How to make a commercial: 8 crucial steps

Video commercials are a time-tested way to advertise your brand. Learn how to make a commercial in the digital age with these tips.

Commercials are one of the oldest forms of advertising. Brands started using commercial videos in the 1940s to advertise their products and services on TV. We’ve since progressed to podcast advertising and social media commercials, which is why the global digital video advertising industry is tipped to be worth a whopping $553.6 billion by 2032.One thing’s for sure: commercials are a great video format to communicate with your target audience, increase brand awareness, and drive sales—even if you’re not restricting your videos to TV. In this step-by-step guide we’ll share how to make a commercial, complete with tips and examples to draw inspiration from.

What makes a great video commercial?

A great commercial or promo video promotes your products and services to raise brand awareness. The most successful commercials have a clear message or narrative, visual appeal, emotional resonance, and a call-to-action at the end.

Clear message and storyline

A great commercial isn’t confusing. It doesn’t try to tell the audience too much, but also isn’t vague or mysterious. You only have 30 to 90 seconds to grab your audience’s attention and tell them what you want them to know, so your message must be very clear.

Consider this Kmart ad announcing that customers can ship products in-store—one message with a simple script. They’ve also added a bit of humor to help the commercial stick in viewer’s minds.

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Visual appeal and high production quality

A large part of any marketing strategy is how something looks and sounds. Aesthetics are important.

Just think of a restaurant or food commercial, like this Whopper TV ad from Burger King. The video production makes the burger on-screen look beautiful and mouthwatering. When you actually get a Whopper it might not look exactly like this, but this is the ideal—so it’s the version you put in the commercial.

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Emotional resonance

The best commercials—the ones that will stick out in your audience’s mind even years later—trigger some sort of emotional response. It can be humor, sadness, shock, or that fuzzy feel-good feeling. Whatever the response is, a strong one will make your audience feel something about your brand and company.

Gum company Extra does a great job creating storylines and touching moments through their commercials. Take this one depicting a father and daughter sharing Extra gum at each of the daughter’s life milestones—both joys and tribulations. It makes Extra seem like more than just gum; it’s also a chance to connect with those you love.

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Call-to-action (CTA)

Every good commercial tells the audience how to get what they’ve just seen. That can mean on-screen text telling viewers to call a phone number or a voiceover telling them to rush to a shop nearby.

Or maybe you just want them to sign up for a newsletter or follow your brand on social media. Either way, you need to tell your audience what you want them to do at the end of your commercial.

Look at Sephora’s holiday commercial outlining how products from the cosmetics store make great gifts. The video ends with a CTA to “Give Something Beautiful” by, you guessed it: buying gifts from Sephora.

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8 steps for making your own commercial

How you create your commercial will vary depending on what you’re trying to say, the platform you’re using to share it, and your budget.

For example, if you’re making radio ads, the steps will be slightly different from creating video content for social media platforms like YouTube. To keep things simple, we’ll go through the process of creating a video commercial.

Step 1: Research your demographic and competition

Before you spend any time or money creating a commercial, you must know what your audience wants and how to set yourself apart from your competition. This sets the foundation for targeted ads that resonate with the right buyers.

Suppose you’re creating a commercial for a new fitness app. Your primary demographic might be health-conscious individuals, aged 20–35, who are tech-savvy and looking for innovative ways to track and improve their fitness. Those are the types of people you should target in your commercial.

If you already have a website or social media channels set up for your brand, those are a good place to start. Comb through your sales and analytics of your most popular social media posts to see whose interest you’re piquing and what products or services are flying off your shelves.

You can also comb through your competitors’ social media profiles and look at the response and views your competition is getting for their ads. Learn from their mistakes, borrow from their successes, and find the gaps in the market you can fill.

Step 2: Brainstorm ideas

After you know what people want, you need to figure out the best way to explain how you can deliver it.

First, clearly define what you want to achieve with the commercial. Is it brand awareness, announcing a product launch, or encouraging sales? Your objective guides your brainstorming.

Then, you can start a brainstorming session with your team. Here’s what to do:

Assemble a team with different backgrounds and perspectives. Diversity in thought leads to more creative and inclusive ideas.
Choose a comfortable and inspiring environment for a brainstorming session.
Use brainstorming techniques like mindmapping and brainwriting to create themes.
Create simple storyboards of the most promising ideas.

Encourage the wildest ideas from your team. Look for inspiration in current trends, pop culture, and other areas that resonate with your target audience.

Remember, you’ll have to navigate your budget constraints when bringing your ideas to life. If you have minimal budget, pad some of your commercial with stock footage or use an AI voice for narration.

Step 3: Write a script/storyboard

After you’ve settled on an idea, it’s time to write a script and storyboard the shots you want to get for your commercial.

A video script will give you a better idea of what you’ll need to tell the story you want. A storyboard, on the other hand, will help keep you organized. It’ll act as a shot list to help you get every piece of footage you need while on set.

Step 4: Cast talent and gather crew

Now you know what you need, it’s time to find your talent and your crew. These are the people who will make your commercial possible. That can mean holding auditions if you need professional actors, or deciding you’ll take stage as the spokesperson for your brand. In that case, you should learn how to read a script like a professional voice actor while recording.

When it comes to the crew behind the camera, you may need to find a videographer, a producer, or a grip. Maybe you’re planning on being a crew of one and doing it all yourself. There’s no rule that makes one way right or wrong. Your budget and message will help you decide which avenue is best for the commercial you want to make.

Don’t feel like being on screen or holding auditions for talent? Use an AI video generator to create your commercial. Descript is home to premium stock voices you can put over B-roll and turn your commercial script into audio within seconds.

Image of user choosing an AI-generated voice in Descript

Step 5: Gather necessary equipment

Every video commercial will need something that can capture video content. If you’re on a smaller budget, a smartphone camera with its built-in mic and a tripod might be all you need. But if you want to create something for network TV, you may have to splurge for some more professional grade gear.

You’ll also need to find good video editing software to bring it all together. If you use Descript, microphones are one thing you don’t need to splurge on. Studio Sound can remove fuzzy background noise and enhance audio quality in post-production.

Step 6: Shoot or record your commercial

Next, gather your equipment and start shooting your commercial footage. As tempting as it might be to turn the camera off in between takes, try your best to keep it rolling. You can always go back and edit unwanted footage out in post-production, but you’ll have a hard time re-recording it with exactly the same layout and lighting afterward.

If you’ve got a limited budget or smaller production team, consider using stock B-roll footage to slot within your commercial. If you’re showing farm-to-table food, for example, you could use stock footage of a farm or a family eating a meal.

The best part? You don’t need to find a shooting location that ticks every box. Find the stock videos you want to include, then use an AI-generated green screen to replace your background with the video.

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Step 7: Edit commercial

The post-production phase is where you edit your commercial together and refine the message. It’s where you’ll add transitions, color-correct, edit audio, and cut together the footage.

The key is finding video editing software that works for your needs and expertise. Don’t think you have to shell out for an expensive video editor—there are free tools like Descript to help you produce professional grade videos. It even has video templates to configure your video automatically and make it compatible with different social media platforms.

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Step 8: Gauge response and analyze feedback

After you’ve posted or aired your commercial, your work isn’t done. The final step is to look over the feedback your viewers are giving you.

If you’ve posted your commercial on YouTube, the comments are a goldmine of video marketing information. Viewer feedback can tell you if you’re heading in the right direction or you need to change course, and can even reveal new demographics or alternate uses for your products that you hadn’t considered.

4 tips for making an engaging commercial

Know your audience

Part of knowing your brand is knowing who’s going to buy your products or use your services and what it is they want. The needs and wants of—and therefore, the commercials that appeal to—a 40-year-old male mechanic from Las Vegas are very different from the needs of a 13-year-old girl living in Alaska.

Tell a compelling story

It will cost you time, energy, and money to create this commercial. You’ve done the research and know people want and need what you’re selling, so make them want to buy from you.

In a world where TikTok users decide whether to watch a video in less than three seconds, you don’t have long to grab your viewers’ attention and convince them to keep watching your commercial. Tell your audience about your brand through a story or a compelling narrative structure, or even have a customer tell their story in a testimonial to prove it.

Highlight unique selling points

Did you know that the average American sees over 100 ads per day? If you want to stand out from the noise, show your audience how you’re unique.

Your commercial should be telling your audience what makes you special—and why they should be spending their money with you. This might be your commitment to sustainability, your influencer-endorsed product range, or the fact that your product has been proven to work better than any other on the market.

Create a memorable tagline

Taglines are a type of branding material that help people remember commercials. Just think about how many taglines have permeated our pop culture: Nike’s “Just Do It” and McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ It” are just two examples. If you can create one for your commercial, make it stick by adding it to every marketing campaign.

The best way to promote your brand through video

Use a tool like Descript that allows you to capture video, edit your commercial, and publish it all at once. It can save you time during the production process and help create better marketing and promo videos.

Descript has a host of AI features that make shooting, editing, publishing your videos a breeze:

Auto transcription with <95% accuracy
Filler word removal to remove awkward pauses and stutters
AI audio generation, so you don’t have to re-record any audio
Video templates that format your commercial for different social media platforms
Automatic reel maker and clip generator for your videos

Descript is the video editor of choice for top brands like Shopify, Headspace, and Masterclass. Take a free tour today and see why.

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How to make a commercial FAQs

How much money do you need to make a commercial?

The cost of commercials can vary depending on what kind of commercial you want to create, who will be creating the commercial, who your potential customer is, and what platform you’ll be using to share your commercial. The cost of an in-house video ad made for social media is going to be a lot cheaper than a primetime TV commercial made by a production company.

What do you need to make a good commercial?

An engaging story or narrative
A strong hook
A unique selling point
A memorable tagline
High-quality video and audio
A call-to-action

How do people make commercials?

You can hire a professional video ad agency and make expensive television commercials. The most affordable option, however, is to download free video editing software and create online videos to post on YouTube.

The most interesting documentaries are the ones that teach us something about ourselves.

Documentary trailblazer Sheila Nevins, current Head of MTV Documentary division and former President of HBO Documentary says:

“When you look at the great documentaries, they focus on one person; it’s one person’s struggle. And you say, ‘hey, you know, I’m not so different from that person.’”

Besides creating empathy, documentary creates awareness about important social issues. This mode of filmmaking gives the viewer access to foreign subjects and exotic environments that would otherwise be inaccessible.

Documentary exposes corruption or injustice and serves as a vehicle for change.

When you attach the power of story to reality, you create a deeper level of understanding, a connection between subject and viewer — a documentary.

The definition of documentary

The Wikipedia definition of a documentary film is this: a non-fiction motion picture intended to document reality primarily for the purposes of instruction, education, or maintaining a historical record.

American film critic and filmmaker, Pare Lorentz, defines a documentary film as a factual film which is dramatic.

The Scottish documentary trailblazer John Grierson, who first coined the term documentary in 1926, defined it as “a creative treatment of actuality.” This definition of documentary still stands strong almost a century later.

News tells us what happened; art explores what it means to be human. Documentary is a sort of synergy of news and art. It elevates both mediums to a higher form.

Documentary and pop culture

With the advancement of technology and accessibility of streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, documentary film entered into the mainstream consciousness as one of the dominant art forms of cinematic storytelling, journalism, advocacy and personal expression.

In popular editing software like Apple’s Final Cut Pro, we even find specific effects named after popular documentary techniques. The Ken Burns Effect, for instance, is a filter that adds movement to a still image to enhance the documentary storytelling process.

What constitutes a documentary?

Documentary varies from the abstract to narrative, big-budget or no budget. They champion people that have nothing or let you into the lives of people that have everything. It is life around the world presented to the viewer on a screen.

There are six modes of documentary production according to film critic Bill Nichols which include expository, observational, participatory, reflexive, poetic and performative.

Most docs are not made in any one mode but use a combination of more than one style.

The 6 modes of documentary filmmaking

Let’s take a quick look at the six modes of doc production. For a more in-depth analysis, read “The six primary types of documentary.”

Expository docs

Expository mode docs are heavily researched. Sometimes referred to as essay films, they aim to educate about things such as past events, issues or ways of life.

An example of this would be “The Dust Bowl” by documentarian Ken Burns. (Yes, this is the same guy the Ken Burns effect is named after.)

Observational docs

Observational mode docs strive for cinematic realism. The form is often referred to as cinema verite. A simpler description would be the fly on the wall approach of documentary filmmaking.

This type of documentary tends to be low budget, with a small crew and natural lighting. The filmmaker follows the drama as it unfolds in real-time.

Frederick Wiseman is the Godfather of observational cinema with his documentation of social institutions and big social issues. Other examples include “Don’t Look Back” by DA Pennebaker and “Salesman” by Albert and David Maysles.

Participatory docs

Participatory mode shows the filmmaker and the subject actively interacting in the situation that is being filmed. The participatory mode often presents the filmmakers point of view and provides some type of social commentary.

Several doc filmmakers popularized this style of first-person documentary storytelling. They include Michael Moore with “Bowling for Columbine,” Nick Broomfield with “Kurt and Courtney” and Morgan Spurlock with the classic “Supersize Me.”

This mode often includes the film director’s voice as the narrative thread throughout the film.

Reflexive docs

Reflexive mode docs are a sort of construction of reality that can often leave the audience wondering about the authenticity of the film.

The clearest and most outstanding example of this mode is “This is Spinal Tap.” It’s a mockumentary by director Rob Reiner about a fictional heavy metal band in their decline.

Poetic docs

Poetic mode is also referred to as abstract or avant-garde. The emphasizes form over function, sacrificing narrative arc for a more aesthetically pleasing presentation.

Performative docs

Performative mode is when the filmmaker depicts a larger political or historical reality through their own POV.

The filmmaker becomes a personal guide and includes their own emotion as part of the story.

In performative mode, the filmmaker gives a first-person look at what it’s like to be there. An example of this mode would be the fierce documentary “Paris is Burning” by Jenny Livingston. The film chronicles New York’s drag scene in the 1980s and what it was like to be a gay, transgender minority during that time in society.

Documentary film vs narrative film

Documentary film and narrative film can be one in the same or distinguished as two completely different art forms. It’s like comparing apples to oranges; they are two different fruits, distinguished by color, taste and texture but at the end of the day, they are both still fruits.

The biggest difference in the two forms is the point at which the narrative develops. The story, in a narrative film, comes out during the writing of the screenplay before production even begins. For documentary, the narrative arc or story usually emerges in the edit room during post-production, long after production begins.

There are always exceptions to the rule, of course. For instance, history-focused documentaries often have a clear script and intention before production begins. Documentaries centered around current events, however, don’t have this luxury.

Regardless of the differences between documentary and narrative filmmaking, most popular modern-day documentaries rely on a very strong narrative structure.

A Golden Age in doc production?

Many critics have argued this is the Golden Age of documentary because there is more demand than ever for it. Streaming services are paying millions of dollars to acquire doc projects. Plus, more broadcast networks are programming feature-length documentaries during prime time.

One could argue that doc films’ strong narrative presentations are more interesting and relatable than the played-out Hollywood superhero blockbusters.

Another reason for the surge in popularity could be the public’s craving for authentic storytelling. In the age of filters and fake news, documentary is where you can find truth.

Are YouTube videos and reality TV the same?

Most feature documentaries focus on having a strong narrative structure or telling some sort of fact-based story. This makes it is easy to distinguish from most reality TV or “non-fiction” television programming where the goal is entertainment.

In other words, most reality-based TV programming is scripted. In contrast, documentary is generally unscripted.

Some Youtube videos can be considered documentary if they record events or actions based in reality. YouTube videos can also be informational or narrative in nature. The issue is complicated, however. Youtube videos are produced for any number of reasons and can present fictional narratives as well as actuality.

Deciphering documentary, narrative and Youtube filmmaking is hard to do. They can all fall under one umbrella or be a combination of more than one genre or mode.

To work in documentary

As someone who has produced four feature documentary films, youtube videos and narrative films, I think Steven Bognar described it best in the acceptance speech he gave at the 2019 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.

At the festival, Bognar and filmmaking partner Julia Reichert recieved the prestigious Tribute Award.

Bognar’s acceptance speech described what it’s like to work in documentary:

“To work in documentary is to feel a lack of confidence in your abilities, to feel uncertainty that you know what you’re doing, to feel doubt that you are making a worthy film, to feel guilt that people, good people, have trusted you to tell their story, to feel you’ve snuck into the party and pretty soon someone is going to come up to you and say, ‘Hey, what are you doing here?’

To work in documentary is to feel a constant anxiety about the moments you are missing, that you should be filming right now, about the questions you forgot to ask, about the camera angle and shots you didn’t think of, about the loud refrigerator hum you didn’t even notice, about the spare batteries you forgot, about the dumb thing you said to the most important person you are following.

To work in documentary is to cut scenes from your film that you dearly love, to cut people from your film whom you adore, to second-guess every edit you make, for weeks or months or years thereafter.

To work in documentary is to spend two years, or four, or seven, or nine years on one film, with the sneaking feeling that it would have been a better film if you had finished it three years earlier, and with the delusional hope that you’ll figure it out and get it done about eight months from now.

To work in documentary is to wonder, will a funder see in your rough cut what you saw in the idea?

Will a programmer feel the story you constructed the way you felt it when you were living it? To wonder, will anyone ever like this film? Will anyone ever even see this film?

And yet, are we not so incredibly fortunate to work in documentary?”

Bognar and Reichart won this year’s Oscar for “Best Documentary” for their 2019 film “American Factory”. “American Factory” is a great example of documentary at its purest form and I highly recommend it!

Parting Words from Werner Herzog

And lastly, what would an article about documentary be without a maxim from the documentarian and legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog. He said:

“Get used to the bear behind you.”

If you are a documentary filmmaker or ever aspire to be one, this quote will make a lot of sense to you!

If you are a fan of documentary, go check out Herzog’s 2005 classic doc “Grizzly Man.” It’s about the life and death of grizzly bear activist Timothy Treadwell. It’s simply unforgettable!

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