© 2026
The Four Videos I Shoot Most for Small Businesses in Minnesota
Brand story, explainer, testimonial, short-form social. What each one is actually for, and the order I would shoot them in.
Business owners know they need video and have no idea what to order. Here is what each format is for, from someone who shoots them.
Four formats, from the other side of the camera
I get asked some version of this constantly. A business owner in Savage or Apple Valley has decided they need video, they have a budget in mind, and they have no idea what to actually order. Brand film? Reels? Something with the team in it?
I have shot all four of the formats below more times than I can count, for contractors, boutiques, service businesses, and a few startups. What follows is not a menu. It is what each one is actually for, what makes the difference between one that works and one that gets buried, and the order I would shoot them in if it were my money.
The reason any of it matters: Wyzowl's 2026 report found 89% of consumers say video quality directly affects how much they trust a brand, and 84% want to see more video from businesses they follow. People are already looking for you in this format. The question is only what they find.
1. The brand story film
One to three minutes answering the question every prospect is already asking. Who are you, and why should I trust you with this.
The hard part of this shoot is never the camera. It is getting someone to stop performing. Business owners arrive with a script in their head about what they think they should sound like, and the first twenty minutes are usually unusable. The good material shows up once they forget the lens is there and start talking the way they would to a customer standing in front of them. That is most of what I am doing on a brand story day: asking questions until the real version arrives.
Which is why the polished corporate read is the thing to avoid. Wyzowl puts it at 85% of people saying they have been convinced to buy something after watching a video, and in my experience the ones that convince are the ones where the person on screen is recognisably themselves.
2. The explainer
Sixty to ninety seconds on what you do, who it is for, and what problem it removes. If you have explained your business out loud more than three times this week, this is the one you need.
The explainers that land name a specific problem in the first ten seconds. Not "we provide comprehensive solutions." Something closer to "your basement floods every spring and you are tired of it." I have shot these for plumbers and for marketing agencies and the pattern holds either way. Confusion is what costs the sale, and it happens well before anyone gets to your pricing.
Wyzowl's 2026 data has explainers as the second most produced format at 68%, with 96% of people having watched one to understand a product or service. It is a well-worn format because it keeps working.
3. The customer testimonial
A written review is fine. A real customer on camera describing what changed is a different order of proof.
Practical note from shooting a lot of these: audio matters more than the camera. A testimonial with a beautiful image and hollow room sound reads as amateur, and people distrust it without knowing why. I would rather shoot one of these on a modest setup with a proper lav and a treated corner than on the best camera in a hard-walled conference room.
The other thing that separates a usable testimonial from a useless one is the questions. Ask someone if they were happy and you get "yes, great to work with." Ask what specifically was different afterward and you get the sentence you actually cut the piece around. Generic praise is unusable. Specifics are everything.
Wyzowl has 57% of video marketers now producing testimonials. Locally they carry extra weight: someone in Prior Lake watching a neighbour describe the same problem they have is a shorter distance to trust than any ad.
4. Short-form social
Fifteen to sixty seconds, built for Reels, Shorts, and LinkedIn. This is not the format that closes anyone. It is the one that keeps you visible between the bigger pieces.
HubSpot's 2026 report names short-form video the highest-ROI content format, top performer for 49% of marketers, and Wyzowl has social video as the most produced format overall at 69%. Worth pairing that with one more finding from HubSpot: 76% of marketers say authentic content now outperforms highly polished production on social. That does not mean quality stopped mattering. It means the craft belongs in the shot, not in the performance.
The practical move is to stop treating this as separate work. When I am already on site for a brand film or a testimonial day, capturing short-form in batches costs almost nothing extra. One production day can leave you with months of social. Booking a separate shoot every week is how people burn out on it by March.
The order I would shoot them in
Start with the brand story. It is the piece that serves you longest and the one everything else points back to. It goes on your homepage, your Google Business Profile, your LinkedIn.
Add the explainer second, once the story exists to sit behind it. That is the piece that turns a curious visitor into someone who fills in a form.
Then get one testimonial from your best client. One good one beats four thin ones.
Build the short-form out of the footage you already paid for, on the days you are already shooting.
The reason to think of it as a library rather than a project: Wyzowl has 92% of marketers planning to spend the same or more on video this year. Whoever is building their library now is the one who is hard to compete with in two years.
Work with me
I'm Dom. I shoot and create content for brands, and I founded Nrth Media, a full-service video production studio here in the Twin Cities. Two ways to work with me.
Hire me as a videographer and creator. If you need someone to shoot it, finish it, and hand back content ready for wherever it is going, that is me. Fifteen years behind a camera, FAA Part 107 certified for drone.
Hire the studio. If it needs a full crew or more hands than one person has, that is Nrth Media, working across Minneapolis, St. Paul, and the south metro.
Either way, tell me what you are trying to accomplish and I will tell you honestly what I would shoot first. No pitch deck.
Sources
WRITTEN BY DOM BORKA
Dom Borka is a videographer, creator, and photographer in Minneapolis. He has been shooting since 2011, was a featured producer on an Emmy-winning broadcast, and makes content for brands including Sony Alpha, DJI, and Kondor Blue. FAA Part 107 certified. When a job needs a crew, it goes to his studio, Nrth Media.
