How to Master The 5 Minute Online Marketing Pitch
It’s common for a boss, or a business as a whole, to not be completely receptive to the ideas present in marketing plans. Some believe that content marketing is all about “touchy-feely” stuff and want to hear that type of pitch, when in reality a good marketing plan supports all the areas of the selling activities and allows the company to make better, and more informed, marketing decisions.
So if you’re tasked with the challenge of pitching a marketing plan to an unresponsive audience, think about taking some of the following tips into consideration to ensure that your audience sees the many benefits associated with developing a thorough marketing strategy.
Discuss the Context for the Pitch (aka, the Environment of the Company)
In order to get people to listen to your plan they need to understand how and why it may be relevant to them and their business’s needs. You need to explain the big picture right off the bat: Why that particular business needs a marketing plan, how it can benefit them in the long run, and how and why the particulars of the plan will fit in with the environment of the company. You want to get personal, as in knowing your client and their needs, but not unprofessional; there’s a difference between understanding and addressing the goals of your client and becoming “chummy” with them. The latter will not earn you an engaged audience.
Do Your Research and Know the Problems of the Specific Client You are Pitching
A big way to get people to listen and understand the relevancy of your pitch is to do your homework up front, get to know the problems of the specific client/company to which you are pitching, and make sure you tie solutions to those problems in with your plan. Speaking about hypothetical benefits and situations is never as helpful as directly addressing the concerns of your client and showing them how a marketing plan can be the answer. Try to tell a relatable story and make the problem seem as real as possible. You can learn more about our content services as what we recommend as a content marketing agency here.
Speak to the Vision and Goals of the Company
Similar to the first two steps, part of getting to know your audience and tailoring the pitch to their needs involves speaking to their overall goals and visions. If the marketing plan doesn’t match up with both of these, you might as well not even try. Get to know the client ahead of time, learn about their long-term goals, and then incorporate them directly into your pitch. How can your marketing plan help the company reach their goals? Explaining this will go a long way towards helping your client see the value in content marketing. Considering discussing: brand awareness, increased conversion rates, and enhanced customer service, among others.
Show a Case Study and Include Data, Visuals, and Metrics
Once you’ve identified and presented the most relevant marketing goals for your client, consider backing up your claims with market research and statistics. Data speaks volumes, and if you haven’t won over your audience yet chances are you will when they see the numbers that prove your points. Give relevant examples of what other companies are doing, and considering providing an applicable case study that shows their potential return on investment, or ROI. It’s never a bad idea to present this data with visuals (think colorful graphs and charts) to further illustrate your point. Consider including a table or chart that summarizes the revenue you expect to make as well as and marketing expenses for the upcoming year. Offer aggressive, but not over-the-top, metrics that detail the success of the plan. It’s ok to not meet all your goals exactly; as long as you come close your clients will most likely understand.
Incorporate Company Stakeholders
According to the same CBS News article mentioned above, your key stakeholders generally are product development, sales, HR, finance, and executive management. Make sure to include them in on the process. Ask for their opinions ahead of time, consult them when you have ideas, and otherwise elicit their input prior to pitching to the group as a whole. This is a great way to get to know the company environment, problems, goals and vision, as well as to get part of the team on your side before going up against everyone else. It never hurts to start with people in your corner.
Know How to Defend Your Pitch
You already know that pitching a marketing plan is probably going to be challenging, so do yourself a favor and assume that before, during, and after your presentation your audience is probably picking it apart looking for problems. Any time you ask for money there is almost guaranteed to be objections. Knowing this ahead of time will give you a step up because hopefully you can anticipate some of the questions and concerns your client will have and address them in the pitch (with solutions) before they lose interest or completely write you off. Consider speaking to common questions and concerns such as: how much will this cost, we can’t afford this, this won’t work for our company, etc.
Stay in it for the Long Haul
Again, asking for money is always a tricky business, so don’t expect your client to embrace the pitch and get on board immediately. Most likely there will be multiple meetings and revisions that take place; this doesn’t mean your pitch was a failure. The most thoughtful laid-out plans generally take time. Listen to your client’s objections, take them into consideration, spend time thinking of solutions and then re-pitch a revised plan. As long as you’re moving forward, you’re not failing.
Mastering an online marketing pitch is definitely a challenge, but one that can be overcome by following the tips above. Be prepared to do a lot of research and work up front, and don’t get discouraged if your audience isn’t immediately receptive to your ideas. Address their concerns with a solid plan backed up by data and you’re guaranteed to come out on top.
How are you going to get started? Comment in the section below!
Feature Image Credit: techstars.com
About The Author
Jason Hawkins / http://www.themiamiseocompany.com
Jason Hawkins is the CEO & Co-Founder of The Miami SEO Company. He has over ten years of experience in search engine optimization, conversion rate optimization and lead generation. His core responsibilities include identifying ways to increase value of services rendered, training staff on advanced SEO topics, and A/B testing internal processes to consistently improve client return on investment.
