To make a video for a small business on a tiny budget, spend time instead of money: write a 150 to 300 word script about one thing customers keep asking you, then turn it into a narrated drawn explainer or a short phone video, depending on whether the subject is something you can point a camera at. Skip the drone, the studio, the music licence and the agency. The only purchase most businesses ever need is a cheap clip-on microphone if you record your own voice. Make three videos first: what you do, how it works, and the question you answer every week. A clear one-minute video that answers a real question beats a polished one that says nothing.

Where small business video money usually goes, and what to skip

Most of what a production company charges for is crew time, equipment and editing. For a large brand those things matter. For a business with four staff and a website that gets a few hundred visitors a week, most of them do not show up in results.

The rule of thumb: film what is real and specific to you, draw what is invisible or happens inside something, and never pay for footage of things that are not yours.

The first three videos to make

Do not start with a brand film. Start with the videos that do a job you are already doing by hand.

1. What you do, in 60 seconds. Who you serve, what you make or do, and why a customer would pick you over the obvious alternative. About 150 words. This goes on your homepage and your Google Business profile.

2. How it works. Your process, or how your product is made, in two to four minutes. This is the video that builds trust, because it shows that you know your craft. It is also the one that most suits a drawn explainer, since most processes happen inside a machine, a kitchen or a supply chain that is awkward to film well.

3. The question you answer every week. Write down the question your staff answer most on the phone or by email. "Do you deliver outside the city", "how long does it take", "what is the minimum order". One video per question, 30 to 90 seconds each. These save real hours, and they are the videos customers actually search for.

Worked example: a matchbox maker explains how a safety match is made

Take a small family firm in Sivakasi, in Tamil Nadu, the centre of India's match industry. They sell to wholesalers and want a video for their website and for buyers who ask how the product is made and whether it is safe to ship. Filming the factory floor is possible but noisy, and the interesting chemistry is invisible anyway. A drawn explainer handles it better.

The script, about 230 words, runs just over a minute and a half:

A safety match is a small piece of chemistry that waits until you ask it to work.It starts as a softwood splint, cut to size and soaked in a fire-retardant solution, usually ammonium phosphate. That is why a match that has burned out does not keep glowing after you shake it.Next, the splint end is dipped in paraffin wax. The wax carries the flame from the head down into the wood.Then comes the head. It is mostly potassium chlorate, which supplies oxygen, often with some sulfur as fuel, plus powdered glass for friction, a binder to hold it together, and colour. On its own, the head is hard to light.The reason is that the other half of the reaction is on the box. The striking strip is red phosphorus mixed with powdered glass. When you strike, friction turns a tiny amount of red phosphorus into a more reactive form, which ignites the chlorate in the head. The head lights, the wax catches, and the wood burns.Keeping the two halves apart, the head on the stick and the phosphorus on the box, is what makes it a safety match. It will not light by rubbing against a shoe or another match.We make around [your real figure] boxes a day, packed in tens and shipped in sealed cartons. If you are a wholesaler, the order form is below.

The scene list, one step per scene:

1. A single match, standing upright, with the line "a small piece of chemistry".
2. A log becoming a stack of splints, with a label for the cut size.
3. Splints in a tray of solution, labelled "ammonium phosphate", then a burned-out match that stops glowing.
4. A splint tip dipped in wax, with a small arrow down the stick.
5. The head, cut away like a diagram, with each ingredient labelled.
6. The box strip, close up, labelled "red phosphorus and powdered glass".
7. The strike: a spark at the contact point, then the head, wax and wood lighting in sequence.
8. The two halves drawn apart with a gap between them, and the word "safety".
9. A sealed carton and the order form.

Two things to notice. First, the real figure in the last paragraph is left as a placeholder on purpose: put in your actual output, not a guess, because buyers will hold you to it. Second, the chemistry is the general process used for safety matches; if your own formulation differs, change the lines to match your factory. Read every label in the finished video against your own process before you publish.

Doing it with no money at all

Here is the order that keeps the cost close to zero.

• Write in the notes app on your phone. Short sentences, one idea per line, about 150 words for every minute you want. Say it aloud and fix every line you trip on.
• Record your voice in the quietest small room you have. A wardrobe full of clothes or a car with the engine off works better than an office with bare walls. Hold the phone or clip-on microphone a hand's width or two from your mouth.
• Use free tiers sensibly. Many tools, including openCanviz, are free to start. Free exports often carry a watermark. For a draft or an internal video that is fine. For the one video on your homepage, paying once for a clean export of that single project is usually the only money you need to spend.
• Reuse every video three ways. A 16:9 version for your website and YouTube, a vertical 9:16 cut for Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp status, and the script itself as a short page on your site, which helps search.

Make it

1. 1

   Pick the one question customers ask most

   Look at last month's calls, emails and WhatsApp messages. The most repeated question is your first video, unless you have no homepage video at all, in which case start there.

2. 2

   Write the script at 150 words a minute

   A 60 second answer is about 150 words. Use your own words and real figures. If a number is not known yet, leave a gap rather than inventing it.

3. 3

   Paste it into openCanviz

   Set the target length and turn on Keep my wording so the narration is exactly what you wrote. Choose a style that suits the trade: whiteboard for processes, cutout or painted for a friendlier product video.

4. 4

   Check every label and replace the voice if you want

   Read each drawn label against your real process and edit any scene that is wrong. You can keep the generated voice or replace it with your own recording, which customers often trust more.

5. 5

   Make a vertical version

   Produce a 9:16 cut of the clearest minute for social and messaging apps. One script, two files.

6. 6

   Pay only for the video that faces customers

   Keep drafts and internal versions on the free tier. Pay once for a clean, watermark-free export of the single project that goes on your homepage.

Mistakes that cost more than money

• Talking about the company instead of the customer. "Founded in 1987" is a fine line for the About page. In a video, start with the customer's problem or question.
• Trying to say everything. One video, one question. A second question is a second video.
• Making claims you cannot back up. "Best quality in India" invites a buyer to ask how you know. Say what you actually do: tested batches, sealed cartons, a delivery time you keep.
• Waiting for it to be perfect. A clear video published this week is worth more than a polished one planned for next year. You can replace it later.

Common questions

Do I need to show my face? No. Your voice over a drawn explainer of your process is often more convincing than a nervous talking head, and it is far easier to redo. If you are comfortable on camera, a short clip of you at the end works well.

Is a phone good enough? For filming real things, yes. Clean the lens, shoot in daylight, hold it steady, and use a cheap clip-on microphone. Audio matters more than picture.

Should I hire someone instead? Hire someone when you know exactly what the video must do and you have evidence it will pay back, for example a product launch with a real advertising budget. For the first three videos, doing it yourself teaches you what works for your customers.

Can I make the video in my customers' language? Yes. You can write the script in another language, or make the video once, duplicate the project and switch the narration language. Have a fluent speaker watch it before you publish.

How do I turn a brochure or price sheet into a video? Rewrite it as a script first; brochures are written for the eye, not the ear. How to turn a PDF into a video covers that rewrite, and how to explain a process in a video helps with the "how it is made" version.