Training & Explainer Video
What Is a Training Video? Types, Uses and When Your Business Needs One
A training video is a filmed lesson made to teach a specific person a specific skill or process, so they can do a task correctly and repeatably without someone standing over their shoulder each time. That is the short answer. If you have ever explained the same procedure to a new hire for the fifth time, or watched a customer misuse your product because the manual went unread, you already understand the problem a training video solves. This guide walks through what a training video actually is, how it differs from an explainer video (the two get muddled constantly), the 6 main formats you can choose from, and the honest signs your business is ready for one. By the end you should be able to name exactly what you need before you ever ring a production company.
Key takeaway
A training video teaches someone to perform a task; an explainer video sells someone on an idea. Pick the format by asking who is watching and what they must be able to do afterwards. If you are repeating the same instructions more than a handful of times, or onboarding is eating your senior staff's hours, you are ready for one.
What a training video actually is (and what it is not)
At its core, a training video captures knowledge that currently lives in someone's head and turns it into a resource anyone can watch on demand. The goal is competence, not persuasion. A good one leaves the viewer able to do something they could not do before: operate a machine, follow a safety procedure, close out a shift, handle a difficult customer, or complete a compliance check the right way.
That is the line that separates it from marketing content. A training video assumes the viewer has already chosen to learn (they are an employee, a franchisee, a contractor or a paying customer) and it optimises for clarity and retention. It is happy to be 8 minutes long if the task takes 8 minutes to teach properly. Marketing video, by contrast, is fighting for attention it has not yet earned, so it stays short and punchy.
A training video is also not a filmed lecture. The weakest ones are a single wide shot of a manager talking to a room for 40 minutes. The strongest ones show the task from the learner's point of view, cut to close-ups at the exact moment detail matters, and use on-screen text to reinforce the steps a viewer needs to remember. The difference between those two is the difference between something people watch once and forget, and something that genuinely replaces repeated in-person training.
Training video vs explainer video: the difference that trips everyone up
These 2 terms get used interchangeably, and buying the wrong one wastes money. Here is the clean distinction.
An explainer video answers "what is this and why should I care?" for someone who does not yet understand or trust your offer. It is short (usually 60 to 120 seconds), lives on a homepage, a landing page or a social feed, and its job is to move a stranger one step closer to buying. Think of the 90-second animation that explains how a new app works to a first-time visitor.
A training video answers "how do I do this correctly?" for someone who is already in. Its job is capability, and its success is measured by whether the viewer can then perform the task, not whether they felt persuaded.
The overlap that causes confusion: a product walkthrough can be either. If you are showing a prospect why your software is worth buying, that is an explainer. If you are showing a paying customer how to configure a feature they have already committed to, that is training. Same footage style, completely different intent, script and length. When you brief a production company, lead with the intent ("teach" or "convince") and the confusion disappears.
The 6 main types of training video
Most training content falls into one of 6 formats. Knowing the names lets you tell a producer exactly what you picture.
1. Onboarding and induction. The welcome-and-orientation video every new starter watches in their first week. Company values, where things live, who to ask, the non-negotiables. It saves your best people from repeating the same first-day tour on loop.
2. Instructional or how-to (process). Step-by-step coverage of a single task or workflow: opening the cafe, using the POS, packing an order to spec, running a piece of equipment. This is the workhorse format and the one that most directly removes repeated in-person training.
3. Compliance and safety (WHS). Procedures you are legally or contractually required to train on: manual handling, site inductions, food safety, chemical handling, harassment policy. A filmed version gives you a consistent, dated, auditable record that every worker saw the same thing, which matters if anything is ever questioned.
4. Product or software demonstration. A screen-recorded or filmed walkthrough of how your product works, aimed at customers who have already bought. Cuts your support inbox down by answering the same "how do I..." questions once.
5. Soft-skills and scenario (role-play). Filmed situations that model behaviour: handling a complaint, a sales conversation, a de-escalation. Actors or staff play out the right and wrong way, which teaches judgement that a checklist cannot.
6. Microlearning. Very short, single-point videos (30 to 90 seconds) built to answer one narrow question and be watched in the moment of need, on a phone, on the floor. Increasingly the format staff actually use because it respects their time.
Most businesses do not need all 6. Naming which 1 or 2 solve your current pain is the whole point of this exercise.
Signs your business is ready for a training video
You do not need a training video because they are fashionable. You need one when the maths stops making sense to keep doing it in person. Watch for these signals.
You are repeating yourself. If a manager delivers the same walkthrough to every new hire, that time is being spent again and again with no lasting asset to show for it. Film it once and it works while you sleep.
Onboarding is pulling senior staff off the tools. When your most experienced (and most expensive) people are the ones running inductions, a video shifts that load and frees them for the work only they can do.
Quality is drifting between sites or shifts. Verbal training mutates as it passes from person to person. A video is the single source of truth that keeps a 3-store operation or a growing team doing things the same way.
You have a compliance obligation to prove. If you ever need to demonstrate that everyone was trained on a procedure, a dated video plus a viewing record is far cleaner than "we told them".
Customers keep asking the same questions. A repetitive support inbox is a product demo waiting to be filmed.
If 2 or more of those ring true, the return on a training video is usually quick to see. If none do, hold off and revisit when you scale.
A note on doing it well in Adelaide: the difference between a training video staff actually watch and one they skip is craft. Good lighting, clear audio and considered framing signal that the content is worth their attention. JLM Studios has produced video across Adelaide for over 25 years, filming everyone from national artists like Jessica Mauboy and Taylor Henderson to local businesses, and that same eye for what holds a viewer's attention is exactly what stops training content from being ignored. We film across Adelaide metro and within 100km of the CBD, and can travel Australia-wide for multi-site shoots.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a training video be?
As long as the task genuinely takes to teach, and not a second longer. A single how-to on one process is often 3 to 8 minutes. Onboarding might run 10 to 15. Microlearning clips stay under 90 seconds. The trick is to cover one clear objective per video and split anything longer into a short series, because a viewer will finish 4 focused 5-minute videos far more reliably than one 20-minute block.
What is the difference between a training video and an explainer video?
Intent. A training video teaches someone who is already committed how to correctly perform a task, and success is measured by whether they can then do it. An explainer video convinces someone who is still deciding why your product or service is worth their time, and it is usually much shorter. Same camera, opposite jobs. Tell your producer whether you want to teach or to convince and the right format follows.
Can training videos be used for compliance and WHS in Australia?
Yes, and this is one of the strongest use cases. A filmed procedure gives you a consistent, dated record that every worker was shown the same safety or compliance content, which is far more defensible than relying on someone's memory of a verbal briefing. Pair the video with a simple log of who watched it and when. We are a video production company, not a legal or WHS advisor, so confirm the exact training your obligations require with your own qualified professional, then we film it clearly.
Do I need a professional to make a training video, or can I film it myself?
You can film simple internal clips yourself, and for quick microlearning that is often fine. The problem is that poor audio, dim lighting and shaky framing make staff tune out, so the video quietly stops getting watched and you are back to training in person. For anything customer-facing, compliance-related, or that your whole team will rely on for years, professional production pays for itself in how much more of it actually lands.