When you run a marketing agency, especially one rooted in performance marketing, you quickly learn that every competitive advantage eventually disappears.
New tactics fade. Offers get copied. Ad platforms change. Competitors catch up.
But one thing remains a durable advantage: Your ability to produce world-class video content at speed.
Three months ago, we had none of that capability in-house. Today, we’re consistently producing 60+ high-quality videos a week, motion graphics, on-site footage, and story-driven scripts, all handled by our internal editing team and managed through a production system built from scratch.
This is the story of how we built that team, process, and infrastructure, despite having zero editing knowledge, no workflow, and no internal creative department just a few months ago.
It wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t smooth. It wasn’t easy.
But it was absolutely worth it.
1. The Beginning: We Introduced Video With No Editing Knowledge
Let’s start with the honest truth:
We had no idea what we were doing when it came to recording social media video ads.
For years, we leaned heavily on static images, graphics, and performance-driven ads. Our competitors started doubling down on video, but we hesitated. Not because we didn’t believe in video, but because we didn’t have:
- the internal capability
- the systems
- the time
- the knowledge
- the confidence
We had a decision to make:
A: Charge a premium and outsource to a video production company
b: Do it ourselves, learn the trade, make mistakes, make great decisions, learn and improve
We initially thought A was the answer but we were wrong, we choose the later. Not because it was the easier decision but we felt it was the right one!
While we learned how to fly a drone, write scripts and record performance ads on video, there was one key skill we couldn’t learn quickly…. editing.
Like most agencies, we plugged this knowledge gap : We outsourced our first few edits to freelancers.
And to be fair, the quality was excellent. But the cost? Brutal.
Freelancers served their purpose, but every time an edit came back, it was clear:
“This isn’t sustainable. We need our own team. We need our own system. We need our own creative engine.”
That was the moment the idea of creating a new department from scratch became a necessity.
2. Hiring Editors With No Editing Expertise (Yes, Really)
Hiring editors when you don’t know how to edit sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.
We didn’t know what great editing technically looked like. We didn’t know the tools. We didn’t know the terminology. We didn’t know how to objectively judge quality.
But we did know what a great video should feel like:
- Sharp pacing
- Clear storytelling
- Clean transitions
- Professional polish
- Strong hooks
- Brand consistency
So we built our entire hiring process around one simple thing:
The 24-Hour Editing Test
Every candidate received:
- One raw video file
- One set of video editing principles
- One simple brief
- One deadline: 24 hours
Then we sat back and watched the results roll in.
This became our filter.
Some were messy. Some were incomplete. Some ignored the brief. Some didn’t submit at all.
But a handful stood out.
These were the ones who didn’t just “edit”, they interpreted, improved, elevated, and added clarity and rhythm in ways we couldn’t even explain.
We hired three.
One of the best hiring decisions we’ve made as a company.
The lesson?
You don’t need to understand every technical detail. You just need to know what “good” looks like for your brand, then build a hiring process that tests for it.
3. Our Early Workflow Was Chaos: Google Sheets + Google Drive
With editors hired, you’d think things would immediately get easier.
Nope.
The first attempt at a workflow was exactly what you’d expect from a company moving fast with no formal creative infrastructure:
- Google Sheets for tracking
- Google Drive folders for file storage
- Messenger/WhatsApp for notes
- Random file names
- Zero visibility
- Zero automation
- Zero consistency
It was messy. It was time-consuming. It was impossible to scale.
But it served a purpose: It helped us understand the pain points deeply enough that we could design the right solution.
Because when you’re in chaos long enough, clarity eventually emerges.
And when it did — everything changed.
4. The Game-Changer: Building a Full Monday.com Production System
We knew we needed:
- visibility
- automation
- predictable workflow
- task ownership
- timelines
- review stages
- delivery tracking
- consistency across all projects
So we built a fully custom Monday.com production dashboard.
This system now:
- tracks every video project
- assigns editors
- sets deadlines automatically
- stores scripts & briefs
- handles file links
- triggers status updates with notifications to our editing team and creative team
- alerts account managers in order to advise clients regarding the status of their videos
- logs revisions
- standardises naming conventions
- centralises all communication between the team
The difference was instant.
Editors became faster. Account managers became more confident. Projects moved with rhythm. Number of versions needed reduced. Turnaround times dropped. Quality increased.
This was the moment our editing process stopped being a “project” and started being an “department”
5. The Second Game-Changer: Moving Reviews to Frame.io
One of the biggest bottlenecks in editing is feedback.
Before Frame.io, our feedback process looked like:
“Can you trim that bit?” “You missed the typo at 0:21.” ……
None of this is scalable. None of this is sustainable. None of this is clear enough for editors to improve fast.
So we moved reviews to Frame.io, and instantly:
- feedback became frame and time accurate
- edits became cleaner
- revision cycles shrank moving from on occasion V7/V8 to V2/V3
- creative consistency improved
- communication became precise
This single platform upgrade probably saved us a full editor’s salary per year in reclaimed time.
6. The Team We Built (In Just 3 Months)
Today, our video department looks like this:
Videographer
Captures on-site content, drone footage, interviews, and raw clips.
Account Manager
Develops scripts, client communication, creative direction, and brief creation.
Creative Lead
Manages pre-client reviews, final refinement, copywriting, and creative vision. Project manages all video productions and the editing team.
Editors (x3)
Create multi-hook edits, graphics, pacing, motion design, and deliver final videos.
Media Buyer
Takes final videos and turns them into Meta/Google ads, ensuring performance alignment.
Every person knows their role. Every project has a home. Every edit follows a flow.
And all of this was built in three months.
Not perfect. Not flawless. But highly functional — and getting better every week.
7. Output Today: 60+ Videos Per Week
Six months ago, we were struggling to get one video edited.
Now we’re producing:
- 60+ full video edits weekly
- motion graphics
- educational explainers
- founder-led ads
- install walkthroughs
- battery demos
- client-facing brand content
The volume isn’t the flex, the consistency is.
Consistent quality. Consistent structure. Consistent turnaround. Consistent creative flow.
This is what makes us competitive. This is what makes us unique. This is what makes our clients win.
8. Was It Challenging? Absolutely. Was It Worth It? Without Question.
Building a video department from scratch was one of the hardest operational projects i’ve ever taken on.
It took a huge amount of investment in both time and money.
We made mistakes. We broke things. We rebuilt things. We hired before we were ready. We systemised before we fully understood what we needed. We iterated constantly.
But in the end?
We built a scalable creative machine, in just 90 days.
Today, our clients rely on us for their:
- Video ads
- UGC-style content
- Install explainers
- Founder videos
- Brand promotion video ads
- Value led video ads
And we can deliver at a level we only dreamed of months ago.
We’re not perfect. But we’re very good. And getting better every week.
Final Thought, Building Capabilities You Don’t Yet Have
There’s a moment in every founder’s journey where they face a choice:
Do I stay comfortable doing what I know… or do I invest in building what I know I need?
We chose the latter.
And because of that decision, we now run one of the most capable in-house creative systems in our space.
To any founder reading this:
You don’t need to know how to do something before you build the capabilities to do it.
You just need conviction, belief, the right people, and the willingness to build the system around them.
We did it in 3 months. You can, too.
And for anyone looking to adopt video into their marketing strategy and access our production team, drop me a message or book a call happy to help – https://calendly.com/barryjolly/barry-jolly
