In order to create a well crafted pitch, there are really only two basic principles to remember.

Your content and your delivery. Each one determines just how well your audience receives your new idea.

Part 1

Your Content: Pitch Decks

Online software presentation companies like Prezi, Emaze and Canva have now over 100 million users of pitch deck templates from all corners of the globe. From 2009, as Prezi set out to take on Microsoft’s PowerPoint, the world of pitching and presenting changed drastically.

By 2017, investors and audiences now expect that you have a well designed deck that clearly tells them the WHAT, WHY, WHO and HOW of your business.

Key things to remember with deck slides:

• Develop Your Story – Before you throw yourself into some colourful creatives, break down exactly what you want to say and how it should start, flow and end. 

• Define It–  Decide what’s most important to your startup that you really want investors and backers to take away with them. Make it memorable by weaving through interesting stories and facts that drive home the unique selling points of your product. You are playing to the head and the heart of your audience.

• Design– Image and Text. Balance between strong images that convey your product or service and compelling words that add value to your brand. 

               Text – Don’t use heavy text that reads like paragraphs – If your audience has to read a long worded explanation of your business, chances are they have lost interest by the second slide. This shouldn’t be work for them, you are supposed to do the work for them by explaining your business in an easy and simple manner.

               – Powerful images that convey your message – Humans are visual. We are drawn to images that help us see something more clearly. Investors are the same. Use illustrations that help them see the bigger picture with your product and lets them visualise a scenario that they can relate to. Do not, however, rely on just beautiful images that have no relevance to your brand, it will distract their attention away from your product.

Getting Started

Opening Slide – This is your hook. You have a very short amount of time to reel them in, so you need to use this to entice your audience and point your pitch in the direction you want it to go. 

Problem

A popular way to kick off is to create a problem slide, as you immediately get straight to the point of your business and show that you have created something that solves a common issue or problem. You are trying to engage your audience here to give them something that they can relate to.

Question

Another opening method is to simply put a one-line question on a slide. If your question is interesting enough, your audience will mentally answer it and you have their attention before you even speak.

Hard hitting fact or figure

Great ways to pique curiosity is to throw a ‘bold’ number or percentage out there that has great impact on the audience or investor. It can be something that is relevant to your market or industry or just a general figure that is not very well known. You are educating your audience now and giving them something new that they were not aware of before now.

Story Slides:

Now that your audience is listening, the platform is yours to tell your story and share your vision with them. Bring them in to how you created your product, how it is going to directly benefit customers and how it will change the industry you are targeting. You can also show them what you have learned along the way and how your product will keep improving with the right investment behind it.

Marketing Slides:

No great pitch deck is complete without showing how you are going to get to your customers or clients. It is often left out and yet it is an essential part of any new business plan or idea. Failing to show your route to market means that you might not have properly thought through all aspects of your business to be successful.

Money Slides: 

Always, always, always include how your business is going to make money. This is where investors decide just how credible you are and how serious you are about turning your idea into a profitable and viable business. Rarely can a new idea be sustainable without paying customers to build and grow it into a success. A graph or chart that explains how you will scale up your revenue streams over a reasonable time should always be included.

Wrapping It Up:

‘The last thing you say is the first thing they will remember’. This is your final chance to leave your audience with a positive impression of your business and something memorable to take away. The most important part of your idea should be placed here. Going back to your opening slide can be effective as it ties up the whole point of why you created your product in the first place.

This post was kindly provided by www.Vidpitch.com – if you need help with your pitch get in touch with the guys on hello@vidpitch.com