Video ads for small business: what to make first, where to run it and what it costs

We make Reigniter, one of the tools below, so we are not neutral. Everything here about another company's product comes from that company's own page, listed at the end and read on 10 November 2026. We did not run a campaign on each platform for this article.

Start with one job

Pick one job for the advert before you make anything:

• Be seen by people near you who have never heard of you.
• Be chosen by people comparing you with someone else.
• Get the sale from people who already know you.

TikTok's guide for small businesses ties each goal to what you measure: views and watch time for awareness, likes, comments and shares for engagement, and click-through rate, conversion rate and cost per acquisition for conversions. Choose the number before you spend, so you know what working means.

What to make first

Most small businesses have one of four stories to tell, and each suits a short advert.

A few rules hold for all four:

• Open with the point. Show what it is in the first seconds, before anyone scrolls on.
• Make it vertical first. Our video ad size guide lists each platform's own specs, and most feeds lead with 9:16.
• Keep it short. Check each platform's own length guidance before you cut it.
• Put prices in typed text, so they read exactly as you wrote them.
• Refresh it. Make a new version when the results start to drop.

Where to run it, and what the platform needs

TikTok publishes its own advertising guides for small businesses. Read its current budget rules before you set a budget, because platforms change their minimums.

YouTube lists Shorts ads, in-stream ads that can be skippable or non-skippable, and ads in the YouTube home feed and search. Google's page suggests reusing what you already have: "Turn your existing social assets into YouTube campaigns". The page we read did not state a minimum budget.

Facebook and Instagram. We could not read Meta's advertising pages for this article, so we have not quoted their rules here. Check Meta's own help pages before you set a budget.

Whichever you choose, this budget comes on top of whatever you pay to make the advert.

Ways to make it, and what each costs

Prices were read on each vendor's page on the date above. Check them before you buy.

Be honest about AI

If you use an AI presenter, do not present them as a real customer. Our own guide says it plainly: "A testimonial-style advert made with an AI presenter should not be passed off as a real customer's opinion." Some places also require AI-made adverts to be labelled. Our guide to labelling AI ads covers the rules by platform and country. Every file Reigniter delivers is marked in its metadata as AI-generated, and our FAQ asks you: "Do not remove the provenance marking."

How Reigniter makes a small business advert

1. Add your product and logo, or paste a product page and let Reigniter read it. "One product photo becomes a four-to-seven-shot advert that ends on your logo."
2. Approve the storyboard. You see one frame per shot, and each scene shows its credit price, before any video is made. Change a frame or rewrite a line first.
3. Render on your brand. Your logo, colours and type come from your brand kit. A failed render is refunded.
4. Post it. On Pro and above you can publish to accounts you connect, or download the file.

What an advert costs in credits "depends on its length, its models and its finish", so we show the price on the button rather than quote a single figure. Subscribers who run out can top up 50 credits for $20.

Who Reigniter does not suit

• Anyone who wants the ads bought and managed for them. Reigniter "is not a paid-ad buyer, and it does not invent a return-on-ad-spend number."
• Owners who want the advert in their own voice. "Voices come from the library; Reigniter does not clone voices."
• Anyone hoping to run a full advert free. The free plan gives "one short draft video scene of your own product", with a watermark.
• Long films on Pro. Pro makes adverts of up to 2 minutes.
• Businesses that judge results by TikTok or LinkedIn stats inside the app. "TikTok and LinkedIn do not report stats yet."

A first month, in four steps

1. Week 1: make one vertical advert with one offer.
2. Week 2: run it on one platform at a small test budget.
3. Week 3: make two versions with different openings and compare them.
4. Week 4: keep the one that does the job you chose, and stop the rest.

For more on making an advert from a single photo, see AI ad maker from a photo.

Sources

Read on 10 November 2026.

Other companies

• TikTok, video advertising guide for small businesses
• Google, YouTube ads
• HeyGen pricing
• Creatify pricing

Start free and try it on one real document.