From Idea to Investment: Designing the art of persuasion

Given its exciting promos and extensive marketing materials(Trailers), fans worldwide were in anticipation of a great movie event. However, on the judgement day, Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice opened to mixed reviews. Critics decried a contrived script, choppy screenplay and a colorless canvass for its dismal ratings. As a big movie buff, I was left crestfallen by the whole episode. 

Was it that bad a movie, I pondered?

A widely-shared fan theory promulgated around the web that the initial promos gave away too much, especially the one where they introduced Doomsday too early. That remains one of the big reason why the movie currently holds 27% at rotten tomatoes and 6.7 in IMDB.

If they held back the release of one of their promos, would the ratings be any different?

May be, maybe not.

But in the end, it was a great marketing lesson for production houses on how to pitch a story without revealing too much.

To put it into context- Trailers are an important tool to pull audience to Big Screens. Just as a Pitch Deck!

Yes, Pitch Deck! 

In a B2B, B2C scenarios Pitch decks are nothing less than what a trailer does for a movie. It can be concurrently derived as to what exactly happened in the above case and how it reflects in business scenarios as well.

May I?

 If we draw an analogy, a Pitch Deck mirrors the aesthetics of a movie trailer in more ways than the other. As in, it touches upon the key points of your business idea in the most concise and compelling manner. However, the purpose, context and audience are quite disparate in a Pitching session. A Pitch Deck's sole objective is to evoke interest from potential investors into your business idea, initiate the next round of dialogues and raise funds if everything goes well. As a standard definition, Pitch Deck is a PowerPoint presentation that contains a ritualized introduction about your company in not more than 15-17 slides.

But here’s the problem…   

Humans have attention span less than a jellyfish- When it concerns Investors, they are generally hard-pressed for time. And even if they do, your business plan is met with heavy-handed responses. As such, fundraising becomes an opaque process and emerging businesses begin to face early failures.

Unpredictability- What goes in their mind? Few investors, even if they take note of your product, get finicky about your product, and prefer digging more into the facts and figure. Of course, you need to keep your data sheets and financial charts ready and reliable, but is it the direction you would like them to veer into? 

The Psychology of Elevator Pitch

Yes, facts and figures drive business decisions. But what leads ‘them’ to such actions?

Trust...right?

Here’s the crux- Stories make us care.

And when Investors take note of your story, they are drawn into action. Just as many businesses have similar product and the Brand with the most recall value stands out in the competition; similarly, not all Elevator Pitches are made equal. And a good deck is rare.

So, how do you curate a compelling story for your Product so that that it never comes across as just another commodity?

A commodity transforms into a Brand when a story is attached. And a good deck is the result of a great Brand Story. Here’s where a carefully designed Pitch deck can craft a narrative by the magnetism of visual storytelling. No wonder, a Pitch Deck’s role in an enterprise is crucial and multi-faceted, as it

• Provides clarity behind your business idea and the value your product delivers
• Presents the right voice to paint a whole picture of your product by providing more information in less time through a well-balanced mix of visuals and texts
• Drives your brand engagement and raises awareness about your product beyond the closed deals and boardrooms

What constitutes a Perfect Pitch?

• Elevator Pitch- Your company’s value proposition told in the shortest details
• Aligned with audience- Consistent with your Brand to be effective
• Fill the design gap- Clean design, well-balanced color palette, judicious use of white-space

If it’s just about a PowerPoint design, what’s the big deal about it, you ask?

Yes. Definitely. Designing a PowerPoint presentation is not rocket science. But is your deck designed to sell?

Here’s where a Pitch Deck differs from a PowerPoint presentation majorly.

Without a compelling design or a purposeful narrative, a presentation fails to induce the right impact. Lower conversion rates follow and your hard work amounts to nothing but a pointless exercise.

So, do you really need a Pitch Deck to persuade investors?

In the glut of spreadsheets and information overload, one may remain hostage to sales more broadly and less on presentations specifically. Creating presentations one after another is a robotic mess just as identifying a story without a cause. Anyone can tell facts. Not everyone can sell a story. And no matter how wonderful your product, positive brand perception is first gauged by aesthetics.

Whether it’s a Pitch Deck or motion picture, if it doesn’t subscribe to its brand, then audience(stakeholders) are left with a bitter experience. Just as it was in the case of Batman V/s Superman: Dawn of Justice, where the audience couldn’t decide which idea was the brand(movie) speaking of? Which part of the story was the central idea- the epic battle between Batman vs Superman or the one-on-one between Batman + Superman + Wonder Woman+ U.S Military vs Doomsday?

Whichever be the case, it was still a fictitious battle. In contrast, mirroring the same belief, we are taught throughout our lives that battles are meant to be won. And when we speak of our lives as Sales officer, Marketers and Entrepreneurs-it’s nothing less than a Pitch.

How do you then hold a solid ground in a sea of frustrating results?

The answer lies in preparation. A solid preparation.

Much in the same vein as Pitch Decks do. A Pitch Decks can go a long way in assisting entrepreneurs and founders curate a trustworthy platform to synergize with potential stakeholders and avoid early, needless failures.

 In an age where data drives business decisions, managing finer nuisances such as Pitch Decks can ensure stakeholders of speed, reliability and flexibility towards favorable business outcomes and reap healthy business relations in return.