the 5 videos every local business should have

A local business owner I work with spent three years telling me he needed to “do more video.” He had a decent camera, a YouTube account he’d never posted to, and a mental list of ideas he never finished. Meanwhile his competitor two zip codes over had five videos on their website, nothing fancy, and was booking more jobs.

The difference wasn’t production quality. It was having the right five videos instead of a long list of someday ideas.

If you’re a local service business, you don’t need a content library. You need a short set of videos that answer the questions your best customers ask before they hire you. That’s it. Once those exist, you stop losing deals to people who just explained themselves better.

Here are the five. These are the best types of video for small business that actually earn their keep.

1. the about video

People hire people, not companies. Before a homeowner hands you keys, before a client signs a proposal, they want to know who they’re dealing with.

The about video is not a commercial. It’s not a highlight reel of your work set to music. It’s you, on camera, talking plainly about what you do, who you do it for, and why you started. Two minutes or less. It should feel like meeting you before meeting you.

This video belongs on your homepage and your Google Business profile. It does quiet work. Someone lands on your site, watches it, and decides whether they trust you enough to call. You’re not there to answer that question in the moment. The video is.

Most businesses skip it because it feels awkward to be on camera. That awkwardness is the point. Real people are a little awkward. That’s how you know they’re real.

2. the “what to expect” video

Every service business has a version of the same three calls. Someone asks what happens after they book. Someone asks how long it takes. Someone asks what they need to do to prepare.

Answer it once, on video, and you never have to answer it again.

The “what to expect” video walks a new customer through your process from the moment they contact you to the moment the job is done. Step by step, plain language, no assumed knowledge. It doesn’t need to be long. Five minutes is probably too long. Two to three is usually right.

This video cuts the number of pre-job calls you field. It sets expectations before anyone shows up, which means fewer surprises, fewer complaints, and customers who feel like they already know you when you walk in the door. That’s worth a lot.

3. the customer testimonial

You can say your work is good. The person you helped can say it too. Those are not the same thing.

A testimonial video is someone who hired you, on camera, talking about what it was like. Not a script. Not a five-star review read out loud. A real person saying what they were worried about before, why they called you, and what changed after.

The part that most businesses miss: the problem matters as much as the result. If your customer says “I was nervous because I’d been burned before and I didn’t know who to trust,” that’s not a negative. That’s the exact thing your next prospect is thinking. Hearing someone else say it, and then say they were glad they called you, does more work than any sales page.

One solid testimonial is better than three vague ones. Aim for specific. Aim for honest. If the customer mentions a real number, a real timeline, or a real moment when they realized the job was done right, keep it in.

4. the service explainer

Not everyone who finds you already knows what you do or how it works. Especially if your service is technical, involves a process most people have never seen, or fixes a problem people didn’t know they had.

The service explainer video says: here is what this service is, here is what the problem looks like before, here is what we do, here is what it looks like after. It educates without being condescending and it sells without being pushy.

This is also the video that earns search traffic. A “how does [your service] work” or “what does [your service] cost” video answers the exact things people are typing into Google and YouTube. You don’t have to be a creator to benefit from that. You just have to answer the question clearly.

If you want to see what video can do for your business across the board, the services page covers how we approach this for local businesses.

5. the before and after

This one is the most visual and often the most persuasive, especially if your work involves transformation you can see.

Landscaping, remodeling, cleaning, organizing, painting, detailing, custom fabrication, before and after is your proof. Not in the “trust me” sense. In the “here is what existed and here is what replaced it” sense. No narration required. The camera does the work.

Short is fine. Fifteen seconds on a phone can be enough. You don’t need drone footage and a film score. You need clean before shots and clean after shots and a steady hand.

The reason this works: it answers the question “can you actually do this” without the customer having to ask. That’s one less reason to hesitate.

the real reason most businesses don’t have these

It’s not budget. It’s not gear. It’s that making five videos feels like a project and projects get put off.

The fix is to treat each one as a single half-day job, not a production. Pick one. Script it or outline it in fifteen minutes. Film it on your phone or have someone film you. Edit lightly. Publish. Then do the next one.

You do not need all five before any of them are useful. One good testimonial on your homepage is better than a finished list that still doesn’t exist.

common questions

how long should these videos be?

Short. The about video should be under two minutes. The testimonial should be under two minutes. The “what to expect” video can run to three. The service explainer can go longer if the topic warrants it, but most people stop watching after three to four minutes. When in doubt, cut.

do these need to be professionally produced?

Not necessarily. Good audio matters more than good camera. If someone can hear you clearly and see you reasonably well, the content does the rest. That said, a professional shoot is worth it for the about video and the testimonial, since those live on your site for years. The before and after can almost always be done on a phone.

where do these videos go?

Your website is the priority. Homepage, the relevant service pages, and your contact page. After that, your Google Business profile, YouTube, and whatever social platform your customers actually use. The goal is that the video exists where the question gets asked.