11/11/2026

What Is a Promotional Video? 6 Types, 7 Steps and 2 Examples

Key takeaways

A promotional video is a short video that gets one audience to take one action about one thing: a launch, an offer, an event or the business itself.
Six types cover most needs — launch, offer, event, company, product or service, and customer proof promos — and each asks for a different action in a different place.
Making one takes seven steps, and the first three decide whether it works: one action, the audience and placement, and a one-sentence brief.
Two finished examples, a vertical offer promo and a horizontal company promo, show the request each started from, how the script is built second by second and what to swap.
Published price guides put DIY and AI routes under $1,000, freelancers at $1,000 to $5,000 and production companies at $5,000 to $15,000 and up.

A promotional video is a short video that puts one thing in front of a specific audience — a product, a sale, an event or the business itself — and asks them to take one action. “Promo video” and “promotion video” mean the same thing. What separates a promo from the other videos a company makes is focus: it does not explain everything or tell the whole brand story, it makes one offer clear enough that the viewer acts on it.

This guide covers what a promotional video is and how it differs from product, brand and explainer videos, the six types worth knowing, and a seven-step way to make one. Two finished examples run through it, each shown with the one-line request it started from, how its script is built second by second, and what you would swap to make it yours. The last sections compare four ways to get a promo made, from a template tool to a production company, and show how to build one with NoLang.

What is a promotional video?

A promotional video is marketing video with a single job: get one audience to do one thing about one thing. The thing can be a product launch, a weekend offer, a webinar, a new location or the company as a whole. The action can be booking, buying, registering, visiting or getting in touch. Everything else in the video is there to make that one action feel worth taking.

You will also see the term used more broadly. Wikipedia’s entry for “promotional video” points to film trailers, music videos and corporate video, all of which promote something. This guide is about the business sense of the term: a video a company makes to promote what it sells.

The easiest way to pin the definition down is to compare a promo with the videos it is most often confused with.

Promotional video vs. similar videos

Video	Its job	What it covers	What it asks the viewer to do
Promotional video	Create interest in one specific thing, often for a limited time	One offer, launch, event or the business itself	One action: book, buy, register, visit, contact
Product video	Show how a product works	Features, use and results	Often nothing yet, or “learn more”
Brand video	Shape how people feel about the company	Values, story, people	Remember the brand
Explainer video	Make an idea or service easy to understand	The problem, how it works, the benefit	Start a trial or a conversation
Commercial	Run as a paid ad on TV or streaming	Usually one product or offer	Buy, visit, or recall the brand

The lines overlap in practice. A product video becomes a promo the moment it is cut down to one benefit and ends on “order by Friday”. If you can name the one action you want and the date it matters by, you are making a promotional video.

6 types of promotional videos

Promo videos are easiest to plan by what they push the viewer toward. Style is a separate decision: any of these six types can be filmed, animated or generated, so “animated promotional video” describes how it is made, not what it is for.

Six types of promotional videos and the one action each asks for

Type	What it promotes	The one action	Where it usually runs
Launch promo	A new product, menu, feature or location	Try it, pre-order, visit	Social feeds, email, website banner
Offer promo	A sale, discount or limited-time deal	Buy or book before the date	Social ads, email, in-store screens
Event promo	A webinar, opening, workshop or trade show	Register or RSVP	Social posts, invitation emails, event page
Company promo	The business itself and why to choose it	Get a quote or get in touch	Homepage, About page, sales emails, trade show booth
Product or service promo	How one product or service solves a problem	Start a trial, request a demo, buy	Landing pages, YouTube, ads
Customer proof promo	A real customer’s result in their own words	Book a call, see the case study	Landing pages, sales follow-ups

The two examples in the next section are an offer promo and a company promo, the two types a small business is most likely to need first. If the thing you are promoting is a physical product, how to make a product video goes deeper on showing it working; for software or a service, see how to make a service explainer video.

Two promotional video examples, from brief to finished video

Both examples were produced in NoLang from a one-line request. The script, the offer details and the visuals were written and generated from that line, then each video was saved as a template you can start from. For each one you get the request, the script beat by beat with timings, and what to change to make it yours.

The first is an offer promo for Maple & Rye, a fictional neighborhood bakery: three pastries sold only on Saturday and Sunday. It is vertical, made for Reels, Stories and a small paid push to people nearby.

How the bakery promo is built, second by second

Seconds	Beat	What is said and shown
0–5	Hook	“Three new pastries. Two days only. And one reason to set your alarm.” The numbers 3, 2 and 1 fill the screen
5–8	Name it	“This is the Weekend Bake, at Maple and Rye.”
8–27	Offer	Three pastries, each with its name, price ($5.50, $6.25, $4.75) and what makes it special on screen
27–32	Reason	“Every batch is shaped by hand, before the sun comes up.”
32–36	When	Saturday and Sunday only, from 7 a.m. until sold out
36–43	Reason to come early	The first 50 guests each morning get a free mini cinnamon roll
43–48	Action	The address on screen, and “See you this weekend!”

The request it started from: a vertical promotional video in English in which a local bakery announces a new weekend-only menu.
Why it holds attention: the opening promises “one reason to set your alarm” and only pays it off at 36 seconds, so the viewer has a reason to stay through the menu.
Length: 115 words of narration in 48 seconds. Every price, day and time also appears as text, so it reads with the sound off.
What to swap for your own: the shop name, the items and prices, the days and hours, the early-bird reward and the address.

Weekend menu promo for a bakery

Make a vertical promo for our bakery’s weekend-only menu. Show the three new pastries with prices, Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m., a free treat for early guests, and end with our address.

Create a Video with This Template

The second is a company promo for Freshlane Commercial Cleaning, a fictional office cleaning company. It is horizontal, made for the homepage and for the first email to an office manager, and it asks for one thing: book a free walkthrough.

How the cleaning company promo is built, second by second

Seconds	Beat	What is said and shown
0–13	Hook	“Your team notices everything”: overflowing bins, sticky counters, smudged glass. “Guess who hears about it? You do.”
13–25	Introduce	“What if office cleaning was the one thing you never had to think about? Meet Freshlane Commercial Cleaning.”
25–40	How it works	Three steps: a free walkthrough, a schedule built around your hours, the same trained crew every visit
40–54	Proof	A photo report after every clean; desks, kitchens, restrooms, floors and glass; low-odor, eco-friendly products
54–61	Guarantee	A missed spot is re-cleaned within 24 hours at no extra cost
61–71	Action	“A cleaner office. Fewer complaints. One less thing on your list.” Then “Book your free walkthrough” on screen

The request it started from: a company promotional video in English in which a commercial cleaning company introduces its services to office managers.
Why it works for a cold audience: it opens on the viewer’s problem, not the company’s name, and only introduces Freshlane once the office manager recognizes the situation.
Length: 162 words of narration in 71 seconds, longer than the bakery promo because a stranger needs the how-it-works and the guarantee before booking anything.
What to swap for your own: the company name and logo, the problem you solve, your three-step process, the proof and guarantee, and the action.

Company promo for an office cleaning service

Make a company promo for our office cleaning service, aimed at office managers. Open on the complaints they hear, explain our three steps and guarantee, and end with booking a free walkthrough.

Create a Video with This Template

How to make a promotional video in 7 steps

The steps below work whether you make the video yourself or hand it to someone else. Steps one to three are the brief, and they matter most when you are outsourcing: a production company can only be as focused as the brief it receives.

1. Pick one thing to promote and one action

Write down the single thing the video is about and the single action you want afterward. “Our weekend menu, so people stop by on Saturday” is a promo. “Our bakery, our story, our menu and our catering service” is four videos.

The action needs a destination that already works: a booking page, a product page with the offer applied, a registration form, a phone number. If the viewer has to search for the offer after watching, the video has done half its job.

2. Decide who it is for and where it will play

The audience decides the tone and the placement decides the shape. A promo for regulars who already follow you on Instagram can open straight on the new item; one for office managers who have never heard of you has to say what you do first.

Where a promo plays and what that decides

Where it plays	Shape	Plan for
Instagram Reels, Stories, TikTok, YouTube Shorts	Vertical 9:16	Text on screen that carries the offer without sound
Social feed posts and ads	Square 1:1 or 4:5, or vertical	The offer in the first lines, before the viewer scrolls
Website, landing page, YouTube	Horizontal 16:9	A viewer who chose to press play and can take a little longer
Email	A thumbnail linking to the video	A still that makes the offer readable on its own
In-store or event screens	Whatever the screen is, often 16:9 or 9:16	Little or no sound, and viewers walking past

If the same promo will run in several places, plan a version for each shape now rather than cropping one later. Cropping a horizontal video to vertical usually cuts off the text.

3. Write a one-sentence brief

Before any script, fill in one sentence:

A [length] [shape] promo for [audience] that shows [the one thing]
so they [the one action] by [date or condition].

If any slot is hard to fill, the video is not ready to be made yet. The brief is also what you hand to a production company or type into a video generator, so writing it well saves a round of revisions either way.

Filled in for the bakery example above, it reads:

A 48-second vertical promo for weekend customers that shows three pastries
sold only this weekend, so they come in on Saturday or Sunday from 7 a.m.

4. Script it: hook, offer, reason, action

Most promotional scripts follow the same four beats:

Hook: the first line names the thing or the viewer’s situation, so the right people keep watching.
Offer: what it is, when it runs, what it costs or saves. The specifics go on screen as text as well as in the narration.
Reason: one detail that makes the offer believable or desirable — an ingredient, a result, a guarantee.
Action: one instruction, with the place to do it. “Stop by this Saturday” beats “visit our website or follow us or call”.

Set the length by counting words rather than guessing seconds. Read the script aloud at the pace you want and time it; the length is whatever the four beats need, capped by where the video will play. In the two examples above, the narration runs at about 2.3 to 2.4 words a second: 115 words in 48 seconds for the bakery, 162 words in 71 for the cleaning company. At that pace a 30-second promo holds about 70 words, which is roughly one hook, one offer, one reason and one action.

5. Plan the visuals and sound

Decide early whether the promo will be filmed, animated or generated. Filming shows the real product, place and people, which matters for a restaurant or a venue; it also brings shoot days, locations and releases from anyone on camera. Animation and generated visuals suit offers that are hard to film or need to change often.

Whatever the style, three things carry over:

Specifics as text: dates, prices, codes and addresses appear on screen, not only in the narration.
Captions: the narration is captioned, so the video still works with the sound off.
Rights: every piece of music, footage, photo and logo is one you are licensed to use in an ad, not just in a personal post.

6. Build it

This is the step where the routes split: a template tool, an AI generator, a freelancer or a production company. The next section compares them. Whichever you choose, keep the brief from step three in front of whoever is building it.

7. Review it before you publish

Watch the finished video once with sound and once without, then go through this list.

Pre-publish checklist for a promotional video

Check	What to look for
The offer	Price, dates, terms and location match the page the viewer lands on
The action	One action, said and shown; the link or number works
Sound off	The offer and the action are clear from the text and captions alone
The opening	What is being promoted is clear in the first lines
The shape	Each placement has its own version: vertical, square or horizontal
Rights	Music, footage, photos, logos and anyone on camera are cleared for this use
Claims	Every number, “best” or “free” can be backed up
Names	Product names, people’s names and spelling are right

After you publish: versions and one number to watch

Post each version where it was planned to play, and pick one number that matches the action: bookings, sign-ups, clicks on the offer, calls. Views tell you the video was shown, not that it worked. If you made two openings or two endings, run them side by side and keep the one that moves that number.

DIY tool, AI generator, freelancer or production company?

There are four ways to get a promotional video made, and the right one depends less on budget than on how often you need new promos and how much has to be filmed.

Four ways to get a promotional video made

Route	Published price range	Time to delivery	Best for
Template tool (DIY)	Under $1,000	Your own schedule	Simple social promos from photos and clips you already have
AI video generator	Under $1,000	Your own schedule	Promos built from a brief or script, and many versions of them
Freelancer	$1,000–$5,000	Depends on the freelancer	A single shoot at one location, when cost and speed matter most
Production company	$5,000–$15,000, and above $15,000 for high-end work	Three to five weeks is typical	Filmed promos with talent and locations, several cuts from one shoot

The price tiers and the typical timeline come from Vidico’s 2026 comparison of promotional video production companies, which puts most businesses’ spend on a promotional video between $2,000 and $8,000. Vidico sells video production, and as its own guide points out, every published rate card in this market comes from a company that sells it, so read these as asking prices rather than benchmarks. For a fuller breakdown by type of video and phase of work, see video production cost.

The practical split: when the promo depends on real footage of your place, product or people, pay for filming. When it depends on getting a clear offer out quickly, in several shapes, and changing it next month, build it yourself or generate it.

What to settle before you hire a production company

When each stage is signed off. Approving the script and the look before anything is animated or edited is what keeps revisions cheap.
How many revision rounds you get, and per what. Rounds per stage and one shared pool produce very different bills.
Who holds the music license after delivery. Ask whether the license is in your name and whether it covers ads at your company’s size.
Whether raw footage and project files are included. They are often treated as separate from the finished edit.
Whether you get copyright or a usage license. Get the answer in the contract.
How quickly you must return feedback. A company that asks for a deadline on your side has run this process before.

Make a promotional video with NoLang

NoLang generates a narrated, captioned video from a brief, a script or a document, and lets you edit the result before you download it. The two examples above were made with it, and each is a template you can start from.

Start from an example: press “Create a Video with This Template” under either example. NoLang opens that video and marks it “Set this video as the reference”, so your video follows its structure. Or, on the home screen, choose Product introduction or Service Introduction and then Select a template.
Enter content: in the prompt box, describe your own offer with your one-sentence brief and the specifics the video must get right: the dates, prices, address and the action.
Set the shape and length: when you start from the prompt box on the home screen, the Aspect Ratio menu offers Mobile (9:16), Desktop (16:9), 1:1, 4:5 and more, and the length menu lets you aim for 30, 45, 60 or 90 seconds or leave it on Auto.
Generate a video and review it: watch it against the checklist in step seven, once with sound and once without.
Edit and download: open Edit to change the wording, replace an image or clip, trim a scene or add text, then Download the finished file.

Because the video is generated from the brief rather than filmed, next month’s offer or a vertical version for Reels is a new run of the same brief rather than a new production.

For companies that need a steady stream of promos, NoLang for Business lets marketing, sales and store teams generate them in-house from their own briefs, scripts and documents, instead of booking a production for each campaign. To see how it would fit your team, download the overview or contact us.

Download materials

FAQ

How long should a promotional video be?

Long enough for four beats — hook, offer, reason, action — and no longer than the placement allows. Write the script first, read it aloud and time it, then cut until every line earns its place. A vertical promo for a feed carries one offer and should finish quickly; a company promo on your homepage can take longer because the viewer chose to press play.

What is the difference between a promotional video and a commercial?

A commercial is defined by where it runs: a paid slot on TV, streaming or another ad placement. A promotional video is defined by what it does: it pushes one audience toward one action. Many commercials are promotional videos, but a promo can also run on your own website, in email or on your social accounts without any ad spend.

How much does a promotional video cost?

Vidico's 2026 comparison of production companies puts most businesses' spend between $2,000 and $8,000, with DIY and AI tools under $1,000, freelancers at $1,000 to $5,000, agencies at $5,000 to $15,000 and high-end production above that. Those are asking prices published by companies that sell production. The biggest cost drivers are filming with talent and locations, animation, music licensing and the number of finished cuts.

Should a promo video be vertical or horizontal?

Make it in the shape of the place it will play: vertical 9:16 for Reels, Stories, TikTok and Shorts, square or 4:5 for feed posts and many social ads, horizontal 16:9 for your website and YouTube. If it will run in several places, make one version per shape rather than cropping a single video, which tends to cut off the on-screen text.

How many versions of a promo video should I make?

One per placement, plus a variant of the opening if you can. A version per shape keeps the text readable everywhere, and two openings run side by side tell you which hook moves the number you care about, such as bookings or sign-ups.

Can I use a promotional video made with NoLang in ads?

Yes. NoLang's terms let you reuse the videos you generate, including for commercial purposes, so they can run as ads, on your website and on your social accounts. NoLang may ask you to stop a particular use, and before publishing you are responsible for checking that the video does not infringe anyone else's rights, such as a trademark or a person's likeness.