Making mistakes is never fun. All too often we find replies in our inbox that say something to the tune of, “I don’t see an attachment.” While minor mistakes like this won’t cause any major repercussions, other mistakes can be embarrassing and reflect poorly upon you as a professional. Luckily, there is a ways to reduce and even eliminate mistakes. It’s called “sweeping”.
For those who don’t know me, my name is Drew Faithful (I swear it’s not a stage name) and as the Creative Strategist at Proximo Marketing, I am responsible for producing animated videos for our clients. I live in Deltaville, Virginia, but commute to Williamsburg during the week to collaborate with the team. For as long as I can remember, I have loved movies and videos. I can’t tell you how excited I am to have landed a job that allows me to use my creativity and learn new things every day. My goal is to share my passion for video and animation with you.
This series is intended to give useful suggestions to make the most out of your videos, whether they be for promotional purposes or just for fun. You’ll find that my articles will be sprinkled with lighthearted humor. I have a firm belief that everything in life is much easier if we can smile while we do it, especially work. So here we are.
For my first contribution to “Capture the Crowd”, I want to share a helpful tip that will hopefully make sure all of your projects are launched leaving little room for mistakes. I call it “sweeping”. Sweeping is a method that is useful for any sized project. From launching a website, to sending out an email newsletter, to responding to an important email, or even for making sure you didn’t leave your wife’s favorite wine off the shopping list (you’re welcome guys), sweeping can be used in all aspects of your life to cut down on mistakes.
When you get down to it, sweeping is basically making a checklist. Something we are all familiar with, though some use them more often and effectively than others. (I’m sure none of you responsible people reading this have ever overlooked a minor detail on anything before *cough cough*.) Your sweeping list should have all of the critical elements needed to ensure that your beautiful final product is completed/published/sent with no stones left unturned.
Relating this tool to your videos, a sweep should be performed as the final step before hitting the launch button, before making it live for all to see. Each project may have a few specific tasks of its own to add to the list, but here are a couple key things to include in every sweep:
- Label the final project clearly to avoid mixing it up with previous versions you may have saved.
- Go through the video with a fine tooth comb at least three times. Look at all layers, movements, scene transitions, text, etc. to make sure everything is as displayed properly.
- Send the video to someone else to review. As closely as you may look at the video yourself, it never hurts to get a second pair of eyes on any project. They are likely to find something that you missed.
- Make sure video description, tags and keywords are implemented for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes. (More on this in a future article.)
- Make sure any promotional materials and links pointing to your video are correct and in place.
- Go through the final cut one more time. Seriously, this is important.
As you complete more video projects, you may find things to add to the list. The more detailed the list, the less room for error there is on “Launch Day”. Launching your video should be a fun and celebratory experience. Build your sweep list, set yourself up for success, and celebrate with confidence. You deserve it! Your video is now guaranteed to Capture the Crowd.
Have some suggested topics or questions you would like answered? Feel free to email me at drewproximomarketing.com and I’ll try to feature your question in a future post!
Content is King, So Put Yours Through the CRAP Meter Before You Publish
