How to Sell Explainer Videos to Local Businesses

Selling video to local businesses used to mean two hard things: convincing an owner to pay for something they can’t picture, and then spending days making it. The sample-first approach flips both. You make the video first, from the business’s own website, and send it. The owner doesn’t have to imagine anything. They watch their own business on screen.

This guide is the routine we’d use, from picking a niche to delivering the first paid video.

Why this works

Most local businesses have a website. Far fewer have a short video that explains what they do, who they serve and why someone should call them. Yet a video helps exactly where customers decide:

Where	Why it helps
Top of the homepage	Visitors decide in seconds whether to stay
Google Business Profile	Where people compare businesses and choose who to call
Reels and Shorts	The tall version reaches people who never visit the website
Quotes and emails	A “who we are” link builds trust before the price

Owners usually don’t have one because they think video means filming, a presenter and studio prices. A finished sample removes all three objections at once.

Step 1: Pick one niche and one town

Don’t email every kind of business. Choose one niche and one town and stay there for two weeks. Score a few niches from 1 to 5:

1. Do customers compare several businesses before choosing?
2. Is a customer worth a lot to the business?
3. Do most websites in the niche have no video?
4. Do the websites have enough text and pictures for a good video?
5. Would you enjoy talking to these owners?

Dental practices, med spas, roofers, plumbers, HVAC companies, law firms and real estate agents usually score high. Restaurants and salons can work too, but they often lean on photos and social media instead.

Step 2: Make a sample from their website

The sample should be about 30 seconds and follow a simple shape:

• 0–3 seconds: the business name and town
• 3–10 seconds: the moment the customer is in (“a toothache on a Saturday”)
• 10–24 seconds: what they offer, and why choose them
• 24–30 seconds: what to do next, with the phone number and website on screen

Then take ten minutes to check it: names and town spelled right, only services they actually sell, no claims the business doesn’t make, names pronounced correctly and a clear ending. A sample made from a thin website will be thin. Edit it or skip that business. One great sample beats three weak ones.

A sample page as the owner sees it: their own video, your name and a way to pay. Example business from the Explaindio 5 AI sales page.

Step 3: Send a short, honest email

The video does the selling. The email only needs to get it opened:

“I was looking at your website and noticed it doesn’t have a video yet, so I made a short sample from your own site. If you like it, I can finish it for your homepage and Google listing. If not, no problem at all. Would it be useful?”

Three rules keep you on the right side of email law and good manners: use your real name, business and postal address; include a clear way to opt out in every email and honour it; and send each email yourself, one business at a time. Rules differ by country, so check them where you and your prospects are.

Step 4: Follow up, then stop

Most replies come after the first email. Space five follow-ups over three weeks:

Day	Message
3	“Just making sure this didn’t get buried. Happy to change anything.”
6	Where the video would help most: homepage and Google listing
10	One specific idea for their business
15	“Is a video something you’ve thought about, or is the timing not right?”
21	Close the loop politely and leave the sample link

When someone answers “how much?”, send your packages. When someone says no, thank them and mark them do-not-contact.

Step 5: Package the service

Three packages turn “yes or no?” into “which one?”:

• Starter: the finished video for the website, with one round of changes
• Complete: wide, tall and square versions, added to the website and Google listing, two rounds of changes
• Monthly: everything in Complete, plus a new short video each month for offers, seasons and events

Look at what freelancers in your market list for short animated explainers, and price the result, not your minutes. And never promise more calls or customers. Promise the video, the versions, the changes and the delivery date.

Step 6: Deliver well and ask for a referral

Take payment first, make the final changes, then deliver all three sizes. Send a short note on where to put the video, from the homepage to the Google Business Profile. A week later, once it’s live, ask: “Do you know another business owner who’d like one?”

Many owners who buy a video also need their Google profile fixed. Our free Google Business Profile audit shows you what to offer next, and the local SEO pricing calculator helps you price it.

Tools that do the slow parts

Every step above can be done by hand. Tools like Explaindio 5 AI find the businesses with no video in any town, make each one a sample from its own website in one click, write the email and handle payment and delivery on the sample page. Read our Explaindio 5 AI review for every price and upgrade, and the catches. Whatever you use, the method is the same: show the owner their own video, keep every email honest, and follow up.