Why You Need CEO Spotlight Videos

A company culture is only as strong as its employees… and its CEO. How leadership behaves, speaks, and communicates impacts the tapestry of the entire company. However, in today’s economy of large, global corporations, C-suite executives often seem elusive and untouchable. Videos are able to bridge this gap to create a personal, “face-to-face” connection between employer and CEO.

Video content that spotlights your CEO and other leaders creates a more personal, actionable, and impactful experience with company employees, both locally and across the globe.

1. CEO Face Time

Many employees may feel that their company’s CEO is hidden away in an office somewhere, making decisions about the future of the company without communicating with employees. And that feeling isn’t entirely misguided. CEOs and leaders of large, medium, and even small-sized companies can’t be everywhere at once. As much as they may want to, putting in “face time” with every employee may simply not be possible.

Videos offer employees a similar sort of “face time” with the CEO without the leader’s physical presence. Whether an employee is in Beijing or Sydney, they can see and experience the New York-based CEO talking to them firsthand. Whether the leader is discussing a cultural shift or a public relations nightmare, the video shows his or her personality, expressions, and inflection in a personal way. The leader can look directly into the camera as if looking into the eyes of the employees. This creates a trusting, intimate connection that will build a rapport between employee and leader.

Ultimately, a video starring company leaders can increase engagement and relationships with employees at any time or place.

Consider training videos, which are a key tool for boosting new hire retention. A CEO welcoming new members to the team creates an intimate conversation, where new employees feel cared for and understood. They see the CEO firsthand and become immediately aware with how he or she discusses the culture of the company.

2. Builds Brand Voice

The CEO is often considered the “face” of the brand. In this way, how the CEO or leader talks in the video will set the tone for the voice of the entire brand, with regards to both internal and external marketing. No matter the content of the video, the way that the leader presents ideas will reveal the company mission and values.

Is he inspirational and motivational, focused on the growth of the individuals? Is she fun and excited, focused on a strong work-life balance for each person? Is he serious and domineering, focused on making metrics?

How the CEO appears in video marketing will set the tone for the entire culture.

Moreover, video is a canvas to create a narrative. Putting the CEO or leader at the center of that narrative helps to create a personal connection between the viewer and the organization’s story. Think of it as in-house vlogging. The leader is the “influencer” who has the power to build a following around the ideas, values, and goals of the company.

Consider Glassdoor, the top “rating” site for jobs and employers. One of the Glassdoor metrics is “approval of CEO.” This metric is important to current and prospective employees because the CEO sets the bar for the culture of the entire company. A high approval rating indicates a certain level of cultural satisfaction; a low approval rating demonstrates a wrench in the cogs of the company.

Listen to Benno Dorer, the CEO of The Clorox Cleaner and the highest rated CEO on Glassdoor, discuss the values of Clorox and of his people. From just this single video, you can gain a sense of the values that Brenno builds for his company.

3. Eases Transformation

A CEO-backed brand voice is especially crucial in times of change or organizational transformation. If leadership is looking to create some sort of shift in the company, employees can often get lost in the fray. Most people don’t like change. They don’t like change even more when their leaders don’t thoroughly and consistently explain and discuss that change.e

Video is a simple and effective way to keep everyone in the company abreast of changes as they occur. It creates a public, unified communication system that is more personal than an email and more consistent than a trickle-down of information. Video enables a roll out of changes with consistent messaging. People can watch the video whenever and however they want and as many times as they want. This sort of repetition of values and mission is crucial to building or changing a culture.

In times of change, success is only possible when leaders enhance their face time and build a strong brand voice. Video is the platform for that intimate exchange of information, ideas, viewpoints, and inspirations.

When to Include the CEO

In which kinds of videos should your CEO and leaders make an appearance?

In short, you can use a CEO in any video where brand voice is present. This could be both for dissemination within the company, like training videos, or for marketing purposes, like an “about us” video. We sometimes recommend that a CEO be present in client testimonial videos to show the relationship between the brand and their clients.

In the video, the CEO and leaders can discuss:

• Their passions

• Their experiences at the company

• How they got to where they are

• The obstacles they’ve had to overcome

• The mission and values of the business

• The purpose behind the founding of the business (if they are also the founder)

• What they believe the company culture is and why

• The goals of a new transformation or strategy

• News of the company, good and bad

Think of a CEO video as a company-wide memo with personality and presence.

The Bottom Line

Using your CEO and leaders in your video puts a face on the company. It helps to reveal vision, mission, and values firsthand. Video enables leaders to build a brand voice with engaging, effective top-down communication processes. Whether creating in-house or marketing videos, demonstrating a strong team of leadership proves a strong organization.

Put your CEO in your next video. Contact us to discuss how a leadership video would best work with your content marketing strategy.