us at The Business Plan Shop.

Secondly, relying on spreadsheets is inefficient. While it may have been the only option in the past, technology has advanced significantly, and software can now perform these tasks much faster and with greater accuracy. With the rise of AI, software can even help us detect mistakes in forecasts and analyze the numbers for better decision-making.

And with the rise of AI, software is also becoming smarter at helping us detect mistakes in our forecasts and helping us analyse the numbers to make better decisions.

Moreover, software makes it easier to compare actuals versus forecasts and maintain up-to-date forecasts to keep visibility on future cash flows, as we discussed earlier in this guide. This task is cumbersome when using spreadsheets.

Now, let's talk about the written part of your video production company business plan. While it may be less error-prone, using software can bring tremendous gains in productivity. Word processors, for example, lack instructions and examples for each part of your business plan. They also won't automatically update your numbers when changes occur in your forecast, and they don't handle formatting for you.

Overall, while Word or Excel may seem viable for some entrepreneurs to create a business plan, it's by far becoming an antiquated way of doing things.

• Using business plan software is a modern and cost-effective way of writing and maintaining business plans.
• A business plan is not a one-shot exercise as maintaining it current is the only way to keep visibility on your future cash flows.
• A business plan has 2 main parts: a financial forecast outlining the funding requirements of your video production company and the expected growth, profits and cash flows for the next 3 to 5 years; and a written part which gives the reader the information needed to decide if they believe the forecast is achievable.

We hope that this in-depth guide met your expectations and that you now have a clear understanding of how to write your video production company business plan. Do not hesitate to contact our friendly team if you have questions additional questions we haven't addressed here.

Also on The Business Plan Shop

• How to write a business plan to secure a bank loan?
• Key steps to write a business plan?
• Top mistakes to avoid in your business plan

Do you know entrepreneurs interested in starting or growing a video production company? Share this article with them!

Founder & CEO at The Business Plan Shop Ltd

Guillaume Le Brouster is a seasoned entrepreneur and financier.

Guillaume has been an entrepreneur for more than a decade and has first-hand experience of starting, running, and growing a successful business.

Prior to being a business owner, Guillaume worked in investment banking and private equity, where he spent most of his time creating complex financial forecasts, writing business plans, and analysing financial statements to make financing and investment decisions.

Guillaume holds a Master's Degree in Finance from ESCP Business School and a Bachelor of Science in Business & Management from Paris Dauphine University.

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YouTube Business Plan

Free Business Plan Template

Download our free business plan template now and pave the way to success. Let’s turn your vision into an actionable strategy!

• Fill in the blanks – Outline
• Financial Tables

How to Write a YouTube Business Plan?

Writing a YouTube business plan is a crucial step toward the success of your business. Here are the key steps to consider when writing a business plan:

1. Executive Summary

An executive summary is generally written after the entire business plan is ready because it provides an overview of the whole business plan. Here are some components to add to your summary:

Start with a brief introduction:

Market opportunity:, mention the niche:, video production:, marketing strategies:, financial highlights:, call to action:.

Ensure you keep your executive summary concise and clear, use simple language, and avoid jargon.

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2. Business Overview

In the business overview , add different elements like location, legal structure, history, and vision & mission statement of your channel. Here is the business overview example for your YouTube plan:

Channel Description:

Provide all the basic information about your business in this section like:

The name of your channel and the type of content you might be producing, as in you might run one of the types of channels:

• Photography and Videography Channels
• Educational Channels
• Gaming Channels
• Vlogging Channels
• Tech Channels
• Fitness Channels
• Political News Channels
• Comedy Channels
• Makeup Channels
• Experiment Channels
• Toy Reviews Channels
• Legal structure Mention the legal structure of your channel, it might be a sole proprietorship, partnership, or LLC.

Mission statement:

Business history:, future goals:.

This section should provide an understanding of your YouTube business. Make it engaging as well as informative.

3. Market Analysis

The Market analysis section provides a precise understanding of the market along with the target audience and competitors. Your market analysis should contain the following essential components:

Identify your target audience:

Market size and growth potential:, competitive analysis:, market trends:, regulatory environment:.

Some additional tips for writing the market analysis section of your business plan:

• Gather information from a range of sources, such as surveys, market research studies, and industry reports.
• Be specific and provide detailed information wherever possible.
• Include charts and graphs to help illustrate your key points.
• Keep your target audience in mind while writing the business plan.

4. Content Strategy

The content strategy section of a YouTube business plan should describe the specific services and products that will be offered to customers. To write this section should include the following:

Type of content:

Highlight the advantage:.

Overall the products and services section in a business plan should be thorough, informative, and customer-centered.

5. Sales And Marketing Strategies

Yes, as the name suggests, it is one of the most important sections of a YouTube business plan because it mentions how to attract new viewers & subscribers and retain them.

Advertising strategy:

Monetization strategy:, analytics and metrics:.

In general, be detailed about how will you drive viewers to your channel and retain them.

6. Operations Plan

It’s crucial to take into account all your business processes and operational procedures while drafting the operations plan section. The elements that should be in an operations plan are as follows:

Content creation and publication:

Describe your plan for producing and releasing videos on your channel. Include details about any software or tool you’ll be using, your plan for producing and uploading content, and how you’ll edit and publish movies.

Operational process:

Describe the methods and practices you’ll employ to manage your YouTube channel. Mention your day-to-day plans and plans to achieve long-term goals.

Engagement with the audience:

Content calendar:.

You may develop a thorough plan that describes how you will run your YouTube channel by including these essential components in your operations plan section.

7. Management Team

The management team section describes the responsibility of individuals for running the YouTube channel. This section should provide a detailed description of the experience and qualifications of each manager, as well as their responsibilities and roles.

Founder/CEO:

Key managers:, organizational structure:, compensation plan:, advisors/consultants:.

Describe the key personnel of your company and highlight why your business has the fittest team.

8. Financial Plan

Before planning your finances do a thorough analysis of all the financial projections at least for the first few years of your YouTube channel like the below:

Profit & loss statement:

Cash flow statement:, balance sheet:, break-even point:, financing needs:, 9. appendix.

When writing the appendix section, add all the additional information which can support any of the above sections of your business plan. It might include research sources, data, legal documents, or other such relevant information.

• Include a table of contents: Make it easy for your readers to get to any specific part they want to check out directly after seeing it from the table of contents.
• Conduct market research and present the results here, together with statistics on the target audience, market trends, and demographics.
• Include any rules, licenses, or permits that may be applicable in this section.
• Include any brochures, product descriptions, marketing materials, or other materials you may have that are associated with your business strategy.

A word of advice: Avoid using sophisticated vocabulary in the headings or table of contents. For your audience, keep it straightforward, understandable, and easy. Additionally, avoid adding any extraneous information to this portion of the company strategy.

The Quickest Way to turn a Business Idea into a Business Plan

Fill-in-the-blanks and automatic financials make it easy.

This YouTube business plan sample will provide an idea for writing a successful plan, including all the essential components of your business.

After this, if you are still confused about how to write an investment-ready business plan to impress your audience, then download our YouTube business plan pdf .

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Frequently asked questions, why do you need a youtube business plan.

A business plan is an essential tool for anyone looking to start or run a successful YouTube channel. It helps to get clarity in your business, secures funding, and identifies potential challenges while starting and growing your channel.

Overall, a well-written plan can help you make informed decisions, which can contribute to the long-term success of your YouTube channel.

How to get funding for your YouTube channel?

Although there are several ways to finance your YouTube channel, self-funding is one of the fastest and most effective methods. Other options for funding are:

A loan from a bank

Small business administration (sba) loan, crowdfunding, angel investors.

There are small business grants also available in certain areas; search for them in your area and apply.

Where to find business plan writers for your YouTube channel?

There are many business plan writers available, but no one knows your business and idea better than you, so we recommend you write your YouTube business plan and outline your vision as you have in your mind.

What is the easiest way to write your YouTube business plan?

A lot of research is necessary for writing a business plan, but you can write your plan most efficiently with the help of any YouTube business plan example and edit it as per your need. You can also quickly finish your plan in just a few hours or less with the help of our business plan software.

About the Author

Upmetrics Team

Upmetrics is the #1 business planning software that helps entrepreneurs and business owners create investment-ready business plans using AI. We regularly share business planning insights on our blog. Check out the Upmetrics blog for such interesting reads. Read more

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Business Plan Template for Video Production

• Great for beginners
• Ready-to-use, fully customizable Subcategory
• Get started in seconds

Are you an entrepreneur or a video production company in the media and entertainment industry? If so, you know that having a solid business plan is crucial for success. With ClickUp's Business Plan Template for Video Production, you can outline your strategies, set objectives, and forecast your financial projections—all in one place!

This template is specifically designed to help you secure funding, attract investors, and guide the overall direction of your video production business. With ClickUp, you can:

• Plan and organize your marketing strategies, production processes, and distribution channels
• Track and manage your financials, including revenue streams, expenses, and profitability
• Collaborate with team members and stakeholders to ensure everyone is aligned towards your business goals

Don't let the complexities of the video production industry hold you back. Use ClickUp's Business Plan Template for Video Production to take your business to new heights. Get started today and make your vision a reality!

Business Plan Template for Video Production Benefits

A business plan template for video production can offer a range of benefits for entrepreneurs and video production companies in the media and entertainment industry. Some of these benefits include:

• Providing a clear roadmap for your video production business, outlining strategies and objectives
• Guiding decision-making and helping you stay focused on your goals
• Assisting in securing funding and attracting potential investors by showcasing your vision and financial projections
• Ensuring a comprehensive understanding of the market, competition, and target audience
• Facilitating effective project management and resource allocation for successful video production
• Helping you stay organized and accountable for the growth and success of your video production business.

Main Elements of Video Production Business Plan Template

When it comes to creating a comprehensive business plan for your video production company, ClickUp has you covered with its Business Plan Template for Video Production. Here are the key elements of this template:

• Custom Statuses: Keep track of your progress with statuses such as Complete, In Progress, Needs Revision, and To Do, ensuring that every aspect of your business plan is accounted for and easily managed.
• Custom Fields: Utilize important custom fields like Reference, Approved, and Section to organize and categorize information within your business plan, making it easier to navigate and update as needed.
• Custom Views: Access five different views including Topics, Status, Timeline, Business Plan, and Getting Started Guide to gain different perspectives on your video production business plan, ensuring a clear understanding of objectives, timelines, and progress.
• Collaboration: Collaborate seamlessly with your team on the business plan, assigning tasks, setting due dates, and monitoring progress using ClickUp's task management features.
• Documentation: Centralize all relevant documents, contracts, and financial projections within the template using ClickUp's Docs feature, ensuring that all essential information is easily accessible in one place.

With ClickUp's Business Plan Template for Video Production, you'll have the tools you need to create a well-structured and organized business plan that sets your video production company up for success.

How To Use Business Plan Template for Video Production

If you're in the video production industry and need to create a business plan, the Business Plan Template in ClickUp can help you get started. Follow these steps to effectively use the template:

1. Define your vision and goals

Start by determining your vision for your video production business. What do you want to achieve? What services do you want to offer? Set clear and measurable goals that align with your vision.

Use the Goals feature in ClickUp to create and track your business goals for your video production company.

2. Conduct market research

Before diving into your business plan, it's crucial to understand the market and your target audience. Research your competitors, industry trends, and customer preferences to gain insights that will guide your business decisions.

Use the Docs feature in ClickUp to compile your market research findings and create a comprehensive analysis.

3. Develop your marketing and sales strategy

A strong marketing and sales strategy is essential for the success of your video production business. Determine how you will reach and attract clients, and outline your pricing structure and sales tactics. Identify your unique selling proposition (USP) and highlight your competitive advantage.

Utilize the Board view in ClickUp to create a visual representation of your marketing and sales strategy, including different stages of client acquisition and conversion.

4. Outline your financial projections

Financial projections play a crucial role in your business plan, as they demonstrate the viability and profitability of your video production company. Estimate your revenue streams, production costs, overhead expenses, and expected profits. Consider factors such as equipment, personnel, and marketing costs.

Use the Table view in ClickUp to create a financial projection spreadsheet, including revenue forecasts, expense breakdowns, and cash flow analysis.

By following these steps and using the Business Plan Template in ClickUp, you can create a comprehensive and effective business plan for your video production company. Remember to regularly review and update your plan as your business evolves and new opportunities arise.

Get Started with ClickUp’s Business Plan Template for Video Production

Entrepreneurs or video production companies in the media and entertainment industry can use the Business Plan Template for Video Production in ClickUp to create a comprehensive plan that outlines their strategies, objectives, and financial projections.

To get started, hit “Add Template” to sign up for ClickUp and add the template to your Workspace. Make sure you designate which Space or location in your Workspace you’d like this template applied.

Next, invite relevant members or guests to your Workspace to start collaborating.

Now you can take advantage of the full potential of this template to create a successful video production business:

• Use the Topics View to brainstorm and organize different sections of your business plan
• The Status View will help you track the progress of each section, with statuses like Complete, In Progress, Needs Revision, and To Do
• The Timeline View will give you a visual representation of your business plan's timeline and milestones
• The Business Plan View will provide a comprehensive overview of your entire plan, including strategies, objectives, and financial projections
• The Getting Started Guide View will serve as a step-by-step guide to help you navigate through the template and complete each section
• Utilize the custom fields Reference, Approved, and Section to add additional information and categorize your business plan
• Update statuses and custom fields as you work through each section to keep team members informed of progress
• Monitor and analyze your business plan to ensure it aligns with your goals and attracts investors.
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What the National Association of Realtors' settlement means for consumers and real estate brokers

A groundbreaking $418 million settlement announced Friday by the powerful National Association of Realtors is set to usher in the most sweeping reforms the American real estate market has seen in a century. It could dramatically drive down homebuyers’ costs — and push some real estate brokers out of business.

Here’s a look at how we got here and what to expect in the months ahead.

NAR already lost a big case

For decades, the NAR has required home sale listing brokers to provide an offer of compensation to a buyer’s agent up front. That usually comes out to about 6%, split between a seller’s broker and a buyer’s agent.

But that model has come under intensifying scrutiny from critics who have likened it to a cartel . Late last year, a jury in a Kansas City federal court found the longstanding practice to be a form of collusion that artificially inflated real estate fees, awarding a massive $1. 7 8 billion judgment against NAR .

What changes now for homebuyers and sellers

If the settlement announced Friday is approved by a federal court, the standard 6% commission goes away. Sellers would no longer have to make a compensation proposal to prospective buyers and their agents. Critics have said the encouraged brokers to push their clients toward more expensive properties.

Another new rule would see homebuyers having to sign an explicit deal with a broker before they start working with one — something experts say would lead many homebuyers to forgo using brokers entirely.

The new rules would kick in within months of approval, currently expected around mid-July.

What about the next few months?

Everyone involved in the market should expect “a certain amount of uncertainty for the coming months,” said Marty Green, principal at mortgage law firm Polunsky Beitel Green.

“The industry will be in transition as everyone digests the settlements and market forces begin working,” he predicted. “We will begin to see some creative buyer’s agent arrangements that may have been harder to get traction on before.”

Home buyers and their agents will need to decide on a commission and put it in writing. Sellers, likewise, will need to work carefully with their listing agents as the new rules come into effect.

U.S. consumers might save in the long run ...

The changes could mean buyers will save on commissions, eventually bringing U.S. fees more in line with the much lower transaction costs seen in other residential property markets around the world.

Some commissions could even be cut in half, Jaret Seiberg, housing policy analyst for TD Cowen Washington Research Group, told clients in a note Friday.

The new rules “should lead to commissions falling 25% to 50%, which we view as benefiting online real estate brokers,” Seiberg wrote, but he warned it’s too early to declare “the end of local real estate agents given their local expertise and reputation in neighborhoods. It is why we do not see this following the travel agency model in which online eclipsed local offices.”

... but buyers could face more confusion

Holden Lewis, a home and mortgage expert at NerdWallet, warned of a “potential negative trade-off”: “Buyer-seller negotiations will become more complex, and buyers with plenty of cash might navigate the process more easily than buyers who don’t have a lot of savings,” he said. Seiberg flagged a similar concern in his note, saying it could particularly affect first-time buyers with limited means to pay for an agent.

Brokers and agents have come out against the settlement, saying it will make the home-buying process more byzantine for consumers and discounts the important role agents play in helping them navigate it.

“I’m a full-service real estate agent, so when I go to list my client’s house, I align their goals with my goal, and that goal is selling for the highest amount possible,” said Roy Remick, a realtor based in Northern Virginia, who said he often pays thousands of dollars of his own for services like staging homes to aid the sale process.

“This is ultimately someone saying, ‘You guys make too much money,’ which I don’t think is right for someone to dictate,” he said.

Buyers’ agents will be left “flying blind” since they won’t know how much they’ll end up making from a given home, Remick warned. “We’ll have to make a bunch of phone calls, because now we don’t know what [the commission] is because we can’t see it in the MLS. But we’ve already got an agreement with buyer how much they’ll be able to compensate us.”

Christine Romans is the senior business correspondent at NBC News.

Rob Wile is a breaking business news reporter for NBC News Digital.

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FACT SHEET: Delivering on the Biden- ⁠ Harris Administration’s Commitment to Democratic Renewal at the Third Summit for   Democracy

President Biden launched the historic Summit for Democracy in 2021 to strengthen democratic institutions, protect human rights, and accelerate the fight against corruption, both at home and abroad.  

At the first Summit, approximately 100 participating governments made over 750 commitments on a wide array of deliverables, including in the areas of advancing technology for democracy, media freedom, countering the misuse of technology, and improving financial transparency, gender equity and equality, and rule of law.  The second Summit built on these efforts, convening government stakeholders, youth voices, civil society, and the private sector to demonstrate the power of cross-sectoral collaboration and amplify the importance of including diverse voices in these spaces.  This year, the Republic of Korea hosted the third Summit for Democracy in Seoul under the theme “Democracy for Future Generations.”  

The U.S. delegation in the ROK, led by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, highlighted U.S. efforts to strengthen democratic resilience, respect for human rights, and good governance globally.  The Biden-Harris Administration has requested $11.8 billion in Democracy, Human Rights and Governance (DRG) foreign assistance, of which $5.8 billion has already been appropriated for Fiscal Years 2022 and 2023.  The Administration intends to provide the remaining $6 billion over the next two years, subject to the availability of appropriations.  During the Summit, the United States held a high-level, multi-stakeholder event on combatting the proliferation and misuse of commercial spyware, which not only threatens democratic institutions but also poses risks to global security.

Under President Biden’s leadership, the United States has taken concrete steps to advance previous commitments and initiatives launched over the past three years, which include:

Advancing Technology for Democracy:

• In March 2023, President Biden signed the ground-breaking  Executive Order Prohibiting the Use of Commercial Spyware that Poses Risks to National Security  to prohibit U.S. Government use of commercial spyware that poses risks to national security and has been misused by foreign actors to enable human rights abuses.
• In July 2023, the Department of Commerce imposed export controls on  four commercial spyware entities , building on an  initial tranche of Entity List designations in November 2021 .
• In October 2023, the U.S. Government worked with 59 other countries at the Human Rights Council in Geneva to issue a joint statement on  Heightened Risks Associated with Surveillance Technologies & the Importance of Safeguards .
• In February 2024, the State Department announced a  new visa restriction policy  for individuals involved in or financially benefiting from the misuse of commercial spyware.
• In February 2024, the Department of Commerce imposed export controls on  a company  that has enabled foreign governments to conduct mass web-monitoring, censorship, and surveillance of perceived political opponents and human rights defenders.
• In February 2024, the United States joined the United Kingdom and France-led  Pall-Mall Declaration , which brought together international partners and stakeholders to address the proliferation and irresponsible use of commercial cyber intrusion tools and services.
• In March 2024, the Treasury Department  imposed  unprecedented financial sanctions targeting five commercial spyware entities and their leadership that have enabled the misuse of commercial spyware. This was the first time that the U.S. Government sanctioned actors involved in the misuse of commercial spyware.
• In March 2024, the U.S. Government convened members of the investor community – during which the investors revealed voluntary principles and commitments – to discuss the role of trusted capital in advancing technology while promoting the values of free and open societies, including guarding against the misuse of commercial spyware and encouraging safe AI development.
• Since its launch at the first Summit for Democracy, the U.S. Government has contributed more than $46 million to the Surge and Sustain Fund for Anti-Censorship Technology, including $31 million in 2023 alone, to support 30 million users of circumvention tools such as virtual private networks (VPNs) each month.

Supporting Free and Independent Media

• USAID’s International Fund for Public Interest Media – announced at the second Summit for Democracy – has committed nearly $9 million in 32 grants across 16 countries to independent media outlets in urgent need of support and to strengthen their long-term sustainability.  The U.S. Government’s initial seed funding of $20 million has leveraged an additional $32 million from 15 governments, philanthropies, and corporate entities.
• The State Department launched two programs under its Journalism Protection Platform to combat impunity for violence against journalists and strengthen holistic security for journalists and independent media outlets, including those operating in exile.

Fighting Corruption

• In December 2023, the United States assumed the presidency of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) Conference of the States Parties (COSP).  At COSP, the United States secured consensus to adopt the U.S.-led Atlanta Declaration, which holds governments accountable to their UNCAC obligations and announced a new Presidential Proclamation restricting entry into the United States for those who enable corruption.
• In 2023, the Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on more than 130 individuals and entities engaged in corruption, spanning 17 countries, while the State Department issued public visa restrictions on more than 90 individuals from around the world for their involvement in significant corruption. 
• USAID kickstarted implementation of the Countering Transnational Corruption Grand Challenge for Development, with an initial focus on reducing corruption in the supply of green minerals. USAID also initiated new activities to seed a new investigative journalism network in Southeast Asia, strengthen public accountability in Zambia, and address Kremlin-backed strategic corruption in Eastern and Central Europe.
• In September 2023, the State Department expanded its Transnational Anticorruption Partnership with the Federal Bureau of Investigations’ International Corruption Unit, which places regional anticorruption advisors in the field to build partners’ capacities to investigate and prosecute transnational corruption cases.  This program, part of the U.S. Democracies against Safe Havens initiative to tackle kleptocracy, has upskilled law enforcement agencies in over 30 countries, resulting in dozens of new actionable leads, cases initiated, and instances of cross-border cooperation to hold kleptocrats and money launderers accountable.    
• In the past year, the United States has made historic strides in preventing corrupt and other illicit actors from laundering funds through anonymous companies and advancing rulemaking processes to guard against dirty money in the residential real estate sector and investment advising industry.

Bolstering Human Rights and Democratic Reformers

• Since the first Summit, USAID’s Partnership’s for Democratic Development (PDD) has allocated $53 million to deepen relationships with democratic reformers and accelerate democratic development in nine countries.  PDD will provide up to $52 million in additional funding in the coming year, subject to availability of funds, to expand democratic reform and ensure PDD partner countries are given the support they need to make their democratic transformation a reality.
• Since announcing the Advancing Women’s and Girls’ Civic and Political Leadership Initiative at the first Summit, USAID has allocated over $15 million in nine focus countries to build and sustain women’s participation in political and civic engagement. USAID will provide up to $10 million in additional funding this year, subject to availability of funds.
• The Community of Democracies (CoD) is working towards the 2024 launch of the global Youth Democracy Network, announced by the United States at the second Summit for Democracy.  Ahead of the launch, the CoD YouthLeads, who will serve as the inaugural advisory board for the Network, are driving discussion on youth engagement in elections, including a new series of articles, “A Blueprint for Youth Electoral Engagement,” to showcase effective strategies and policies from around the globe that enhance youth participation in electoral processes. Defending Free and Fair Elections
• Following a commitment made at the first Summit for Democracy, USAID has worked with more than 30 leading international organizations and elections networks to launch the Global Network for Securing Election Integrity (GNSEI) to promote electoral integrity in the face of critical threats to democracy.  In 2024, GNSEI intends to develop and promote two electoral integrity priorities: one on principles to support democratic electoral reform processes and the other on safeguarding election management bodies’ independence in their interactions with other domestic agencies.
• In 2023, USAID launched the Defending Democratic Elections Fund, which is helping to pilot and scale up approaches to addressing critical long-standing and emerging electoral integrity issues — including on strengthening information integrity and resilience – particularly during the period in between elections, when resources have often been scarce. This past year, USAID provided nearly $16 million in additional support across 17 countries to tackle issues like campaign finance reform, and barriers to women’s political participation.
• The State Department contributed $25 million in new funding under the Political Accountability, Inclusivity, and Resiliency Support mechanism to promote political competition by building stronger connections between political parties and citizens.  

At the third Summit for Democracy, the United States reiterated and expanded upon its commitment to bolstering democratic resilience and advancing human rights at home and abroad.  Specifically, the U.S. delegation announced several new commitments and initiatives to further progress in the years ahead: 

• On March 18, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Poland signed the Joint Statement on Efforts to Counter the Proliferation and Misuse of Commercial Spyware , which was launched by an initial group of 11 like-minded countries at the second Summit for Democracy, expanding the coalition of countries committed to implementing robust guardrails against misuse of commercial spyware. The Joint Statement affirms the threat posed by the misuse of commercial spyware and countries commit to working within their domestic systems to establish robust guardrails to counter the proliferation and misuse of this sophisticated surveillance technology.
• The Biden-Harris Administration aims to provide financial support, working with Congress and subject to appropriated funds, to committed partners like the Platform for the Engagement of Civil Society, to coordinate the ongoing work of the Summit, including future convenings, and to build networks among the existing democratic renewal architecture.
• The United States, led by USAID, will convene a meeting to galvanize momentum for the next Summit gathering and to show our continued commitment to democratic renewal around the world on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly session in September 2024. 
• On March 17, USAID launched the Advancing Digital Democracy (ADD) Academy, building upon the ADD initiative announced at the second Summit for Democracy.  In partnership with multinational technology firms, the ADD Academy will offer essential skills training in cybersecurity, data privacy, cloud computing, and responsible AI, among other topics.   In the initial phase, ADD Academy intends to work with technology partners Cloudflare, Google, and Microsoft. 
• On March 18, the State Department released U.S. Guidance for Online Platforms on Protecting Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) Online, which highlights best practices online platforms can take to prevent, mitigate, and provide remedy for actions targeting HRDs online, building on  joint guidance  recently released by the U.S. and the EU through the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council.
• Through the Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse, which was announced during the first Summit, the United States and UK are developing a response framework for coordinated, evidence-informed action to prevent, disrupt, and reduce the spread of targeted online campaigns against women political and public figures and human rights defenders, which will be informed through a first-of-its-kind global conference on countering gendered disinformation held in Kenya on March 25-27, 2024. Complementing the goals of this framework, in January 2024 the State Department announced a new Global Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) Rapid Response Fund for women politicians, political candidates, and civil society leaders who have experienced extreme forms and/or threats of TFGBV and need urgent access to flexible resources to meet their immediate needs.   
• On March 20, the United States released its second National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct, which outlines efforts to expand U.S. government guidance to and coordination with external stakeholders on responsible business conduct, strengthen federal procurement processes related to human rights, and promote access to remedy for those harmed by irresponsible business conduct.

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Apple's horrible day — explained in 60 seconds

• The US DOJ, with 16 state attorneys general, has filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against Apple .
• That lawsuit argues that the iPhone maker engaged in anticompetitive practices in five key respects.
• Apple says the suit is "wrong on the facts and the law," and it will "vigorously" defend itself.

Apple is under fire.

The US Department of Justice, along with attorneys general from 16 states, has accused Apple of engaging in illegal anticompetitive behaviors to achieve the iPhone's dominance .

The stakes are high.

Prosecutors — who likened the action to the famous antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft more than two decades ago — say their focus on the iPhone is because of several ways in which Apple unfairly limits the functionality of other products and services to iPhone users.

Apple "engaged in many of the same tactics that Microsoft used," the Justice Department alleges, leaving customers with "higher prices, fewer new products, and a worse user experience."

Apple said in a statement to Business Insider that the suit was "wrong on the facts and the law, and we will vigorously defend against it."

Meanwhile, it was a bad day for Apple's stock, which was down more than 4% at market close.

Related stories

So what does the DOJ's case against Apple center on?

Here are the five key areas where prosecutors say Apple is breaking the law and harming consumers:

1. Restricting cross-platform apps

The suit says Apple makes it harder for consumers to switch between smartphone platforms by restricting apps that offer a consistent user experience across devices .

2. Limiting cloud streaming games and apps

Prosecutors argue that Apple's restrictions on streaming services force users to pay for more expensive smartphone hardware than they would otherwise have to.

3. Android users get green text bubbles and grainy videos

Because Apple blocks other apps from sending or receiving carrier-based messages in favor of its own Messages app, the lawsuit says the company is making communications with non-iPhone users less innovative and less secure. Look no further than relegating Android users' texts to green bubbles and the grainy quality when sending videos, the DOJ argues.

4. Making smartwatches less smart

This one is a twofer: Prosecutors say the Apple Watch's dependence on an iPhone locks users into the iOS system, while the iPhone doesn't play as nicely as it should with third-party smartwatches .

5. Denying access to full-fledged digital wallets

In limiting tap-to-pay functionality and restricting third-party development of cross-platform digital wallets, prosecutors say Apple is harming businesses' and customers' ability to conduct secure digital transactions on their phones, independently of Apple.

Read the full complaint here

US vs. Apple Inc lawsuit by Steven Tweedie

Watch: Trump fights back as fraud trial begins

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