HOW TO GIVE A MILLION DOLLAR PRESENTATION
We’ve illustrated how a holistic marketing plan provides a competitive advantage. But putting the plan in action requires backers. Before stakeholders buy in, you need to pitch your vision and blow their minds. A good presentation not only paints a vivid picture for everyone at the boardroom table, it radiates excitement and confidence. You’re asking for millions of dollars in commitment. This is not the time to “save the budget for the consumer-facing stuff.” Resist the temptation to throw together a status-quo PowerPoint.
DESIGN MAKES A DIFFERENCE
Recently, the University of Miami School of Business conducted a study and found that well-designed annual reports produced the equivalent of a 20% perceived increase in valuation amongst seasoned investors. If you need further evidence that design matters when you’re asking for money, look no further than Kickstarter. Notice the concepts with the successful funding models often originate from the design, communication, and entertainment fields—people who know how to deliver an idea. This inspired pitch by the creator of cult TV show Veronica Mars is just five minutes long, but its polish and originality attracted a record 90,000+ backers, raising nearly six million dollars in support.
The point is, your audience needs to see the vision, feel your passion and understand the value of the investment. A good design team will know how to create visual impact and simplify complex information.
Your presentation should build a compelling case and follow this format:
1. Illustrate the problem.
2. Highlight your insightful solution.
3. Expand on the details of how your insight works as an integrated campaign.
4. Demonstrate how you will measure the results and generate brand awareness, sustain audience engagement, sell some products and build brand loyalty.
Keep the presentation at a high level for your executive management, and leave time for a Q&A session at the end. You’re telling a story, so bring the content of your go-to-market plan to life by building out the room, creating videos, sourcing props, removing distractions … whatever you think will enhance the experience and create a theme that conveys your goal.
Before the big presentation, run through it (especially if you’re pitching it as a team), and get comfortable delivering all the information. Sweat the details and take care to proof read, check facts and review for overall fidelity. Ultimately your goal is to get the green light, so focus on the one big takeaway you want them to understand. Make sure that point is clear.
Once the presentation has been delivered, provide your audience with a shareable version of your pitch, along with the action items on what you need to move forward.
Congratulations, now you’re on the hook to execute the awesomeness.
Better start with a good brief.
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Written by Mark Lewman, Creative Director and Partner at Nemo Design
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