Small business video works when it answers one question a customer actually has, is filmed where you work, and is made in a day with the people already on your team. Studio Forty Six films exactly that across Birmingham and Solihull from £750 + VAT. Here is what worked for four independents we filmed: a chocolatier, a tourism board, a boutique and a butcher.
Because the pitch is usually a showreel full of drone shots and a five-figure quote, which is no use to a shop with four staff and a marketing budget measured in hundreds. None of the four businesses below needed a big production. All four were filmed in a day or less, on their own premises.
1683 Chocolate Place makes chocolate by hand. The obvious video is a product shot. The one that worked showed the making — tempering, moulding, the mess, the hands.
People do not share a photograph of a chocolate. They share the thirty seconds where they watch someone make one. For any business where the process is more interesting than the output, film the process.
Visit Knowle needed to persuade people to spend an afternoon somewhere they had not thought about. That is a different job to advertising a product — you are selling a feeling about a place.
So we filmed the village the way it is on a good Saturday: the pubs, the independents, people out. No voiceover explaining that Knowle is charming. Just showing it, and letting the viewer decide.
Le Scarpe sells shoes and clothing where fit and feel matter. No amount of studio lighting communicates that as well as a real customer saying what they thought.
The most useful footage from that shoot was not the product at all. It was people talking about how something made them feel. That is difficult to fake and impossible to buy as stock.
Eric Lyons knows more about meat than his customers ever will. That gap is the content. Short pieces explaining cuts, how to cook something, what to ask for — the sort of thing a good butcher tells you across the counter anyway.
Most small business owners are sitting on this and do not recognise it, because the knowledge is obvious to them. It is not obvious to your customers.
A clear idea of who the video was for. Not "raise brand awareness" — an actual person, at an actual moment, deciding whether to walk in. Filmed in a day, in the business's own premises, with the people who already work there.
Start with one question you get asked constantly. Film the answer properly. That is more useful than a polished brand film almost every time, and it costs a fraction as much.
Film where you work rather than hiring a studio. Real premises look real, and your customers recognise them.
And be honest about whether anyone on your team wants to be on camera. If the answer is no, that is fine and common — it is why we offer Ready to Roll, presenter-led filming where we supply someone to front it and write what they say.
A half day with one videographer and a straightforward edit starts at £750 + VAT and covers most of what is described above. We have set out what moves the price in our cost guide, and our Birmingham video production page explains how we work. Or just get in touch with the question your customers keep asking.