The CEO Interview Video, Served 3 Ways

The CEO Interview video is the product that takes center stage today.  In cooking, one ingredient served 3 ways show-cases the skill of the

chef and represents a great range of the product.  Today’s blog of “One Interview Video served 3 ways” works in the same spirit.

We wanted to take one general video idea and show you how to create several projects for different “tastes” or target audiences.  We designed all three projects to create brand awareness and boost the bottom line.

This is the third in our series of early spring blogs featuring the kind of videos we at Bullhorn Media can film for your business.

We are running these features on our blog because most business owners and marketers know they need to incorporate video content in their marketing.  But they do not know where to start or what kind of videos they should generate.

Check out our previous blog for tips on the Charge video. Likewise, the basic instructional video has been a recent topic.

The Intrinsic Ingredient:  The CEO Interview

All 3 of today’s Video projects stem from one solid interview with the CEO of your company, large or small.

Why have such interviews become so popular?  They connect leaders of innovative companies with customers, partners, and employees.

Facts about CEO Interviews:  On Camera and Face to Face CEO

In fact, interviews allow you to connect “on a deeper level” with all of your audiences. Likewise “A single interview-based video provides genuine comments from a CEO that can be shared with thousands of individuals.”  That does not mean they all get-or need-the same video.

However,  they might hear some of the same comments.

You see, the time of a CEO is precious so we cannot justify using it to create a video that is only going to make one video project.   The key is knowing the project or projects in advance and tailoring the questions to the type of video projects we wish to create.

Today, we bring you Part One of 3 video project ideas, all from one CEO interview.  But there are at least a dozen different video projects that could be shaped from just one CEO Interview, with carefully planned questions.

(1.)  The CEO Interview Video:  The Thought Leadership Video Project

We are certain every company wants to be an authority in their niche.  Therefore, the key marketing project of this century will be a video featuring the CEO in a commentary.

Then, that commentary represents your company’s thought leadership in your particular industry, in the here and now.

Thought Leaders–We have all seen this type of interview from celebrity CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook or Elon Musk.  They bring a fresh, overall outlook to their industries with their commentary.

Bringing In Bullhorn for the CEO Interview Master Film

We call this a master film because from it we can create many other types of video products, but let us begin by explaining some of the questions that might spark key insights from your CEO.

The magic at play here is that while the CEO relates the answers, he or she is also authentically and personally connecting with the audience.  Then, from the CEO Interview, we can showcase the insights of the executive theme.  Amplify the leadership of your company with an Interview of Thought Leadership.

Key Questions Covering a Specific Topic and Providing Material for the Thought Leadership Video Project

In the questions below, fill in blanks with a key topic from the niche company whose CEO you are interviewing:

• “How does your organization address ______________?”
• “For viewers who are unfamiliar with this problem, can you describe it in the layperson’s terms? Can you define ______________?”
• “Describe your position on _____________.
• “What should customers be aware of regarding _______________?”

We highly compliment the fine folks at Singlegrain Marketing, .inked below. They are the geniuses who developed these questions.

Now, the interview can be set up with a talented interviewer on camera seated, talk-show-host style on camera with the CEO. Or they can be handled by an offstage voice. Then,  of course the off-stage voice will be edited out of the final product.  

One Interview:  Much Content for Many Uses

The first step is to obtain interesting answers to these types of interview questions from your CEO, then Bullhorn’s technical editors can

build  shortened, edited clips of the video on a landing page or within a blog post.  

 2) CEO Interview Project 2:  The Company Culture Video

This time we turn our intention to creating a Recruitment or a “company culture” video. Google provides a good example of these “Inside Look” videos. They make you aware of the company, its product, and its values.

In general, this type of video will feature comments by the CEO talking about his or her experience within the company.

The interview will most probably be matched with a B-roll of life around the company. Instead of just a talking head on the screen, the visual assets of your company could unfold in a collage of clips while the CEO commentary is played as a voice-over.

Alternatively, the video could be enriched with more short interview snippets from people who work at every level of the company. There are a myriad amount of ways to perfect this video, once we have a general interview with your CEO available.

Interview Questions for the CEO, Geared Up for a Company Culture Interview

Again, here are some key interview questions to spark comments from the CEO for your company culture-based video project:

• “Describe why you enjoy being a leader within this organization.
• What differentiates the people at this organization from other companies?
• What do you look for when hiring an employee?
• And, what types of employees excel here?
• If someone were debating between working at this organization or a competitor, why should they choose this organization?”

Again, we must thank Singlegrain Marketing  for these wonderful questions.

(3.) The CEO Interview:  The Third Way Bullhorn Likes to Serve It

The Content Marketing Institute also strongly endorses Video Interviews starring your CEO. “Interviews are genuine, spontaneous, and believable.  They force interviewees to dig deep and really think about what makes them tick from day to day, as well as why they’re

passionate about their work.  This unearths the type of genuine dialogue that viewers respond to enthusiastically.”

Our third project to extract from the commentary within a CEO Interview is the Industry Trend Video.  In this project, we focus on aspects of life or business that is trending right now.  Then, we shape questions that will stress how a company will meet the future.

In this type of video, we focus on not only the current trend but on the company’s response to it in the future.

As in the cases for the above two video projects, we have a set of questions designed to evoke good answers from any CEO concerned with current trends in his or her industry.  The interview itself will extend thoughts on on how he or she and the company will –or won’t embrace an important industry trend.

Here are some interview questions to support a video about an industry trend:

• Can you describe the biggest trend within the _____________ industry?
• What sparked this trend?
• How do you feel this trend will continue? Will it subside, become more prevalent?
• How has this particular trend impacted your organization?
• How is your organization positioned to capitalize on this trend

With a little adaptation, a twist on this type of video would again mean

including inserts some of the happy employee’s answers concerning a trend.

Tremendous Take-Aways:  CEO Interview and 3 Video Projects

Now you know three types of videos you can shape and create based on one resource:  the CEO Interview Video.

Remember to note those carefully crafted interview questions.  Those questions should be compiled with meticulous care. Likewise, without ruing spontaneity, CEO should be prepared with time for reflection about them.

The questions are the keys to the kingdom of new marketing videos for your company.  Most importantly, because we know he or she is busy, the interview video requires the CEO to expend a minimum of time and effort.

We will be bringing you more types of video products again soon.  Until then, if you are not yet using video in some aspect of your business, we urge you to call us.  It might seem risky to invest in video.  But remember the words of  Mark Zuckerberg, who said, “The biggest risk is not taking any risk…in a world that is changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.”