Short-form video is a Skill job: the AI plans each video as a hook, one point and one ask, and you record it in your own words. Planning a batch of five to ten takes one sitting of under an hour, and recording them can happen the same day. This page covers the version you record yourself, on camera, from a plan rather than a script. If you would rather not film at all, the free faceless video generator makes a short vertical video from your website instead.
The AI does the part most owners get stuck on, which is deciding what each video is about and how it opens. You do the part no AI can, which is saying it like someone who knows the work.
- Shape
- Skill
- Sitting
- one sitting
The shape: Skill
This job is a Skill because the whole thing fits in one conversation and one repeatable pattern. There is no chain of steps where one piece has to be approved before the next. You bring the material, you ask for plans, you record.
The pattern is the skill: a hook, one point, one ask. The hook is the opening idea and the words on screen, and it decides whether the right person keeps watching. The point is the single thing the video says. The ask is the one action you want the viewer to take next.
Most weak short videos fail on the middle part. They try to make three points in forty seconds, and the viewer leaves with none. A plan that holds to one point is easier to record, easier to watch and easier to remember.
What makes this a Skill and not a script job is where the AI stops. It writes the idea line and the structure. It does not write the sentences you say. A video read from a script sounds read, and the viewer hears it within a few seconds. A video recorded from a plan sounds like you explaining something you know, which is the reason to be on camera in the first place.
What you give the AI
The plans are only as good as the questions you bring. A prompt that says "make me some video ideas for a plumber" gets the same ideas every plumber gets. Gather these before you open the chat:
- Ten real customer questions. The ones you hear on the phone, in your inbox, at the counter or in reviews. Write them the way the customer said them, not the way you would tidy them up.
- Your one-line answer to each. Rough is fine. "Usually no, and here is why" is enough for the AI to work with.
- Three mistakes you see customers make. Things you wish people knew before they called you.
- Who you want watching. One line, such as "homeowners in older houses" or "first-time business owners doing their own taxes".
- The asks you can actually fulfill. Book a call, reply to a message, visit a specific page, come in on a certain day. Name the page or the booking link if there is one.
- Where the videos will go. Instagram Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Facebook, LinkedIn or a mix. This changes the length and the tone the AI aims for.
- What you will not say. Pricing you do not quote publicly, claims your industry does not allow, topics you avoid.
- A sample of how you talk. A voice note transcript, a long email to a customer or a past video's captions. Two or three paragraphs is plenty.
If you have no customer questions written down, spend ten minutes in your sent email before you start. Every answer you have typed to a customer is a video someone already wanted.
What comes back
A numbered batch of plans, one per video, each short enough to read in ten seconds before you press record. Each plan has the hook idea, the one point in a sentence, two or three beats to cover, the ask, and the words to put on screen. None of it is a script.
Here is the brief to paste, with your material filled in:
Act as my short-form video planner.
Below are real customer questions, my rough answers and notes on how my business talks.
Use only the facts in these notes.
If something is missing, ask before you invent it.
Who should be watching:
Where the videos will go:
Customer questions, in their words:
My rough answer to each:
Mistakes customers often make:
Asks my business can fulfill (with the page or link):
Things never to say:
A sample of how my business talks:
Plan eight short videos, each between 15 and 45 seconds.
Every video follows one pattern: a hook, one point, one ask.
For each video give me:
1. The hook: the customer question or mistake the video opens on, in under twelve words, as an idea I say my own way, not a line to read.
2. The on-screen text for the first two seconds, under eight words.
3. The one point, in one sentence.
4. Two or three beats to cover, as short notes, not sentences to read.
5. The ask: one action, taken from the list above.
6. A caption of two or three sentences to post with it.
Do not write a word-for-word script.
Each one gets recorded from these notes, in my own words.
Never promise a result, a price or a timeline not given above.You get back eight plans in a list. Read them all once, pick the five that sound most like questions you actually hear, and record those.
If a plan is close but the hook is weak, ask for five more hooks for that one video and choose. Hooks are cheap to regenerate, and picking from several is faster than fixing one.
How to judge it
You can reject a bad plan in a few seconds. Look for these:
- A hook that could open any business's video. "Did you know?" or "Here are three tips" with nothing specific after it. A good hook names your customer's actual problem.
- More than one point. If the beats wander into a second topic, that is two videos. Split it.
- A script in disguise. Full sentences you would be tempted to read off a screen. Ask again for short notes.
- A hook the video cannot pay off. "This one trick saves you thousands" when the point is a maintenance tip. The viewer feels baited and stops trusting the next one.
- An ask you cannot fulfill. A booking link you do not have, a free consultation you do not offer, a discount you never agreed to.
- Invented facts. A statistic, a study, a customer story or a number you did not give it. Anything not in your notes comes out.
- Two asks. "Follow us and book a call" splits attention. Keep one.
- Hype words. "Game-changing", "secret", "you won't believe". Cut them to what the video actually says.
If several plans fail the same way, fix the notes and run the brief again. Thin answers produce generic plans, and better notes fix every plan at once.
What stays with you
The AI decides what the video is about and how it opens. The video itself is yours, and so are these parts:
- The words you say. Say the point the way you would say it to a customer standing in front of you. If a beat feels wrong in your mouth, skip it.
- Every claim. Check any number, rule or result against its source before you say it out loud. Regulated work, such as health, legal, financial or real estate, has rules on what you can claim, and they apply on video too.
- The recording. Light from the front, the phone at eye level, recorded in the vertical frame. Our guide to vertical video size covers the frame.
- The length. Each platform sets its own limit, and those limits change. Check the current one in our video length limits guide before you record anything long.
- Permissions. A customer shown or named agrees first. Music needs the right to use it, which on most platforms means picking from the platform's own library.
- The posting. You upload, check the caption and on-screen text one more time, and press publish.
- The comments. Someone who asks a question under your video is a warm lead. Answering them is yours, and it is often the next video.
A worked example
This is an editorial example with an invented business. Say you run a one-van mobile dog grooming business, and you want a week of short videos without writing scripts.
The notes list ten questions callers actually ask, written the way they asked them. "Do you need to plug into my house?" is one. "Why does my dog smell again two days after a bath?" is another. The rough answers are a line each, typed fast. The ask list has two items: book online at the booking page, or send a text to the business number.
The AI returns eight plans. One opens on a question callers ask: why a dog smells again two days after a bath. The one point is that the smell often comes from the ears or the skin, not the coat. The beats are three short notes: where the smell starts, what a groomer checks, when to see a vet instead. The ask is to text the business number for a booking.
Two of the eight plans make more than one point, so they get split into four. One hook promises a "secret", so it gets cut back to the plain question. The owner records five of them in the van between appointments, from the notes, in a single afternoon. No video says how many dogs have been groomed or how many customers came from video, because there is nothing to prove it with.
Recorded or faceless
Both routes use the same hook, point and ask. The choice is about who is on screen, not about whether the pattern works.
| Route | Who does the work | Best when |
|---|---|---|
| Recorded talking head | You plan with the AI, then film each video yourself | You are comfortable on camera and your expertise is the reason people buy |
| Faceless video | Software makes the video from your website, you check it | You would rather not film, or you want video every week without recording |
| A mix | Faceless most weeks, recorded when you have something to say | You want a steady feed and an occasional personal one |
For more ways to show up without filming, read how to market your business without showing your face. The full list of jobs like this one is on the DIY marketing hub.
Boomp is software that does this job every week, without you. See ten posts made from your website, free
