The 5 Best Video Editing Software Tools for Newbies

If you're entering the video marketing space, the process of editing what you record, be it by iPhone or a professional RED camera, may seem a bit daunting.

Even if you hire a fully-staffed production house to produce video content for yourself or your clients, you'll probably still end up on the cutting room floor removing X and Y components from your videos. 

The issue is, unless you're already versed in popular editing software or tools, getting starting with this process can be... intimidating, to say the least.

Fortunately, most software and service providers have made it very easy to cut, crop, correct and control video footage, whether the intended use is for social media or homepage features. Adding strong videos to your website, Facebook marketing strategy and other social media platforms can help accelerate your content creation and provide more value to your potential customers.

In this blog, we highlight some of the best of the best of newbie video editing tools.

Built-In Editors: Quicktime and Mobile Device/App Editors

For a bare-bones approach, you don't necessarily need a complete software suite to cut and tweak your company's video projects. Even Quicktime has built-in trimming and compiling options.

Of course, the software is pretty limited in its capabilities for video editing, but if you're simply looking to trim a clip or screen recording (which can also be recorded easily within the program), then Quicktime is a simple solution—one that's most likely pre-installed on your computer.

Beyond that, the built-in editors for mobile devices and apps provide the same basic functionality for mobile videos, social media videos and similar forms of content.

iMovie

iMovie is kind of like the halfway point between basic cutting and cropping with media players and more advanced solutions like Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro.

It has a pretty simple interface that takes minutes to get a hang of, comes free with any Apple computer (sorry PC folks; you're out of luck for this entry), and includes a decent array of built-in transitions, filters, effects and even keying (as in, working with green screen content) that you can use to add a professional touch to your videos.

iMovie also features sharing options within the app (email, linked social media, etc.), and is the perfect starting place for aspiring video editors or creatives that don't want to financially commit to Adobe or similar products.

Camtasia

Unless you plan on going the down-and-dirty Quicktime screen recording route for your next webinar or software demo, Camtasia is a great alternative.

You don't need Premiere or a video editing background to compile screen recordings, add transitions and refine your project in Camtasia—and with a $249 one-time price tag, it's a no-brainer for companies that deal with frequent demo videos and similar content, such as:

• Presentations and interactive slide content
• Training and onboarding
• Product tutorials and demos
• Webcam recordings and sales outreach
• Built-in animations
• 4K video

Camtasia also offers great support and tutorial materials to help new users hit the ground running with the service.

Soapbox

Created by our friends at Wistia, Soapbox is a free Chrome extension that allows users to create, tweak and distribute videos in literally minutes.

Soapbox is a fantastic tool that merges on-screen personalization with recorded content (aka demos; it's really Camtasia made even easier, with other customizations to boot); just like the main Wistia platform, it's downright foolproof.

Soapbox excels in its simplicity. It allows users to create split-screen presentations, customize players, add CTAs to their videos, and embed player buttons in email marketing campaigns.

Its strongest application is sales videos, so, if you're looking for a really simple way to amp-up your sales department, then teaching your team the basics of Soapbox is an easy way to stand out.

Adobe Premiere Pro

At the end of the day, when it comes to video editing software, there's no beating the tag team of Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects (or, really, the entire Adobe suite).

While not necessarily for newbies, these software options are the industry standard for a vast majority of video editing; most video-savvy marketers use either a combination of Adobe Creative Cloud products or comparative software Final Cut Pro to refine new video content.

To get up to speed, I suggest following the options in this blog in more or less chronological order. If you're completely new to editing, start with basic cuts, compilations and the like with Quicktime and other built-in video editors (mobile or desktop).

When you're comfortable with those options, get into iMovie or similar software for more creative control over your projects.

From services like those, the transition to Premiere or Final Cut is much less drastic than if you jumped into either program blind. After Effects is another demon, but Premiere and/or Final Cut should serve all of your general editing needs.

Unfortunately, these options aren't free; but when you want that kind of control over elements in your video and better production capabilities, it's worth the investment.

Fortunately, with the help of online tutorials, videos and forums, learning the ropes on programs like Premiere and After Effects isn't that difficult.

While beginner tools are great for getting new content out quickly, these more advanced options give creators finer control over their projects and productions; which, of course, leads to better end results.

If you are looking for additional Free Video Editing resources, check out this in depth article from our friends at G2 Crowd.

So, there you have it! Five online video editor tools for beginners to dive in with video editing and marketing, and even a learning path for making the most out of your video content. Have a specific program you favor for beginner editing? Let us know in the comments below!