In the past, the presentation was expected to be a natural skill for marketing professionals. They had to go door to door and convince prospects to buy a product or patronize a service. Today, old-school face-face presentations have become restricted to executive board rooms and networking events and conferences. But even in these places, your ability to deliver an impressive marketing presentation is still a valuable skill every marketing executive should exhibit. The following are some of the expert-recommended tips for creating an effective marketing presentation.
Be Enthusiastic
When it comes to delivering marketing presentations that convert, the vibes matter. No one wants to spend several minutes or hours listening to you about a subject you are not passionate about or try to market a product you don’t care for. If your presentation already bores you, be sure that your audience will find it boring too. The people listening to you will be able to see your passion from how you speak, your body language, and how well you manage the stage. To convince anyone else about the idea you are trying to pitch, you need to be completely sold on the idea as well.
Be Familiar with Your Materials
Notes, slides, and other visual cues are only tools that are meant to aid communication. But you are not meant to depend entirely on them. Presentations are already boring without you reading directly from your slides. Your expertise as a marketer is often dependent on how well you can display your knowledge of the subject beyond the cue cards you are using. Those who rely excessively on their presentation materials will sound boring and unsure of themselves. Preparing well for your presentation also determines how well you will be able to answer any question that comes up later on during the presentation.
Follow Design Principles
Your design is the vehicle through which you transmit the value you intend to pass across to your audience. Hence, the design is just as important as the content of your presentations. You don’t have to be a design professional to deliver stunning presentations. However, there are basic design rules that your presentation has to follow.
First, your presentation slides have to be visually appealing. There is a visual hierarchy to follow in organizing your presentation. Your design elements should be included in the order of their importance. While preparing the outline of your presentations, always think of where you intend to incorporate visual elements and ensure you use them properly.
Another important aspect of designing presentation slides is color psychology. This is particularly important for marketing presentations since colors will have different effects on the emotions of your audience and can be used to call their attention to specific parts of the presentation. Your choice of font will also affect the overall look and tone of your presentation.
The truth is, all of these design principles can feel overwhelming for someone that’s not a professional designer. There is a vast number of choices to be made and your lack of expertise can limit you. However, using professionally designed marketing PowerPoint templates can make it a lot easier to organize your content in a visually appealing way to suit the purpose of your presentation.
The Power of a Strong Opening
These days, the average presentation audience is difficult to deal with. Most people have very low attention spans and would rather be entertained than preached. You should keep that in mind for your presentation and work on starting it off with bang. This is essential for setting the tone. You can open with an interesting story or go for the shock effect by hitting them with notable statistics that will rile up their interest. An attention-grabbing image or video may also do the trick. Just make sure you know your audience and find out what captivates them best.
Be Genuine
One of the biggest mistakes people tend to make with marketing presentations is to come off as being sales. People naturally distrust salespeople and will easily spot a lack of authenticity as soon as you start talking. The easiest way to win over an audience is to be your real self with them. This way the presentation does not sound forced.
It’s okay to infuse humor into your presentation to reduce the tension. This will make you more likable and ensure they don’t forget the content of your presentation. Desperation will kill the vibe in a room so you might want to keep that out.
Also, don’t be afraid to be vulnerable with your audience. One simple trick that many experts find helpful is admitting that you a nervous when you are. This will make your audience more sympathetic towards you and willing to listen to you. But at the same time, you have to be confident and bold. People want to see you take charge of the presentation like the pro you are.
Conclusion
Great presentations begin with knowing your audience. Understanding who you are preparing the presentation for will guide all the other steps highlighted in this article. Sufficient preparation ahead of your presentation will also give you a confidence boost and increase your chances of delivering an impactful marketing presentation.