There are many strategies for improving a company’s performance. As entrepreneurs and marketing managers alike strive to climb the ladder and make their business more successful, it’s important to know how to “pitch” to customers and investors. One such way to do this is with an elevator pitch.
Are you ready to use elevator pitches to expand your company’s success? If so, keep reading to learn how to use these pitches to appeal to investors and what to do if an elevator pitch evolves into a presentation.
What Is an Elevator Pitch?
In a sense, an elevator pitch is much like an advertisement. You get only a few seconds to get your point across. The goal of the pitch is to let your audience know who you are and what you can provide to them. Instead of long-winded ads, an elevator pitch should be kept short and sweet. A visual marketing agency can provide solutions to help your presentation wow investors.
Think about how you can capture your audience’s attention with micro content and how the pitch itself can include various forms of micro content. Also, it’s important to note that if you have set up a meeting specifically to present your business idea, there’s a good chance your presentation is going to include different types of media and material.
An elevator pitch tends to become much more effective when it includes an explainer video. When used strategically, explainer videos can be leveraged as micro content that knocks the socks off your audience. Whatever the case, knowing how to effectively present a pitch can get you the cash flow you need to start your business, or take it to new heights.
An elevator pitch is normally over in seconds, although sometimes it might require a full-blown presentation. It simply includes a short description of your business or a certain product. Many people use elevator pitches to try and secure funding from investors.
How to Write an Elevator Pitch Aimed at Investors
Identify the Target Audience
You must do your homework and understand how to present your elevator pitch to potential investors and customers. This research must include learning how to write the pitch. It starts with identifying your target audience. You will need to create a buyer persona to get a good understanding of who you’re trying to reach. You can create a buyer persona for investors as well as your actual customers.
Knowing a business’s target market and customers will help an investor or company immediately put into perspective what you are proposing, and how you can help them provide solutions for said market. Additionally, entrepreneurs may help investors understand a target audience they might not have known about — and can present their (the entrepreneur) company to reach them.
Understand the Problem
When you explain exactly what types of problems you can solve for a company, and how you might go about implementing solutions, you are much more likely to secure investors. Additionally, you may help an investor see a problem they have never thought about before. You can then propose their own company as a solution to this problem.
Provide Your Solution
Knowing and understanding the problem is only half the battle. If you can provide a cost-effective solution for a company, or have a company that can provide solutions, it should be clearly laid out before the investor to make sure they see the bottom line.
Essentially, your elevator pitch should be structured like this:
- Introduce yourself
- Provide a summary of what you do
- Explain exactly what you want
- Close with a call to action
Elevator Pitch Example
Here’s a look at elevator pitch example. Think about it like you’re going to an interview.
Hi, my name is Whitney. Thanks for your time today. After going to college and earning a degree in Business Administration, I decided to pursue a career as an Executive Assistant. During the last five years, I have created a strong professional network while handling numerous end-to-end event coordinations. When a spot opened up before me in sports management, I knew I had to take a leap. With my extensive project management experience, I know I can be a great leader for this position.
Presenting the Elevator Pitch
Ultimately, you want the elevator pitch to be as conversational as possible. Try to steer clear of stuffy, formal language. Whether you’re giving the pitch in person or via an explainer video, make sure you don’t speak too fast. The pitch itself should be around 75 words and last anywhere from 30 to 60 seconds. If you feel you’re trying to stuff too much information into the pitch, there’s a good chance you are.
Keep in mind that you can reuse the same pitch for multiple purposes. All you have to do is identify your target audience for each pitch and then make tweaks to the wording to ensure that it’s appropriate.
Try to avoid niche words and industry-specific language. This especially applies if your target audience isn’t familiar with your industry. If you have to use a word your audience isn’t familiar with, then you must provide a definition or small explanation of the word.
Need help writing an elevator pitch? Want to turn your pitch into an explainer video? IGW is here to help!
