How to Get Your Experts on Camera (Even If They Hate It)

Let’s be honest,  most of your subject matter experts don’t want to be on camera.

They’re not experienced being on camera and generally aren't comfortable. They’re executives, engineers, operators, strategists, not professional talent or marketers. 

But here’s the thing: no one wants to hear from marketing...they want to hear from the actual experts!

So if you’re a B2B marketer struggling to get your internal experts involved in content, know you’re not alone. You’re not out of luck either. You may simply need a different approach to get them to participate.

The Wrong Way: Shove a Camera in Their Face and Pray

Too many companies treat expert content like a PR campaign. They book a shoot, throw an SME in front of a camera, ask vague questions, and wonder why the results are awkward and unusable.

The problem isn’t your expert. It’s the approach.

You’re asking them to do something they’ve never done, with no clear reason, in a format that feels unnatural.

That’s not a content strategy, it's a recipe for your experts to run the next time you ask for help.

The Right Way: Make It Easy, Useful, and Repeatable

Here’s the truth: your experts already create “content” every day. It just doesn’t look like content yet.

They answer sales questions. They troubleshoot customer issues. They walk clients through complex decisions. All you have to do is capture that knowledge in a way that’s simple and non-intimidating.

Here’s how to start:

1. Use Familiar Prompts

Start with questions they already get from customers or internal teams.

• “What’s the most common misconception about [X]?”

• “What should customers be asking but don’t?”

• “How do you usually explain this to a client?”

This isn’t a TED Talk. It’s just them doing what they already do—explaining, guiding, and solving.

2. Record a Conversation, Not a Performance

Skip the script. Sit them down. Hit record. Let it feel more like a conversation than a production.

You can clean up the footage later. What you can’t fake is authenticity. That’s exactly the thing that will build trust with your audience.

Pro tip: frame it as “Let’s just talk through this. We can always delete it.” That lowers the stakes and gets them to open up a bit more.

3. Make Them the Hero (Not the Help)

Too many experts feel like they’re being “used” for marketing the company.

Flip the script.

Show them how content elevates their voice and authority in the industry. Give them short clips they can post on LinkedIn. Let them see comments roll in from peers who respect what they have to say.

The goal is simple: make it something they want to do again. It's not just about marketing the company, it's about building up the team to be viewed as experts as well.

4. Start With One Person—Not the Whole Org

You don’t need ten SMEs to start.

You need one person who’s willing.

Someone who’s got experience, a strong opinion, and enough courage to try something new.

Make that person successful. Then let the internal buzz build from there. When others see how easy it is and the attention it creates, others may even ask to join.

5. Give Leadership a Reason to Say Yes

If you’re getting stonewalled, the problem might not be your experts. It might be your executives.

Executives don’t need to be the face of the content (though it helps), but they do need to endorse the idea.

When leadership buys in, experts are more likely to participate. When they don’t, everything feels like an extra project and gets treated that way.

Present your plan to leadership as an awareness and authority strategy, not just a content one. Frame it as an opportunity to turn internal expertise into market trust. Then ask them: do you want to speak directly to our market with expertise, or only chase our competitors’ SEO rankings?

Expert Content Isn’t Optional Anymore

If your content strategy relies entirely on marketers and copywriters, you're producing secondhand insights.

In today’s market, buyers want the real thing. And the companies that will win are the ones brave enough to put the right people on camera.

Even if it’s awkward at first. Even if it’s messy. Even if it’s not “perfect.”

Because real beats perfect every time.