Create Marketing Images and Short Videos With AI Tools

Good visuals make people stop scrolling. AI tools can now create images, remove backgrounds, write video scripts and add captions, which used to need a designer. Used well, they save time and money. Used badly, they make your business look fake. This lesson covers both sides.

What AI tools can do for you

Task	Examples of tools
Generate images from a text description	ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Designer, Adobe Firefly, Canva's AI features
Remove or change a photo background	Canva, Microsoft Designer, many phone editing apps
Design posts and banners from templates	Canva, Microsoft Designer
Write reel and video scripts	Any AI chat assistant
Add automatic captions to videos	Instagram's caption feature, CapCut and other editors

Features, free limits and prices change often. Try the free version first and check the terms of use before using images commercially.

Real products, real photos

For anything a customer will buy, use real photos of your real product. An AI-generated cake, saree or phone case that does not match what arrives is misleading, and it leads to complaints, returns and bad reviews.

Where AI image tools help most is around your real photos:

Removing a messy background from a product photo
Adjusting light and colour (without changing the product itself)
Creating a clean banner or festival graphic with your real photo in it
Making background images, patterns or illustrations for posts that are not product photos

Writing a good image prompt

Image tools need a clear description, just like chat tools:

A flat-lay illustration for a Diwali sale banner for a home bakery:
diyas, marigold flowers and gift boxes on a warm cream background,
soft natural light, plenty of empty space on the right for text.
No text in the image. Wide format.

Tips:

Say what, style, colours, lighting, layout and format (square for posts, vertical for stories and reels, wide for banners).
Ask for no text in the image and add text yourself in Canva or Designer. AI-generated text inside images is often misspelt.
Generate a few options and pick one. Small changes to the prompt give very different results.

Short video scripts

Short vertical videos (reels, shorts) reach new people. You film; the AI plans:

Write a 25-second reel script for my [BUSINESS] showing [topic, e.g. how
we pack a cake for safe delivery]. Give: shot list in order (filmable on a
phone), on-screen text for each shot, a voice-over of max 50 words, and a
caption with a call to action.

Keep the real you, your hands, your shop and your voice in the video. That is what makes small-business videos work.

Rules to stay safe

No other brands' logos, characters or trademarks in your generated images.
No real people's faces or voices without permission, and never fake endorsements from celebrities or customers.
Do not imitate a specific artist's or brand's style closely enough to be confused with them.
Label clearly when an image is an illustration or concept, not the actual product.
Check the tool's commercial-use terms before using generated images in ads.

Practice task

Take photos of 3 real products. Use an AI tool to clean the backgrounds and create one post graphic and one festival or offer banner with your real photo. Then ask an AI assistant for a 25-second reel script, film it on your phone and post it.

Key takeaways

Use real photos for real products; use AI to clean, frame and decorate them.
Write image prompts with subject, style, colours, light, layout and format, and add text yourself.
Let AI plan reel scripts, but film the real you and your business.
Avoid others' trademarks, real people without permission and misleading images.