Can AI Make a Promotional Video?

The short answer is 'yes'. But the more important question for local businesses is whether AI can make a promotional video that builds trust, protects your reputation, and genuinely represents who you are?

As a video storyteller, I go beyond the typical expectations of a videographer and take the time to understand who you are, why you do what you do, and how that should be communicated to the people you want to reach. With over eight years of experience working with charities, schools, and small businesses across Essex, I can help review and strategise your video marketing approach, and create video stories that combine cinematic sensibility with storytelling and educational psychology. You can find out more about my experience and background that enables me to create effective and authentic promotional videos.

I’ve worked with councils, charities, artists, and SMEs throughout Essex, often with limited budgets or with organisations that had tried video before but were disappointed by the results. Increasingly, those conversations now include the same question: can AI just do this for us?

So, let’s talk honestly about that.

AI Can Create Content - Promotional Video Requires Meaning

AI tools are impressive. Especially with how much they have developed in only the last few years. For video production alone, they can generate scripts, visuals, voiceovers, music, and even assemble a finished video in minutes. If speed is the priority, AI can deliver (although I will add that to refine your work does take additional time and specialist skills - ask Coca Cola with their 70,000+ prompts to create their 2025 60 second Christmas advert!).

But promotional video isn’t just about having a something to watch. It’s about communicating something meaningful to the people watching. AI doesn’t understand your values, your community, or the nuance of your reputation. It doesn’t understand why your work matters or who you’re really trying to reach.

What it produces is content.

What your business needs is communication with purpose.

That difference might feel subtle, but it’s critical for businesses that want to stand out.

Why So Many Businesses Feel Video “Doesn’t Work”

"One of our videos got over 1 million views on social media, but it had no impact on customers coming through the door." I heard this from the business manager of a local activity centre in October, and he’s far from alone. I regularly speak with business owners in Castle Point, Rayleigh, Southend, and Basildon who have tried online videos, invested time and energy, and yet come away feeling it hasn’t really made a difference. They might have gained some views or likes, but there’s often no noticeable shift in trust, enquiries, or footfall.

This usually isn’t because video doesn’t work. The problem is that many videos are chasing trends, following gimmicks, or trying to look like everyone else’s.

AI can make this issue worse. When businesses rely on the same tools, templates, and styles, everything starts to look and sound the same.

If your video could belong to any business, it isn’t doing much for yours.

Story Is What Builds Trust

Story is at the heart of every effective promotional film that I produce. Your story isn’t a list of services or how long you’ve been trading. It’s why you do what you do, who you do it for, and what makes your approach personal and unique.

The challenge is that when you’re inside your own business, your story is sometimes difficult to see clearly. Some business owners assume people already understand them, or they struggle to structure their message for an outside audience.

As AI prompts are often written by those in the business, the information can be selective and include unconcious bias. AI has no relationship to, or understanding of your story at all. It can generate visuals, scripts, or voiceovers, but it cannot interpret your purpose, values, or the subtle human nuances that make your story resonate beyond the prompts entered.

My role as a Video Storyteller sits in the middle. I listen carefully, ask the right questions, and create the distance needed to shape a story that makes sense to the audience watching and bring in my experience and expertise as a storyteller to connect on a deeper level. That’s why interviews feel natural rather than scripted, and why people feel naturally comfortable opening up on camera.

By focusing on the story; your story, your purpose, why you do what you do, and who you are; you connect better with audiences, build your reputation, and let people get to know you. I am not saying that AI cannot support production, but it cannot replace this human insight.

If you want to see how I apply this in practice, check out my Video Storytelling approach that humanises brands and creates lasting impact.

When Strategy Comes Before the Camera

I recently worked with a local organisation that had built up a large library of video content across their website. The problem wasn’t effort or expertise, it was clarity. Through a full video audit I conducted, it became clear that many of the videos weren’t emphasising the organisation’s purpose or presenting the brand effectively. Some were created using stock video footage and therefore felt disconnected from the nature of the organisation, and didn't reflect the industry,, community, and the customers it served. Stock video footage has the same impact as AI video; it might be visually great and communicate an idea, but it won't ever truly and accurately reflect you, your community and your customers.

Before filming anything new, I worked with the organisation to define a clear video brand profile and a long-term video strategy that would fit into their current marketing approach. From there, a series of focused videos was created around authentic stories, natural interviews, and cinematic B-roll. These videos were designed to appeal to very specific primary and secondary audiences and, importantly, to remain relevant over time rather than date quickly. AI could not replace the strategic choices that ensured that these stories were purposeful, tailored to the organisation and would connect to local audiences.

Story That Continues to Work

Another example is my work with Essex Shed Network. I created a five-minute promotional film focused on the personal stories of several Shedders, exploring their backgrounds and the impact the organisation had on their wellbeing and sense of belonging. These were sensitive conversations, based on personal experiences and told with emotion by the interviewee. These stories connect on a human to human basis and are the core to emotionally engaging with the charity and showing the purpose The Essex Shed Network has.

While AI-generated visuals and synthetic voiceovers have become impressively realistic, connecting deeply with an audience requires authenticity. Viewers can sense when performance feels generated, and this can make them in turn feel manipulated rather than engaged. AI voiceovers, even with recent advances, still lack the subtle emotional inflections, timing, and human vulnerability that make storytelling compelling.

In contrast, its the genuine emotional moments captured in the Essex Shed Network videos captured genuine emotional moments - That human connection is what gives the story longevity and meaning. The film continues to be a key marketing tool for the charity years later. It wasn’t designed to chase attention—it was designed to matter.

Reputation Matters More Than Likes

For local businesses, success rarely comes from going viral. It comes from being trusted. Video plays a powerful role in shaping how people perceive you when they visit your website, hear your name mentioned, or are deciding whether to walk through your door. AI can generate polished content quickly, but a fast, generic video can misrepresent your business, weaken relationships with clients and partners, or make audiences question how you value others.

Using AI in a way that feels impersonal can unintentionally signal that you devalue the contributions of others or the relationships you’ve nurtured. It can also affect how your audience perceives your values, including your commitment to sustainability. AI processing, especially for generating videos, requires substantial computing power, which produces significant CO₂ emissions. For consumers where environment is a key value, a business relying heavily on AI for video production can be perceived as having disregard for their sustainability and ethical responsibilities.

If a video lacks authenticity, it can make audiences feel manipulated, which damages trust and questions the integrity of your business. Reputation isn’t just about how you appear online, it’s about the real-world respect, credibility, and ethical responsibility you maintain in your community and with your clients.

This is where AI video can quietly do more harm than good. Human insight is essential to ensure that what AI produces communicates your purpose clearly, reflects your values, and strengthens rather than undermines relationships and puts into question environmental responsibility.

Most businesses see promotional video as an easy marketing tactic, but video production is about creating real value, representing your brand effectively, and protecting the trust and ethical standing your reputation is built on.

AI can support aspects of production, but conveying authenticity, empathy, and sustainability requires human judgment. Learn more about my Video Production services and how professional video can ensure your content truly matters.

So, Can AI Make a Promotional Video?

Simply, yes, it can. It can give good looking visuals quickly and has opened the door to allow people to let their imagination be explored.

But for a business, it can’t understand your purpose, protect your reputation, or tell your story with true empathy and care. Promotional video isn’t about doing things cheaply and quickly. It’s about creating value, clarity, connection, and trust.

The real question isn’t whether AI can make a promotional video. It’s what that video says about your business when you’re not in the room.