If you claim it, film it.
Go and look at ten websites in your trade. You will find the same five claims on every one: reliable, fully insured, qualified, quality materials, we clean up after ourselves. When everyone says the same thing — the licensed operator and the bloke with a van and no paperwork, in identical words — the words stop meaning anything. Worse: the customer has learned to read them as suspicious.
In the 8-video trust stack, the Claims Video’s trust job is to prove the work speaks for itself. You stop saying and start showing.
What the Claims Video is for
The buyer’s brain treats “we leave the site spotless” and a 60-second time-lapse of the site being left spotless as completely different signals. The first is marketing copy. The second is evidence. You need evidence.
And evidence has a property the copy never will: it cannot be copied. A competitor can paste your words onto their website in thirty seconds. He cannot hold up your licence, show your insurance certificate with the real figure on it, or roll your before-and-after. A proven claim from you beats the same claim stated by ten others.
These are not one video — they are a set of three to six short clips, 30 to 90 seconds each. One claim, one proof, per clip. Most of them can be filmed during a normal job day; this is the cheapest leverage in the whole stack.
Claim, then proof
Start with an audit. Write down the five things your website, your business card, or your truck signage currently claims — even if they sound clichéd, especially if they do. Then, for each claim, ask: how would I prove this visually? Some patterns that work in any trade:
- “Fully insured” — hold the insurance certificate to camera, with the actual cover figure legible. Almost nobody does this, and it is the one thing the uninsured operator cannot do.
- “Qualified / licensed” — hold the licence or certificate up and name it. Then say the sentence that travels: “ask any operator to show you theirs. If they hesitate, that tells you everything.”
- “We leave it spotless” — a time-lapse of the cleanup, or a straight before-and-after. This kills the quiet “will I be left with a mess” fear.
- “Quality materials” — the cheap version and the one you use, side by side, with one sentence on the difference it makes in five years.
- “We turn up / we do it properly” — whatever the load-bearing claim is in your trade, find the moment on a real job that shows it and put a tripod down.
The read. A montage of nice job shots is a brag reel, not a Claims Video. The difference is structure: name the claim, show the proof, say why it matters. Showing off is about you; proof is about their fear.
The script skeleton (fill in the blanks)
Most claim clips need one or two sentences, said in front of the proof:
CLAIM: "____" (the thing everyone in your trade says)
PROOF: ____ (the physical thing you show)
"Everyone says ____. Here's what mine actually looks
like: ____. Why it matters: ____."Three beats per clip. The footage does the heavy lifting; you just point at it.
Where it goes once it is shot
The placement rule makes this video different from the rest of the stack: each clip goes beside the claim it proves.
- On the service page or homepage section where the written claim sits — clip next to copy, evidence next to assertion.
- Your best one or two on the homepage trust strip.
- All of them to your Google Business Profile video section.
- As social clips — proof footage travels further than anything else a trade can post, because it is satisfying to watch and impossible to fake. It also backs up what your reviews are already saying.
The shoot checklist
No studio day needed — plan these across your next two normal jobs.
Gear
- A phone on a tripod, lens at chest height. No studio required.
- A window or open shade in front of you, never behind. Natural light beats any kit.
- A $20 lapel mic, or film somewhere quiet. Sound is the one thing a viewer will not forgive.
Before you press record
- Pick the three to six claims you can prove on camera. No proof, no clip.
- Get the physical proof ready: clean copies of the licence and insurance certificate, the before shot taken at the start of the job.
- Ask the customer’s permission before filming on their property, and frame tight on the work if they would rather the house stayed out of it.
While filming
- One claim per clip, under 90 seconds. These are designed to be used individually.
- Show the proof on screen long enough to read — zoom on the figure, the name, the date.
- Time-lapse mode for the cleanup; it compresses an hour of work into the ten most convincing seconds you will ever publish.
After
- Export each clip separately and label it by claim.
- Check the licence number and insurance figure are legible in the final cut.
- Put each clip next to its claim on the site this week. Evidence beside assertion.
What if it does not fit your trade
- You are newer and short on before-and-afters. Start filming every job now — before, during, after. One clean before-and-after a week is a library in two months. Until then, lead with the paperwork proofs you already hold: the licence and the insurance certificate are available today.
- Your best work is invisible when it is done. Wiring in walls, pipes underground, work at height. Film the during, not just the after — the part the customer never sees is exactly the proof they cannot get anywhere else. A cheap helmet or chest mount turns the work itself into the most compelling footage you own.
In the Tradie Trust Pack this is card 16 — the card is the move, this guide is the method, and the deeper build with the full claim-audit walkthrough lives in the workbook. But you do not need it to start. You need one claim, one proof, and a tripod on your next job.
Get the book for the research behind each move, then go film the proof nobody in your area shows: the insurance certificate with the figure on it.