The one thing you do as a marketing agency is to market your clients, and can you call yourself one if you can’t market yourself? What you want to do is create a lasting impression on your prospective clients or investors. This is where a pitch deck comes in. What is a pitch deck? Why is it crucial to a business? How do you go on about creating it? All excellent questions, let’s get into it below!
What Is A Pitch Deck And Why Is It Important?
Also known as a slide deck, a pitch deck is a presentation that provides an overview of your business, its vision, strategy, and potential for growth. It’s typically used to pitch to investors for funding or to showcase your business to potential clients. Essentially a sales presentation, a pitch deck conveys the most important aspects of your business in a concise and visually appealing way. Its end goal is convincing your audience to take action – be it investing in your business or availing of the services that you offer.
But a good pitch deck isn’t just about impressing investors. It’s also a tool for building relationships with potential partners and customers. By presenting a compelling and cohesive vision for your business, you can establish trust and credibility with them. A good pitch deck can help you showcase your unique value proposition and differentiate yourself from competitors in your industry.
How To Create A Pitch Deck?
A general rule of thumb when creating a pitch deck is to restrict the number of slides to 10. However, if you can condense all your offerings cohesively in under 7 slides, it would ensure your prospect’s interest and attention all the way to the end of the deck. Also, having a deck template handy allows you to customize it to suit your prospects’ diverse requirements. Below are a few tips that you can incorporate when creating your pitch deck:
1. Know Your Prospective Client (And Even Their Competitors)
One of the first and most important things to keep in mind when creating a pitch deck is doing in-depth research to get a solid knowledge of the prospect. Know what their business is about, their pain points and needs, and whether they will have the budget for your services. When you have the answers to them, you can tailor your pitch to resonate with the prospect.
For example, if you’re pitching to investors, focus on the potential return on investment and the market size. On the other hand, if you’re pitching to potential customers, highlight the unique benefits of your service and how it can tackle their pain points.
It’s not enough to just know your client when preparing a pitch deck. Nearly every business has a competitor. Even if there isn’t, people are using some or the other service to compensate for it in one way or another. That’s why competitor analysis is just as important. Find out what they’re doing right and attempt to replicate it, if not better. Conversely, an understanding of their weaknesses will present you with an opportunity to avoid their failures and fill in that gap in the market.
2. Address The Problem
The services that you, as an agency, provide are essentially solutions to the prospect’s problems. That’s why your problem statement should be focused on the biggest pain point of the prospect. To that end, collate and add the most poignant data or statistics to provide maximum impact. Then, clearly articulate how your product or service addresses that problem and provides a solution. Be sure to emphasize the unique features and benefits of your product or service that set it apart from competitors.
3. Elaborate Upon Your Solution
Now that you’ve addressed the problem your prospect faces, it’s time to provide solutions. Working in sync with the problem slide, the solution slide(s) clearly outlines the strategy you’ll have in place to tackle the issue. As the solution slides(s) can potentially make or break your pitch deck, here are certain ways you can get it right:
Stay Focused And Keep It Concise: In case you’re offering multiple solutions, ensure that you focus on a single issue in one slide. Cramming everything together into one slide will confuse the prospect.
Provide Case Studies: You’ve already done your homework by understanding your prospect and their competitors. Now it’s time to draw comparisons to what and how the competitors are doing right. Point out the areas where the prospect needs improvement and the way ahead. If you’ve done work for similar clients, provide examples of your past work. On the contrary, if this is your first time, you can always use case studies off the internet.
Lay Out The Roadmap: Here, you outline the entire timeline with the potential client from the beginning to the end. Provide details on the key deliverables and milestones, and when you’ll reach them. Having such a clear plan of action will help in instilling trust in the prospect.
4. Provide The Budget/Commercials
It might seem a bit too much to also include the pricing information in a pitch deck. However, being upfront and transparent about your budget will help build trust with the prospect. Provide a clear breakdown of the costs incurred for each of the services you offer them. In case the prospect doesn’t have the budget, you can also pitch your deliverables in a phased manner. Alternatively, you can also scale down your offerings in a way that doesn’t compromise on quality.
5. Add A Closing Slide
You need to have a clear ending to your pitch. That’s where the closing slide comes in. It can be as simple as a ‘Thank You’ slide. Alternatively, the slide can include your company logo and contact information, which would make it easier for the prospect to get in touch with you.
Things To Keep In Mind When Creating A Pitch Deck
You now know the sections that comprise a pitch deck. Here are some other crucial points that you must keep in mind when you’re designing one:
Keep It Simple
Cliche as it might sound, this is crucial advice. Your audience’s attention span is limited; they want to know what your pitch is about quickly. So, avoid walls of text and stick to bullet points.
Incorporate Visuals
Tying up with the point above, visuals such as high-quality images, graphs, and charts can help get your message across effectively. You may use animations as well if they make sense in the pitch, but use them sparingly as they can be distracting.
Don’t Forget Your Team
Another element to add to your pitch deck is introducing your team. Investors and potential partners want to know who they’ll be working with, so be sure to introduce your team and highlight their relevant skills and experience.
Include a slide that showcases your team members’ headshots, job titles, and brief bios. This will help your prospective client understand your team’s capabilities and why you’re the right people for them.
Personalize Your Pitch
A generic-looking pitch deck is less likely to garner interest. Take the time to choose colors and fonts that speak the prospect’s brand language. Ensure that you stick to one theme throughout your presentation. It’s a good idea to incorporate elements of the prospect’s brand – their logo or color scheme, for instance – into the pitch. That being said, don’t go overboard with it as the prospect is looking for something fresh.
Summing Up
A pitch deck is essential for any startup looking to raise funds, build relationships, and chart a path to success. So don’t skimp on yours – invest the time and effort needed to create a compelling and persuasive pitch deck that showcases your offerings. By following these tips, you can create a compelling and effective pitch deck that communicates your business idea and captures the attention of your prospects.
FAQs
What Is A Good Pitch Deck?
The best pitch decks are brief but informative and showcase a simple, appealing theme, with a good amount of visual elements and statistics.
What Is The Benefit Of A Good Pitch Deck?
A pitch deck helps investors and clients see the value in your idea, product, service, or your company altogether. It will make them more likely to support or invest in you.
What Is The Ideal Length Of A Pitch Deck?
Ideally, a pitch deck should be around 7 to 10 slides long.
What Is A Roadmap In A Pitch Deck?
A roadmap outlines how your business plan aims to go from point A to point B, with each step detailing how much progress you aim to have made along the way.
What Are Some Key Metrics In A Pitch Deck?
Key metrics for a pitch deck include your target audience, your valuation, and your financial goals and projections.
How Should A Pitch Deck End?
Some ways to effectively end your pitch are to end with a quote or anecdote that ties back to your opening, offer inspiration, or end with a rhetorical question.
