HeyGen for Marketers: Your Essential AI Video Kickstart Guide

Welcome to Your AI Video Marketing Quick-Start Guide for AI Video Marketing

Want to create more video content but feel held back by limited time, budget, or production resources? You’re not alone. Here’s the good news: with HeyGen, you can produce videos that look even better than traditional productions, while saving significantly on both cost and time.

This guide is designed for marketers who are ready to elevate their strategy with AI video. You will learn how to move from concept to campaign, creating high-quality, scalable content without needing cameras, studios, or on-screen talent.

Do not miss the practical video creation exercise in the Making Your First Video section. It is designed to help you learn by doing and get up to speed quickly!

Top Use Cases: How Marketers Are Using HeyGen

HeyGen is more than a video tool. It is a creative engine built for marketers who need to move fast, scale content, and drive results without sacrificing quality. From influencer ads to onboarding flows, here is how marketers across different functions are using HeyGen to create high-impact videos at scale.

Why Video is Essential for Marketing Today

The Challenge

• Traditional production is costly, slow, and constrained by team size and budgets.
• Marketers have to achieve more with fewer resources—tighter budgets, less time, and increasing pressure to outperform competitors.

Creating Your First AI Video

Introduction

New to video or using HeyGen for the first time? You can handle this. This section will guide you through each step so you can create a high-quality video, quickly.

Prefer learning by seeing things in action?

Select a video type above to open a ready-made template in HeyGen and follow along as you proceed.

High performer?

We love it! Skip ahead to step 4: Choose the Right AI Avatar Spokesperson and create your own AI avatar – your digital twin and future video star.

Not ready to get started yet?

No worries. Glance through the steps now and return to the full how-to whenever you are ready.

→ HeyGen Academy: 101

comprehensive overview of all HeyGen features

→ HeyGen Academy: AI Studio

more in-depth exploration of video editing

Step 1: Set up your HeyGen workspace for scale

Smart marketers do not start from scratch every time – they build systems that can scale.

With HeyGen, it’s easy to keep your videos on-brand by setting up a Brand Kit to use your fonts, colours, logos and assets automatically.

Simply paste your company’s URL to get started, or upload your brand elements manually.

In a hurry? No worries. You can always come back and complete this step later.

Expert Tip

Once your Brand Kit is armed with your brand's colours, you can easily update most HeyGen Templates to match. Just swap in your colours so every video stays on-brand, or hit the Shuffle Colours button to have HeyGen swap them automatically.

Step 2: Set Your Strategy

Before you start creating videos, be absolutely clear about your campaign strategy by defining your goal, target audience, distribution channels, and hook.

Campaign Objective

What would you like this video to achieve?

Examples: brand awareness, product launch, lead generation, sales conversion

Target Audience

Who are you creating this video for? What type of customer are they? Which stage of the funnel are they in?

Examples: Gen Z cold prospects who have never heard of your brand, mid-funnel small business leads who are still evaluating their options

Primary Distribution Channel

Where will your video be hosted?

Examples: LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, paid ads, website, email campaign

Hook

What problem are you solving, and how will you capture attention in the very first few seconds?

Expert Tip

Want a second opinion on your strategy? Go to ChatGPT, Claude, or any other tool you prefer and use the following prompt:

"I am planning a marketing video campaign for [product/service]. My goal is [goal], my target audience is [audience], I will distribute it on [channel], and the core message or hook is: [hook]. Could you please share feedback on how clear and effective this is, and suggest any improvements?"

Step 3: Write Your Script

Your script is the backbone of a great video. Here is how to make it count:

• Begin with a strong hook (the first 3–5 seconds matter the most)
• End with a clear CTA (call to action)
• Keep it simple, direct, and free of jargon
  

Expert Tip

Want to move faster? Have a look at the following Best Practices page for guidance on using tools like ChatGPT to write your script.

Still not sure how to get started? Here are a few sample outlines to inspire you.

If you’re following along in HeyGen, these scripts are already built into your template.

Access templates, including these scripts, here:

Video Advertisement

Social Influencer Video

How-To Video

Explore script templates and additional tips for the most popular marketing video formats

→ Video Ads
→ Social Influencer Videos
→ How-To Videos
→ Product Explainers

Best Practices: Write Scripts More Effectively and Quickly with AI

Want to work smarter instead of harder? Here are some tips on using tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and others to speed up your script-writing.

Step 1: Start with a clear prompt

Give the AI a clear and detailed prompt that explains the video you are creating. Include important context, such as:

• What kind of video you’re creating (social ad, product tutorial, brand video)
• Who it’s for (intended audience)
• The goal of the video (drive clicks, explain a concept, educate viewers)
• Tone or voice you would like it to use (friendly, professional, conversational)

Sample prompt:

"Write a 60-second video script for a B2B HeyGen product explainer aimed at small business owners. The tone should be confident and clear. Conclude with a strong call to action.”

Step 2: Add key discussion points

You can get more accurate results by adding a short bullet list of the key points you want the video to cover.

Example:

• Product/service name
• Core value proposition
• Call to action

Sample prompt:

"Include the following points: HeyGen helps small businesses save time and money and is simple to use. CTA: Sign up for a free trial."

Step 3: Ask for the correct format

Let the AI know that you need the script in a format that works well for a video.

Example:

• A spoken script delivered by our CEO’s avatar
• A casual, conversational tone

Sample prompt:

"Write this as a spoken script to be read by HeyGen CEO’s avatar. Use natural, conversational language."

Step 4: Review and refine

Next, copy and paste the script into HeyGen and click the preview button to have your avatar read it aloud. Does it sound natural? Does it flow the way you want? If not, ask your AI tool to revise it with prompts such as:

• Make this more casual or more formal
• Add a more compelling hook at the beginning
• Add a line about [feature or benefit]
• Convert this into a 30-second version
• Give me three variations of the CTA

Explore scripting in more depth

→ How to craft high-impact video scripts with AI: A practical guide for modern marketers (eBook)

Step 4: Choose the right AI avatar

Your spokesperson sets the tone. Choose a ready-made Public Avatar, create a Custom Avatar that suits your brand, or for the ultimate personal touch, create your digital twin in minutes with HeyGen’s Hyper Realistic Avatar feature!

HeyGen offers several options for creating Custom Avatars. Click the links below to explore the details in depth.

Best Practices: Creating the Ideal Custom Avatar

Ready to create a professional, lifelike avatar with extensive customisation options? Explore the resources below for tips, best practices, and a quick overview of what you will need to get started.

When creating a Custom Avatar, remember: quality in = quality out. The better your photos, videos, and written prompts, the more realistic and polished your avatar will be.

Whatever is included in your Hyper Realistic Avatar training video – from gestures and facial expressions to vocal inflection – will be reflected in the final result.

Expert Tip

Use HeyGen’s Generating Looks feature to change your avatar’s pose, background or outfit using only a text prompt.

Want to explore this in more depth?

→ Step-by-step guide for creating Hyper-Realistic Avatars

Best Practices: Creating High-Quality Custom AI Voices

HeyGen has an extensive library of stock AI-generated voices in over 175 languages, dialects, and emotional tones, but sometimes the ideal video needs something more customised. Below are three ways to create Custom Voices.

For the best voice quality, start with clear, high-quality source audio. Here is how you can get a great recording:

• Use a high-quality mic or smartphone, held 6–8" away from your mouth

• Record in a quiet, noise-free space

• Speak clearly, with natural pauses and a gentle touch of emotion

• Upload multiple samples with different emotional tones for greater versatility (for HeyGen Custom Voice Clones only)

Want to explore this in more depth?

→ Ultimate guide to hyper-realistic Custom Voice Cloning

→ Add emotions to your Custom Voice Clone

Best Practices: Prompting Like a Pro

Prompting is the practice of carefully crafting and refining text instructions (called prompts) used to guide AI tools to create content from scratch, such as images, motion, or audio.

Prompting is a powerful skill for any AI marketer. When combined with HeyGen, prompting opens up countless ways to create high-impact videos where your imagination is the only limitation! Get ready to experiment, iterate, and use prompts in HeyGen for:

Prompting Best Practices

Be specific

The more clearly you describe what you want (tone, look, gesture, emotion), the better the AI can match your vision.

Begin with Structure

Use a consistent structure: what, who, where, how. This applies to visuals, voice tone, and motion direction.

Include Context & Intent

Let the AI know the purpose: Is it for a product demo, a social media ad, or a tutorial? The more context you provide, the better the result will be.

Use Descriptive Language

Use adjectives that express emotion, style, or clarity (for example, “confident”, “minimalist”, “high energy”, “calm pace”).

Iterate & Refine

Do not settle for your first attempt. Even small prompt tweaks can lead to significantly better results across all media types!

Prompting best practices can differ slightly depending on what you are creating

Explore the resources below to understand each type in more depth and get the maximum value from your prompts!

• Prompting best practices, common challenges and solutions
• Prompting best practices for generating looks
• Prompting best practices for adding motion

Step 5: Create and refine your scenes in AI Studio

Now that your script and avatar are ready, it’s time to bring your message to life in HeyGen’s AI Studio editor, where it’s easy to customise, enhance, and polish every part of your video – no editing experience required!

• Create your scenes within minutes using the Brand Kit or Templates that you set up in Step 1.
• Strengthen your message with on-screen text or visuals and set them to appear or disappear using Animations.
• Browse HeyGen’s stock media library for high-quality royalty-free b-roll video.
• Use Premium Scene Transitions to give your video a smooth, professional finish.
• Add and customise Captions to make your videos more engaging and accessible.

Expert Tip

Create and A/B test multiple versions of your videos to improve performance, drive outcomes, and increase conversions.

Ready to edit like a professional?

→ HeyGen Academy: AI Studio, a comprehensive video course covering HeyGen's editing features in detail

Best Practices: Adjust Pronunciation, Emotions, and Intonation

Need your avatar to sound just right? HeyGen gives you powerful tools to fine-tune voiceovers for natural, accurate delivery that feels true to real life.

Want to see how it works in practice?

→ HeyGen Academy: AI Studio - Pronunciation module

Strategies to Expand Your Impact

Whether you are reaching new markets, testing what works, or tailoring content for different audiences, these advanced best practices and tools will help you scale your impact with precision.

Optimise and iterate like a performance marketing expert

With HeyGen, creating multiple versions of your videos for A/B testing has never been easier, faster, or more affordable. Learn how to A/B test like a performance marketing pro and start boosting conversions, maximising performance, and building campaigns with data-driven confidence!

Go Global with Translation

Learn how to translate and localise your videos into 175+ languages and dialects, with no dubbing or voice actors required.

Use HeyGen’s Brand Voice feature to maintain consistency in translated videos by customising how certain words are handled (for example, brand name pronunciations, or forcing or blocking translation for specific terms).

Enterprise and Team plan users can also make edits directly to translated scripts by using our Proofread feature.

Looking for ideas? Check out how Trivago used HeyGen to simultaneously localise TV ads in 30 markets.

Personalise At Scale

Add a personal touch to your email campaigns, sales outreach, or customer support with Personalised Videos. By using dynamic elements, such as the viewer’s name or details tailored to their interests, you can create a unique, more engaging experience for each person.

Integrate Personalised Videos directly into your workflow on HubSpot, Zapier, Make, Clay and more!

Interactive Avatar

Whether for sales, customer support, or education, Interactive Avatars transform one-way videos into dynamic, two-way conversations. It is a powerful way to increase engagement, personalise experiences, and drive action.

Looking for ideas? Have a look at how getitAI increases e-commerce sales with live, personalised shopping experiences.

Use Case #1: Video Advertisements

Customer Stories & Examples

Ideal For

Growth marketers, demand generation marketers, performance marketers, and more!

Best Practices

• Keep videos short.Aim for under 30 seconds to maintain viewer attention and improve completion rates.
• Lead with the value. Ensure your core message or value proposition is communicated within the first few seconds.
• Match the format to the funnel. Tailor the ad length, style, and CTA based on where it will appear and what action you want the viewer to take.
• Design for mobile-first viewing. Optimise framing and pacing for small-screen viewing.
• Make your edits stand out. Use b-roll, animated text and motion to keep the visual energy high and audience engagement steady.
• Test like a performance marketing expert. Run A/B tests with different hooks, visuals, avatars and CTAs to see what actually converts.

Key Features

• Product Placement: add physical products to your videos with just a click.
• Generate Looks: Make your avatar more dynamic by changing their pose, surroundings, or attire using just a text prompt.

Expert tip

Here’s a reliable, time-tested script structure from social media producer George “GG” Gossland of Favoured:

• Hook – Something visually unusual or unexpected.
• Problem – What challenges is your viewer facing at the moment?
• Solution – How does the product or service address those challenges?
• USPs – also known as “unique selling point”. Highlight the features that truly stand out.
• CTA – Always give viewers a clear next step to take.

Ready to take things to the next level?

→ Watch a detailed, step-by-step tutorial on creating video ads

→ Explore HeyGen’s 5 ways to improve your video ads and performance ebook

Use Case #2: Social Influencer Video

Customer Stories & Examples

Ideal For

Content marketers, performance marketers, demand generation marketers, growth marketers, and more who are ready to turn their brief into a UGC ad

Best practices

• Hook viewers quickly. Try to capture attention within the first 1–2 seconds using movement, bold text, or a strong visual.
• Optimise for silent autoplay. Use captions, text overlays, and visual storytelling, as many users watch without sound.
• Keep it short. Less is more. Aim for videos under 15–30 seconds on TikTok, Instagram Reels, or YouTube Shorts. Adjust your script pace using advanced voice settings.
• Frame it for the feed. Use vertical (9:16) or square formats depending on the platform. Avoid landscape orientation unless you are posting to YouTube.
• Lead with the “aha” moment.Highlight the transformation, benefit, or emotional payoff right at the start, not just the product features.
• Make it look native.Use current platform trends, quicker creator-style edits, or UGC avatars so your content blends naturally into the feed.

Key Features

• UGC avatars: Explore hundreds of AI-generated stock avatars that have the genuine feel of real content creators.
• Captions: ensure your message is understood, even when the sound is muted.

Expert tip

Here’s a high-performing content structure used by leading creators across TikTok, Reels and Shorts:

1. Scroll-stopping visuals: start with bold text, movement or an unexpected visual to make people stop scrolling
2. Relatable moment: reflect a real pain point or an “I’ve been there” situation to build an instant connection
3. Transformation or payoff: demonstrate the value of your product in action
4. Creator POV: use voiceover or on-screen text to narrate in a personal, authentic tone
5. Simple CTA: make the next step clear and straightforward (“Try this”, “watch more”, or “visit website”).

Ready to explore in more depth?

→ Watch a step-by-step tutorial on creating social media influencer videos

→ Explore HeyGen’s ebook 5 ways to improve your video ads and overall performance

Use Case #3: How-to Video

Customer Stories & Examples

Ideal For

Product marketers, performance marketers, demand generation marketers, growth marketers

Key Features

• Animations: add animated text or visuals to highlight key steps, reinforce learning, and keep viewers engaged.
• Templates: streamline creation and keep everything consistent. Do remember you can customise HeyGen’s stock templates with your brand’s colours!

Best Practices

• Keep it concise. Aim for 60–120 seconds for quick guides, and up to 5 minutes for more detailed tutorials.Structure for clarity. Begin with a clear introduction, follow with step-by-step instructions, and end with a strong summary and clear call-to-action.
• Enhance with visuals. Use graphics, captions, and screen recordings to illustrate key points and improve understanding.Maintain consistency. Use consistent branding, tone, and style across all videos to strengthen your brand identity.
• Optimise for accessibility. Include subtitles and ensure the content is mobile-friendly to reach a wider audience.

Expert tip

If your how-to video needs extra visuals like screen recordings, make sure they are aligned with your script. Start by writing your script, then use the preview button to play the audio while recording your screen in sync with the narration for the best timing.

Ready to explore in more depth?

→ Watch a step-by-step tutorial on creating how-to videos