Bryan Fikes is the founder of Bonsai Marketing, where he helps businesses grow with smarter marketing systems, automation, and AI video.
Over the past 25 years, Bryan has built multiple marketing agencies and helped companies adapt to every major shift in digital marketing.
As video became one of the most effective ways to build trust online, he saw the same challenge again and again: businesses knew they needed video but struggled to produce it consistently.
Today, Bryan uses HeyGen to help clients create everything from promotional videos and landing pages to sales content and training materials. Along the way, he's created more than 300 videos, saved more than 700 hours of production time, and built a workflow that makes high-quality video accessible to businesses of every size.
Making professional video practical for every business
For Bryan, every effective marketing strategy starts with a story.
"Everything's a story," Bryan said. "I don't care what you're selling. I don't care what you do. Video is the natural storyteller."
The challenge wasn’t convincing clients that video worked. It was making production affordable enough to use consistently.
"It was expensive. Equipment was expensive. Time was expensive. You needed several people to do it well," Bryan said.
For many small businesses, putting thousands of dollars into every video just wasn’t realistic.
"When you're managing petrol prices versus a $2,000 expense for a video, you know what the answer is going to be,” he said.
Bryan wanted clients to publish video as often as they published blogs, emails or social posts, rather than saving it for a handful of campaigns each year.
That's where HeyGen changed how he works.
"HeyGen has just been a natural fit because of the speed, the messaging, and just enough animation to give it that cinematic pop, but not over the top. And it’s cost-effective, full stop."
Making video part of every marketing strategy
Instead of treating video as a one-off project, Bryan now builds it into nearly every client engagement.
His team creates videos for websites, landing pages, social media, email campaigns, training, and sales enablement, making video a consistent part of how businesses communicate.
"HeyGen really is the piece that completes the creation," Bryan said. "Everyone can make a bowl of spaghetti, but it's those meatballs and that extra sauce. When you finish a good website, you've got all the content set up properly, you've got all the services they offer, and then you add the right video structure on top of that."
The impact goes beyond just creating more content.
“We’re seeing conversion increase, and conversion means dollars to the business owner,” he said.
Because creating new videos is no longer a major production effort, Bryan can recommend video in places where clients previously relied only on text or static images.
Scale video without slowing the business down
Before adopting HeyGen, creating a single marketing video often meant weeks of planning, multiple meetings and coordinating production.
"Previously it would take five meetings. It would take at least two people. It would take at least two weeks, if not three, to get to the point where, 'Here's what I'm going to shoot.' That's 25 or 30 hours."
Today, the process is completely different.
"If I have an idea, I drop it into my workflow. Fifteen minutes," Bryan said. "I reckon I’ve got it to the point where I can produce some of it in under ten minutes."
That shift has changed how Bryan approaches content production. Instead of carefully choosing which videos are worth the effort, his team can produce videos whenever they need them for marketing campaigns.
"HeyGen has become the layer on top that helps me execute all the individual pieces," Bryan said. "It lets me take back a bit of personal time and space while delivering a highly professional, high-quality product."
Since adopting HeyGen, Bryan has created more than 300 videos, estimates he’s saved 700+ hours, and plans to publish 10 to 15 videos every day as his business continues to grow.
Helping small businesses market like larger brands
Bryan works with contractors, lawyers, training organisations, home service businesses, and other local companies that don't have dedicated video teams.
Many want to use video but assume it's out of reach.
Instead of relying on expensive production crews, Bryan helps clients use HeyGen to create professional on-demand video.
"HeyGen has become a tool where I can comfortably say, 'Go check this out,' because the user interface and the user experience are now at a point where, no matter what level someone is at," Bryan said. "There's a place for the HeyGen video platform to help them solve problems and tell their stories."
For Bryan, the biggest benefit isn’t just creating more videos. It’s helping businesses communicate more consistently and convert more customers.
"Every single client that I've plugged this into properly is seeing higher conversion," Bryan said. "I'd say without a doubt HeyGen has at least doubled, if not tripled, the success my clients are having with conversion."
"HeyGen has allowed me to scale my own agency to seven figures in one year. It has allowed me to scale like I have an army of 12 to 15 people working for me full time," Bryan said.
