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3 Ad Agency Tips for Better PowerPoint Visual Designs

Posted on by Rick E

There are three elements to consider in PowerPoint visual designs: a slide title, an image, and a caption (or body text). Using any of the elements is the key to making an effective sales presentation. To make a proper combination of these, here are three tips to follow:

1. Something Needs to Be the Star

Effective presentation slides, like print ads, use what creativity mentor Luke Sullivan calls one dominant element. It can be a large piece of text, a big visual, or even white space. Regardless of the combination you choose, make one of these the first thing that your audiences see once the slide comes up on screen. Will your slide need a dominant picture? Will you highlight one big word?

Pick one tactic, and make the rest of the elements work in tandem with it to get your point across faster to your audience.

2. Establish Your Own Look

Sullivan suggests that every brand has its own look, a distinct personality. Macs are simplistic. BMW’s are cool. Nike products are sporty, and Volkswagens are practical. To establish your own image, look to your own company’s brand.

Can you tag an encompassing description for it? How would you like your clients and customers to see it?

Being different in terms of PowerPoint design means making a unique slide and presentation style. This makes your pitch more memorable, letting clients associate your product with your own company. Once this happens, your competitors will have a hard time trying to outsell you without looking like you.

3. Try to Be Cute or Funny (Only If the Idea Calls for It)

There are times when your presentation idea gives you room to be adorable (if you’re pitching for pet or baby products, for example). This was an approach used by the print ads of Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and Hansaplast Anti-Sweat Foot Spray.

Always try to take a backward spin on such opportunities. This makes your proposed product more noticeable and, possibly, more appealing to clients. As a word of caution, doing this relies on very specific “ifs”:

If your presentation idea calls for it, as with the case of the SPCA and Hansaplast foot spray ads, or if you have time for it, similar to how Steve Jobs showed a gag iPhone image before showing the actual iPhone in 2007.

Summing It Up

Mastering all three tips is something that happens over the course of several presentations. Emphasize one thing in your slide so that your audience has something to focus on. Create a unique look for your brand so that you won’t be mistaken for anybody else.

Lastly, you can try to add a humorous or cute spin, but only if you can justify this tactic. Once you’ve gotten the hang of these, people will start remembering your pitch, enough for you to start seeing an increase in sales.

To help you get a grasp of them faster, get in touch with a presentation design specialist for free!

 

References

Coloribus.com. Accessed August 14, 2015.
Sullivan, Luke. Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Ads. 3rd ed. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2008.
“The Secret to Defining Your Presentation Ideas and Style.” SlideGenius, Inc. May 05, 2015. Accessed August 14, 2015.

2 Tips on Using Long Text in Professional PowerPoint Designs

Posted on by Rick E

Contrary to the presenter’s rule of keeping your slides simple, there are special exceptions when you can use long text in your visuals, even for a professional PowerPoint design.

There’s one standard to apply when doing this, a specialty practiced by the makers of the Volkswagen print ads: make it interesting.

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Justify the Long Text with an Idea

In his book, Cutting Edge Advertising, Jim Aitchison explains how your text should have an interesting idea to justify its length. This is often the case when you have a good story to tell. This is not to say that it’s justifiable to copy and paste your entire story into a single slide. After all, PowerPoint should be used as a visual aid, not a script.

A good way to balance this is to make the text work well with your slide designs, similar to how the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals made their print ads. These featured a cat and a dog holding a list of things they promise their new owners if they were to be adopted.

Critics often tell you to avoid using lists and bullet points, which is usually a good idea to follow. But while the list in the example is lengthy, the idea is based on the insight of annoyances pet owners have to deal with. This insight is relatable enough to its target readers, and the idea is strong enough to present a solution to the pet owner’s problems.

If you have a sales presentation idea that your clients can relate to, you already have an advantage over the competition, if only because you give the impression that you understand their problems and want to help solve them.

Write the Text Well

There’s a difference between making a text-heavy slide and a well-written story. While disguising a print ad as a news article may work for broadsheets and possibly for presentation handouts, the same can’t be said with PowerPoint slides.

If you have an interesting story to tell and you want your audience to remember the keywords, balance them with a visual and an interesting headline, similar to how Timberland and Volkswagen did their new ads. For slides, focus on your narration and fade in the text with simple animations as you speak. You can also alter the fonts to highlight what you want your audiences to remember.

While there are exceptions that call for using long text, remember that even this needs to be presentable for a professional presentation. To help you get the most of this, getting the help of a professional PowerPoint design specialist can help you gain the advantage you need.

 

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References

Aitchison, J. Cutting Edge Advertising: How to Create the World’s Best Print for Brands in the 21st Century. Singapore; New York: Prentice Hall, 2004.
“Reduce and Simplify Like a PowerPoint Professional.” SlideGenius, Inc. 2015. Accessed August 10, 2015.
“Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals(SPCA): “ROTTWEILER” Print Ad by Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore.” Advertising Archive. Accessed August 10, 2015.
Sullivan, L. Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This! A Guide to Creating Great Ads. Hoboken, NJ – J. Wiley & Sons, 2008.

Three Professional Ways to Evaluate a PowerPoint Idea

Posted on by Rick E

We often think that a great presentation can simply outsell its competitors, but an effective PowerPoint deck uses an interesting idea at its core. This idea lends itself to its content, its design and even the speaker’s words. Professional presenters like TED speakers fulfill this core requirement: a single idea that defines their stories.

Every part of their presentation, even the rule of three, is used to support this one idea. It’s also the reason why people like Steve Jobs can effectively sell his gadgets to loyal Apple supporters.

What makes a selling presentation idea?

There are three ways to tell if yours is as effective as the pros, similar to how advertising agencies evaluate their ideas:

1. Your Clients and Audience Can Relate to It

An effective sales presentation has something that its audience can relate to.

Will you bank on shared beliefs?

Will you play to your passions and share a personal story that inspires others?

Your presentation idea or strategy should be relatable to your audience. In Cutting Edge Advertising, Jim Aitchison expounds on how there should be an insight into human behavior that they can see. In the case of clients, everyone wants something to make their lives easier. The trick is to show them exactly how. To put yourself ahead of the competition, use simple sayings like: “This product conveniently puts the information you need at your fingertips.”

2. It Has Potential for Variety

Once you have a solid PowerPoint idea, the next step is to make a strategy. Similar to an advertisement strategy, a presentation strategy is something that creativity mentor Luke Sullivan would describe as the key message you want to communicate.

Do you want to say that you’re an industry leader with a track record for helping other companies? Do you want to position yourself as a competitive startup with advantages over the market leader?

If you can make a presentation strategy that’s this simple, you have the added benefit of having a pitch to improve on and build up for the next client. The key point to a flexible presentation idea is to ask yourself: “Can it be done differently?” If your idea suggests different words and pictures that all point to the same strategy, it can save you a whole lot of trouble building a new pitch for a new client with different needs.

3. Is It Engaging Enough?

This simply means that your idea must be effective enough to make the audience think for themselves. Is your slide content or speech specific enough for clients to visualize what you want them to see? Can they do this even without the visuals from your slides?

Engage your audience by spiking up their imagination. If your words paint a vivid picture, it keeps them hooked and prevents them from tuning out from or sleeping through your pitch.

The Takeaway: Always Be Skeptical

Every idea has its potential, but the great ideas are always the ones that have a better chance of selling. This is why presenters should always be skeptical of the ideas to use in a business presentation.

Ask yourself: “Will I still like it after two or three days?” It also helps if you have a professional PowerPoint expert to help make the most out of your idea and save you the time coming up with one. All you need is a few minutes to get in touch with one for free.

 

References

“Ad Agency Tricks: Outsell Competitors in Sales Presentations.” SlideGenius, Inc. 2015. Accessed August 7, 2015.
Aitchison, J. Cutting Edge Advertising: How to Create the World’s Best Print for Brands in the 21st Century. Singapore; New York: Prentice Hall, 2004.
“Promotion & Advertising Strategy.” Marketing Strategy. Accessed August 7, 2015.
Sullivan, L. Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This! A Guide to Creating Great Ads. Hoboken, NJ – J. Wiley & Sons, 2008.

3 Reasons Why PowerPoint Presentations Are Still Effective

Posted on by Rick E

While there’s no exact figure, an estimated 30 million presentations are being done worldwide with another 500 million users behind them. With or without these estimates, it can’t be denied that a considerable number of people still use PowerPoint as their default presentation aid, either for reporting or selling their products.

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While other applications such as Keynote and Prezi are already available, PowerPoint will still be around as everyone’s default business presentation application. Like any tool, PowerPoint presentations can be effective if used properly.

Here are three reasons why a professionally designed presentation deck is still the best way to sell:

1. It Engages the Audience’s Minds

Done right, the words and images in your slides can involve and engage your audience the way a print ad can. This makes the selling process interactive, especially if you take renowned author Jim Aitchison’s advertising advice and make use of specific and descriptive words, letting your clients form pictures in their minds.

These are powerful tools that you can use to get your point across, especially if you appeal to shared beliefs.

2. It Can Persuade

Whether you’re advocating a new idea or persuading clients to buy into your proposal, print ads and a properly designed slide both show an effective call to action. Taking time to learn the ropes and design your PowerPoint to complement your pitch is rewarding in itself. But for those running short on time but want similarly effective, or further enhanced output, contacting a professional PowerPoint design specialist can reap endless benefits.

The trick is to keep your visual design simple enough to work with your text (if any).

3. It Gives You Control

As with the pages on a print ad, every slide you make is a chance to make your company and your proposal look appealing. This is why whatever you put in that slide is a reflection of your brand’s image and credibility. With PowerPoint’s ability to link to music, videos, and even websites, you’re in control of what your audience wants to see.

Choose the best way to depict your brand and make your viewers buy your pitch.

The Catch: You Need to Be Great

The fact that PowerPoint has been around this long is a testament to its effectivity. Used properly, it can be your ticket to winning your next sales pitch. To be great, you need to be interesting. According to creativity mentor, Luke Sullivan, to be interesting, you need to have a great idea to show your target audience. This is a valuable lesson presenters can learn from the advertising agency behind the famous Volkswagen print ads.

Enhance your deck to enhance your overall pitch, and gain the returns from this investment.

References

Aitchison, J. Cutting Edge Advertising: How to Create the World’s Best Print for Brands in the 21st Century. Singapore; New York: Prentice Hall, 2004.
Sullivan, L. Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This! A Guide to Creating Great Ads. Hoboken, NJ – J. Wiley & Sons, 2008.
“PowerPoint Usage and Market Share.” Infogr.am. Accessed August 6, 2015.
“Using Common Values in PowerPoint Presentations.” SlideGenius, Inc. April 21, 2015. Accessed August 6, 2015.
“Four Reasons You Need Presentation Designers (Not Just Graphic Designers)” SlideGenius, Inc. October 9, 2019. Accessed September 2, 2021.

3 Crucial Pointers for Making Effective Sales Presentations

Posted on by Rick E

In every sales pitch, offering new products changes how clients see three things: their problem, your company and your pitch. According to Cutting Edge Advertising author, Jim Aitchison, “Disruption” is an advertising method which involves presenting your idea as the solution to dismantle the status quo and replace it with something new.

Clients have objections relating to costs, time and your proposals’ reliability. Break these barriers to change their perceptions. Every business presentation’s goal is to convince clients to take the risk of investing in your idea.

1. Prove That You can Change the Status Quo

Change how your clients see their problem by presenting an opportunity to solve it. Apple iPhone users relied on wall sockets to charge their phones. The Samsung Galaxy S5’s commercial challenged this with its improved power-saving mode and interchangeable batteries. It dismantled the status quo despite directly attacking the iPhone.

Make a strong statement by studying your current industry and competition for any weaknesses you can exploit.

2. Change How Clients See Your Company

With several other companies pitching ideas, show what makes you unique. Offer your best advantage over the competition. Back up your claims with numbers.

Have you made notable profits? Are your solutions more cost-efficient than others? Prove that your idea’s worth investing in. Brand communications expert Carmine Gallo suggests that entrepreneurs show investors that you can compete with major market players. Explain what the numbers mean for them.

3. Change How Clients See Your Pitch

Because clients look for proof that you deliver, make your pitch convincing with past cases of your success. Have you made any notable achievements? Are there other companies that can testify that you deliver your promise?

Your pitch has a higher approval rate if you offer proof, if your promises are consistent with what your company does, and if you show that other clients are satisfied. These address any objections you’ll face.

The Bottom Line

Changing perceptions involves showing proof that you can spark said changes.

In business and sales presentations, point out how to solve the problem and how you plan to do it. Then, convince your clients that your company can consistently deliver. This proves that clients can trust your company to get the most out of their investment.

To learn more about making sales presentation strong enough to convince clients, talk to the right people.

 

References

“Ad Agency Tricks: Outsell Competitors in Sales Presentations.” SlideGenius, Inc. 2015. Accessed July 23, 2015.
Aitchison, J. Cutting Edge Advertising: How to Create the World’s Best Print for Brands in the 21st Century. Singapore; New York: Prentice Hall, 2004.
Gallo, C. The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010.
Samsung Galaxy S5. Samsung Mobile. Accessed July 23, 2015.

PowerPoint Visual Design Tips From Ads: Text & Image Balance

Posted on by Rick E

Text-heavy slides are a common PowerPoint deck problem. That’s why you should rely primarily on visuals for your business presentations, keeping text to a bare minimum with simple labels and lists. This gives you more room to talk about your pitch.

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Should text dominate your slide or will an image do on its own?

Deciding the text’s length, the image’s position, and the kind of image to use are also problems shared by presenters and advertising agencies alike. According to renowned author, Jim Aitchison, it’s best to use a single-minded approach: either the visual or the text must dominate the image.

The Postcard-or-Letter Method

The postcard-or-letter method is a choice between using a visually-led execution with a short piece of text, or a mostly text-based advertisement that still uses a visual. Consider the image and text sizes, as well as the elements’ location in your PowerPoint visual design to pull off a similar effect.

1. Image Size vs. Text Size

Simple and minimalist executions like Burger King’s Fiery Fries print ad use a dominant visual with a small piece of text. This works best for postcard-style announcements or for making a point for your business presentations.

For the opposite method, let the text occupy a dominant portion of the frame, as with the XO Beer print ads. When using the letter style, you need an interesting story to tell about your product, or an engaging activity that lets them imagine something interesting.

2. Location, Location, Location

Positioning is a crucial visual factor. To make your point clear, place your images in the middle to make them more prominent.

For comparisons, place two images side-by-side, similar to how Aitchison cites the Kaminomoto hair grower print ads. In other cases, let people see the image in the middle and your text below it, just like the early Volkswagen ads. Make either the text or image more dominant than the other or your slide will distract your audience.

The Point: Show Less to Talk More

Be as minimalistic as possible. Your PowerPoint slides only have room for a dominant visual or piece of text, not all the images or words in the world. Decide whether you need to make a point or compare yourself with the competition. Then, choose which element will get your audience’s interest, and decide where to put it to best get their attention. It’s not about how much content you can cram into your slides, but how you can use what little you have to convince your clients to do business with you.

To help you maximize your visuals and text for your business presentations, try to get in touch with a professional PowerPoint presentation designer today!

 

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References

“5 TED Talk Secrets for Persuasive PowerPoint Presentations.” SlideGenius, Inc. 2015. Accessed July 22, 2015.
Aitchison, J. Cutting Edge Advertising: How to Create the World’s Best Print for Brands in the 21st Century. Singapore; New York: Prentice Hall, 2004.
XO Beer. Neil French. Accessed July 22, 2015.

Advertising Tactics for Business Presentation Planning

Posted on by Rick E

Identifying your client’s expectations is always the first step but is only half of the equation. The other half is meeting and exceeding those expectations using your business presentation.

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Before opening PowerPoint and rehearsing, solve what ad veteran Luke Sullivan cites as two problems shared by most advertising campaigns: the client’s business and how to deliver your pitch.

The Client’s Business Problem

Every client wants something. Common business objectives that you’ll pitch ideas for include:

  • promoting a new product.
  • showing investors that your company is worth doing business with.
  • getting a partner for a joint.

First, find out what your clients’ objectives are, then choose the best way to solve them.

Delivering Your Pitch

The key lies in your strategy. If you were a CEO who needed more business partners to work with you, how would you go about it?

Will you highlight your market performance? Will you show testimonies from satisfied clients you served? Will you showcase the advantages your company has over the competition?

According to renowned author, Jim Aitchison, deciding the best way to achieve these objectives will be your strategy. Fulfilling that strategy needs three tactics used in the advertising industry:

Tactic 1: Filter Your Ideas

Always start with a clean slate. Take your ideas to the drawing board before plugging in your images or words. This gives you room to plan how your idea works. Will you need to back up your claims with numbers? Will you need to highlight your main benefit and support it with the three strongest facts? Should you highlight the problem and what parts of it you can tackle?

Asking yourself even the most absurd and unrelated questions can help you find simple solutions, like a product benefit or a relevant fact about your client that you may have overlooked.

Tactic 2: Put your Benefits Front and Center

Professional presenters know that their audience always looks for their product or service’s benefits. Advertisers know that people won’t buy a product for what it is, but for what it can give them. After figuring out which ideas to utilize, use a combination of visuals and text that prove your point.

One early Volkswagen print ad showed a lunar landing craft with the tagline “It’s ugly but it gets you there,” highlighting their cars’ practicality. It never showed the product. It showed a benefit.

Tactic 3: Use Incontestable Facts

Use irrefutable facts to kill your competition. Sullivan recommends that if you have a fact that highlights your product’s durability or effectiveness, use it, especially if your competitors can’t argue or disprove it.

If you can say that your services cost 30% less than leading providers, if you have a way to increase your client’s market share within the first three months, and if you have the numbers to back up your claims, you can easily establish your credibility with the audience.

It can be something as simple as the tagline that gave Avis Rent A Car its reputation (“The line at our counter is shorter.”) which implied that they served customers faster.

The Bottom Line: Fulfill the Need in Style

Speech tone, body language, facial expressions, even the images you use in your PowerPoint deck are tools to sell your product. These can change and improve over time, but your client’s basic needs will never change. They‘ll always look for cheaper raw materials, more efficient outsourced production, more cost-efficient electronics, etc.

Every business seeks a specific product that offers the benefits they need. This should form the substance behind every single sales presentation technique you use, and every slide design that you make. It all boils down to how effectively you use these tools to fulfill that need.

To help with your business presentation strategy and get the most out of your PowerPoint deck, take a few minutes to ask a professional partner for help.

 

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References

“A Presentation Expert’s Guide to Knowing the Audience.” SlideGenius, Inc. 2015. Accessed July 22, 2015.
Aitchison, J. (2004). Cutting Edge Advertising: How to Create the World’s Best Print for Brands in the 21st Century. Singapore ; New York: Prentice Hall.
Gallo, C. (2010). The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Great VW Ads. Accessed July 22, 2015.
Sullivan, L. (2008). Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Ads (3rd Ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons.

6 Ways to Get Presentation Ideas from Volkswagen Ads

Posted on by Rick E

The 1960’s Volkswagen print ads started a revolution in print advertising. It was also here that simplicity and tasteful creativity took root as effective selling techniques.

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If you study your product thoroughly, you’ll find specific and creative strategies to highlight its benefits and differentiate it from the competition. These ads were so effective that they became the poster boys for any advertising agency worth its salt.

As presenters, there are several things that we can learn from studying how these ads are made, particularly how to get effective presentation ideas that sell your product effectively.

We’ll run you through a few tips from ad veteran Luke Sullivan and give six steps to making your presentations as effective as Volkswagen’s print ads:

1. Look at the Car.

Everything begins with your product.

Defining what it does and what it has to offer are all here. Use simple strategies like highlighting your product’s main aspect or the advantages it has over the competition.

Take a look at your product and see how you can make an interesting presentation out of it. List down everything you can and find one main thing to use.

2. Look Harder. You’ll Find Enough Advantages to Fill a Lot of Ads.

There’ll be times when you’ll be the underdog.

Even when it seems like you don’t have any obvious advantages, go for the other route and capitalize on what looks like a weakness. For example, Sullivan cites how Avis capitalized on their status as the second-fiddle car rental service.

The Volkswagen print ads had headlines that seemed like weaknesses:

  • “It makes your house look bigger.”
  • “And when you run out of gas, it’s easy to push.”
  • “It’s ugly but it gets you there.”

The advertising agency behind these print ads made the car’s weaknesses crucial messages that amplify the car’s other benefits, mainly practicality and convenience.

If you’re a startup, you could take the same route that Avis and Volkswagen took to make you look better than the competition while being honest about your capabilities.

3. Don’t Exaggerate… Don’t Promise More.

While there’s the temptation to make your product better than the competition, dramatize the benefits, what you get out of the product, rather than what the product is. 

Honesty is an integral part of any Volkswagen ad.

One unique ad had a picture of a car floating in a pool, with the headline “Volkswagen’s unique construction keeps dampness out.” While they seem exaggerated, the advertising agency verified these facts and the client made sure that their products could deliver exactly as promised.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Ask yourself, “Is there an incontestable fact that I can use to prove my claim?”

4. Call a Spade a Spade. And a Suspension a Suspension.

Simple terms and a conversational tone are the two most prominent features in every Volkswagen ad’s headline and body text. These are skills used by effective TED Talks speakers.

From explaining how thorough their factory inspections are, to how the car’s construction keeps water out, the ads are free of complex explanations.

5. Speak to the Reader.

Most Volkswagen print ads tell a compelling story in a conversational manner.

They present an unusual but engaging truth, similar to the ad with the lunar lander and the ad with the man pushing the Volkswagen after it ran out of fuel. This explains that there’s no need for extra bells and whistles as you present.

If you can speak sensibly and conversationally the way the ads can, you’ve already won your audience’s attention.

6. Pencil Sharp? You’re on Your Own.

Maybe you don’t use a pencil and paper these days, but the meaning stands.

When planning for a sales presentation that meets all the first five steps, list down everything you have in mind, explore your product (and if needed, the competition) thoroughly, then find out what you can use.

While each pitch may be different, everything begins with a blank slide and a capable presentation partner.

 

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References

“How to Sell Your Sales Pitch by Not Sounding like One.” SlideGenius, Inc. July 06, 2015. Accessed July 13, 2015.
Sullivan, L. Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This! A Guide to Creating Great Ads. Hoboken, NJ – J. Wiley & Sons, 2008.
Starr, Benjamin. “The 20 Best Volkswagen Ads from Their 1960s Campaign.” Visual News. September 3, 2013. Accessed July 13, 2015.
“Why Conversational Tones Work for Corporate Presentations.” SlideGenius, Inc. 2015. Accessed July 13, 2015.

Getting Presentation Ideas: Study the Client’s Business

Posted on by Rick E

Knowing your client’s business is one of the four ways to get great presentation ideas.

Aside from speaking to clients in their terms, impress them by doing your homework and figuring out what problem to solve.

How It Works:

1. Do a Factory Tour

Most great presentation ideas begin with studying the client’s product or service, a method practiced by top advertising agencies like Doyle Dane Bernbach, makers of the famous Volkswagen ads.

Getting a chance to tour your client’s stores, factories or shops works to your advantage. According to ad veteran Luke Sullivan, study every brochure, advertising and PR material, even their sales pitches if they’ll allow it.

Doing so gives you information on how to solve their existing problem or an improvement that your company can pitch.

Once you get the chance, ask every question you can:

  • How are the products made?
  • How are their services given?
  • Who buys them?
  • Are there any special ingredients or parts that make it the way it is?

Every single question gives you the answer you need for that winning sales presentation idea.

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2. Study the Product or Service

Ask your client how customers behave towards their brand. As renowned author, Jim Aitchison asks, what situations do they use in your client’s products or services?

If your client is a travel agency, do people use their services to plan family vacations or business trips? Pitch for a tie-up with a hotel or resort promo.

Does your client provide companies with health insurance? Propose a partnership with a hospital or clinic.

Doing this puts you in the shoes of your client’s customers. By understanding what makes the product or service the way it is, and how the client’s customers use it, you get a clear picture of what it’s supposed to do and how your pitch can improve your client’s situation.

Look at it from every aspect before making your PowerPoint deck. This gives you a thorough understanding that it’ll be strong enough to cut through other competitors.

The Advantage: Knowledge Is Power

Having this first-hand knowledge shows a clearer picture of what problem to solve. Knowing how your client’s business works also lets you define your presentation strategy.

Do you want to highlight how your proposal can expand your client’s current product reach? Do you want to show the benefits of your pitch over the competition’s?

Regardless of how you want to present your pitch, you’ll have more credibility if your client knows you did your research. Get help from a great presentation partner to make the most out of your pitch.

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References

Aitchison, J. (2004). Cutting Edge Advertising: How to Create the World’s Best Print for Brands in the 21st Century. Singapore; New York: Prentice Hall.
“Four Ways to Get Great Presentation Ideas from Ad Agencies.” SlideGenius, Inc. June 26, 2015. Accessed July 2, 2015.
Sullivan, L. (2008). Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Ads (3rd Ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons.
“The Greatest Print Campaigns of All Time: Volkswagen Think Small.” Design Shack. Accessed July 2, 2015.

Four Ways to Get Great Presentation Ideas from Ad Agencies

Posted on by Rick E

Before making the sales pitch, know what problem your client needs to solve and what their expectations are. This makes it easier to select the best presentation technique and tactic.

First, you need a great presentation idea.

Are you focusing on practicality like Volkswagen? Or, as renowned author, Jim Aitchison, presented, will you capitalize on the advantages of being second like Avis Rent-a-Car?

Are you looking to attack the competition like when 7-Up presented itself as the “uncola”, the opposition of Coca-Cola and Pepsi?

Before starting on your PowerPoint deck, come up with a simple but powerful strategy to guide your presentation ideas.

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1. Know Where You Stand

Are you a startup? An established company with a credible reputation? Are you somewhere in between?

Regardless of your business size, it’s important to identify your position as opposed to the competition. Inc contributing editor, Darren Dahl, suggests that one of the most effective ways to do this is by determining your company’s financial standing.

Once you know how you stand in relation to your competitors, define what you can offer through your corporate presentation. Find out what advantages you have over the competition and capitalize on those in your sales pitch.

2. Know Your Client’s Business

Clients may call on other companies for a briefing or a factory tour. According to ad veteran Luke Sullivan, this builds your credibility because:

  1. You give the impression that you care and want to know more about your clients.
  2. You get to speak to them in their terms and their language.

Talking in their terms makes it easier for clients to understand your pitch.

When consulting your clients, ask them everything you can. Study their PR materials, look at how they do business with their customers, where they stand in the market, etc.

Your winning presentation idea can be found in your client’s business.

3. Know Your Customers

Find out how your customers see you.

Show your clients that you have satisfied the people you’ve done business with before, and they’ll be more easily convinced to invest in your proposal.

If clients can’t give you the information you need, answer the one question they always ask: “what’s in it for me?”

4. Know the Competition

Knowing how your competition does business tells you how they present themselves. Analyzing your competition’s presentation techniques tells you how to counter them in your own pitch.

If your competition banks on their advantages over the rest of the market, emphasize one thing they don’t have. Avis stated that the lines at their car rental counter are shorter than the leading brands’.

Even the fiercest competitor in your industry vertical will have a weakness you can exploit.

The Final Act: Simplify Your Strategy

Once you have the information you need, make your corporate presentation strategy as simple as possible.

You can emphasize the benefits of being the second place market performer, or boast about a pocket-sized device that holds a thousand songs.

As brand communications expert, Carmine Gallo, puts it, you can talk about how your new gadget achieved a comparable market share to the rest of the competition within its initial shipments.

Whatever benefit you choose to emphasize, make your point at the start of your pitch.

Having a great idea and communicating it well isn’t enough. To truly maximize this, you need a professional corporate presentation designer. Take a few minutes to talk to us and start getting the profits you deserve.

 

SlideGenius Blog Module One

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References

“Ad Agency Tricks: Outsell Competitors in Sales Presentations.” SlideGenius, Inc. 2015. Accessed June 26, 2015.
Aitchison, J. Cutting Edge Advertising: How to Create the World’s Best Print for Brands in the 21st Century. Singapore; New York: Prentice Hall, 2004.
Dahl, Darren. “How to Evaluate Your Company’s Financial Position.” Inc.com. August 30, 2010. Accessed June 26, 2015.
Gallo, C. The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience. New York. McGraw-Hill, 2010
“Great PowerPoint Presentations Need Great Main Ideas.” SlideGenius, Inc. 2015. Accessed June 26, 2015.
Sullivan, L. Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Ads (3rd Ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2008.

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