In the world of marketing, “presentation” means far more than just a powerpoint document. It’s usually used to describe any type of promotional action that represents your brand, what it stands for, and what kind of benefits does it offer to its potential clientele.
The purpose of creating such “presentations” is to distribute your brand’s or personal message to specific groups of people and get them to engage with whatever is that you’re selling or promoting.
Last week I was at this one startup conference where I watched a lot of young entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a group of investors and business development experts.
A lot of teams were quite good, but it really felt like they were all preaching the same story. To me, all of their pitches seemed like they were created by the same person. They lacked depth, originality, intimacy and personality.
But then, out of the blue, one guy came up to the stage and blew my mind. To be honest, his product was mediocre at best, no better than any other that was pitched that day, but his performance was outstanding. His gesture, the tone of his voice, stage presence, movement, the anecdotes he included in his speech, the benefits he presented, the angle he used to get us to care about his agenda, the graphics behind him, the feel of his brand – everything was so unusual, and yet so perfect. His pitch was different, he stood out of the crowd, and that’s why he got everyone’s attention.
It goes without saying that he reached his goal and got the necessary funds to make his dream become reality.
This particular outcome raised a lot of question in my head. It got me thinking: Is presentation actually more important than the quality of the product you’re trying to sell? Could a good presentation really make a difference in one company’s success?
The short answer is yes!
Having a quality product or service doesn’t mean much if you don’t know how to make it interesting to your targeted audiences.
Spamming them with generic ads and overused materials isn’t really gonna cut it anymore. You need to be constantly fresh and innovative with your marketing if you’re interested in grabbing the attention of your potential clientele.
It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’re selling, you always have to look for new ways on how to better communicate your message with the world so that more and more people will jump on board with your idea, and eventually purchase your products or services.
If You’re Not Willing to Put in an Extra Effort, Your Competition Is
The competition is just too high these days. There’s no place on the market for those who don’t constantly evolve and better themselves, especially in such industries as web hosting and digital marketing. We’re are all constantly going head to head with each other for our targeted audiences’ attention.
Why? – Because there are so many sharks out there, and so little prey in the water.If we don’t continue to push our boundaries and redefine our old methods, we probably won’t survive. If we want to secure our existence, we need to be constantly one step in front of our competition.
This is why most companies spend a lot more money on marketing, than on product development.
Working for quite some time in this web hosting industry, I’ve seen a lot of companies close up shop faster than you can say dedicated servers.
Why? – Well, because their marketing solely relies on coupons and discounts.
What’s wrong with that? – Everything. By going for such ancient promotional methods, they’re commoditizing their brand. They’re reducing their company’s voice to nothing more than prices, and it’s hurting them badly.
Why? – Because there’s nothing special in that. That kind of strategy won’t make them memorable, nor will it help them gain more customers.
They have to pay their customers to acknowledge their business, and that just ain’t right.
Wouldn’t it be nice if people were actually interested in your brand? Wouldn’t it be great if they all, by themselves, every once in a while came around to see what’s new with your business and if you’ve got anything else to offer them?
Go Big, or Go Home – Be Ahead of the Curve, Be Willing to Innovate
Every time this subject comes up, I’m reminded how the guys at Domino’s pizza made their fortune.
Domino’s, a multi-million dollar chain of pizza restaurants, began in 1960 with a $500 investment by two brothers in a Ypsilanti, Michigan, pizza parlor called DomiNick’s. From those humble origins the company has grown into an international chain, now operating thousands of outlets in more than fifty countries.
How? – Well, during its formative years, one of the ways Domino’s sought to increase its market share among the U.S. pizza-buying public was to offer a guarantee on the speed of its delivery, thereby enticing consumers to order from Domino’s in preference to one of its many competitors. That guarantee, which began in 1979, was “30 minutes or it’s free.” Under that policy, customers won either way: They received pizzas that arrived within a half-hour of ordering, assuring them of hot, fresh product for their money, or they received pizzas that might not have been as hot or as fresh, but without charge.
This kind of outside of the box thinking presented the brothers’ business as reliable, professional, and far more memorable than any other who was at that time operating in that same line of work.
Walk a Mile In Your Client’s Shoes
I have always admired business owners who managed to humanize their brands. That’s why before launching a certain campaign, I always ask myself the following questions:
- Would I go for this kind of service/product?
- What makes my campaign different?
- Am I offering any real value to my potential clientele with this deal?
- Will this help me raise my brand awareness?
For me, the key to creating successful campaigns and business presentations lies in thinking from a client’s perspective. Unlike many of my colleagues, I’m not interested in promoting project, services or campaigns I personally don’t love. It just feels unnatural.
How can I persuade someone to see some real value in a certain project/service or product if I don’t really believe in it, in the first place?
Before you start to spend insane amounts of money on big and expensive advertising real estate, sit down and honestly think about if you really got something worth promoting? Is your campaign in any way providing people with something new, something interesting, and above all, something actually worth paying for?
If not, burn your plans down to the ground, and start fresh again. Remember, presentation is everything these days. How you distribute your message and your values could make or break your company. That why it’s so important to always do what you believe in, and have the confidence innovate.
Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to read my latest post. If you liked what I wrote here, please remember to share this content with your friends and colleagues. Who knows, maybe they’ll like it too.
That’s it for now, see you soon again,
Kind regards,
Goran @ AltusHost B.V.
The author is highly qualified and writes blog posts weekly.
