A short explainer answers the question every new customer has: what is this, and why should I care? It works on your website, in a social post, in an email and on a screen at a market stall. Most small businesses need one or two, not one a week.
1. Pick one thing to explain
One product, one service or one offer per video. If you want to explain three things, make three short videos. A viewer remembers one idea from a 60 second video, so choose which one.
2. Write a 60 to 90 second script
About 150 to 220 spoken words. Use this shape:
- The problem your customer has, in their words.
- Your answer, in one sentence.
- How it works, in two or three short steps.
- Proof: a real number, a real customer, or how long you've been doing it.
- What to do next: visit, call, book or buy.
Read it aloud and time it. If it runs long, cut words, don't speed up the voice.
3. Use your own colours and logo
Put your logo at the start or the end, not on every frame. Use your brand colours for backgrounds and words on screen, so the video looks like the rest of your business. Keep the same voice if you make more than one.
4. Show, don't decorate
Each picture should show the step the voice is describing: the problem, your product in use, the result. Pictures that only look nice make a video longer, not clearer. Keep prices, addresses and phone numbers as words added in the edit, where you can check them, not inside the pictures.
5. Make the sizes you need
Make the wide version for your website and YouTube first. Then make a tall version for Instagram, TikTok and Shorts from the same script. Captions matter most on social media, where most people watch with the sound off.
6. Check before it goes out
Check every price, date and claim. Make sure you have the right to use every picture and piece of music. Ask one customer to watch it and tell you, in their words, what you sell. If they can, the video works.
Where vbe | video build engine fits
vbe is a Mac app being built so a small business can make this kind of video from one script: your logo and colours, one render, and the cost of every paid step shown before anything is spent. See how it works.
Written by Aman, founder of vbe | video build engine and maker of rethink normal. Published 24 October 2026.