BrightTALKTM

PreparedProfessionalPolishedAn on-camera guidefor executives

BrightTALKTM

Video is a must have for any marketer’s strategy. As a marketer you need to make sure your colleagues shine through and come across as likeable and relatable to help foster brand loyalty. This guide delves into the tactical components of getting your executives to dominate on camera to capture the best content.

Your people are an opportunity to personalize your expertise and insights, thus making your company more accessible and engaging for buyers.

83% of UK marketers leverage video

79% of US B2B marketers leverage video

Source: CMI

One of the most important parts of video marketing is selecting the right spokespeople to represent your business. Not every company has enough bandwidth to media train all of their employees who might be in the spotlight, but it’s critical to keep the most qualified talent up-to-date on your brand and communications policy. Designate any internal spokespeople beforehand and brief your speakers on topics pertaining to the interview.

Your marketing team needs to understand the makeup of your business — whether small or large — to keep track of your best talent to leverage for video. Many enterprise organizations have a strict media policy where employees must be preapproved to speak externally on behalf of the company.

If it’s an external interview, make sure to scope out the company’s work ahead of time to understand the interviewer’s approach and whether or not it’s a good fit to represent your brand. Some companies aim to trick executives to say the wrong thing, at the wrong time to increase their own traffic.

BrightTALKTM

Selecting your best on-screen talent

BrightTALKTM

Understand the medium in which the video is being captured to identify your best spokesperson. These are some of the most common video formats and the

attributes you should be looking for in your talent.

Video RoundtableBest Attributes: Personable, well-spoken, very educated on

the topic

FeatureBest Attributes: Sound bite

oriented, well-spoken, authoritative

Sound bite

noun a brief, striking remark or statement excerpted from an audiotape or videotape for insertion in a broadcast news story.

1:1 InterviewBest Attributes: Comfortable on-screen, senior member,

credible, opinionated (will need to expand on the questions asked)

Company Overview VideoBest Attributes: Comfortable

on-screen, passionate, relatable, prepared

BrightTALKTM

Prepping your executives to look and sound their best on-screenUnlike webinars or podcasts, videos are meant to be punchy and short, in order to capture and engage the 8-second attention span. Make sure to reserve 30-60 minutes on your executive’s calendar beforehand to walk through and set expectations.

It’s important to equip your colleagues with as much information as possible, but avoid scripting responses, as it will come across as inauthentic.

To properly prepare them without sounding too scripted, craft a 10 most-likely to be asked questions list and go through them together twice - once without prep and then again after discussing the prior responses. If it helps your colleague feel more at ease, provide a copy of the questions with bullets, but make sure that they aren’t scripted. The goal is not to prepare language that will be recited word-for-word in front of the camera, but to get your colleague comfortable with their speaking points and knowing where they want to go once they start speaking.

BrightTALKTM

When you’re doing this, make sure to record them so that they can hear their tone and pace, as well as which answers worked and which ones didn’t. Encourage them to take pauses or breaths when gathering thoughts as opposed to using umms and ahhs. This might be difficult for them, but they will love how much more polish and authority it brings to their performances.

Use the following topics to craft 10 questions to help prep your executive:

Industry insights

Product updates

Any company turmoil (and how to address questions around it)

Upcoming company announcements (how can you tease without revealing too much)

4-5 statistics around your company and industry (people love proof points)

The most common problems your customers face, and how you’ve helped to solve them

1

2

3

4

5

6

If they have never been on film before, grab your phone and record them during the dry run so that they can see how they come across on camera.

BrightTALKTM

While the rhetoric is critical to what viewers take away from your video, the visual and personal cues will also leave an impact. How your spokesperson composes themselves, behaves, and appears will impact the effectiveness of the video. Depending on the type of video, your spokesperson may be speaking into the lens to the audience or off camera to an interviewer. This is a creative choice and should remain consistent.

Visually

BrightTALKTM

2548Here are some visual components to keep in mind during your shoot.

Let them be themselves. Everyone has their own natural body language, and everyone tries their best to stifle it for the camera. If someone tends to talk with their hands or prefers to present standing, let them. They’ll be more natural, confident, and engaging. This makes them more like the person you intended to film in the first place. Encourage them to practice beforehand either in front of a mirror, laptop or cell phone camera. If you are trying to have them be more personable with the audience, have them test it out a few times so they’ll see how it looks speaking to the camera. This establishes a more direct and intimate conversation style with the viewer. Speaking into the camera can be tough the first few times but with a little practice, they won’t feel as pressured when the real cameras begin to roll.

Understand where your interview will take place. While most interviews will be held either outside, in an office setting, or in a studio, it’s always smart to check in case your shoot involves a green screen. If it does, make sure that that the interviewee is not wearing green to avoid a floating talking head.

BrightTALKTM

Consider the wardrobe and what will make the individual pop the most on-screen. Industry experts know to avoid colors that will bleed on camera (pink, pastels, red) and white, which will make all the other colors appear underexposed.

Stay away from pinstripes and sharp patterns. They tend to cause moire effects that look bad on camera. Solid colors are best.

Leverage cool, solid tones like purples or blues to get the most comfortable look on camera.

Keep the wardrobe clean and simple. Dress your subjects professionally to create authority for your company. Depending on your brand or industry, blazers are not always needed (but definitely recommended). However, short sleeves can come across as unprofessional and a bit underwhelming. Connect with the individual ahead of time to know what they’re planning on wearing – and advise accordingly. Keep jewelry to a minimum. While style is certainly important to exude the right feel of your brand and employees, large necklaces and big earrings can be loud and interfere with the microphone’s ability to pick up sound.

Ties are typically recommended for men on camera and can help pull together the look. Avoid ties with distracting patterns that will shake on-screen and detract from what is being shared.

Avoid bold patterns. Intense prints (like stripes or plaid) can shake on camera due to the light and thus are a major distraction from what is being said. TV stations and video production companies will mention this before they film, but a pro will know this ahead of time.

BrightTALKTM

Politely discuss hair decisions. To avoid awkward fidgeting and face touching, make sure your speaker’s hair is kept out of the face. The focus should be on what the interviewee is saying, not on hair adjustments.

Remember makeup. Whether you’re in a studio or on an event floor, making sure that you look your best involves a bit of coverage and having some extra makeup on hand for touch-ups. Cameras do wash out your skin, so you’ll need to add a bit more than you’d normally wear, but remember to still be tasteful. Can’t convince your CEO to wear some foundation? At least have some mineral veil to eliminate the shine, which can come across as nervous sweat. Jay Leno, David Letterman, and Stephen Colbert all have to wear makeup for the camera if you need to name drop.

Video has the power to influence your prospects across the web and television. Getting your executives on camera will help bring a face, and personality,

that’ll make you memorable.

However, being filmed can trip up even the most qualified, skilled experts. Prepare and set up your colleagues for success so that you’ll get the best shots and marketing collateral for your business. Also, make sure you’re working with

a premier film team to get the most from your time and spend.

BrightTALKTM

To learn how BrightTALK Studios can help you create video that increases your marketing impact, visit our website.