Creating Compelling How-To Videos: Tips and Tricks

Whether you’re looking to help out your customers, employees, sales team, or new hires, how-to videos are a powerful and easy way to impart knowledge.

Sure, written documents are helpful, and they do have the benefit of being searchable. However, reading through lengthy written guides can be cumbersome, and some people learn better through a visual medium.

So you want to create some more how-to videos—maybe you’ve just bought a fun new tool that you’d like to get some use out of—but you’re a bit stuck for ideas.

We’ve got you. 

In this article, we’re going to discuss 14 creative how-to video ideas for different businesses and departments. Then, we’ll provide some tips on how to come up with your own ideas and give you the inside scoop on how to easily create how-to videos using AI.

14 how-to video ideas for different businesses 

Use these 14 how-to video ideas as a launchpad for your own ideation, or simply use them as they are.

1. How to submit a timesheet

One of the first training videos a new employee should watch, especially if they’re working remotely, is how to submit a timesheet.

This is a great opportunity for a how-to video. 

You can have an AI avatar handle the voiceover and add a screen recording of the exact steps to properly submit a timesheet in accordance with company guidelines.

2. How to get started with your software platform 

Customer education is another important case for how-to videos.

This example should be a staple in your new customer onboarding process. 

A quick how-to video for getting set up with the platform you use can be a great way to either supplement and streamline a human-guided implementation session or replace it altogether for a product-led onboarding workflow.

3. How to perform a compliance audit 

Compliance training isn’t anyone’s favorite pastime, but you can make it much more engaging using video.

For example, you could use an AI video tool to create a short video guide on how to perform, analyze, and file an internal compliance audit.

4. How to handle common sales objections

How-to videos are one of the best ways to improve sales enablement. This is especially true of modern remote and hybrid teams, where traditional “all-hands” sales training sessions are a lot harder to organize.

Here’s a simple but effective how-to video idea for sales: “How to handle X common sales objections.”

Of course, you should use the experience of your actual sales reps here—you can even tap into their expertise when writing the video script.

5. How to make an internal announcement 

Video is an important medium for improving internal communications and making effective announcements to distributed teams.

One way to upskill your team is to create a quick how-to video on how to use video to make internal announcements, providing insights into using diplomatic language or how you might use visuals like graphs to better communicate complex ideas.

6. How to prepare for a meeting

Here’s another instructional how-to video idea for the workplace: a step-by-step guide on how to prepare for an upcoming meeting.

In this video, you might discuss skills like:

• Creating a meeting agenda
• Determining the meeting objective
• Delegating responsibilities
• Taking notes during the meeting itself 

This will guide employees through the process of prepping a meeting and show them exactly how to use the tools you’ve provided to do so.

7. How to be more productive at work

While you’re creating videos for the workplace, why not share hacks and tips for improving productivity at work?

In this how-to video, you might dive into different productivity tools you find useful, strategies like the Pomodoro Technique, or how to structure your day with strategically placed breaks. 

8. How to set goals

Career planning goes hand in hand with goal setting.

A short how-to video on setting career goals can be a great way to inspire team members and improve employee job satisfaction.

9. How to collaborate effectively in your project management platform

Another smart how-to video idea that should be part of your employee onboarding package is how to get the most out of your project management platform of choice.

For this video, use a screen recording tool while you walk through the platform’s features, and have an AI avatar narrate the video and provide expert tips.

10. How to handle workplace confrontation 

Conflicts in the workplace will always exist. What matters is how your employees handle them.

A video series on how to handle confrontation at work is a great way to reduce the need for intervention by management. 

You can even use AI avatars to demonstrate how to handle specific challenges that commonly arise, such as when workplace objectives clash or when two employees have differing opinions on how to proceed with a project. 

11. How to organize online events

You can also help your online marketing team get the hang of virtual events, teaching them how to use your various event marketing tools in an engaging video.

12. How to negotiate pricing 

Here’s another how-to video idea for sales reps: how to handle a pricing negotiation.

This how-to video idea is another perfect fit for AI avatars. You can have one avatar act as the customer and another as the sales rep to role-play different negotiation scenarios.

13. How to give effective feedback

Managers need to know how to give effective, constructive feedback to employees in a way that aligns with your business philosophy.

A how-to video on just that topic can be a great training device.

14. How to create your own how-to videos

Our final video suggestion is a bit meta.

Since you’re investing in creating how-to videos for the workplace, you’ll want your team to be sufficiently skilled in doing the same, right?

One of the most important pieces of training you can deliver is a guide on how to use your video creation platform of choice.

In the next section of this article, we’re going to demonstrate exactly what that might look like using Colossyan, our AI video generation platform.

How to easily create how-to videos using AI 

AI makes it easy to create how-to videos for your employees and customers without ever needing to step foot in a studio or touch a camera.

Here are the six simple steps to follow:

1. Choose your AI video generator (learn how in our guide).

2. Write your script or use an AI script generator to create one using plain English prompts.

3. Design your scenes using a storyboard, or start with an AI video template to get off the ground quickly.

4. Select the right AI avatars for your how-to video.

5. Create an AI voiceover and try out different languages, accents, and tones of voice.

6. Generate your video and edit and fine-tune the script or video instructions to perfection.

Learn more: Create Research-Backed AI Video Training Using “Mayer's 15 Principles”

How to come up with how-to video ideas 

The 14 examples we’ve discussed above are a great start, but to really get the most out of your AI video platform, you’ll want to have some solid sources for your own how-to video ideas.

Here are five areas to investigate for new how-to video ideas. 

1. Review your support chat logs

Take a look at the types of support tickets your customers are constantly raising. Are there any trends across the board?

You might find, for instance, there is a specific functionality that many users are failing to work out.

While this should also be a source of information for the product dev team—maybe they need to do a bit of work on the UX—an easy fix right now would be to create a how-to video for that function. Then, you can simply share that video with customers each time they raise a ticket on the matter.

2. Analyze what blog and social media content inspires engagement

Examine how your customers are engaging with the different kinds of content you produce, as well as that of your competitors.

Are there any how-to guides that are getting a lot of engagement? Could you explain them better with a short video?

If so, you’ve got another how-to video idea to throw into the pipeline.

3. Talk to your sales reps

Your sales team is a great source of information when it comes to learning what customers (and potential customers) are struggling with.

Throw out a few messages over Slack or organize a brainstorming session to extract ideas from your internal experts.

4. Collect customer feedback

Ask your customers!

Put out a survey or run some interviews and ask them a simple question: “What how-to video content could we create that would be enormously helpful to you?”

5. Ask ChatGPT

Finally, you can ask good old ChatGPT.

Here’s an example of a quick question about creating how-to videos for Colossyan:

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Bring your how-to video ideas to life with Colossyan 

How-to videos are one of the most engaging and practical video formats around.

They’re a great form of content for onboarding new employees or providing additional training to your team. You can even use them to support sales and customer success roles by creating customer-facing how-to clips.

The problem with traditional video creation is that it’s time-consuming and costly. Producing one video can take weeks, or even months, and cost thousands of dollars in studio time, actors’ fees, and editing expenses.

But with Colossyan, our AI video generation platform, you can generate, edit, and publish videos in a matter of minutes, not months.

Try out it for free and see for yourself just how transformative AI video can be.

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