Subscribe to our newsletter to receive business tips, learn about new funding programmes, join upcoming events, take e-learning courses, and more.
Take the first step to successfully starting and growing your business.
Join for freePosted: Mon 29th Jun 2026
Want to start using YouTube Shorts to promote your business, but not sure what to film or how to present yourself on camera?
In this Lunch and Learn, senior video editor Mads Nybo Jorgensen explains how to plan, record, edit and share simple promotional videos using your phone.
He covers practical filming tips, YouTube formats, safety and copyright considerations, and how to create short videos that reach the right audience rather than chasing views for the sake of it.
How to overcome procrastination and present on camera
How to use vertical short and long horizontal video formats
Other platforms you can use to upload your videos
How to edit your video and post it
Mads's background includes producing, filming and editing for corporate, branded, TV and film.
He's taught everyone, from teenagers in youth clubs to staff at the BBC, where he supervised employees transitioning from tape to digital news production.
As an editor, he delivered over 300 programme masters for the BBC, including Click and HardTalk, and worked on ITN/ITV's The Tonight Programme with Trevor McDonald.
Watch more expert webinars
Access a growing collection of expert-led webinars covering marketing, sales, finance, growth and more – ready whenever you are.
Lightly edited for clarity.
Caitriona: Hello, everyone, and welcome to today's Lunch and Learn. My name is Caitriona, and I'll be your host today.
For those of you attending a Lunch and Learn for the first time, Enterprise Nation is a vibrant community platform for start-ups and small businesses.
I'm pleased to introduce Mads Nybo Jorgensen, who is a senior video editor. In this session, Mads will show you how to make short promotional videos for YouTube with yourself as the presenter.
If you have any questions throughout the webinar, please post them in the chat and we'll do our best to answer them at the end of the session.
Today's webinar will be recorded, and we will send a follow-up email with the recording and further resources later today. Over to you, Mads.
Mads: Thank you very much for inviting me, Caitriona.
I hope everybody can hear me and see me. You're not going to be watching much of me, though. You're going to be watching the presentation.
I'm going to get straight into it. Today, we're talking about YouTube and how to make small videos for YouTube. Nothing big, nothing elaborate. This is about getting started.
A bit of YouTube history first. This is the first ever screenshot of the first ever video on YouTube, which today has 397 million views. It was first uploaded in 2005. Just one year later, in 2006, Google bought YouTube, and the rest is history.
That first video was 19 seconds long. It is literally one of the co-founders standing in front of elephants at the zoo, talking about an elephant's trunk. It's still up on YouTube, so go and watch it if you have a chance, but not before I finish, please.
If you look at YouTube today, it is hosting 800 million videos. Every day, users watch around one billion hours of video.
YouTube Shorts, which we're going to concentrate on today, already have between 70 billion and 200 billion views per day. Obviously, YouTube Shorts are much shorter than long YouTube videos.
The scary part is that, in January this year, YouTube overtook the BBC as the most watched media platform in the UK.
We're also now noticing that the BBC has started making agreements, like Channel 4, to put its videos on YouTube. Soon, and they're expecting it to happen this year, YouTube will overtake the BBC on your smart TV.
So when you think about sitting in front of the television, whatever you're watching, the likelihood is that you'll be watching more YouTube on your television set than BBC.
I do believe we should protect the BBC, so this is not an anti-BBC conversation. But moving on, we're going to look at two formats.
Here is one from your favourite YouTube channel, which obviously you must go and visit, by an organisation called Enterprise Nation.
I found two videos. One is the traditional video format, which is widescreen. We also call it 16 by nine, which is a technical description of 16 this way and nine this way. That is the most viewed video on Enterprise Nation's channel, and it has 198,000 views.
Then there is a Short. Enterprise Nation is making Shorts as well, and you can see a full face, close-up video promoting a podcast. That was published in December 2025, and it has 658 views.
This is something to remember throughout: just because you make videos, they might not get a big audience. But don't be discouraged by that, because if they get the right audience, then we're happy.
Today, we're mainly talking about filming vertical videos.
As you can see here, we've got someone with a mobile phone. I think it's a guy, with a little bit of a face like me here right now.
You pull out your phone, film yourself for 15 to 30 seconds during a speech or whenever you think there is something important to your business, and then you can publish it to your own YouTube Shorts channel.
When I looked at YouTube Shorts, they gave me all the top-performing videos. Out of 1.7 billion videos on YouTube Shorts, only a fraction get millions and billions of views.
So there we have it. That's the end really.
You're not going to be allowed to ask me questions yet. You will be later. Caitriona has promised me that.
Here's the one thing I want to stress as a video editor. Quite often, I get called in to take over projects or fix projects. Likewise, other editors also get called in to take over my projects.
Most often, the problem is that nobody, before they started filming or while they were planning the production, thought about how this was going to end. What do we want out of this? What's the story we're telling? What's the message?
If you don't get that right before you start filming, it can go off track.
There are certain videos where, if you do it off the cuff of yourself at work, that's very different from having a key message you want to get out to your clients.
Whenever you think about making a video, think about where you want it to end, how you want it to end and how you will qualify the success of that video. If you don't do that, you can go on forever.
There is also the quality element. In broadcast and feature film production, we talk about QC, or quality control. YouTube is quite forgiving about quality. That's part of the charm of YouTube, although it can also make it a bit boring at times.
But if you're talking about broadcast television or specific channels, you have to meet certain standards.
So when I talk about technical delivery, we'll talk about that in relation to mobile phones and how you make videos. But it is not a big issue for what we're discussing today.
Then there is the call to action. If you are talking to your client or potential client, what do they need to do with you? Do they need to email you? Can they book a discovery call? Can they get a free PDF or free video?
That reminds me: there will be a PDF of all my slides. There is a lot of text on them, I apologise, but I also made sure not to write them in Comic Sans, so you should be happy about that.
Think about the end in mind. How are you going to measure the success of the video? How are you going to be happy with it?
Don't worry. You don't need to make a long marketing plan or elaborate production plan. You just need to have thought about it.
Most importantly, you know your business. I don't know your business. Nobody else knows your business like you do. I want to see your video. I want you to teach me about your business.
All you have to do is pick up the phone, film yourself and speak for maybe 20 or 30 seconds.
One thing I want to show you is this: when you film yourself, have the phone slightly above your eye line. That means you're going to have a nice, sharp chin and look good, and people won't be looking up your neck. In my case, a very big neck.
But don't have it too high, where you start looking submissive. That's not good either. The same thing applies if you're looking down on people. I promise you, if you look down on people, they will switch off.
Then there's the whole thing about relaxing, smiling and being you. Be authentic.
Keep in mind the beautiful thing about video if you're not live: you can always stop and record again. You can record as many times as you like.
I should also say at this point that I've met very few people who like seeing themselves on screen, and that includes professional presenters.
Back in the day, when I had a feature film post-production company, I worked with a director who went on to win two Oscars. He refused to see a video where we had him do a presentation for one of his film premieres because he couldn't be there.
So if professionals don't like being on camera, I can totally understand why you don't. But you have to do it. You have to get out there and think of it as a way to get people to come and network with you and call you.
Keep recording yourself, keep watching it and keep making it better. Review it if you can.
Let's look at a basic filming set-up. This is where a lot of people get frustrated. They think they need to go to Wex Photo or Amazon and buy all this kit. But that doesn't necessarily make better videos.
There are some very simple things you can do.
First of all, phones today, whether iPhone or Android, have fantastic cameras on them. They can deal with light differences in a way that used to be much harder.
Find a light source. I admit I've put a big light up on my side here, as you can see. But you can go to a window or stand outdoors. Just don't look into the sun, because you might never be able to see yourself again.
If you've got no light on the front and light behind you, your face will be dark. It will be in shadow. So you've got to find a balance.
Then there is an obvious one: if your phone is putting a shadow on your face, that's not going to work either. Play around and find out what works best for you.
Then there is audio. Clean audio is best in any shape or form. Sadly, it's one of the things where phones are built for individuals, not necessarily for production.
Right now, I've got a nice big microphone here, but that doesn't work when you're out in the street. When you are in the street, there are some things you can do.
Don't go out in a storm or hurricane and film yourself, unless that is the point of your video.
If you can hear wind coming towards you, the wind is likely to go into the microphone. There is software that can fix that, but we don't want to rely on that. Instead, find somewhere quiet where there is no wind.
If a fire engine, ambulance or police car, or all three at the same time, come past, then you are going to be drowned out. There is nothing you can do about that without putting a voiceover on afterwards.
Listen out for what is around you. Sometimes background sound adds to the atmosphere, and sometimes it becomes annoying to listen to.
Then there is the background. If you're filming somewhere with sensitive materials or clutter, think about that.
I've got loads of clutter in my room here. But if you are in a hospital and want to pull out your phone to record a video, and somebody comes past behind you with blood and everything flowing out, that is not a good look.
The same applies if you go into a shop and film yourself doing a quick piece to camera. The danger is that you might infringe somebody's copyright or trademark. So think about what you have in the background.
If you don't know whether you can film, it doesn't hurt to ask.
Moving on, I might be going too fast because I'm too excited, but we'll have time for questions and answers afterwards.
Here I say: don't be stupid. I really mean don't be stupid.
How many people have walked down the street, on the pavement I hope, and met somebody else who is just on their phone, and you have to say hello to them because they haven't noticed you?
It might not be a car, a bus or a lorry. It might be a delivery driver coming the wrong way on their bike.
When you film, your number one priority is your safety and the safety of people around you. You've got to keep an eye on the space.
If you're not used to it, stand still. If somebody is coming with you, make sure they look out for you and grab you if you're about to run into a red light or something like that.
So again, do not be stupid. It's not worth it. Unless you are selling life insurance, and it might be the last one you're ever going to sell.
That's a bad joke, but the fact is that one of the biggest killers in the film industry, particularly for people who aren't used to filming, is being out and about.
We've all heard scare stories of people falling off cliffs and doing other things. Don't let that be you. I can't stress this enough.
As I mentioned before, you might be able to film something, but it might not be legal.
There is the issue of trademarks and copyright, particularly with big companies that have very expensive lawyers and you end up paying for them.
Also think about whether you're in the middle of a group of schoolchildren. That's a good example. There is a rule within the Department for Education that you don't film schoolchildren in their uniforms unless you have explicit permission from their parents.
Even if you go to a school play, it's not something you can simply put on YouTube Shorts. First of all, you might be taken off YouTube. Worst-case scenario, you can lose your YouTube channel.
So ask first if you have permission to film someone. If you don't, just smile and move on. There are so many other things and places you can film. It's not the end of the world.
The last thing is if you're filming a video at one of your client's places and you want to illustrate how dumb your client is, then you're probably not going to be working for that client again.
Do not, under any circumstances, film at your client's place without permission.
Having said that, last year I worked on a group of social media videos for a big overseas client. Their customers were lining up to give testimonials. They were filming themselves and sending the testimonials.
So don't discount using your clients, but do it with respect. Ask them.
When we talk about clients, you can talk about corporate clients or small business clients. But if you've got a market stall somewhere, ask people whether they will give you a little testimonial about what they've just bought from you.
Even better, if they're filming a little testimonial, they could put it up on Google Maps as well. Amazon is also always trying to get into films in terms of testimonials about books and anything else they sell.
So you've got lots of opportunity to promote. Although these might not necessarily be Shorts as such, it does work with Shorts too.
Now, recording options. I suggest you use your mobile phone because you can whip it out, and you don't need anyone else around. You just have to look at yourself and make the presentation. If you don't like it, you do it one more time.
One thing you've got to look out for is whether you have enough storage space. My fault when I bought this very nice iPhone 16 Pro second-hand was that I realised why the person sold it: there isn't a lot of memory. So I can't really do a lot of high-end videos.
You need to work out what works best for you. Does it have to be the highest-quality video, or can you have slightly lower-quality video? You can also add extra drives to phones, but try not to make it too complex.
The other thing that's really important is that on most phones, the camera facing outwards is the best camera. That is counterproductive if you're used to looking at the camera on the screen, which is softer and more made for video conference calls.
If you're filming yourself with the camera on the screen and you don't get a result you like, you might need a friend, family member or someone else to film it for you and hold the phone, so you get the better camera.
In the end, I don't think many people notice this, but I'm telling you in case you have an old Nokia or something similar. Of course you don't have an old Nokia. Sorry.
There are also other ways to make videos. We're being recorded right now on Zoom. You can also use Google Meet and Teams.
With those widescreen formats, like I'm talking on now, you can make a widescreen longer-form video. You might even interview somebody.
I have a client whose Zoom recordings I edit. They do a form of podcast video interview on Zoom, and I edit it down and put it out.
You can also chop up Zoom videos and create a vertical version, a little bit like Enterprise Nation does on its Shorts channel. It's no different.
So if you want something long-form where you cut out small chunks, you can use Google Meet, Zoom, Teams or another preferred software. Don't be afraid of experimenting with that, but you're not as portable and flexible as you might be with your mobile phone.
Then there is video editing. I can only say that I know a really great video editor. If you need video editing, there's only one way to go. No, I'm joking, but I'm happy to recommend anyway.
On your mobile phone, tablet, Android tablet or iPad, you can upload lots of different video editing software that can do a great job for what you need. Don't worry too much about whether you need a professional job, because you don't.
There is a warning here, and this is really important. The one that comes to mind is CapCut.
CapCut has said that if you cut on their software, the copyright is recognised as yours. But by cutting your video on CapCut software, you grant them a perpetual licence to use it however they want, worldwide and royalty free.
I read that out because that is what it says in their terms and conditions. It means that if you are filming a video of your product, you might suddenly find it in another CapCut video without being attributed to you.
That's scary. It's the same, or worse, if you're a musician or you like singing. God forbid if I ever start singing. You might have the copyright, but you don't fully control how it is used. Unless you register with the mechanical music copyright society, CapCut is not going to pay you any money for using your sound or music.
There are other apps out there. At the moment, Canva seems to be pulling ahead. Canva starts from free, certainly in terms of picture processing, and it is also seen as having a good AI platform for generating things.
I'm not necessarily a great fan of generative AI, but sometimes if you want to illustrate something, make something explode out of the screen or create visual effects, it might work.
There is also LumaFusion, Adobe Express, and maybe not Adobe Express, but that's a personal opinion about me and Adobe. I still use Adobe Premiere Pro, so it's not necessarily that.
DaVinci Resolve is a tool where I have the Studio version that I use for professional work. We're just about to start grading a feature film using DaVinci Resolve Studio, and it starts from free.
But do you and your business want to spend 200 or 300 hours learning to use editing software, or do you just want to use something basic?
And guess what? Even YouTube has a video editor built in, so you're not locked into that.
When you've made your video, you've got to post it. To post it, you've got to have an account.
I didn't come here today assuming everybody has an account, because that would be wrong. But you can set up a new account, or you can generate different channels under your YouTube account. That's something not a lot of people know about.
You can have as many YouTube channels as you want, or you can just have one. That's up to you.
When you put the video in, I'm not going to go through it now, but there are things you have to think about.
Give it a title that makes sense. Give it a description that resonates. Put a thumbnail up that gets people to click on it. Maybe not clickbait, but certainly something that says: I want to play that.
Think about hashtags. How are people going to find you if you don't have hashtags? Obviously, if you're using the same hashtags as everybody else, you might get discovered, but you might also want something unique to you.
You can also put in whether the video is suitable for children. If you're dealing in horror movies, then you might say it's not suitable for children.
Again, YouTube has an editor. You can also add music within YouTube.
Something really cool about YouTube is that if you watch a film, or any video on YouTube, you can get it translated into different languages. I'm Danish, so I can get people to talk Danish to me.
There are lots of languages available. If you suddenly have a market in China, you can get people to talk Chinese. You can even get yourself speaking Chinese. That's one of the great AI features.
I would also say, make sure to put subtitles on your videos if you can. Even people who don't have hearing loss or who are not deaf still sometimes like subtitles because they might be sitting on a bus, standing in the kitchen or watching while their partner is asleep and they don't want to disturb anyone.
Now let's talk about multi-platform strategy.
Just because we've only dealt with YouTube Shorts here, you can reformat your video and put it on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, X, TikTok, your own website, or send it out as a WhatsApp message.
I did a video recently. It was a beautiful trailer, so I sent it to a couple of people who are realtors and said: "I've done this 30-second trailer. It took me four and a half hours and it was great."
There are so many ways you can distribute your video, so have a thought about that.
Now, final thoughts. We're getting to the real end.
Vertical microdrama is something we don't hear much about, but I went to a Royal Television Society event last week where they talked about it. Shockingly, vertical microdrama is worth $10 billion of turnover in 2025 alone. They're expecting it to reach $16 billion this year.
How does that fit in with you? You can make your own microdrama within your business.
If you have a business that produces indestructible plates, for example, you could have a little 40-second video where you're trying to destroy a plate, and then you have a big cliffhanger. Did it crack or didn't it crack?
In your next video, you show that it didn't crack, and now you take another item, like a coffee cup or whatever it might be.
Think about whether you can build a 10-part series where, at the end of each 40- to 60-second video, you hook people. They've got to come back and watch the outcome of this potential disaster.
Then you create your own microdrama that fits into your business without making a joke out of your business. Have a think about that.
These are new things coming in, and they're sitting particularly well with the female market. Most of the microdrama streamers are based in China, but they realised they couldn't get people to subscribe, so they're now building in the gamification approach where you pay for coins. That's the way you can buy it now.
Traditional microdramas run to about 40 episodes, but I digress.
Let's go back to the business of doing Shorts. Don't be discouraged by low numbers.
Ask yourself, what would you rather have: 20,000 viewers who spend no money with you, or five viewers who end up spending £1,000, £2,000 or £10,000 with you?
The reality is that if you're coming from a creator point of view, one of the big YouTube streamers, the likelihood of any of us on this call becoming one of those and earning millions and millions from it is very low.
You might be better off winning the EuroMillions on the same day we score a goal in the World Cup and have triplets. It's just not going to happen.
Think instead about this: even if you only have a few viewers, those viewers are important because they came to you and want to know you.
Then there are YouTube copyright strikes. I've had one of those. It was a scam. Somebody said: "We own that."
Do watch out for it. When you put music in, or if you use graphics or other things, take them from a source where you get a licence. Envato is one of the platforms I use. I believe Canva is the same.
If you have something that is licensed, you're not having to argue the toss with YouTube. If you get three strikes, the rumour is that you lose your YouTube channel. That would be horrible if you had to go back and start all over again.
Then there is AI. AI is not the real you. You can be authentic, but you can use AI to make different versions of your video. You might even reversion yourself, or you can make your audio better. There are so many things you can use AI for.
AI is not the great evil that some people make it out to be, but you also need to value whether it is the real you.
There we go. I think I made it with one minute to spare.
Caitriona: Thank you, Mads. We've had lots of questions from the audience, so let's take a few here.
I'll start with this question from Craig. Craig is asking: what are the pros and cons of having quiet background music versus silence when talking to camera?
Mads: The pros and cons are about whether we can hear you.
If we can't hear you, or worse, if the music is annoying, then that's a problem. You can use music for effect, even as something annoying, but it's a difficult one.
If you can't hear yourself talking, then you can be pretty sure other people can't hear you either.
You can test it. You can upload it to YouTube Shorts without publishing and listen to it yourself on your computer or the device you normally use.
Music does have a place. It does work, so don't discount it. Just be careful with how you use it.
Caitriona: Thank you. We had another question from Balghini. They're asking: when is the best time to post YouTube Shorts?
Mads: That's a good question. There's a whole science around that. There's a website called vidIQ that publishes videos about when things are best and what to do.
The reality is, rather than thinking about the best time to post, I would spend more time making sure you have the right hashtags and the right wording.
Also, if you've got a sequence of videos, post them at intervals. Think about where you're promoting them too.
It depends on what market you're in. There's no point necessarily publishing to the UK market at one in the morning. But one in the morning might work for an Asian market.
Caitriona: Thank you. Another question: how frequently can you upload YouTube videos without it being overkill?
Mads: That's a good question. Some channels upload a lot.
One I've been watching recently is the MeidasTouch, and they do about 10 videos a day. I'll be honest, I got bored and stopped watching them because my life is too short for that.
But those are 10-minute videos. Shorts are very different.
Remember the key point I made about Shorts. My son found this with one of his gaming videos. He had nearly 4,000 views, and we realised he was being pushed by Google and YouTube because his videos were only about 18 seconds long.
That means there is a good chance that a vast majority of the people watching that short film watch it past the 50% mark.
Once people have watched more than half the video, Google and YouTube, in some instances, think: "That's great. We must push it." That's how you get more viewers.
Caitriona: Thank you. This ties into that question. Somebody else is asking: how do you increase your views? Do I need to train the algorithm first, for example by spending time on YouTube for some minutes?
Mads: I think what you really want to try to get is subscribers. Getting subscribers and getting people to watch is a good benchmark. But that's difficult. That's hard work.
Google is famous for changing algorithms. Now that you've got AI, you've got all the AI tools fighting over SEO, algorithms and everything else.
So if everybody is trying to find the perfect point to publish, you can be pretty sure that at that point, you won't get seen. You have to try to find another time.
It also depends on your market. Where is your market? Who are you trying to talk to? How can you get them to engage with it?
Caitriona: Thank you. We're just coming to the end of the session now, but we do have time for one final question from Pete. They're asking: what is the maximum length a short video should be to get attention?
Mads: That's a really good question. As I was saying before, Shorts that are 30 to 60 seconds have a good chance of being watched.
If you look at the BBC News channel, they've got Shorts as well, and they're all coming in between one and two minutes.
In theory, there is nothing that stops you from doing five or 10 minutes. But then you're in the arena where, if people really want to watch it, they will watch it. Most people will just scroll on to the next short.
It also depends on whether you put that short video on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube or somewhere else. You get different audiences with different maturity, if that makes sense. The same applies to LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a good place to post as well.
Caitriona: Thank you so much for your presentation, Mads. We've had lots of questions in the chat and lots of positive engagement. Thank you so much.
Thanks, everyone, for attending today.
Mads: Justin and Jerome, feel free to reach out on LinkedIn if you didn't get your answer today. I'm happy to continue the conversation there.
Caitriona: Thank you, Mads. I've posted Mads' links into the chat, including LinkedIn, email address and Enterprise Nation profile. Please feel free to reach out to Mads if you want to continue the conversation.
Thanks for joining us today. We'll share the recording and further resources in a follow-up email this afternoon.
Unlock more on-demand sessions designed to help you sharpen your skills, grow your business and stay one step ahead. Find more Lunch and Learn webinars
