Mastering the Art of Training Videos: 7 Essential Tips for 2025

Ever Googled something just to pick a video result instead of a web page? Spent hours scrolling through TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube?

You're not alone.

Video is an increasingly popular format both for entertainment, and knowledge delivery. Companies increasingly use training videos not to just entertain, but to teach.

That's why mastering the art of creating training videos is more important than ever.

Whether you're creating employee training videos, onboarding videos, or an online course, let's dive in the seven essential tips for creating impactful training videos in 2025.

These tips will guide you in selecting the right format, crafting engaging content, and utilizing effective production techniques.

Let's dive into the steps to elevate your training videos and maximize their effectiveness! :)

Before You Decide on Creating Training Videos

Choosing video for training can be a smart move, but it's also often expensive (both in time and money) to produce.

While video can help visual learners remember things better and faster, you can achieve the same with visual guides that can be produced in a fraction of the time and cost with automatic guide creation tools.

If you're looking to create SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) or step-by-step guides, I encourage you to consider training manual generators like Glitter AI (free to use up to 10 guides). Tools like Glitter AI let you create step-by-step guides in seconds instead of hours.

How To Create Effective Training Videos

When you make training videos, you better know who you're making them for. This means digging deep to understand your audience so you can make videos that are right for them.

Here's a tip: tell your viewers what they'll learn right at the start. This way, they don't waste time on stuff they don't need.

A couple of important points to remember:

1. Learn about your audience (try to put yourself in their shoes)

2. Shape your video to fit what the viewers need (remember attention spans are shorter than ever nowadays).

3. Set out clear learning goals in the beginning (tell you audience what they're going to learn)

4. Deliver! (actually teach them what you promised when you began the video).

Choose the Right Type of Training Video

No doubt that video is an effective format with 96% of learners saying "that e-learning tools are fun to use and help them learn things on their own."

However, to make sure your audience actually learns, it's important to choose the right type of training video. There are six main types of training videos you can choose from:

1. Presenter-style training videos (AKA talking-head videos)

2. Instructional videos*

3. Screen recording videos*

4. Interactive videos

5. How-to videos*

6. Microlearning videos*

* Check out Glitter AI for if you're looking to create one of those

Choose Your Video Content

People have different learning styles, so it's important to pick the right format depending on who you make training content for.

How-To Guides

If you're looking to create a high-quality training video, you might consider the how-to video format.

How-to guides are the bread and butter of training materials. How-to guides are great for providing comprehensive step-by-step instructions on how to get stuff done!

Because they're often used as reference materials, it's helpful to put a link to a written step-by-step guide underneath the video (Glitter AI is a great process documentation tool that can complement or replace screencast videos).

How-to guides are great for visual learners.

Screencasts

Screencasts are super helpful for showing how to complete a complex process that requires a deeper understanding of the "how" and not just the "what".

During the recording process, you just capture what's happening on your screen and explain not only what, but "why" you're doing things.

Unlike professional videos, screencasts (otherwise known as "screen videos") are also pretty cheap to produce.

Screen capture software like Camtasia, Snagit, and Loom make this a piece of cake by helping you record your entire screen and yourself at the same time.

However, if you're camera-shy, they may not be the best-of-fit tools. While they do provide a "quick and dirty way to do product demonstrations (which is mostly how I've seen them used), there is a better way to achieve the same thing:

If you're primarily looking to create an SOP (standard operating procedure) or showcase step-by-step instructions, consider using a tool like Glitter AI for your recording process.

Interactive Formats

Interactive formats are like the secret sauce of training videos. They get people to do more than just watch -- they actually participate.

This is really important when you want to hit those learning objectives and cater to different ways people learn.

Learning Management Systems (LMS) are an excellent fit for interactive learning as they facilitate engagement through features like quizzes, discussion forums, and gamified content. Those allow learners to actively participate and track their progress.

Focus on Engaging Content

If you're looking to create a training program, you should know that a good training video is more than just facts and instructions.

I've definitely fallen asleep before watching a badly produced training video. You don't want that.

To catch someone's interest and help them learn, you mix educational stuff with fun visuals and a bit of humor. At the start of each video, it's smart to state clear learning goals. This fires up learners and makes them curious about what's coming.

Here's a quick rundown of what can help make a video stick in a viewer's mind:

• Clear learning objectives

• Fun visuals

• Humor (personally, I love throwing in jokes -- no better way to build rapport and create engagement than humor -- even when it's cringy like my dad jokes)

Other Types of Engaging Content

For visual learners: video content that includes graphs, examples, and tables can make a huge difference, too. They help make the content relatable and easier to remember.

Subtitles or captions are super important. They break down language barriers and make learning possible for more people. And if your viewers are anything like me, they may prefer watching with subtitles to better "digest" the content.

Develop a Clear and Concise Training Video Script

If you want to make a great training video, you need to have a clear and concise script. A good way to think of the script is as the map that guides viewers through the information.

When you write your script, pull from reliable sources like product manuals or employee guides to ensure you get the facts right.

For a simple internal training video, feel free to ease up on the script. I've seen internal corporate videos that made me want to yeet my laptop out of the window (woosh).

Don't be overly formal. If you want to deliver information, speak to people like... well, people speak.

If the video is aimed at folks outside your company, like customers, you may need to adjust for h...