How to make video ads for a local business

Step by step

1. Pick one product or one reason to visit

   One ad sells one thing: the new phone, the linen shirt, the summer sorbet, the first class. If you have five offers, make five ads.

2. Hook with your area or your product

   Open with your city or street name, or with the product at its best: syrup that pours, a phone out of the box. The first second must give a local viewer a reason to stop.

3. Film your real place and people

   Show the counter, the shelves, the room and the person who will serve them. A few seconds of the owner talking makes the business feel like a place people know.

4. Give the brand a look

   Use one font, one or two colours and a title with your name. An ice cream shop can write its name in ice. A gym can label each lift. Make the look fit what you sell.

5. Add captions and one offer

   Caption every spoken word, with the key word big. End on one offer and one action, such as "Show this video for a free coffee" or "Book your first class." Keep your name and address on screen for two seconds.

6. Make versions and post every week

   Make three or four hook versions of the same ad and run them together. Keep the one that brings the most visits, and make a fresh ad each week so your feed stays alive.

What makes a local ad work

A local ad needs to reach people within a short drive of you. The goal is for those people to remember your name and know where you are. Real footage of your place does that better than polished stock footage.

• Your city, area or street name in the hook or the first caption.
• One hero product, filmed close and in good light.
• Your staff and your space, so people know what to expect.
• A title with your name that looks like your brand.
• One offer with a reason to come this week.

Local ad formats that work

• Product hero: one product filmed at its best moment, then your name. Good for food, fashion and retail.
• Owner to camera: you explain what is new or why you started, with cutaways of the shop.
• Service demo: the class or the service in action, with labels on screen such as sets, reps and a tip.
• New world: the same product in a new setting, such as a linen shirt on a seaside balcony, to sell a feeling.
• Local callout: "[City], this one is for you", then the offer.

How Vidova makes one

Tell your AI video team what you sell, where you are and your offer, and add your clips and photos. It writes the hook and the script, plans each shot, and builds the ad on a real timeline. It adds a title in your brand style, word-by-word captions, its own music and sound effects, and the visuals you do not have yet, such as generated clips, a map of your area or stickers. It can change the background or the colours of a clip while it keeps the motion, and it checks the cut before it hands it to you.

Ask for several hook versions of one ad to test them. You get 9:16 for Reels, TikTok and Shorts and 16:9 for YouTube from the same project, and you change anything by asking in plain words.

Frequently asked questions