People do business with the people they are inspired by and believe in.
Whether it's an investor, employee, customer or partner, they need to buy into in the company's strategy and vision for the future. And who better to evangelize it than the founder or team?
This is why executive communications has always been so important in PR programs. However, what works in executive visibility has radically changed.
Historically, you could get away with a business executive acting as a bullhorn for company news, pushing product-level messaging and basic announcements. Today, this approach doesn't work.
The events of the past few years disrupted both leadership approaches and expectations. Customers, investors, talent and teams now expect more personal and inspirational communications.
Executive Communications Today
Today's most impactful executive communications programs weave together personal takes on corporate milestones, firsthand experiences and observations, and POV on industry changes and happenings to prove absolute belief and need for what they're building.
It's these unique anecdotes, reflections and insights that bring the organization's value prop and mission to life in a way that gets others to buy in.
It’s time- and work-intensive at the outset. The way we approach building executive visibility programs at SHIFT is:
- ID whitespace — we analyze company, competitor, industry, and media to ID ownable whitespace. From there, we build a unique narrative that champions a change and supports the need for what the company is building.
- Storylines & messaging — to keep communications press- and prospect-worthy, executives need multiple storylines. To identify those primary pillars, we distill topline trends and issues the executive can rally around to support their overarching narrative. It's basically an exercise in connecting the dots between your company, its audiences and what’s happening in the world.
- Hook & asset development — next up is creating a regular cadence of storytelling moments through the unique experiences of the leader and content development. It's a calendar of leverageable company milestones, industry news, events and meetings along with thought leadership and asset development to continually prove out and support the mission.
Executive Visibility Channels
Like most everything else in communications today, executive communications need to be multichannel. There are many places for leaders to create engagement, build influence and create inspiration.
- Internal communications are key.
- Earned media is incredibly powerful, with built-in validation from reporters/publications and broad (or targeted) reach. It’s no longer just print, online and broadcast media, but also podcasts, newsletters/Substacks, influencers and other new media formats.
- Social media is one of the most readily available platforms for executives to share thought leadership consistently and directly, without reliance on press. Because there's no hard and fast formula where executive thought leadership and social media strategy meet, every leader can develop a unique approach. LinkedIn remains the most effective for executive thought leadership, especially B2B but B2C, too, as it remains the only real platform to connect with talent, potential partners and clients consistently.
- Paid media has a place, too. It’s not so much in the sense of ads or boosted social posts, but more so in high-quality contributed content (think: Forbes, Inc. and Fast Company "Councils").
Ultimately, executive communications and thought leadership is a chance to drive the brand narrative with multiple audiences (customers, employees, investors, partners). Blending personal storytelling and passion with corporate priorities has proven a real successful formula for the many executives who have prioritized their visibility and thought leadership.
The result is a positive and direct impact on talent recruitment, team engagement and industry credibility (invaluable in crisis because it enables social license to explain big decisions and exciting news and engage community in a two-way dialogue). It also has a direct link to business development. More than half of decision-makers say that executives' thought leadership on LinkedIn is one crucial way they vet organizations and 57% say thought leadership directly led to awarding business. Over 45% say it led them to invite a previously unconsidered company to bid on a project.
To get started on a thought leadership-driven executive communications strategy, check out more on how we create successful thought leadership as well as our framework for how to build a compelling executive social media presence (and six CEOs doing so successfully).
What’s a Rich Text element?
The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.
The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.
Static and dynamic content editing
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