Why Your UGC Videos Suck

Happy Thursday!

Grab a cup of coffee or your favorite drink, and let’s dive right into today’s topic.

One of the reasons why UGC video editing sucks may surprise you: the absence of a creative strategy.

This week, let’s talk about why having an internal creative strategy that your video editors can reference is key to a solid output of creatives that will actually perform.

What you will learn today:

• The secret to making UGC ads that always perform

• Why a creative strategy is crucial for better UGC Videos

• The difference in output: editing UGC with vs. without a strategy

• How to build a creative strategy for your brand

And much more…

Bonus For You

If you run an e-commerce business and spend at least $5,000 a month on ads, we will write 3 creative concepts for your brand completely free.

We want to show you our creative process and why our clients love it.

Simply fill out this form and we will send you 3 concepts tailored to your brand.

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Video Editing Without a Creative Strategy

Let’s say your team is editing without a creative strategy.

Video editors may end up editing based on personal preference rather than what works best for ad performance.

This is particularly challenging if the editor lacks experience in creating ad creatives.

Many video editors may come from different backgrounds such as YouTube, animation, or motion graphics and might not have the insight needed to craft high-performing ad creatives.

This is mainly because editing for ad performance requires a specific set of skills and strategic thinking that goes beyond traditional video editing.

Now, let’s say you’re working with experienced editors who are familiar with ad creatives. This may give them a competitive advantage, but it’s not enough.

Think about it this way: knowing how to drive a car is not the same as knowing where you want to go.

That’s where your creative strategy comes in. It tells your video editors what destination they need to drive to and how to get there safely.

Why a Creative Strategy is Important

Whether you're working with a seasoned editor or a novice, a well-defined creative strategy is crucial.

Think of the creative strategy as a blueprint that the entire team can follow. It outlines the types of edits, hooks, and overall style that align with your brand's objectives.

By providing this detailed guide, you ensure that even less experienced editors can produce high-quality, effective ad creatives.

This strategy acts as a roadmap, guiding the editor on how to create content that performs well.

It ensures consistency, aligns with brand goals, and significantly increases the chances of producing successful ad creatives.

Build Your Own

The creative strategist plays a pivotal role in this process.

They research and analyze relevant ads, identify winning elements, and compile these insights into a comprehensive strategy tailored to your brand.

This strategy includes sample ads, editing styles, hooks, and other key elements that provide a clear blueprint for video editors to follow.

Get Our Free Guide: Build A Solid Creative Strategy For Your Brand

We've put together this training to teach you how to create a high-performing creative strategy for your brand.

This is the same process we use to build creative strategies for hundreds of brands, which has resulted in top-performing UGC ads for our clients across various industries.

Real Life Example

At Creative Ad Lab, we like to talk based on facts and experience.

In our 3-year run partnering with hundreds of brands to produce UGC creatives, we couldn’t escape this common pitfall ourselves.

But hey, mistakes make you better at what you do. Even better if you can learn from our mistakes and avoid them. Our lessons become gold to you.

When we first partnered with Crafty By Numbers, we underestimated the value of a solid creative strategy.

While our initial creatives were a good start, they weren’t nearly as good in looks and performance as the ones we produced after building and refining our creative strategy for months.

Take a look at one of our first creatives here. Now, fast forward a few months (plus a solid strategy later), and see the difference in our improved creatives.

Did you notice how the creator was barely in the frame in the second creative compared to the first one? Night and day, huh?

Through our strategy, we learned that the best-performing ads focused more on the actual painting, canvas, brushes, and paints, and less on the on-screen activity of creators.

Changing our approach made a huge difference. And the results can attest to it!

Final Thoughts

A strong creative strategy ensures every piece of content aligns with your brand's voice and goals.

It helps your team succeed by providing the tools and guidelines they need. All without needing extremely expensive video editors.

With a clear strategy, your brand can create high-performing creatives, no matter the editor's background.

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How We Can Help You

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways we can help you…

1. If you’re looking for a creative partner who will handle your entire creative production, deliver winning ads every month, and help you scale, apply to work with us here. We have worked with brands like HexClad, RYZE, BestSelf, Product Hunt, Morning Brew, and others.

2. Want us to train your internal team and implement all of our creative production systems and strategies in your business? Apply here and we will help you build an in-house team that can create hundreds of winning ads every month.

3. If you’re looking to take your ad performance to the next level and have a consistent stream of winning creative, but don’t want to hire anyone, we have created a program that teaches you our entire creative production process and everything we have learned over 3 years of creating tens of thousands of ads.