Have you ever worked with a client that you knew should probably be creating short-form content, whether it was TikTok, IG Reels, or YouTube Shorts, but just one major problem, the client isn’t getting you the content you need in order to drive the short form video content strategy forward? Today I’m going to share with you ten ways that you can create TikToks, Reels, and YouTube shorts for your clients, even if they absolutely refuse to get you the content that you need. Now, these are varying methods, and all of them can work, so I’m going to share one of the obvious ones first, and then we’ll dive into ten ways just in case you’re not getting what you need from your clients in order to market them in the way that you would like to all right. Are you ready for it?
First and foremost, we’re going to talk about the obvious way. So let’s say a client is creating on one of these platforms, either probably TikTok or Reels. You can repurpose their TikToks and or Reels to any of the other platforms. And if you’ve not thought about this before, you can simply remove the watermark using a tool called snaptik.app, and other apps work for IG reels to pull them down without the watermark so you can repurpose them on other platforms. But I’m guessing you already thought about that, right? So let’s dive into ten other ways that you can create that short-form video content, even if you get nothing from your clients.
All right, number one, you can edit them from other content. One of the best places to do this is, let’s say, interviews on YouTube. Maybe they’ve been a part of a summit, or they have their speaking gigs in a particular folder on their drive. So I, first and foremost, would look for three main things. The first thing you want to do is find the hook. This is that soundbite that pulls you in. And usually, it’s not the first thing that they say. So as you scan any piece of long-form content to find the short bite soundbite look for the things that stand out to make you say I would totally listen if I heard this as the first line of a TikTok. Then you want to go ahead and compile the value. If possible, add a CTA, but I know if your clients aren’t getting you what you need, you may need to add the CTA with text on the screen.
Number two, you can share your client’s quotes, stories, sentiments, value, and wisdom using Pexels vertical videos. These are free, copyright-free, royalty-free videos where you can actually filter according to topics, and you can download a bunch of these and then share their wisdom either with a screenshot from a tweet or just a designed graphics with one of their quotes in Canva laid over the top of that video footage.
Number three, this one’s pretty simple, and I’ve done this. We just haven’t tapped into using it yet. You can have the client record themselves working vertically so you can just overlay text. So what that looks like is having the client set up their phone while they’re doing just their everyday work, their normal day-to-day, either getting ready or doing a photo shoot or prepping to speak on stage. Have them either have someone or set up a stand so that you can get all that vertical footage and just edit it down into short-form video content and overlaid compelling text.
Number four, ask the client to hire someone for this specific thing. Vertical B-Roll! Vertical B-Roll all B -Roll is not the same. In case you’re like, what the heck is B-Roll Rachel? I’ve never heard of this before. B-Roll is essentially this term that comes from filmmaking. So typically, we have our primary camera. That’s what we would call Camera A. B-Roll is running in the background. It’s the thing grabbing the alternate angle or the less immediately apparent action, and so, for example, a camera off to the side might be running the B-Roll, or the behind-the-scenes might be B-Roll. These are all really powerful ways to get this content from clients. But most of the time, when people film B-Roll, they don’t film it vertically, so you just need to ask them to hire someone who doesn’t have to be a crazy expensive videographer to film specifically vertical B-roll.
Number five, you can use their voice from their podcasts and interviews and overlay one of two kinds of B-roll, either B-roll from them or B-roll from a website like VideoBlocks or Pexels something like that. But you can get those little snippets of their voice. What I would look for, first and foremost, is the hook. What is that thing that pulls me in or explains what the video is about? The something that’s really juicy, the super quotable part of it, then start with that and then share the value.
Number six, have the client give you access to their products so you can film yourself taking part in them. All right. So, for example, if your client has physical products, ask them to send you a suite of their products so that you can easily film how-to tutorials, step-by-step training, etc., and give tons of value. If they have more courses, you can also do that.
Number seven, send the clients directions for batching generic pointing videos so that you can add text. Generally, you will want three to five seconds of them presenting, so three to five seconds with them presenting what the hook will be. And then maybe three to 11 different pointing techniques, and then one final call to action. They can send you a bunch of these, and you can continually edit them, repurpose them, and add that text over the top.
Number eight, this is a little less conventional, but you can work with a grant to hire models from Upwork or Fiverr. You can hire other people who are not influencers to create sponsored content, just not from their platform. Sometimes you can find these people really affordably, and I think this is a pretty powerful way to build some fantastic content.
Number nine, you can become the face of content for your clients. Be sure to charge more for this if you do this. This is where you should be charging premium high ticket prices.
Number ten, you can send trends with directions to their team to film and send them in Google Drive for you to upload, edit, add text to, etc. This is a pretty powerful workflow because it will be sustained by an entire team supporting you.
Which of these are you going to try?
Check out my Youtube video on this topic!
