Commercials might be old-school, but they're far from obsolete. From the grainy TV spots of the 1940s to today's slick social media ads, commercial videos remain the heavyweight champions of advertising. It's no accident the digital video advertising industry is projected to hit a staggering $553.6 billion by 2032.

Here's the thing about commercials: they work. Whether you're building brand awareness, driving sales, or just trying to get noticed—a well-crafted commercial delivers results far beyond traditional TV placement. In this guide, we'll walk through how to make a commercial that actually connects, with practical steps and real-world examples you can steal from (we won't tell).

What Makes an Effective Commercial Video

A great commercial or promo video effectively promotes your products and services while raising brand awareness. The most successful commercials have a clear message or narrative, strong visual appeal, emotional resonance, and a compelling call-to-action that encourages viewers to take the next step.

Clear Message and Storyline

A great commercial isn't confusing. It delivers a focused message without overwhelming the audience. You typically have only 30 to 90 seconds to capture attention and communicate your key point, so clarity is essential.

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 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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Optimal Commercial Length for Different Platforms

When creating a commercial, it's crucial to consider the optimal length based on the platform. Social media platforms often favor shorter lengths, typically ranging from 30 seconds to 1 minute, while YouTube allows for a broader range of 30 seconds to 3 minutes. For TV, commercials generally fall between 30 to 60 seconds.

These guidelines ensure your message is concise and effective, capturing viewers' attention without overstaying its welcome.

Budget Breakdown for Commercial Production

Understanding the budget is a critical aspect of commercial production. Costs can vary significantly based on production quality and distribution channels. For a local market, expenses range from $5,000 to $50,000, while regional markets might see costs between $50,000 to $200,000. National markets can demand budgets of $200,000 to $1 million.

Planning your budget accordingly helps in managing resources effectively and ensuring a high-quality production.

8 Steps to Make Your Own Commercial

How you create your commercial will depend on your message, the platform where it will be shared, and your budget. For instance, producing a radio ad differs from creating a video ad for YouTube or social media. This guide focuses on how to make a commercial video, covering key steps from planning to production.

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 Target Audience

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 target audience may include health-conscious individuals aged 20–35 who are tech-savvy and seek innovative ways to track and improve their fitness. Tailoring your message to resonate with this demographic ensures your commercial is effective.

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 Commercial Ideas

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

First, define your commercial's objective. Are you aiming for brand awareness, launching a new product, or driving sales? Your goal will shape the creative direction and overall messaging.

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

1. Assemble a team with different backgrounds and perspectives. Diversity in thought leads to more creative and inclusive ideas.
2. Choose a comfortable and inspiring environment for a brainstorming session.
3. Use brainstorming techniques like mindmapping and brainwriting to create themes.
4. 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: Create a Script and Storyboard

After finalizing your idea, it's time to write a script and create a storyboard. A well-structured script ensures your message is clear, while a storyboard helps you visualize each scene and stay organized during production.

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 Assemble Your 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.

Step 5: Acquire Necessary Equipment

Every video commercial requires a way to capture footage. If you're on a tight budget, a smartphone camera with a built-in mic and tripod may suffice. However, for high-quality production—especially for TV or large-scale campaigns—you may need professional-grade equipment.

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: Film 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 Your Commercial Video

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 to post-production is using the right video editing software for your needs. You don't have to invest in expensive tools—free software like Descript offers video templates to streamline editing and ensure compatibility with social media platforms.

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Step 8: Analyze Feedback and Results

Once your commercial is live, your work isn’t over. Monitor viewer feedback and engagement to assess its effectiveness. If your commercial is on YouTube, comments can provide valuable insights into how your audience perceives your message.

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 Creating Engaging Commercials

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 thousands of ads daily? To stand out, your commercial needs a unique message that captures attention instantly and differentiates your brand.

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.

How 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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Commercial Creation FAQs

How much does it cost 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 equipment do you need for a 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 professionals 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.

What are some effective call-to-action examples for commercials?

Effective call-to-actions (CTAs) are crucial for guiding the viewer's next steps. Examples include phrases like "Shop Now," "Learn More," or "Sign Up Today." These CTAs prompt immediate action, encouraging viewers to engage further with your brand. Crafting a strong CTA can significantly impact conversion rates and overall commercial success.

How do I get started in making commercials?

To start making commercials, begin by learning the basics of video production and scriptwriting. Experiment with free tools to create sample videos and build a portfolio. Networking and seeking mentorship from industry professionals can also provide valuable insights and opportunities. Over time, refine your skills and expand your projects to attract clients.