What is a Founders video and why do I need one?
A Founder's video isn't just another trend—it's your story, your vision and passion, all captured in a few engaging minutes. This isn't just about showcasing products; it's about showing the heart behind the hustle.
Today, we speak to Josef from JJW Studio. He shares insights into how you can create a great Founders video that brings your personal story into the spotlight, tips to overcome stage fright and much more.
Let’s chat to Josef.
What is a Founders video and why should brands consider creating one for their business?
A founder spotlight video is a focused content piece highlighting the story, vision, and personality of a business founder or entrepreneur. It’s a great tool for attracting your ideal customers and recruiting top-tier employees.
A founder spotlight video helps humanise your brand, allowing customers to connect with your story, passion, and vision as a founder. This personal touch can build trust and loyalty. Seeing and hearing from you directly adds authenticity and credibility, showcasing the genuine dedication behind the business.
It provides an opportunity to tell the brand’s story compellingly, sharing the journey, challenges, and successes in a way that resonates deeply with your customers. A founder spotlight video sets your brand apart from competitors by highlighting what makes the business unique and why it stands out in the market. It showcases you as the founder a leader and a visionary, reinforcing your brand’s mission and future direction. This can attract like-minded customers and partners across all your digital channels.
Besides social and digital channels, a high-quality founder spotlight video is a valuable asset for media pitches and PR opportunities, enhancing your brand’s reputation and media presence congruently.
Getting in front of the camera can be daunting – what advice do you have for business owners and founders who haven’t done this before and what are your tips for getting comfortable in front of the camera?
You’re not alone! With the five hundred on-camera interviews I’ve conducted over the years, I can guide people through the process both before and during filming day.
A few key elements go into making you feel comfortable in front of the camera, and they include wearing an outfit you feel comfortable in (if you look good, you feel good), a hair and makeup artist (supplied by production), a pre-interview session before filming day to ensure alignment on the messaging (so you don’t have to think on the spot), and lastly don’t overthink! Let me break it down.
Wardrobe: always wear a relatively new outfit that you love and that captures your personal essence and brand. I always highlight the importance of wearing a colour that compliments your surroundings. It enhances your camera appearance and ensures you stand out in the best way possible.
Hair and makeup artist: I always find having a hair and makeup artist warms you up before sitting in front of the camera. It allows you time to become aware of your surroundings while also gaining that extra confidence in knowing a professional is making you look camera-ready.
Pre-interview session: we want to gain an innate understanding of your story before filming day arrives. This is where we’re able to formulate the questions and messaging required to make a great video. A big benefit of doing a pre-interview session is to prepare you before filming day because we don’t want you to think on the spot when the camera is rolling.
Don’t self-edit: our job as video producers is to make you look and sound amazing. When we’re in the edit we can remove or re-structure sentences to give it a great flow. So it’s important not to overthink your performance as it goes through a refinement process on filming day and in post-production. If something doesn’t sound or feel right during filming, the director will highlight this and workshop it with you.
Twenty-minute warm-up: it takes the average person around twenty minutes to warm up in front of the camera so when we conduct an interview, we always allow up to an hour for filming this portion of the video.
You got this: trust yourself – you know yourself and your brand best, keep the conversation casual as you would with a friend and lastly forget the crew because their job is to make you shine.
What are some of the key themes or content should brands be including in their Founders video?
The opportunities here are truly endless and are certainly ideated in a bespoke manner for every brand. However, to paint you a picture of some key themes we’ll start with your background – where did you come from, how did you make a start in your career and how did you get to your breakthrough moment? From here we’ll uncover the early days of your brand, capturing that initial excitement and all the emotions leading up to launch day. Then, we’ll talk about where you’re at today and where to in the future.
To provide the video with visual flare outside of the interview we’ll film you in action going about your day – consider this a day in the life of your brand. We’ll strategise some interesting moments that we can use in the video, but we want to shed light and show you in motion working your magic.
Keep in mind that you don’t do the heavy lifting here – the video team will. It all goes through yourself for modifications and sign off, but the ideas and bigger picture operations are handled by the filmmakers.
Give us an example of one of your favourite Founders videos you have produced and what makes it a great piece.
One of my personal favourite founder spotlight videos was for renowned dermatologist Shammi Theesan from ODE Dermatology. We followed Shammi for the day at her clinic in Melbourne and incorporated her interview throughout. What makes this a great piece is learning how she discovered her passion for dermatology and how one pivotal moment shaped the rest of her career!
What can a brand expect to pay for a Founders video and what will they get?
As a general guide, you can expect a three-to-five-minute hero video with up to six social cutdowns and photography assets. As mentioned, we also conduct a 1-hour pre-interview with you where we start to formulate the questions we’ll ask on filming day, hone in on the messaging required in the final video and then inform you of the next steps. We take all the puzzle pieces out for you and handle the entire production process to ensure an effortless journey from start to finish.
The time required from project commencement to final delivery of a founder spotlight video is typically 2-3 weeks. These videos are typically evergreen (unless you re-brand) so there’s longevity in this investment for you, and we’re always strategising long-term with all the video content we craft to ensure it doesn’t age.
We offer three-tiered packages for a founder spotlight video but depending on your requirements we can certainly formulate a bespoke package to suit your needs. Pricing starts from $2,997.
Once a brand has invested the time and money to create a great Founder video, what should they do next? How should they be leveraging and promoting it?
Your options are quite extensive when distributing the hero and social edits for your founder spotlight video. A reminder that founder spotlight videos are a powerful tool in showcasing yourself and your brand so you want it to be a foundational piece of content in your marketing – get to sharing it wherever you can!
Social media: Share it on platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Don’t forget to “pin” the hero video or cutdowns wherever possible – spotlight the video!
YouTube: Upload it to your channel for broader reach and SEO benefits.
Website: Embed it on the homepage and “About Us” page.
Email Marketing: Include it in newsletters or email campaigns to engage subscribers.
Media Pitches: Use it in pitches to journalists and media outlets for increased PR opportunities.
Press Releases: Embed it in press releases to provide a dynamic element to your news.
Investor Presentations: Incorporate it in presentations to potential investors to showcase the brand's vision and leadership.
Events and Webinars: Play it at industry events, conferences, and webinars to introduce the brand.
Sales Meetings: Use it during sales pitches to personalise the brand and build trust with potential clients.
Recruitment: Feature it on job listing pages and recruitment platforms to attract talent aligned with the company’s values.
Digital Advertising: Use it in paid ad campaigns on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Google Ads.
Customer Onboarding: Include it in onboarding materials to familiarise new customers with the brand's story and values.
Partner Collaborations: Share it with business partners to strengthen relationships and align on brand vision.
Trade Shows: Display it at trade show booths to draw attention and engage attendees.
Cornerstone Blog: Feature it in a cornerstone blog post to provide in-depth, valuable content and enhance SEO.
Media Kit: Include it in your media kit to provide journalists with engaging content about your brand.
A Founders video is a great investment for your brand, and done well will give you content to leverage across your PR & Marketing activities for many years to come. Choose the right producer to help you along the way, make sure you’re comfortable with their style. They should make the process easy and enjoyable for you. Most importantly, have fun! A Founders video is a celebration of everything you have created and achieved, so embrace the process.
Connect with Josef and find our more about JJW Studios here:
Josef J. Weber on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/josefjweber
Website: www.jjwstudio.co
JJW Studio on Instagram: @jjw.studio
JJW Studio on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/jjw-studio