CEO positioning: key to the corporate brand
Gone are the days when CEOs were measured solely by good company performance. In our media and information society, CEOs are becoming brands themselves.
If you want to make an impression, you have to steer the conversation towards topics that you understand best.Erwin Koch
The importance of CEO positioning in corporate communications
The CEO plays a central role in today's business world as the face and voice of the company. This key position requires not only excellent leadership skills, but also a well thought-out communication strategy. Successful CEO positioning can strengthen your corporate image in the long term and give you a clear competitive advantage. It is crucial that the CEO conveys a consistent, authentic and strategically aligned message both internally and externally.
Goals and challenges of CEO positioning
In our interconnected world, the CEO is increasingly becoming a public figure who represents the company and embodies its values and goals. He or she is both the internal and external face to a broad public. Today, customers and especially employees want to know what a CEO stands for. They want to know what drives them, what makes them tick and what goals they are pursuing. CEO positioning pursues the following goals:
- Strengthening the image of a company
- Creating a unique brand identity
- Employee retention and recruitment
- Increasing employee motivation
The challenge is to find a balance between the CEO's personal brand and the corporate brand in order to convey a coherent and convincing image.
Successfully shaping CEO positioning in Munich: Thought leadership and strategic communication
The most important lever for successful CEO positioning is thought leadership - i.e. the strategic occupation of relevant topics, for example on social media channels such as LinkedIn. Few companies are lucky enough to have products and services that are so interesting to the public that a CEO communication strategy can be built on them.
The task of communication is therefore to develop topics that lie outside of the day-to-day business, but still contribute to the company's strategic goals. In order to develop an excellent CEO positioning, the following steps should generally be observed:
- Determine the communicative requirements of the stakeholders for the CEO
- Derivation of the desired CEO profile
- Definition of the relevant topics
- Development of a communication concept
It is important that the CEO does not appear with too many different topics. This could dilute his or her positioning. The rule here is: less is often more.
As a communications agency in Munich, we can support you with your CEO positioning. Please do not hesitate to contact us.
