Types of Corporate Videos: Which One Does Your Business Need?

"We need a corporate video" is one of the most common things we hear. It's also one of the vaguest.

Corporate video covers a lot of ground. An explainer, a brand film, a testimonial and a training video are all corporate videos, but they do completely different jobs.

Here are the main types, what each one is good for, and how to work out which one you actually need.

Explainer Videos: Make Your Offer Simple

An explainer takes something people find confusing and makes it clear. What you do, how it works and why it matters.

What a Good Explainer Covers

• The problem. What your customer is dealing with.
• Your solution. What you do about it.
• How it works. The steps, in plain language.
• The next step. What to do if they're interested.

Why They Work for Small Businesses

They answer the same questions you'd otherwise answer on every phone call. That saves you time and gets people further along before they even contact you. Keep them to 60 to 90 seconds.

Promotional and Brand Films: Get Noticed and Remembered

This is the hero piece. It shows who you are, what you do and why you're the right choice.

What They're Built to Do

• Introduce your business to people who don't know you yet.
• Give your website and proposals a strong first impression.
• Feed cut-downs into social posts and ads.

Common Styles

• Brand story: the founder, the team and the values.
• Project-led: your best work does the talking.
• Campaign or launch: built around a new service, location or offer.

A good brand film earns its keep for years. It's the core of our corporate video work.

Training and Internal Videos: Help Your Team Do Their Best Work

Where They Make a Real Difference

• Inducting new starters
• Safety procedures and site rules
• Repeatable processes and quality standards
• Updates from leadership, especially across multiple sites

Make Them Worth Watching

Keep each one short and focused on a single task. Film real people doing the real job, on the real site. Break long topics into a short series instead of one long video nobody finishes.

Testimonial and Case Study Videos: Let Customers Do the Selling

Nothing builds trust like a happy client talking honestly about working with you.

What Makes Them Work

• A real customer, not an actor.
• The before: what they needed and what worried them.
• The experience: what it was like working with you.
• The result: shown, not just described.

Asking the right questions makes all the difference. Here are the questions we use in testimonial interviews.

Where to Use Them

Service pages, landing pages, proposals, tender submissions and ads. Anywhere someone is weighing up whether to trust you.

Culture and Recruitment Videos: Attract the Right People

What They Focus On

• What it's like to work with you, day to day.
• The people and the way you treat them.
• Why good people stay.

Where They Fit

Your careers page, job ads, LinkedIn and recruitment campaigns. They also help customers, because people like hiring businesses that look after their teams.

How to Choose the Right Type

Step 1: Get Clear on the Main Goal

What do you want to change? More enquiries, bigger jobs, better staff, smoother onboarding? Pick one.

Step 2: Match the Goal to a Format

• Get noticed: brand film or promotional video.
• Explain your offer: explainer.
• Build trust: testimonials and case studies.
• Hire better: culture and recruitment.
• Train consistently: internal and training videos.

Step 3: Weigh Budget, Capacity and Shelf Life

A brand film costs more but lasts years. Testimonials are quicker and easy to add over time. If you need a steady flow of fresh content as well, look at pairing a hero piece with ongoing video. We cover that trade-off in one-off vs ongoing video content.

Start With the Video That Solves Your Biggest Problem

You don't need all of these at once. Pick the one that fixes your biggest gap right now, make it well, and build from there.

Not sure where to start? Book a discovery call and we'll help you work it out.