Making Business Videos That Drive Results
Not every business video makes an impact. Some just fill space. The ones that do make a difference usually have one thing in common: they guide the viewer toward a goal, whether it’s buying a product, scheduling a consultation, or understanding a service. It’s not luck. It’s thoughtful planning, clear messaging, and execution that fits the audience. That’s what separates a video that gets watched from one that gets skipped.
Every part of a business video should have a purpose, from the script to the visuals. Whether it’s used in ads, placed on a brand’s site, or shown during a presentation, a good video tells the right story, in the right way, to the right people. If you’ve been wondering why some of your past content didn’t land the way you thought it would, chances are, it wasn’t built with that framework in mind.
Understanding Your Audience
The best business videos don’t talk to everyone. They feel like they’re speaking directly to the viewer. When you're trying to connect with someone through a video, you need to know who that someone is. Otherwise, the message can feel out of place, too broad, or just plain confusing.
Take the time to pinpoint who you’re really making this video for. Is it for someone who already knows your brand, or is it meant to grab the attention of someone completely new? Answering questions like these early on helps your team focus the message and tone. It also helps you choose the right visuals, pacing, and call to action.
Here are a few ways to better understand your audience before hitting record:
- Talk to your sales or customer service team. They know what current customers care about and the kinds of questions they ask.
- Use short surveys to ask your audience directly what they like and don’t like about your content. Even a few answers can reveal patterns.
- Look at feedback on previous videos. Comments, shares, and watch time all offer clues about what worked and what didn’t.
- Break down your current customers by age, profession, and buying habits if possible. You can use this information to shape the script and visuals for future videos.
If you’re making videos for outdoor products and most of your loyal buyers are young adults based in Utah who love hiking and skiing, your video should reflect that lifestyle. Show them something that feels close to their world. Using footage of office meetings or a polished city skyline might miss the mark if their lives are full of mountain trails and outdoor gear.
Crafting a Compelling Story
People remember stories better than they remember facts and features. It's how our brains are wired. This is why storytelling is a big part of making videos that stick. It’s not just about showing what you do or what your product offers. It’s about building a message that feels connected to something bigger—solving a problem, starting a journey, or adding meaning to daily life.
The story doesn’t have to be long or dramatic. In fact, the simpler the better. Start by laying out the problem your audience faces. Then offer a solution and show the result. That’s a structure that tends to work well for most business videos.
Keep these things in mind as you shape your story:
- Focus on one main idea. If the message gets too scattered, the viewer won’t know what to do with it.
- Bring in real-life emotion. It’s okay to make viewers feel something, even if it’s just a little curiosity or relief.
- Keep your tone true to your brand. If you’re usually casual, don’t suddenly become super formal for video. That’ll feel off.
- Use visuals to reinforce your message. Don’t rely on narration or text alone to carry the whole story.
Let’s say your company provides gear rentals for winter sports in Utah. Instead of listing the features of your skis and snowboards, you could show someone prepping for a last-minute trip, picking up gear from your shop, and confidently hitting the slopes—all in a short 30-second video. Now the viewer isn’t just thinking, “Okay, they rent skis,” they’re thinking, “That could be me.” That shift in thinking is what turns viewers into buyers.
Optimizing Your Video for SEO
If you want more people to find your video, you need to make it searchable. It's not always enough to upload it and hope your audience stumbles on it. Getting noticed often starts with a good SEO strategy built right into your video plan.
Start with keywords. These are the words your viewers are typing into search bars. Think about what they’d be looking for if they wanted to find something like your video. Include those words in the title, description, and even the script if it fits naturally. Don’t stuff them into every corner, though. Keep your language natural and useful.
Next, take a look at your metadata. This includes the file name, tags, and closed captions. A lot of creators skip these steps, but they make a difference. A video named “final_version4.mp4” tells search engines nothing. Renaming it to “Utah-Outdoor-Video-Snowboard-Rental-Story.mp4” gives it a better shot at being pulled into the right category.
Here are a few more ways to boost your video SEO:
- Create an eye-catching thumbnail that matches your content
- Add subtitles or captions for accessibility and better indexing
- Use a relevant title that isn’t misleading
- Keep your video length in check—a strong message in less time often performs better
- Link to the video from blog posts or pages with related content on your website
Let’s say you’re producing a video about winter camping gear. You’d want that phrase to live in your title and description, maybe even display it in on-screen text. All of this works together to help viewers and search engines know what your video is about before they even press play.
Choosing the Right Production Techniques
Good visuals won’t save a weak message, but bad visuals can definitely ruin a strong one. Professional production matters. If your video is shaky, poorly lit, or hard to hear, you’ll lose viewers within seconds. And in outdoor video shoots across Utah that can involve variable sunlight, snow flurries, or quick-moving cloud cover, your technique has to match the setting.
The key is to plan ahead and choose the right equipment based on conditions. For example, winter sun tends to cast hard shadows. Adding soft reflectors or bounce fill can even out exposure without making the image look flat. On breezy days, avoid dangling mics and swap them for lavaliers hidden under layers to cut wind rumble before it becomes a problem in post.
When filming outdoors, you don’t always get the luxury of a second chance. Battery life drains faster in the cold, and gear setup takes longer with gloves. So keeping a lean, reliable setup that’s tested ahead of the shoot keeps the project from slowing down or worse, falling apart mid-day.
Here’s a short list of outdoor video production tips that work well in Utah’s mountain and desert landscapes:
- Pack extra batteries and cards, especially in icy areas
- Keep lens wipes on hand—dust and snowflakes love to show up when you're rolling
- Scout your locations at the same time of day you’ll be filming to match lighting
- Use manual settings whenever possible—auto modes often misread snow and sand
- Adjust your white balance scene-by-scene instead of relying on presets
These tricks aren’t just about making the video look pretty. They help you capture clean, usable footage that edits smoothly. The fewer fixes you need in post, the faster your team can deliver a finished project that matches your vision.
How We Can Help
You’ve probably already realized there’s more to good video than just turning on a camera. Understanding your viewer, shaping a clear story, and setting the right technical foundation all take time. And when you’re aiming for polished results—especially in outdoor shoots—it helps to have a local team that knows the terrain, the gear, and the flow of production.
From the initial planning to the final frame, we guide creative projects in ways that keep both message and quality aligned. If you're producing video content in Utah and want it to perform well, we're here to help make that happen.
Achieving Success With Business Videos
The best business videos don’t just look nice—they work. They spark action, shape opinion, or deliver clarity. Each piece of the process matters, and taking the time to get your message, audience, story, and production right makes a huge difference.
Think of your next video as a chance to earn trust and attention, not just fill a content slot. The payoff comes when someone watches your video and thinks, “That clicked with me.” That’s how results happen. Start there, and the rest of the strategy will build itself out more naturally.
Discover how working with an experienced outdoor video production company in Utah can shape your next project from the ground up. At Après Visuals, we combine technical skill with creative vision to help bring your story to life through compelling visuals. If you're ready to create something that truly connects, let's talk.