Now, it may seem a fairly obvious thing that you’d want to edit your marketing videos before putting them out to press; but what are the main reasons for doing this? And, why is video editing so important?
I will answer these questions in this post, using my 20-year experience and tremendous passion for video marketing to ensure you leave my post with a much greater understanding of video marketing editing than when you arrived.
I am not talking about post-production for feature films, and I can’t talk you through how to edit the next Star Wars film. But, I will talk through editing marketing videos at the entry-level stage in the hope that beginners will become more familiarised with the process of editing.
Editing can seem like a pretty daunting task, but it’s one that’s important to get to grips with, as good editing truly makes a huge difference to the content you create. A polished, professional-looking video stands a much greater chance of connecting with and engaging a target audience – over an unedited version.
Where to Begin With Video Editing
Creating a marketing project of any kind is a long process with lots of important steps, and when it comes to video, the most important step is the edits before publication. When you have all the necessary footage and audio recorded, it is time to edit it all into something more polished, more condensed, and more viewer-ready.
Here are a few reasons why it is so important to edit your videos.
Reviewing
When you start to edit your videos, you will be able to look over everything you have shot with new eyes. The more critical you can make them, the better. If you have a friend or a trusted partner to do this with you, then that’s even better (although it can be hard to take negative feedback, especially when it is about you and your efforts, it’s better to hear it in private than after you publish your content).
It may be that the shot isn’t perfect or that you spent too long discussing a certain point and not long enough on another equally vital one. It could even be that your shirt clashes terribly with your curtains! The reviewing stage is possibly the hardest one to bear, especially if it looks like you may need to reshoot a large portion of your video.
Pulling it Together
You can truly make or break a video during the editing stages, as this is where all of the content can be pulled together in a meaningful way. It may be that you have a mishmash of short clips that can be crafted into a cohesive story. There could be shots that you presumed wouldn’t work, but when editing them, they actually come alive and make the video better than you thought it would be.
Reviewing and editing can help you to make huge decisions about transitions, visual effects, colouring, and more.
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Spotting Mistakes
When you’re in the seat of the viewer, you will see exactly how your message and yourself come across on screen. It may be cringe at first, especially if you’re not fully confident on camera yet, but it is vital to put yourself in the shoes of the target audience. Do you feel informed? Has the video answered your questions?
Cutting out all mistakes can be counter-productive. Mistakes are what makes us human, and if you’ve fluffed your lines, or the phones rang mid-shoot, then so what? What matters is how you handled the mistake. I would suggest leaving in little errors, as they can really help a consumer to see you as more trustworthy and relatable than a polished salesman.
Top Mistakes to Avoid with Video Editing
There are video editing software packages out there that are just remarkable, some are very low cost, and others are even free. But, before you look into investing in some editing software, there are some very effective ways you can edit your video right now.
Stay British with Transitions and Effects
Now, what I mean by stay British is we’re not creating Star Wars parodies here (although, how awesome would that be in a marketing context?!), nor are we looking to be the next great Hollywood film director. Some marketers are tempted to use radial wipe transitions, zany effects, strobe lighting, and a whole manner of 1970s am drams that just don’t work in the modern-day.
The more attention put on transitions and editing, then very often, the more amateurish the video will look. Let your content do the talking, not your software.
Nobody is Here to Party
Not every video needs background music, and I can’t think of a marketing video that’s been improved by disco music to date. If you feel that your video really needs some background music, then I urge you to be very careful about your choice and ensure that the music is suitable for the project.
Considering that most online video watchers watch without any kind of audio at all, music really isn’t a big a deal as you may have thought. Music can also get you in all kinds of trouble due to licensing requirements and copyright laws, and royalty-free music often isn’t so great.
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Avoid Lengthy Productions
The online consumer has a very short attention span, and people aren’t that interested in what you have to say. The rule of thumb is to keep most marketing videos to a 2-minute length, tops. Most business-related videos will be under 6-minutes, with only 3% of them upping this to 10, or 20-minutes long.
The key is to grab attention very early on in the broadcast. If you get this within the first 60-seconds, almost 60% of viewers will watch until the end. However, nearly 60% of consumers state that if a video is too long, they’d be strongly deterred from watching it.
It may be that you’ll have to be pretty ruthless in what you cut out of the video. If you’ve rehashed messages, these can go. If you’ve spent far too long on something you’re hugely passionate about, see how this can be cropped. And, pay great attention to the first minute of the video to ensure this is interesting and engaging to keep people tuned in.
Conclusion
Editing your videos is absolutely essential before putting them out there for the world to see; and judge. Be your own worst critic, and ensure that everything you’re putting across is vital to your strategy.
Don’t be tempted to use all of the editing software available; less is truly more.
The more time you spend on your video editing, the more polished the result will be. You’re hopefully putting your heart and soul into this, so it is only right that the final video shows this.
To dive into more detail about how to create video for your business, do check out the other videos on our YouTube channel.
