6 Best Practices and Tips for Using Video With Your Proposals

Here’s the thing about creating your most impactful and winning proposals: they MUST resonate with your audience to win business.

If there is any reason for prospects to look away from your proposal, you’ve lost the opportunity to show how you can help them realize their goals.

And that’s where video plays an important role. It’s dynamic, includes motion and audio, and will make more of an impression than a PDF or slide deck. 

If you’re a web designer, social media consultant, marketing professional, photographer, or own a video agency, using video will help deliver a more personalized and hard-to-miss proposal.

How? Read on.

Six ways to incorporate video into your proposals 

These six best practices are centered around the most important psychological discovery - storytelling. With these insights, you can create powerful videos for your proposals.

1. Use storytelling for emotional connection

You may be offering a business-to-business service or product, but you’re still selling it to people who will decide to choose you or your competitor. Psychological research shows that our emotions influence the decisions we make. And this is true for consultants selling marketing strategy services or if you’re a video creator about to start your own streaming service. 

According to Pamela B. Rutledge Ph.D., M.B.A., “Stories are how we think. They are how we make meaning in life. Call them schemas, scripts, cognitive maps, mental models, metaphors, or narratives. Stories are how we explain how things work, how we make decisions, how we justify our decisions, how we persuade others, how we understand our place in the world, create our identities and define and teach social values.”

To leverage storytelling and emotions, use a narrative arc: begin with the problem, introduce your solution, and end with the client’s success. Connecting the dots for your prospects with a story gives them a simple path to follow that leads to a positive outcome.

2. Lead with an introduction

Start with a brief, personal video greeting from the proposal’s lead or the key contact. This builds rapport and sets a more personalized tone.

Create a short 30 to 60-second video introducing yourself and expressing your enthusiasm for the partnership can engage viewers right away.

Make your introduction natural and as personable as possible, but keep it professional. Smile, speak clearly, and address the client by name if possible. Mention a key pain point they’re facing and how your solution can help. Use a professional background that reflects your brand.

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3. Be concise and purposeful 

Keep videos short and to the point, ideally under 2-3 minutes. Make sure each video serves a clear purpose in the proposal process and aligns with the goals of each section.

Plan videos to avoid over-explaining and losing your viewers. It helps to focus each video on a single message. Introduce the topic, deliver the core idea, and then end with a clear call-to-action (e.g., “Contact us for more information” or “See our product demo”).

Damian Grabarczyk, the co-founder and growth marketer of PetLab Co., says, “As we scaled our B2B operations, we encountered an unexpected hurdle: our in-depth video proposals, once effective, were now causing information fatigue among prospective partners.

With decision-makers short on time and inundated with content, we needed a strategy that cut through the noise. We pivoted to creating concise, purpose-driven videos that highlighted only the most essential points - key product benefits, partnership advantages, and clear next steps - all delivered within a few minutes.

We turned complex presentations into compelling, easy-to-digest content by focusing on what mattered most and incorporating engaging visuals that reinforced our message. This change recaptured our audience’s attention and led to faster, more meaningful engagements that streamlined our sales process and strengthened partnerships.”

Watch: How To Naturally Read a Video Script

4. Demonstrate how your product or service works

Showing the functionality or behind-the-scenes aspects of your offering can help prospects better understand how your product works and easily see its value firsthand. For example, a demo video of software features can illustrate how it solves the client’s problem better than a written description.

Break your demonstration into steps that walk the viewer through how your product works, focusing on ease of use and benefits that meet the client’s needs. Use visual aids like annotations to highlight specific features and keep the focus on solving the client’s problem, rather than just listing features.

Watch: How to Make a Product Demo Video

5. Share client testimonials

Add video testimonials from clients to showcase a proven track record. Proof demonstrates credibility and showcases competence, two critical factors any prospect wants to see before committing to their hard-earned budget. 

But don’t settle for asking clients for “a testimonial about your product”. Often, clients don’t know how to approach testimonials and a telltale sign is bland and vague quotes that don’t sound or feel useful. 

Ask your clients to share specific business results they achieved (e.g., "We increased revenue by 30% after implementing X"). The more tangible the result, the stronger the perceived value of your product or service.

Watch: FreshBooks Testimonial Video

Visualize data

Complex data and numbers can be difficult to digest in a written proposal. Using short animations or infographics in a video format to explain key statistics, ROI predictions, or other important metrics can simplify the message and enhance retention.

Create motion graphics or animations that explain complex data clearly and quickly. Use visual comparisons (e.g., bar graphs or pie charts) to show how your proposal provides better ROI, improved efficiency, etc. Make the data easy to follow with a logical flow from problem to solution.

Watch: Bring Your Data to Life with Flourish + Canva

Build better proposals

Selling is about persuasion and persuasion is all about telling great stories. Your proposals are canvases to share your best stories through the most compelling ideas, connecting the dots between where your prospects are and where they want to be. Test these best practices today. They could transform how potential clients perceive your offer and lead to amazing business results.