Your Next Marketing Video Is Already in Your Inbox.
The questions customers already ask are your best content.
You don't need a brainstorm to find your next marketing video.
You need to open your inbox.
Look at the questions people ask before they hire you.
How does this work? What does it cost? How long does it take? What do I need to get ready? Is this right for a business like mine?
There's your content calendar.
Those questions show you exactly where people get stuck deciding. Answer them, and you get unstuck right along with them.
What's a Video FAQ?
A short video that answers one real question a customer actually asked.
It can walk through part of your process, kill a worry, show how something works, or help someone figure out if you're the right fit.
The topic will sound boring. Good.
"How do we prepare for a video shoot?" isn't winning any headline awards. But picture the client who's never organized a shoot. People, locations, approvals, schedules. A clear answer is worth a lot to that person.
Useful is the best creative brief there is.
Start with real conversations
Pull questions from sales calls, inquiry forms, email threads, kickoff meetings and support tickets.
Listen for the ones that carry doubt:
- What changes the price?
- What's included?
- What happens after we sign?
- Who needs to be involved?
- What could slow this down?
- How do we pick the right option?
Then start with the ones that come up again and again, or the ones that stall a deal.
For a video production company, "How much does a video cost?" is fair game. A great answer walks through what drives the price: scope, locations, crew, shoot days, editing, graphics and deliverables.
"It depends" is where the answer starts, not where it ends.
Answer first. Introduce yourself later.
When someone clicks on a question, they want the answer. Give it to them fast.
Like this:
"A brand video budget depends on what we need to film and what the finished video needs to do. The biggest factors are scope, crew, locations and post-production."
Then break those factors down with an example.
The quality of your answer is your introduction. Nobody needs a 30-second logo sting to know who's talking.
One video, one job
One focused question makes the video easier to plan, shoot and use.
Here's the structure I use:
- Ask the question the way a customer would.
- Give the straight answer.
- Explain the details and trade-offs that matter.
- Show an example if it helps.
- Point to the next step.
Let the question set the length. Some need 40 seconds. Some need a demo.
Clarity is the bar.
Put the answer where the question happens
A process video belongs on your service page and in your sales follow-up.
A "how to prepare" video belongs in onboarding.
A video comparing your options belongs right next to those options.
Post it on social too. Just don't let it die when it scrolls off the feed.
On your website, put the written answer right next to the video. It gives visitors another way in and gives the page real text. Google recommends putting important content in text form, too. (Google's guidance on AI features in Search)
Find out if it's working
Ask your team if the video is changing conversations.
Are prospects showing up better prepared? Do customers understand what they're buying? Are you sending one link instead of retyping the same answer for the 40th time?
That matters as much as plays and watch time.
FAQ-first video is a core piece of the framework in my upcoming book, Be Boring: pay attention to what people need, then answer it well.
Your next great marketing video might be sitting in an email you answered this morning.
In my strategy calls and team workshops, we find the questions worth filming and build a plan to put the answers to work.
