The Secret To 2X Video Ads Winners In Short Time

What's up, Marketers! This is Aazar.

This newsletter is about leveling up your paid growth marketing skills by analyzing the best brands' paid strategy, tactics, positioning, and value props.

This newsletter is divided into:

• Sharing what I've learned

• Sometimes sharing some other performance marketers’ lessons with you (this issue)

• And I analyze & compare the best ads on the internet

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I always wondered how brands like Magic Spoon consistently create winning video ads. 

Well, I finally found out – It’s consistently iterating on winning ads. 

And I learned that I’ve been iterating the wrong way.

So, how do we create, organize and repurpose our videos to find winners consistently? This is what we’re going to learn from this post.

This approach changed how I now create ads:

I used to create ads based on a piecemeal approach:

• First, write a script

• Then, hire actors and film videos

• And then, hand off to the video editing team

I was creating high-quality ads but with low throughput, expensive and took a longer time

Now, I go with a systems approach that is:

• Gather footage while getting distribution – influencers and creators post on their own handle

• Organize footage for maximum use

• Write a short script

• Use the content library for iterations & new concepts

This is all thanks to the folks at Recharm. Saurabh Gupta shared his idea in our mastermind class and I’m sharing it with you here. 

Note: This is purely tactical content that you can actually use for your ads. It has changed how I approach ads, and I’ll also share how the result looks. I’ve created 50+ ads and doubled the number of winners this week. 

Okay, so here are the 10 tips to creating consistently good winners:

1. Create videos based on the “system thinking” approach

• Gather raw footage in repeatable formats

• Organize raw footage for maximum throughput and reuse

• Repurpose – combine & arrange raw footage to create new concepts and iterations

Here are video shots for a skin care product.

When it comes to gathering, you need to figure out ways to source video content:

Here are the options (based on your budget and stage):

• Create yourself (free)

• Customers $

• Seed product $$

• Hire creators $$$

• Studio production $$$$

Then, pick a channel for gathering and distributing:

• Pick ONLY one channel – to create a sourcing system

• Build a spreadsheet of micro-influencers

• Send product → follow up → secure usage rights

• Repeat for [N=100] micro-influencers (expect a 30% conversion rate)

• Do it for two more iterations

• Hire a freelancer or an agency

2. Mindset of throughput (efficiency) over quality

Your goal is not to expect the ad-ready level content yet.

So first, you organize your ads based on the shots and scenes.

3. Build a scene model

Document all the scene types in a spreadsheet.

Don’t worry about:

Completeness: scene types can be added later as you get new footage

Future-proofing: A library is a living, breathing thing. It evolves over time, there is no need to get it perfect in the first go

Why? Knowing what to look for makes it easier to cut clips.

4. Identify shots with key visuals

You should find cuts based on visuals and keep finding new cuts & visuals.

Here are example shots for a hair brand:

• Tying Hair

• Texture Test

• Smelling Product

• Washing Hair

• Before/After Shot

5. Look for scenes based on conversation

This is where the creators are talking about the product.

Scene types based on audio:

• Product benefit

• Testimonial

• Problem

• Solution

• How to use

6. Cut videos into clips based on scenes

Store clips in a folder named after the scene type.

Give clip files a unique name.

Note: Clips shouldn’t be longer than 6-8 seconds.

7. Apply labels to clips

With labels:

• Use names that your team can easily identify

• Avoid using ambiguous or vague words (for example, use “Aug23 sale” instead of just “sale”)

• Add labels to the file name with clips

Here is an example: 

And here’s what your end result would look like for an organized video library:

Now, creative strategists or media buyers can write a script; there is no wait time. Video editors can dip into this organized library to find scenes that fit into the script.

You can reuse and repurpose many videos and clips quickly. 

8. Prototype new concepts

Here’s a good visual to think about.

Now you can:

• Create new iterations just based on hooks

• Change the first frame and keep the same hook

• Change out the B-rolls

9. Make more hook iterations 

Here’s how you can look at hook iterations and the basic type of content you need.

• Hook Types

• Teaser

• Question

• Bold statement

• Social proof

• Offer

• Visual surprise

• Award or recognition

• Celebrity endorsement

• Humor

• Solve a problem

10. Replace hook visuals

The easiest thing you can do with this video ad library is replace hook visuals, and most people do just that.

Simply change the hook on a winning ad, and you’ll automatically have more videos.

So, after going through this exercise, here’s how I used it:

I asked my video editor to use it differently but still based on our winning ad, and we replaced it with a robotic voice-over:

I’ve probably made 50+ videos from this winning ad, and I am finding even more winners.

I have so many videos that I don’t even have enough campaigns to test them all.

It’s all thanks to Saurabh’s advice. You should definitely check out Recharm if you want to do it faster and on a bigger scale. 

Happy Growing with Paid Social,

Aazar Shad

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