Gone are the days when marketers used to go door-to-door to distribute flyers and pamphlets for promoting their products. Today, with the advent of digital marketing, the ways of doing marketing have modernized. Now, face-to-face interaction has been reduced to occasional marketing conferences or networking events. Marketers are no longer required to knock on the doors to make people aware of their products. In this digital realm, various efficient and effective ways to generate qualified business leads are available, such as social media, pay-per-click advertising, customer referrals, search engine optimization, and so on. In addition, there is one more tool that is mostly overlooked by marketers, i.e., marketing presentations.
Marketing presentations can do wonders when it comes to pitching ideas to management/clients, proposing a new marketing campaign, and launching a new product. A well-designed presentation can make your marketing endeavors successful. The big question here is – how to create a winning and compelling marketing presentation to prevent the audience from getting bored and losing their attention? So, here are some expert tips to keep your audience excited to hear more from you.
- Begin Your Presentation with a Bang
Creating a different picture of the audience’s pain points and igniting their emotions right from the beginning of the presentation is the key to keep them engaged till the end of the slideshow and focused on what you have to say. So, think of a vivid way to start your presentation. Based on the topic you are presenting, you can commence with a dramatic question, a provoking remark, a shocking statistic, a marketing quote, or a short video
For example, Oli Gardner, a well-known speaker on topics related to conversion rate optimization, uses a distinct approach to keep his audience hooked. He begins with gloomy slides, and when the audience gets downhearted, he surprises them with good news. Watch one of his presentations here:
Looking for some more ideas to start your presentation like a pro? Here we go!
- Entice your audience with a stellar opening line.
- Begin your talk by making a bold claim.
- Another interesting way to initiate your speech is to make a claim that contradicts people’s expectations.
- Stimulate curiosity by asking a puzzle.
- A surprising story is one of the gripping ways to kick off the presentation.
- “What’s in it for me? – Make it Apparent with Your Presentation
The primary motive that drives the audience to listen to a presentation is the belief that it will provide them with the right solutions to their problems and actionable takeaways. As a presenter, you can instill this belief by making it crystal clear what the audience will achieve/learn/gain after listening to your presentation with undivided attention. Start off your presentation with an explicit promise and make all efforts to fulfill it.
For example, if you are delivering a talk on “Content Marketing ROI,” make it apparent to the audience that they will learn the best strategies to improve traffic, rankings, and conversions.
Below is the video of one of the Ted Talks of the influential speaker, Tim Ferriss, who made it clear that he wants everyone in the hall to feel like the Incredible Hulk, at the end of this presentation.
To sum up, you can highlight how the information you are sharing will:
- benefit the audience’s lives
- solve the pain points they are facing.
- take their business to a new level.
- help them use knowledge in a specific way.
- Narrate a Visually Engaging Story Backed by Relevant Data
Merely showcasing dashboards and reports without adding a narrative to data is indeed overwhelming. Your audience is more likely to hear you if your content provides them a sense of connection. So, by leveraging the power of storytelling and real-life examples, you can make your marketing presentation a huge success.
Ensure that the data-driven marketing information that you are going to present is backed by the relevant images, charts, graphs, and illustrations to drive emotions, encouraging the audience to connect the dots and take the right action. Furthermore, use relevant context to make your data-driven story interesting.
Watch how beautifully Ben and Jerry’s, a USA-based manufacturer of sorbet, frozen yogurt, and ice cream, put forward their mission of responsibly sourced agriculture and sustainable foods through its story.
Here are a few ways to represent your data storytelling through the presentation:
- Illustrate trends, focusing on how numbers fall and rise over time.
- Showcase comparison of different data sets.
- Make a large amount of data interpretable by portraying its hierarchy based on various factors.
- Demonstrate statistical relationships, explaining how one factor impacts another.
- Avoid Brimming Your Slides with Text
The text-heavy slides may ruin all your efforts, making your presentation ineffective and a disaster to present. Thus, instead of overloading your slides with content, enrich them with appealing and high-quality visuals. The concepts presented as images instead of words are easy to comprehend by the audience.
In a nutshell, use slides as visual complements to text and aid to accentuate your important takeaways. And, if you are not good at designing, you can go for pre-designed templates that are easy to customize.
Use the following techniques to avoid text-heavy slides:
- Split content into multiple slides, representing one major idea on each slide.
- Include only important information, leaving unnecessary details.
- Supplement your presentation slides by providing separate handouts.
- Choose a well-thought-out design, ensuring your audience does not feel bombarded by information.
- Use white spaces wisely to make your slides look professional.
- Enrich Your Presentation with Apposite Humor
If you are delivering a talk on a serious topic, it does not at all mean that you can’t add humor to it. In fact, you can add an extra appeal and make your presentations fun by incorporating an anecdote, memes, or a funny quote. Moreover, you can hold the audience’s attention, create a bond with them, and make your presentation more memorable with relevant humor.
Watch this video to understand how Tim Urban used funny drawings in one of his presentations to make it outstanding.
- Tell Your Audience What to Do Next
Without a well-thought-out CTA (call to action), your presentation is incomplete as it leaves the audience in limbo. A CTA guides your audience on what they are supposed to do with the information they have just received. So, instead of ending your presentation with a “Thank You” slide, end it with a strong CTA.
For example, if you want people to contact you, then include your name, company’s name, email address, website, and other relevant information in the CTA slide.
Below are some CTAs that suit various presentation purposes:
General – See More, Learn More, Find Out, Continue
Ecommerce – Order, Shop, Buy, Reserve
Non-Profit – Support, Give, Volunteer, Donate
Freebie Giveaway – Take advantage of, Claim, Grab, Get
The Bottom Line
Marketing presentations open the door to the sales process and encourage the audience to enter into it. This fact in itself reveals the importance of engaging presentations for marketing professionals. So, don’t consider presentations as an afterthought. Instead, follow the tips provided above to make your presentations impactful and support other marketing efforts.
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