Helen Stewart on Using Video to Build Customer Confidence
Helen Stewart is the Managing Director of Colewood Digital, a full-service digital marketing agency in North East England. With more than 20 years of marketing experience, she leads a team working across PPC, SEO, social media, email, web development, and media production.
In her Authority Magazine interview, Stewart described video as more than another marketing channel. She sees it as a way to build trust before a customer has even spoken with a company.
Her view comes down to confidence. As she explained, people want confidence that a business will do what it promises, understands their needs, and will be there when something goes wrong. Video can start building that confidence before the first conversation.
Stewart also shared a client campaign that changed how she thought about video. Rather than producing another polished promotional piece, the team focused on the people behind the business. They filmed the owner, introduced employees, showed how the team worked, and included genuine customer experiences. Prospective customers later said they already felt like they knew the company.
From that experience and others, Stewart outlined five ways businesses can use video to build trust.
Let People Meet the Humans Behind the Business
Stewart’s first point is simple: people connect with people, not logos.
At Colewood Digital, employees from different areas of the company have appeared in social video content to share their knowledge and expertise. The goal is not to keep the camera focused only on creative or marketing staff. Customers should also get to know the people behind the work.
For business video, this means giving real employees space to speak. Founder messages, team introduction videos, employee spotlights, and short expert clips can make a company feel less distant.
This lesson is about who the audience gets to know. Showing the people behind the brand gives viewers a clearer sense of who they may eventually work with.
Teach More Than You Sell
Stewart’s second lesson is to share useful knowledge instead of making every video a sales pitch.
She pointed to Colewood Digital’s educational content across LinkedIn and YouTube. One example is their Creative Executive sharing email marketing tips through video and written content rather than simply promoting the service itself.
For video teams, this creates plenty of practical formats. Educational video production can turn common customer questions, process explanations, frequent mistakes, and lessons learned into useful content.
Educational content gives potential customers a chance to judge the company’s knowledge before they ever enter a sales conversation.
Show People How You Work
Stewart’s third lesson goes beyond introducing the team. She encourages companies to show what actually happens behind the scenes.
She noted that customers benefit from seeing more than promotional content. Businesses can show their processes, culture, and day-to-day work, with leaders and founders participating as well.
For a video team, this might mean filming preparation before a project, showing part of a workflow, walking through a facility, or letting a team member explain how an important task gets done.
This lesson is different from simply introducing employees. The first lesson shows who you are. This one shows how you work.
That additional context can reduce uncertainty because viewers get a better idea of what working with the company may actually feel like.
Let Other People Tell Your Story
Stewart’s fourth recommendation is to let customers speak for the business.
She described filming clients in their own environments and allowing them to talk openly about their experiences with Colewood Digital. In her view, genuine customer testimonials build more trust than a business simply talking about its own achievements.
For testimonial production, light prompts can work better than heavily scripted answers. Ask what problem existed before the relationship began, what changed, and what stood out about the experience.
Filming customers in their own workplace can also add useful context. The environment reinforces that these are real people talking about real experiences.
Be Consistent
Stewart’s fifth lesson is that trust cannot be built with one video.
She recommends publishing consistently and showing different parts of the company over time, including employees, expertise, and behind-the-scenes activity. The goal is to keep building familiarity instead of stopping after one successful piece.
For companies, consistency does not have to mean publishing every day.
A monthly founder message, recurring FAQ series, regular behind-the-scenes clip, or quarterly customer story can create repeated opportunities for an audience to become familiar with the business.
The best schedule is one the team can realistically maintain.
Why Human Presence Matters More as AI Grows
Stewart also believes the growth of AI makes genuine human communication more important.
As AI-generated content becomes more common, she expects businesses to need stronger ways of showing the real people behind their brands. She also connects this with changing search behavior, where people increasingly use AI platforms to find advice, recommendations, and expertise.
For video teams, that strengthens the case for real experts, real workplaces, and real conversations.
AI can help create content, but viewers still want evidence of the people, knowledge, and experience behind a business.
Practical Applications for Video Marketing
A useful video program can combine Stewart’s five ideas without making every piece do everything at once.
Use one video to introduce a team member. Use another to answer a customer question. Show part of the process in a behind-the-scenes piece. Let a customer explain their experience in a testimonial. Then repeat those formats on a schedule the team can sustain.
Keeping each video focused also makes production easier. One clear purpose per piece gives the speaker, crew, and editor a stronger direction.
Over time, those videos create a fuller picture of the company.
Team Beverly Boy’s Takeaway
What stands out in Stewart’s interview is that trust does not come from polish alone.
Customers want to see the people behind a company, understand what they know, see how they work, and hear from others who have already worked with them.
Video can bring all of those signals together.
The other important lesson is consistency. A single brand film can introduce a company, but regular useful content gives people repeated chances to build familiarity and confidence.
Conclusion
Helen Stewart’s approach to video is centered on trust.
Put real people on camera. Teach something useful. Show how the work gets done. Let customers share their experiences. Then keep showing up consistently.
As marketing becomes more automated, those human signals may become even more valuable.
This article is based on an interview originally published by Authority Magazine. Read the full interview here.
