Marketing Presentation Guide 2023 – What to Include and How to Nail It
Lakshmi Puthanveedu • 09 Jan 2023 • 8 min read
You’re creating a presentation to promote a new product? Looking for ways to create a kickass marketing presentation ? Whether you’re a curious cat who wants to learn how to make a marketing presentation, or you’re new to marketing and have been asked to deliver a marketing strategy presentation, you’ve come to the right place.
Creating a marketing presentation does not have to be stressful. If you have the right strategies in place and know what content gives both visual appeal and valuable information, you can really get stuck into this type of presentation .
In this guide, we will talk about what to include in a marketing presentation and tips on how to develop an effective marketing presentation.
What is a Marketing Presentation?
What to include in your marketing presentation, creating an effective marketing presentation, key takeaways, tips from ahaslides.
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No matter what you are selling, you need to have a solid plan on how you are going to do it. A marketing presentation, simply put, takes you through a detailed illustration of how you are going to sell your product or service to your desired target audience.
While it seems simple enough, a marketing presentation must include details of the product, how it is different from your competitors, what channels you are planning to use to promote them etc. Let’s take a look at the 7 components of a marketing presentation.
Marketing presentations are product/service specific. What you include in it depends on what you are selling to your target audience and how you plan to do it. Nevertheless, every marketing presentation must cover these 7 points. Let’s take a look at them.
#1 – Marketing Objectives
“Identify the gap”
You might have heard a lot of people say this, but do you know what it means? With every product or service you sell, you are solving some kind of problem faced by your target audience. The empty space between their problem and the solution – that’s the gap.
When making a marketing presentation, the first thing you need to do is identify the gap, and define it. There are many ways to do it, but one of the most common techniques used by experienced marketers is to ask your customers directly what they are missing in the current market – customer surveys.
You can also find the gap by researching and constantly watching industry trends etc. To cover this gap is your marketing objective.
#2 – Market Segmentation
Let’s take an example. You cannot sell your product in the US and in the Middle East in the same way. Both markets are different, culturally and otherwise. In the same way, every market is different, and you need to drill down the characteristics of each market and the submarkets you are planning to cater to.
What are the cultural similarities and differences, the sensitivities, and how do you plan to deliver localised promotional content, the demographic you are catering to, and their purchasing behaviour – all these should be included in your marketing presentation.
#3 – Value Proposition
Big word right? Don’t worry, it’s pretty simple to understand.
Value proposition simply means how you are going to make your product or service attractive to the customers. What is the cost/price, the quality, how your product is different from your competitors, your USP (unique selling point) etc? This is how you let your target market know why they should buy your product instead of your competitors.
#4 – Brand Positioning
In your marketing presentation, you should clearly define your brand positioning.
Brand positioning is all about how you want your target audience to perceive you and your products. This forms one of the most important factors that decide everything else from here on – including the budget you should allocate, the marketing channels, etc. What is the first thing that someone should associate your brand with? Say for example, when someone says Versace, we think of luxury and class. That’s how they have positioned their brand.
#5 – Purchase Path/Customer Journey
Online purchasing habits are becoming mainstream lately and even in that, there may be various ways in which your customer might reach you or know about your product, leading to a purchase.
Say, for example, they might have seen a social media ad, clicked on it and decided to purchase it because it suits their current needs. That’s the purchase path for that customer.
How do the majority of your customers shop? Is it through mobile phones or do they see ads on the television before shopping in a physical store?. Defining the purchase path gives you more clarity on how to guide them on to the purchase in a more efficient and effective way. This should be included in your marketing presentation.
#6 – Marketing Mix
A marketing mix is a set of strategies or ways in which a brand promotes its product or service. This is based on 4 factors – the 4 Ps of marketing.
- Product: What is it that you are selling
- Price: This is the total value of your product/service. It is calculated based on the cost of production, the target niche, whether it’s a mass-produced consumer product or a luxury item, the supply and demand, etc.
- Place: Where is the point of sale happening? Do you have a retail outlet? Is it online sales? What is your distribution strategy?
- Promotion: This is every activity that you do to create awareness of your product, to reach it to your target market – advertisements, word of mouth, press releases, social media campaigns – everything comes under promotion.
When you merge the 4 Ps with each stage of your marketing funnel, you have your marketing mix. These should be included in your marketing presentation.
#7 – Analysis and Measurement
This is probably the most challenging part of a marketing presentation- how do you plan to measure your marketing efforts?
When it comes to digital marketing, it’s relatively easy to track the efforts with the help of SEO, social media metrics, and other such tools. But when your total revenue comes from different areas including physical sales and cross-device sales, how do you prepare a complete analysis and measurement strategy?
This should be included in the marketing presentation, based on all the other factors.
As you’ve got down all the necessary components to create a marketing plan, let’s dive deeper into how to make your marketing presentation one worth remembering.
#1 – Get your audience’s attention with an ice breaker
We understand. Starting a marketing presentation is always tricky. You are nervous, the audience might be restless or engaged in some other stuff – like surfing on their phone, or talking amongst themselves, and you have a lot at stake.
The best way to deal with this is to start your presentation with a hook -an icebreaker activity.
Ask questions. It could be related to the product or service you are about to launch, or something funny or casual. The idea is to get your audience interested in what is yet to come.
Do you know about the famous Oli Gardner pessimistic hook technique? He’s a famous and exceptional public speaker who usually starts his talk or presentation by painting a doomsday picture – something that makes the audience depressed before presenting them with a solution. This could take them on an emotional rollercoaster ride and get them hooked on what you have to say.
#2 – Make the presentation all about the audience
Yes! When you have an intense topic such as a marketing plan to present, it’s difficult to make it interesting for the audience. But it’s not impossible.
The first step is to understand your audience. What’s their level of knowledge about the topic? Are they entry-level employees, experienced marketers or C-suite executives? This will help you identify how to add value to your audience and how to cater to them.
Don’t just go on and on about what you want to say. Create empathy with your audience. Tell an engaging story or ask them if they have any interesting marketing stories or situations to share.
This will help you to set a natural tone for the presentation.
#3 – Have more slides with short content
Most often, corporate people, especially high-level managers or C-suite executives might go through countless presentations a day. Getting their attention for a long time is a really difficult task.
In a hurry to finish off the presentation sooner, one of the biggest mistakes that most people make is to cram so much content into one slide. The slide will be displayed on the screen and they’ll keep talking for minutes thinking the fewer the slides, the better.
But this is something that you must avoid at all costs in a marketing presentation. Even if you have 180 slides with little content on them, it’s still better than having 50 slides with information jammed into them.
Always try to have multiple slides with short content, images, gifs, and other interactive activities.
Interactive presentation platforms such as AhaSlides can help you in creating engaging presentations with interactive quizzes, polls, and other activities.
#4 – Share real-life examples and data
This is one of the most important parts of a marketing presentation. You could have all the information clearly laid out for your audience, but nothing beats having relevant data and insights to support your content.
More than wanting to see some random numbers or data on the slides, your audience might want to know what you concluded from it and how you came to that conclusion. You should also have clear information on how you are planning to use this data to your advantage.
#5 – Have shareable moments
We are moving to an era where everyone wants to be loud – tell their circle what they’ve been up to or the new things they’ve learned. People like it when they are given a “natural” opportunity to share information or moments from a marketing presentation or a conference.
But you cannot force this. One of the best ways to do this is to have quotable catch-phrases or moments in your marketing presentation that the audience can mostly share verbatim or as a picture or video.
These could be new industry trends, any specific features of your product or service that can be shared before the launch, or any interesting data that others could use.
On such slides, have your social media hashtag or company’s handle mentioned so that your audience can tag you as well.
#6 – Have a uniformity in your presentation
Most often we tend to focus more on the content when creating a marketing presentation and often forget about how important the visual appeal is. Try to have a solid theme throughout your presentation.
You could use your brand colours, designs or font in your presentation. This will make your audience get more familiar with your brand.
#7 – Take feedback from the audience
Everyone will be protective of their “baby” and no one wants to hear anything negative right? Feedback need not necessarily be negative, especially when you are delivering a marketing presentation.
Feedback from your audience will definitely help you in making necessary improvements to your marketing plan. You could have an organised Q&A session at the end of the presentation.
Regardless of exactly why you are here, making a marketing presentation doesn’t have to be a daunting task. Whether you are in charge of launching a new product or service, or you simply want to be an ace in making marketing presentations, you can use this guide to your advantage.
Keep these in mind when creating your marketing presentation.
Lakshmi Puthanveedu
A small-town girl enthralled by culture, languages, and sunsets. Casual artist and musician looking to make memories every step of the way. Now changing the way humans live and have virtual interactions with AhaSlides.
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- Marketing Presentation
The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Presentation (Tips, How To & Template)
Discover how to impress clients used to PowerPoint presentations by the end of this post.
Long gone are the days of reading slides word for word and boring your target audience to tears. Today, it’s all about transforming your data into visual stories that stick.
This guide shares five effective marketing presentation tips to keep your target customer glued to the screen, and how you can create one within minutes today using our free presentation template.
- What is a Marketing Presentation?
5 Tips to Nail Your Marketing Presentation
- How to Create a Powerful Marketing Presentation with DashThis
Design a Great Marketing Presentation with DashThis Today
What is a marketing presentation .
A marketing presentation is a visual slide deck introducing a new product's marketing plan.
It’s often created from presentation software (e.g., Google Slides, Canva, PPT) or automated marketing reporting tools like DashThis . Occasionally, marketers share it on SlideShare for wider impact.
Here’s a Google Analytics marketing performance report generated on DashThis . Note how it conveys the results in a digestible way.
Grab this Google Analytics marketing presentation template with your own data !
As you scroll down the marketing presentation, you’ll see how it visualizes the impact of traffic on conversions and revenue.
DashThis gathers your data across multiple channels into one beautiful business marketing report. Grab your free 15-day trial today.
What should you present?
Every marketing campaign is a revenue driver.
Yes, it’s vital to capture the audience’s attention and educate them about the product’s benefits. Bonus if the campaign goes viral.
But millions of views mean nothing if it doesn’t translate into sales.
That’s why you need to highlight the following information in your marketing presentation—to show you understand the client’s industry and how you plan to sell to their customers:
- Target demographic
- Buyer persona
- Strategy to market product
- Marketing tactics
- Criteria for success (i.e., metrics and KPIs)
Pro tip : Review the client’s website (e.g., press releases, product updates, annual report) if you don’t know their goals and objectives.
Your prospective clients might review the strategy after you finish presenting. Use a tool like DashThis to reinforce your insights or provide additional information within the presentation.
Hover to a widget you desire and click Add Note .
Include your insights and click Save .
This saves prospective clients the hassle of switching multiple tabs, creating a smooth-sailing browsing experience.
Who should you present to?
Often, marketing presentations are presented to C-suite marketing executives (e.g., VP of marketing, head of content).
However, it’s not unheard of for marketers to present to the founder or CEO in smaller companies.
Whoever you’re presenting to, get to know them before creating the slides—like the metrics they care about and their level of expertise.
For example, if you’re a fully done-for-you SEO agency pitching to a CEO, you probably don't need to explain the internal links and schema markups in every blog post.
Instead, focus on metrics in the bottom of the funnel, like the number of new leads and trial-to-paid conversions.
How often should you present?
That depends on the campaign and the client’s communication needs. It could be weekly, monthly, or quarterly.
Pro tip : Share your presentations automatically. Unlike the traditional pitch deck created from PowerPoint templates, DashThis lets you share your reports via an URL link or email through a predetermined schedule.
This gives clients real-time access to their dashboards and saves you the tedious job of sending results manually every time a campaign ends.
On DashThis , click Sharing Options > Share by Email > Frequency to decide how often you want to send the presentation.
Input the client’s email address and additional information and click Send .
Clients qualify agencies based on past results, budget, and presentation skills.
Here at DashThis, we have no control over the first two criteria, but we certainly can help you with the third one.
Below are five marketing presentation ideas that turn your report from “meh” to “wow.”
Have a strong introduction
Set the stage with an introduction that no one forgets.
If you're presenting to prospective clients unfamiliar with your track record, you can't go wrong with the results you delivered for previous clients.
Say your content strategy scaled a software company’s number of demos and trials, add a hockey stick chart to illustrate it, and show it on the big screen at the start of the presentation.
You might even add several quotes from the case studies for a human touch.
Use visual props
Add visuals to maintain your audience’s attention.
Here's what we mean.
Include infographics to convey complex information. Use graphs to explain trends for historical data. Or add headers and increase font size to separate data from different marketing channels.
Pick a presentation software that offers customizable and free templates .
For example, here’s an email presentation template you might customize to convey the engagement rate for your 4,000+ subscribers.
Don't be afraid to include GIFs within your slideshow. These bite-sized video clips do a wonderful job at injecting humor and showing a product in action.
Tell an engaging story backed by data
A great presentation design bridges the gap between data and storytelling.
Distill the sea of information with charts and graphs and fonts, and headers .
For example, if you want to highlight the backlinks generated from high-authority sites, place the domain authority score, referring sites, and number of backlinks within the same section.
This creates a cohesive look, enabling you to illustrate the impact effectively.
End with action points
Your last marketing slide should include the specific action you want clients to take. Consider reinforcing the key takeaways in bullet points or providing your agency’s contact information.
Leave time for questions and conversations
Engaging presentations are two-way conversations. Spread your Q&As throughout the presentation (not the end) to fuel a lively conversation.
How to Create a Powerful Marketing Presentation with DashThis?
Automated reporting tools eliminate repetitive tasks, freeing up more time for value-added activities, like brainstorming for the next quarter’s marketing campaign.
DashThis is one such automated tool.
Here’s how it works:
- Connect your marketing channels with DashThis
- Select a free marketing presentation template
- Choose your metrics under Preset Widgets
DashThis will proceed to grab the data from the selected marketing channels and transform them into an eye-catching slide deck automatically.
Drag and drop the widgets as you desire.
DashThis currently offers over 40 free templates. Below are two popular templates for digital marketing and advertising.
Digital marketing report template
Digital marketing is a wide umbrella term for online marketing tactics, including SEO , email marketing, and social media .
Here’s an auto-generated digital marketing strategy report from Google Analytics and Google Ads. Note how it gives you a big picture view of the website’s overall content marketing efforts.
Grab this digital marketing strategy presentation with your own data!
With this presentation, you can visually explain to clients how their top pages stack up against each other and how they improve from the previous period without overwhelming them.
Advertising campaign report template
Ads grab the attention of a highly engaged audience at best possible time.
The advertising campaign dashboard below shows a business’s Google Ads and Facebook Ads performance. You can deduce the better performing channel with just one look.
Grab this marketing plan presentation template with your own data!
The display ad preview and the conversions, conversion rate, and click-through rate, helps you spot which images and messages struck a chord in your target market.
So you can repeat more of what works and deliver for your client.
Epic presentations transform strategies into stories that stick. These visual dashboards keep prospective clients glued to the screen and convince them to seal the deal.
Start free on DashThis today to automate your marketing presentation and gain back hours of your time to strategize.
Pricing starts at $33/month when billed annually. Grab your free 15-day trial today.
DashThis is the power behind thousands of reporting dashboards created by and delivered for agencies and digital marketers every month.
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How to Create an Effective Marketing Presentation (+5 Expert Tips)
June 13, 2019
by Tim Ferguson
Traditional marketing professionals were expected to be a natural at creating and delivering great marketing presentations.
With the advent of digital marketing, however, the importance of old-school presentation skills are often overlooked or given little significance in a marketer’s skill set.
Modern marketers aren’t required to go door-to-door handing out pamphlets and flyers. The level of face-to-face interaction in marketing has been reduced to occasional networking events or marketing conferences.
However, the ability to create an effective marketing presentation is still a prized skill in modern digital marketing. There are several use cases where this prowess will come in handy, such as:
- When proposing a new marketing campaign or initiative, you may need to pitch your ideas to your superiors or clients by giving a presentation at a meeting.
- When conducting a teleseminar or webinar for training purposes, addressing user needs, or launching a new product.
- When creating marketing content for platforms such as SlideShare as a part of your overall content marketing strategy .
- When you finally decide to take up the challenge of becoming a speaker at one of the networking events or marketing conferences.
Create an effective marketing presentation: the tips and tricks
Apart from being comfortable speaking in front of a group and using slideshow presentation software such as PowerPoint, Keynote, Google Slides, or Prezi, there are some general guidelines which can be applied to any marketing presentation ideas that will ensure efficacy in terms of engaging your audience, creating sales interest, and ultimately driving the message home.
The following five guidelines will help you create a marketing presentation that is both effective and engaging.
5 tips on how to create an effective marketing presentation
- Seize your audience’s attention
- Promise something and deliver it
- Tell an engaging story backed by data
- Have less slide content rather than more
- Use humor wisely
1. Seize your audience’s attention
Start your social media and marketing presentation with a bang by asking a dramatic question tailored to your audience’s most pressing pain points.
For example, if your topic is something on the lines of how to improve your content marketing ROI, you can start with a provoking remark such as “B2B organizations waste almost $1 billion annually in incompetent and ineffective content marketing, are you contributing to that?” or maybe something like “60-70% of B2B content created is never used because the topic is irrelevant to the buyer audience. So, is your content actually useful or junk?”
Igniting your audience’s emotions and painting a vivid picture of their problems will force them to pay attention to your presentation. Oli Gardner , who is well-known for his inspiring presentations on conversion rate optimization, has a striking approach to his presentations. He starts off by presenting a few gloomy, despairing slides, and once the audience is amply dejected, he swoops in with good news.
The purpose of all this is to get them hooked right off the bat, to seize their attention and get them focused on what you have to say.
2. Promise something and deliver it
Once you’ve got them interested in what you have to present, it is time to make some legit promises, just as you do in your everyday digital marketing activities. For instance, while creating a pay-per-click ad, you write a persuasive copy that promises to solve the reader’s problems, getting them to click through to your landing page. Similarly, if you are writing a blog post, you use the power of storytelling to convince them to take some action such as click a call to action (CTA).
Have you ever seen a tutorial on YouTube? The next time you do, note how all the finest quality videos are the ones in which the presenter makes it crystal clear what you’ll achieve within the first 30 seconds if you watch the entire video. They show you the end-result as proof that they know what they’re doing, and you’ll get what you came for.
So, in the case of the aforementioned remarks on content marketing ROI, you can promise your audience that you’ll show them the exact strategies you used to achieve your goals (rankings, traffic, conversions, etc.).
The point is, the start of your presentation should be all about answering the famous copywriting question: “What’s in it for me?” Make it apparent within the first five minutes that your presentation is going to solve their problems and will provide them with actionable takeaways.
Of course, making these explicit promises means you also have to fulfill them. In fact, go above and beyond in delivering what you promised by following the wise adage “underpromise and overdeliver.”
3. Tell an engaging story backed by data
The one thing common among all effective presentations is how they leverage storytelling and real-life examples to drive the point home.
There are some truly amazing marketing quotes , but the best, most succinct one is: “At its very core, marketing is storytelling.” by Melinda Partin. The same applies to your presentations. Essentially, your audience is more likely to engage with your content if they find it highly relatable and personal. A story offers that sense of connection by introducing a character (fictional or otherwise) who has a problem you can solve. It creates a scenario that cannot be ignored by the audience.
So, as you go through your slides, use practical, real-life examples to bind the presentation together cogently. It's as simple as telling how you or someone else implemented what you are trying to convey.
That said, ensure all your examples and illustrations are backed by data-driven marketing from reliable sources. Your slides should clearly specify the information source. The last thing you want to hear is “get your facts straight” while giving a presentation.
4. Have less slide content rather than more
How many times have you sat through a presentation where the slides are so brimming with text that it makes the whole presentation ineffective?
Don’t do that. As you may have heard, the average human’s attention span today is pitifully low. And when it comes to paying attention to elaborate presentations in conference settings, or remote presentations using a screen sharing tool , it could be even worse. Your audience likely has far better and more urgent things to do than listen to you and your wordy slides.
So, what do you do? Work to simplify your slides and include only the key points as written text instead of cramming them with the text you’re supposed to speak (and explain). Use slides to support speech, not replace it. And just like with stories and examples, include as many visuals (images, GIFs, videos) as possible to aid understanding.
Besides, the more slides, the better. Instead of speaking to one slide for several minutes, spread your content around multiple slides. Use numerous images to illustrate your point, and keep the slides moving. This will help tackle the issue of dwindling attention spans.
Furthermore, make sure you use high-quality images. They may look fine on your computer, but images often become blurry after projection on a bigger screen. So be sure to check that. There are plenty of great websites that offer first-rate stock photos and illustrations for free, such as Unsplash, Pixabay, and unDraw.
Also, if you don’t have a graphic designer and there’s a dire need to whip up some good-looking graphics or remove/edit the background of some image you wish to include in your slides, consider using intuitive online tools such as Canva and AutoClipping , respectively.
5. Use humor wisely
Just because you are presenting in a serious context, doesn’t mean your presentation has to be boring or bland. Including some jokes here and there will increase audience engagement and retention of your content.
So, give your slides a facelift by enriching them with relevant humor. This can take the form of witty wordplay, GIFs, and even memes. However, make sure the humor is, in fact, relevant to the content you’re presenting and not a distraction. Don’t make it seem forced but natural.
Most memes available on the internet are of low-quality and resolution, you’ll have to take some time to create your own original memes. Don’t worry, though. Creating memes is a fun little activity and doesn’t take a lot of time. Use online tools like Imgflip or Meme Creator which allow you to upload your own image and overlay meme-style text with ease. As for GIFs, you can use GIPHY has a huge library of GIFs and refined search functionality, so you’ll be able to find all the GIFs you need there.
Don’t leave your audience hanging at the end of your presentation. Tell them exactly what to do next: is this the part where they can ask questions and clarify their doubts? How should they use the information you’ve just presented to solve their problems?
Reiterate all of the most important points explained in the presentation and make sure the value you promised at the start of the presentation is actually delivered. If your presentation lacked two-way communication and audience participation, now is the time to have a proper exchange of ideas and casual debates. Lastly, as it was a marketing presentation, it makes sense to end it with a definite CTA that conveys the exact action you want your audience to take.
Want to read more related content? Check out our guide on the 4 main types of marketing segmentation !
.png?width=400&height=150&name=Tim-Ferguson-Profile%20(1).png "marketing by presentation")
Tim Ferguson is a writer and editor of Right Mix Marketing blog. He enjoys writing about SEO, content marketing, online reputation management, social media, AI and Big Data. When he is not writing and editing for Right Mix Marketing, he spends time on learning more about content marketing and getting better at it. You can follow him on Twitter at @RightMixMktg
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How to Create an Effective Marketing Presentation [Plus Templates]
![How to Create an Effective Marketing Presentation [Plus Templates]](https://visme.co/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Header-41.jpg "marketing by presentation")
Written by: Brian Nuckols
Whether you're a writer, marketing professional or anyone on the frontlines of creating front-facing business communications , learning to create effective and clear marketing presentations is a crucial skill.
There are many use cases for a well-structured, clear marketing presentation. Some of the most common include:
- Speaking at a conference or networking event
- Pitching company leadership on a new campaign or initiative
- Presenting a webinar for existing or potential customers
- Creating/repurposing content for platforms like SlideShare
Whatever the use case, there are four underlying strategies that are central to effective and clear marketing presentations.
- Make your presentation about your audience
- Create value quickly
- Tell an engaging story
- Use the right design principles
When you’re ready to dive in, Visme is a tool that helps non-designers create stunning marketing presentations .
One of the benefits you get from saving time and resources that would typically go into designing the presentation is that you can spend more time on strategy and preparing impactful messages.
However, if you’re happy with your messaging and ready to start designing, that’s great! We have tons of engaging and fully customizable slides to get you started.
Head over to our template library and get started right now!
Also, here’s a short selection of 8 easy-to-edit marketing presentation templates you can edit, share and download with Visme. View more templates below:
In the meantime, we’ll transition to exploring each of these strategies in depth.
Additionally, we are going to explore how you can streamline the process of creating visually stunning and profitable marketing presentations by using just the right design principles throughout your slideshow.
Hey marketers! Need to create scroll-stopping visual content fast?
- Transform your visual content with Visme’s easy-to-use content creation platform
- Produce beautiful, effective marketing content quickly even without an extensive design skillset
- Inspire your sales team to create their own content with branded templates for easy customization
Sign up. It’s free.
Make Your Marketing Presentation About Your Audience
The first strategy that’s important when it comes to creating effective and clear marketing presentations is to make the presentation about your audience.
Ready to create slides with impact? Use the agenda slide below.
Cultivate Empathy
One thing you can do when preparing to make your presentation about your audience is connect with them empathically.
What is empathy? According to the design firm IDEO empathy is a “deep understanding of the problems and realities of the people you are designing for.”
In our case, we’re designing a presentation for our existing and ideal audience.
As a more general definition, empathy allows us to see the world from another's point of view. To understand, feel and experience the world from the audience's perspective .
This is useful because when we’re able to imagine the world from a different perspective we can brainstorm new, interesting and valuable messages to include in our presentation.
Once you’ve brainstormed these messages, you can showcase them with the slides in this template below.
While we can never fully experience things from the perspective of our audience, we can use strategies and tactics to get as close as possible.
Most importantly, we have to agree to put aside our own preconceived beliefs in an effort to understand the needs and ideas of others.
This is an important first step to creating your marketing presentation because it helps set the tone for your presentation.
When you’re ready to connect with your audience use the pros & cons slide from our Simple presentation theme.
Understand Your Audience’s Environment
The first step in connecting more emphatically with your audience is to consider the environment that they’ll experience your presentation in.
How will the average audience member be interacting with your presentation? Will they be watching at home or at work? Is attendance mandatory or did they choose to be there?
By answering these questions we are able to put ourselves in the position of the audience member and make sure we don’t have blindspots as presenters.
After spending some time connecting with the environment of your audience, translate your insights into your marketing presentation using the template below.
Understand Your Audience’s Needs
Another great strategy to uncover a deeper layer of understanding about your audience is to tap into their core emotional and physical needs.
As the presenter, you have a different set of expectations, desires and questions about the subject matter you’re presenting on than the audience does.
One of the best ways to connect with your audience's core emotional needs is to give them a plausible vision of a better life.
Once you’ve connected with the core emotional needs of your audience, use the process model slide in our Creative presentation theme to share your ideas.
By focusing on the audience’s side of the story you can unlock new ideas, topics and messaging opportunities.
Create Journey Maps
One of the first things you can do when brainstorming content for a marketing presentation is to understand the various steps a potential customer or prospect has to pass through before reaching their goal with your company.
This is invaluable information to know when setting out to create the content that's going inside your marketing presentation.
It helps us to understand the motivations of your audience as well as some of the friction and pain points that are stopping them from reaching their goal.
Visually demonstrate how your customers are interacting with your business with this simplistic template option below.
A powerful way to empathize with your audience is to dig deep into the problems and frustrations they have.
An excellent tool content brainstorming tool to use after we’ve identified some frustrations is the 5 Whys technique .
Originally developed by Sakichi Toyoda , the founder of Toyota, the 5 Whys is also a powerful way to emphasize with your audience.
Here’s how Toyoda explained his process:
“The basis of Toyota’s scientific approach is to ask why five times whenever we find a problem … By repeating why five times, the nature of the problem as well as its solution becomes clear.”
To use this tactic for content brainstorming first identify a problem or frustration a member of your audience has.
Use the 5 Whys technique to explore some of the root problems at the core of this issue.
Not only will this help you empathize more with your audience and potential customers, but when you add this level of depth to your content you’re more likely to affect the audience on more emotional levels.
Ready to try the 5 Whys technique? Give it the right shape and structure using the slide diagram below.
Define Your Customer Personas
Now that we’ve explored some techniques and tactics around empathy, we can start to more fully define who our target audience is. This will help us define your unique customer base and target readership.
To do so, we’ll draw on a blend of existing data and forward looking projections.
The Analytics Persona
The first persona is based on existing data. It requires an analytics or CRM software that’s tracking the data and some basic analysis skills.
This is worth the investment in time and resources because of the valuable data that can be unearthed from a simple exploration of the data.
As an example, Casey Winters a former marketer at Pinterest used analytics data to create the following personas:
By way of explanation, core people came every day, casual people came every week, marginal people came every month, and dormant users had stopped using the Pinterest platform altogether.
These types of personas are useful when creating a marketing presentation because they can help us develop key messaging strategies or goals for the presentation.
As an example, Pinterest may want to help casual users do more of the activities that core users do everyday. They can make a presentation directed at these casual users with the goal of teaching them how to migrate into the core user persona.
Ready to communicate effectively with audience members? Use a product comparison slide like the one below.
The Product Persona
Similar to the analytics persona, the product persona focuses on understanding existing users or readers .
However, instead of doing the work of crunching statistics from an analytics or CRM software you’ll collect qualitative data to figure out more about who the reader is and not the discrete actions they’re taking.
This is usually done using a back and forth of customer calls, surveys and other qualitative data sources.
The Marketing Persona
The marketing persona is unlike the first two we discussed because it is projection into the future. This is the audience you want rather than the audience you have.
Developing a marketing persona helps us to define a target market to pursue and target.
Since this persona is about targeting people outside the product, one common tool created during this process is a mapping of the target customer’s typical day.
This helps us understand the right messaging and strategies to use in our presentation.
Have your personas down? Use the template below to create a presentation that serves their needs.
Create Value Quickly in Your Marketing Presentation
Now that we’ve reviewed how to make the marketing presentation about the audience we come to the second important strategy when it comes to creating effective and clear marketing presentations.
We have to create value for the audience member as quickly as possible.
We’ll first explore what value creation is, how to generate it in your marketing presentation, and how the jobs to be done framework is invaluable for this process.
Focus On Your Central Idea
“Make something people want. There’s nothing more valuable than an unmet need that is just becoming fixable. If you find something broken that you can fix for a lot of people, you’ve found a gold mine.”
This quote by the venture capitalist Paul Graham is a good illustration of how value creation is the central mechanism driving interest in content, business and marketing presentations.
To operate a successful business, you have to create something of value.
Likewise, any successful marketing presentation communicates how you plan to create value for your audience.
Our job during the presentation is to find the things or knowledge our audience needs reminded about, doesn’t have enough of or is hearing about for the first time.
The value you create can take on one of several different forms, but the purpose is always the same: to make someone else’s life a little bit better.
Ready to create value for your audience? Use the Venn diagram slide below.
Understand How to Help Your Audience
A helpful framework that helps us visualize how we create value for our audience is the Jobs to be Done model.
Jobs to be Done is a theory of consumer action. It describes the underlying motivations that cause a potential audience member to pay attention to our marketing presentations.
The theory states that markets for new products, content and information emerge when potential customers have a particular Job to be Done, and they start buying products to complete that job.
The Jobs to be Done site gives a great visual example of this. While someone may purchase a skateboard that then needs to be put together, what they really want is the end product of being a good skater and performing tricks.
Image Source
Charles Revson, founder of the cosmetic company Revlon, gives us another example of this principle in his quote, “In the factory we make cosmetics; in the drugstore we sell hope.”
Revson has identified a core emotional need that makes Revlon valuable to their customers.
This information is critical for marketing presentation because it helps us to understand the ultimate goal or vision an audience member will have when interacting with our presentation.
A Job to be Done is the process a consumer goes through whenever she aims to change her existing life-situation into a preferred one, but cannot because there are constraints that stop her.
Transform Your Audience
One reason we can create value for our audience members is because of some of the fundamental limits we have as humans.
Typically, our audience can’t transform their personality or overcome the obstacles that hold them back without help.
Progress in these areas happens when we integrate new ideas and new tools or products into our life.
This is the exact vision that Jobs to be Done helps us articulate in our marketing presentations.
Our audience member is living the life she has come to accept. Then things change and she comes across your presentation. She is presented with an opportunity to improve her life.
Understanding the “job” this potential customer wants to fulfill is an important objective in a clear and effective marketing presentation.
Tell an Engaging Story With Your Marketing Presentation
Storytelling is an ancient technology designed to transmit wisdom and meanings from generation to generation.
In this strategy we’ll use 4 principles from the discipline of business communication to explore why storytelling works so well in effective marketing presentations.
However, we can start with a more simple opening question. In short, who is my audience and what is the message I want to share with them?
Know your audience? Use a template and deliver the important insights they need to during your presentation.
After the reflections we’ve done on empathy and creating value we should be able to offer a fairly nuanced response.
Nevertheless, each decision we make from here on out when it comes to the copy and messaging in our presentation.
The GAME Framework
GAME is an acronym for the following.
The first step in the game framework is to define clear goals for our marketing presentation.
Think about it from the perspective of relevant business outcomes. Do we need to increase customers? Qualify leads? Secure organizational buy in for a new software?
Defining concrete and specific goals is an important component of any marketing presentation so you can track return on investment and make sure your valuable time is being used effectively.
Set some SMART goals for your marketing presentation to set yourself up for success.
The second step in the game framework is the audience step.
While we’ve done some hard work emphasizing with your audience and understanding them on a broad level it’s time to get specific about what segment of your audience you want to target with your marketing presentation.
Is it a presentation to inform your audience of new features or ideas? Are you targeting new or existing personas with a specific message?
Understanding what segment of your audience is what you’ll accomplish in the second phase of the GAME framework.
Next, we’ll start crafting the actual words, visuals and content to present to the audience. Make sure to include key messages laid out in a clear, logical manner that is easy to understand.
These messages must include how your ideas, content or product create value for the audience. Remember the work we did during the value creation and Jobs to be Done section of this article?
Your key messages should show your audience how they get from point A to point B when it comes to solving their frustrations and challenges.
Ready to take your engaged audience from point A to point B? Try the template below to deliver your message.
Finally, we come to the expression component of the GAME framework.
This is the form that our key messages will ultimately take. Audiences typically expect a blend of visual communication via slideshow and content via bullet points for additional information.
The Pyramid Principle
Now that we’re reading to begin expressing the message we want to convey in our marketing report it’s useful to study the most effective way to structure our content and messaging.
One of the best concepts for structuring any marketing or business presentation is called the Minto Pyramid Principle.
This principle was first created by Barbara Minto, an ex-McKinsey marketing consultant.
Her methodology can help you both develop and structure the content and visuals for your marketing presentation in a logical fashion that creates impact.
Simply stated, when using the Minto Pyramid Principle start with the most important points and get progressively more detailed as the presentation continues.
This rule will maximize the amount of audience members who hear and integrate the message of your presentation. It can also be a hard rule to put into practice because in most academic writing we’re taught to do the exact opposite.
For that reason, it’s helpful to look at the Pyramid Principle in action.
As you can see above, the Pyramid Principle was used on a due diligence report where t he key message was if the target company should be purchased. This is the focal point of the presentation and comes first.
Next, the partners give us plenty of supporting details and information if we want to dig deeper. However, the vast majority of readers will remember the key message that the suggestion is to buy the company.
Keep this principle in mind when structuring your marketing presentation. Do you have a core message that the vast majority of your audience will remember? Make sure it appears as early as possible in your marketing presentation.
Now that you’ve learned how to add some clarity and precision to your important messages use the template below to take your marketing presentation to the next level.
Use the Right Design Principles in Your Marketing Presentation
Now that we’ve explored your audience, how to create value for them, and how to transmit that value into the vehicle of story we’re reading to start crafting our messages.
When doing so it’s important to consider visual communication and design principles.
There are three absolutely crucial design tactics you can use right now to up the quality of your design.
They are visual hierarchy, color psychology and font pairing.
Visual Hierarchy
One of the best ways to design our marketing presentation in a way that’s visually appealing is to use visual hierarchy.
This is a method of identifying the design elements we want to use and then organizing them in their order of importance.
In other words, it’s a set of principles that help us understand the order in which our audience will notice the various design elements we chose.
Great designers manipulate these principles to create stunning and clear designs.
The good news is that anyone can utilize certain these principles and Visme helps non-designers create successful marketing presentations that are both efficient and effective.
We've also created a video version of this blog post to help you further understand visual hierarchy. You can watch it below:
Color Psychology
The next design element that will take your presentation to the next level are from the field of color psychology. Color psychology in marketing and branding is an important subject.
It’s absolutely true that specific colors can influence the choices of consumers so it’s a crucial design decision in any marketing presentation. Color has the power to impact our emotions in many different ways.
It can call our attention to specific parts of the presentation, inspire emotions at an important moment, or even help our audience tap into positive memories.
Create a stunning presentation in less time
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Font Pairing
The last crucial design element we’ll explore today is font pairing. Font choice is crucial for the tone, feel, and look for our presentation.
The challenge is the enormous amount of choices we have and the lack of knowledge most of us have when it comes to what font choices work best.
It’s a topic we’ve covered on the Visme in the video below.
Create Your Marketing Presentation Today
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About the Author
Brian Nuckols is a writer working in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He enjoys communicating visionary ideas in clear, action oriented language. When he’s not working on content for a transformative company you can find him analyzing dreams, creating music, and writing poetry.
13 Actionable Tips For More Awesome Marketing Presentations
Many moons ago, before I became a WordStreamer, I applied for an entry-level position at a company that required six (yes, SIX) rounds of interviews. I persevered through the process, miraculously nailing the final interview and was informed that the only thing standing between me and my dream job was a single PowerPoint presentation.
To say I flubbed the final task would be a massive understatement. My submission was abominable. The story didn’t flow, the deck had no personality and it featured clip art (!).
Of the seven slides I created, this is the one I was most proud of. Sigh.
It wasn’t that I didn’t give it my all. I spent hours laboring over my slides. I just had no clue how to build a strong presentation.
Let’s fast forward a few years. I’ve now spoken at my fair share of industry events and I’m proud to report that I’ve overcome my PowerPoint handicap! So, for those of you who are still struggling to craft a halfway decent marketing slide deck, here’s my go-to, 13-step formula for a rocking marketing presentation:
#1. Take Your Audience on an Emotional Rollercoaster
The vast majority of business-related presentations are mind-numbingly boring. Make it your mission to stand out from the crowd and craft a memorable presentation that people are talking about for weeks to come!
When you’re presenting on a not-so-sexy topic (ahem, paid search), it’s tough to create a mind-blowing story arch. Alas, it can be done! The key is to take your audience on an emotional rollercoaster. We know that people are more apt to engage with ads that awaken their emotions . Presentations are the same way—they need a “hook” that draws people in on an emotional level. To achieve this, start by painting a picture of the pain points that they’re experiencing . Then, be the hero that shows them how to alleviate the problem.
Oli Gardner , who is famous for his mind-blowing CRO presentations, follows this formula religiously. He presents a few pessimistic, doomsday-style slides and then, once the audience is sufficiently bummed out, he swoops in with good news.
A series of slides from Oli Gardner’s 2014 HeroConf presentation, I Give A Sh!t About Your Conversion Rates .
In fact, Oli once advised me to draw out a “presentation path” for all rough drafts on a white board to identify the weakest sections. Now, when I finish a rough draft, I map out every slide. If it’s presenting positive information, I put it above my baseline. If my final map doesn’t show continues series of low points followed by high points, I know that I have work to do!
Here’s what it looks like when I start building my map!
#2. The More Slides, The Better
Peoples’ attention spans are abysmally short to begin with and in conference settings, they’re even worse. Chances are, attendees have already seen numerous presentations that day, their inboxes are piling up with emails from clients and colleagues who don’t realize they’re out of the office and they’re nursing a nasty hangover from the welcome reception the night before.
The best way to combat their waning attention spans is to keep your slides moving . Rather than speaking to one slide for several minutes, use multiple images to illustrate what you’re talking about, as you speak. If you can master this, you won’t need to reference the images at all, they’ll seamlessly coincide with your talking points. Larry Kim is the master of this technique—I once witnessed him cover 200 slides in 25 minutes!
#3. Make Your Audience Feel Like They Know You
Your audience is more apt to engage with your presentation if they feel a connection with you, personally. However, going about this without seeming like a narcissist can be tough. Believe me—once I started a presentation with six introduction slides and I’m pretty sure it warranted more than a few eye rolls. Rather than kicking things off with a lengthy introduction , try weaving personal stories into your slides.
My colleague, Mark Irvine , executed this strategy flawlessly this year at SMX West. He presented on advanced audience targeting and opened the conversation by explaining that identifying the perfect paid search audience was a lot like finding the right life partner.
In the beginning of the presentation he revealed that he just recently got engaged (congrats, Mark!!) and, as he walked through various targeting options , he equated each to a different stage in the dating game.
As Mark went through the presentation, the audience didn’t miss a beat. They related to his dating analogies, which made the sophisticated targeting strategies much easier to understand, and were captivated as they watched his love life progress.
#4. Be Funny – But Don’t Force It
The rough draft for my first conference-level marketing presentation was a disaster. Not only was it poorly organized, it was also miserably boring. So, I turned to WordStream’s resident conference vet, Larry Kim, for help. His recommendation was to make it 20 times funnier and he emailed me a handful of silly memes and gifs to add to the deck. There was just one problem—almost all of the images were references to movies that I’d never seen (The Matrix, Star Wars, Star Trek…you get the picture). I’m sure they were hilarious, but the humor went way over my head.
Regardless, I plastered them all over my slides, hoping the audience would love the humor, even if it went over my head.
Obviously, this was a terrible idea. After reviewing my new draft with a co-worker, he sat me down and advised me to ditch the nerd humor and replace it with content that I actually thought was funny. 20 minutes later, I had a deck riddled with photos of reality TV stars. It was so funny that, as I practiced my speech, I couldn’t look at the slides themselves because I’d be doubled over in laughter.
In the end, the presentation was a hit. Sure, most of the conference attendees were not devotees of Keeping up with the Kardashians , but because I was enthusiastic and the pictures were entertaining, they laughed anyway. The bottom line is, to nail the comedic delivery of your marketing presentation, you have to be 100% confident and excited about the content .
#5. Use High-Quality Images
Looking at blurry images on your desktop is annoying. Blow them up on a screen that’s 100x bigger and the crappy images are downright unbearable. Take the time to scout out visually stimulating, high-quality images for your marketing presentation. Personally, I spend hours scouring Unsplash and Gratisography , both of which offer unique, free, high-resolution pictures that serve as awesome backgrounds for PowerPoint presentations. ( Use these images in your content marketing too !)
I’m also a huge fan of memes. Unfortunately, most of the memes floating around on the internet feature the exact same pictures, many of which are low-quality. Take matters into your own hands by creating memes yourself. I’m a big fan of MemeCreator , which allows you to upload your own image and overlay meme-style text.
#6. Use Gifs Only for Reaction Slides
If you want an easy laugh, gifs are the way to go. The key is, never use a gif on a slide where you are sharing something profound like a graph, shocking data point or major takeaway. The repetitive motion will catch viewers’ attention and distract them from your mind-blowing content. Instead, use gifs on slides immediately after these points to reiterate them.
Select a gif that demonstrates the emotion your data should elicit from viewers . In a way, your gif will tell them how they should be responding. For example, when I shared graphs highlighting poor conversion rates for mobile devices , compared to desktops, I followed it with a gif of Dawson Leary, of Dawson’s Creek, sobbing profusely.
When I presented data showing that many advertisers were boosting CPCs to increase ad rank , but their conversion rates were still terrible in high positions, I followed it with a gif of Leonardo DiCaprio showing money into a trashcan. This reiterated my point that this was an expensive, overly wasteful tactic.
Giphy has an enormous library of gifs and excellent search functionality, so you’ll be able to find all the gifs you need there.
As you can see, I used animation to highlight the numerical component of this ad.
It’s also critical that you resist the temptation to overuse animation in your deck. It should solely be leveraged to highlight important sections of your images and graphs or show contrasting pictures side-by-side.
Oftentimes, when presenters share text in a bullet-point format, they use animation to show each point consecutively to prevent searchers from reading ahead. If you must share big chunks of text, just show one point per slide—it’ll be way easier for attendees to read!
#7. Share Real-Life Data
Hate to break it to you, but unless you’re a super-inspirational thought leader, most people aren’t attending your session because they want to know how you, personally, feel about the topic. Instead, they want to hear what you’ve concluded based on hard facts and data that you’ve collected. Share case studies and examples to back up all of your points. Ultimately, hard marketing data is way more powerful than simple generalizations.
For example, rather than simply saying “in my experience, ad fatigue isn’t really a big issue for remarketers,” share a graph to demonstrate that remarketing ads fatigue at half the rate of non-remarketing ads. Having data to back up bold statements makes them far more credible!
#8. Provide *Actionable* Takeaways
There’s no sense in learning new, fascinating data if you can’t figure out how to use it to your advantage. Great presentations highlight problems, then provide clear instruction on how to fix them.
Check out the example above. As you can see, it’s some pretty crazy data showing that more people convert on mobile phones using a desktop-specific site than on mobile phones using a mobile-specific site. For mobile advertisers, this is huge. It shows that there is a major issue with many of their mobile landing pages…but what’s the sense in bumming everyone out if I can’t offer a solution? So, the follow-up slide was…
…you guessed it—a solution to the mobile landing page disaster! I walked them through a series of actionable, easy-to-implement changes (including the drunk test featured above) to repair their broken landing pages. Great public speakers make sure you don’t leave without writing something down.
#9. Your Twitter Details Should Appear on Every Slide
Gone are the days where presenters expect undivided attention during their sessions. As a speaker, you encourage your audience to pull out their phones and computers to engage with social media as you present.
There’s two major reasons you want to encourage tweeting during your presentation. Firstly, it will show conference organizers that you’re sharing exciting content that people deem worth of sharing with their networks. Secondly, with multi-track shows, it shows people who didn’t attend your session that they missed out on something special. As a result, they’re more likely to download your slides after the event or attend your session the next time around.
In the beginning of every presentation, I take the time to encourage viewers to tweet questions and comments my way. I also include my twitter handle and the event hashtag on every slide. This reminds them to share my content during the presentation and ensures they include both me and the event in their tweets, making them easy to track afterwards!
#10. Make Your Tweetable Moments “POP”
Piggybacking on my last point, one of the best ways to boost your Twitter mentions is to spoon-feed the audience exactly what you want them to share. Follow up each section of your presentation with a super-quotable catchphrase —bonus points if it’s less than 140 characters, so they can tweet it verbatim! As you can see in the example above, my goal for my Pubcon SFIMA session was to convince advertisers to spend more time creating more eye-catching, memorable ad copy. I nailed this point home with the catch phrase, “Your ads don’t have to suck!”
To make these “tweetable moments” really stand out, take a page from Margot da Cunha’s book, and feature the text on a dark background so it really pops. Works like a charm!
#11. Ask Someone Else to Proofread Your Deck
There’s nothing more mortifying than standing on stage alongside a deck riddled with grammatical errors . Not only is this vastly unprofessional, it’s also incredibly distracting to your audience (and maybe even yourself, if you catch it while you’re presenting).
The worst part is, these errors will continue to haunt you long after your in-person marketing presentation is complete. Oftentimes conference organizers make decks or recordings available through SlideShare, so attendees can access them long after the event itself. Even worse, your audience may take pictures as you present and post them to Twitter or in blogposts. God forbid a slide with an obvious error makes it online!
The best way to avoid this mishap is to ask others’ to review your presentation with a fine-toothed comb. Proofreading it on your own is a great start, but you’re more likely to overlook simple errors because you know what you want it to say.
# 12. Listen to Feedback, Damnit
When I’m deep in the throes of creating a presentation, I think about it non-stop. Once I went so far as to send a slew of texts to my own phone because I had some genius ideas (or so I thought) when I was out at a bar! You get the picture – by the time I have a rough draft ready for review, I’ve already expended a considerable amount of brain power on the project and love it like a first-born child.
When I finally share “my baby” with others, it can be painful to hear negative feedback on it. However, it’s crucial to take this criticism seriously and be open to making adjustments to your deck . When others review it, they’ll give you valuable insight into what makes sense, what’s distracting and where your story falls flat. Take the time to understand their viewpoints and make the necessary adjustments before you get on stage.
#13. Get the Most Out of Your Work by Repurposing Your Deck
The first thought that crosses my mind after presenting at a conference is, “geez, I can’t believe I spent weeks slaving over this deck and the whole presentation is over after 20 minutes!” So, I’ve made it my mission to glean as much traction as I can out of each and every marketing deck. To extend a presentation’s visibility to people who didn’t attend it, I upload my deck to SlideShare and share the link through all my social media channels.
Next, I create a long-form blogpost covering my presentation content, which is loosely based off of the script I wrote for the event itself. If it was a lengthy presentation, sometimes I can even turn it into a series of posts.
Finally, I partner with our marketing team to create webinars based on the original deck. The more blogposts, guides and webinars I can get out of a presentation, the easier it is to justify spending a ton of time crafting it.
Meet The Author
Erin Sagin worked at WordStream for five years with roles in Customer Success and Marketing. She lives in California.
See other posts by Erin Sagin
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13 Actionable Tips For More Awesome Marketing Presentations
By Jon Clark / March 25, 2022
What’s in a presentation? Everything! An impressive presentation can make or break your marketing strategy.
Brands distinguish themselves from their competitors because they dominate the marketing industry with their informative and enthralling presentations.
Now, to impress your audience, you need a strong presentation. So, if you’re still attempting to put together an effective, appealing slide deck, here are our 13 tried-and-tested tips for a killer marketing PPT:
13 Expert Tips on nailing your marketing presentation
In the absence of a presentation, there is no way to sell. Whatever your business specialization or model is, you’ll have to send your documents to your client’s team for evaluation at a certain point. So, let’s get started on how to impress your customers with a killer PPT!
1. Make your first slides count with a catchy CTA
The first three slides are key: 80% of readers who go through them, read the deck in full .
The easiest approach to keep people’s focus in the midst of your PPT is by capturing them from the very first slide.
This can be accomplished by beginning with a powerful quote, rhetorical question, statistical figures, or intriguing information. This innovative technique will convince your listeners to pay attention to your presentation.
Yes, initial impressions do matter. The majority of users that “bounce” from a deck (don’t engage at all) do so within the first 15 seconds . In 15 seconds, how much can you remember? Two lines and one graphic are all you need.
It all comes down to the catch and the design of the deck’s upper section. If there’s one area you should heavily test, it’s that, aside from designing an irresistible CTA.
2. Follow a consistent brand theme
If you’re presenting information, ensure to stick to your chosen palette scheme. The most typical blunder made by established brands is not adhering to their established code.
For example, if someone gave you two colors, say red and white, and asked you to consider the foremost brand that came to mind, the first company would undoubtedly be KFC, due to its consistent color combo across all of its products.
Curate content by selecting at least 12 distinct shades of your brand’s color and adjusting it appropriately. Creating brand palettes in apps like Canva and Adobe makes this simple.
3. Back up advertising with a value-based proposal
The greatest method to advertise a product, service, or brand is to back it up with a compelling value proposition. This can be accomplished by including a socially responsible component.
Addressing an issue and then committing to solve it is a fail-safe marketing strategy.
Promote a possible problem – it may be addressing startup gaps or the mismatch of data among new entrepreneurs. You can then argue for a solution supplied by your firm if you have a service-oriented business.
4. Make use of proper visuals
If you have to choose between content and multimedia, go with the latter.
We can comprehend data considerably faster with visuals than we do with words. We’re also 55 percent better at recalling what we view than what we listen, a phenomenon known as pictorial superiority.
It’s also a good idea to let your graphics be minimal. Your clients will be overwhelmed when you have your slides packed with visuals. However, if it is too stark, it’ll require multiple visuals to fill in the blanks.
Take your most important data and utilize data visualization aids to create visually appealing graphics. You can even take the help of a slideshow maker to build stunning slideshows, complete with professionally designed templates and media embed options.
5. Consider the end results
Your audience is usually concerned with big-picture choices that will affect the organization in the long run. In this respect, each section of your PPT should help you answer the following questions:
What difference will your product or service make? What will be the consequences in the long run? How will it help the organization achieve its objectives? Are there any potential stumbling blocks? What strategy will you use to deal with them?
You’ll have a seamless Q&A session if you include these responses into your PPT.
6. Promote your brand’s unique selling proposition
You can conquer the marketing industry with little effort if you know what your Unique Selling Point (USP) is. It’s just a matter of a few phrases that could assist you achieve your objectives.
For example, if someone says, “Do what you can’t,” you will immediately think of Samsung because that is how they have promoted their uniqueness.
They aren’t the only ones selling electronic items, but they outperform many others in the market when it comes to generating an authentic selling point.
As a result, it’s critical that you delve deep inside your USP and advertise it. Only then, you will witness a hike and improvement in your brand name .
7. Keep a particular content theme in mind
It is vital to keep your company’s paint-card up to date. But you must also decide on a theme for your presentation. You need to select whether your presentation will include images that are floral, tropical, minimalistic, bright, monochrome, or may be a mix of all or few of them.
This is determined by examining your organization’s vision, mission, and approach. It not only gives you a sense of self, but it aids you also to distinguish yourself from your competitors.
As a result, be certain your marketing visuals suit your topic. Again, when you include content in the slides, be careful not to mimic other brands. In other words, plagiarized content is a no-no. To cross check if your content is unique, you can try these smart tools.
8. Include any relevant information.
You may improve your firm’s marketing strategy by incorporating statistics into your PPT. However, you must use material that is appropriate for your target audience.
If you’re advertising an article, for example, everyone wants a motivation to purchase the same from you. They may not be intrigued if you inform them it was only bought by 20 people only.
However, if you demonstrate that a few thousand people bought it and 50% of them bought it again, they’ll gladly spend their cash on it.
An alternative way to put it is that if you’re giving a pitch and you have to promote your brand, you’ll need to employ statistics to show growth.
9. Use videos for your presentations
Look at the video if you’re seeking for a technique to make your presentation stand out and truly capture your audience. Videos are not only simple to insert into PowerPoint, but they may also produce results.
Adding a video or two to your slides can help to break up the content in a fluid and efficient way, keeping your audience attentive and engaged.
Here are five ways video presentations can help you stand out :
- Narrate stories that incite emotions
- Effectively communicate information
- Add drama and create an interesting atmosphere
- Break the monotony
- Boost the intent of purchase
10. Make use of proper marketing analysis
If you’re in a meeting before the board or giving a presentation at a convention among seasoned executives, make sure to mention the following:
- Information about your business segment, including its background, foundation, and how you’ve applied previous learning to the current scenario.
- Contemporary trends, future difficulties, and your strategies for dealing with them.
- Data about predicted growth in the future, together with strategies for implementation.
Before taking the stage, be sure you’ve done your homework and are well-informed on the subject. Make sure you’re comfortable with the facts you’ve gathered.
11. Storytelling is a great way to get people involved
Including your items in tales is the simplest and quickest approach to promote them.
This time-honored approach of communicating and connecting via shared experiences never fails to energize the crowd.
It will not only make consumers feel personally connected to your brand, but it will also keep your products in their hearts as a result of your stories.
12. Share materials before the actual presentation
It may be beneficial if you send the documents to the board to review ahead of time, depending on what you’ll be covering in your presentation.
Reports and demos are examples of extra information that either consumes too much of time or are too distracting to be covered in a presentation.
The presentation should always focus on the ‘why’ rather than the ‘how’. A week before the meeting is great, as it gives you time to reply to any early remarks or suggestions.
Consider this procedure as a benefit. You get a good insight of what the members of the board might bring to the meeting or at least have some context to prepare for a more impactful presentation delivery.
13. Keep it short and sweet
Open availability isn’t something board members are known for. You’ll want to make the most of your time with them, so plan accordingly.
How do you go about doing that?
Keep the presentation’s scope in mind.
While including storytelling is beneficial, don’t get sidetracked and waste time. Keep things basic and clear. Only share one highlight per data graph if you’re presenting data.
A presentation to your audience can be intimidating when the risk is too high.
You can relieve stress and concentrate on your speech by adding these suggestions into your approach.
Let us know in the Comments section below did you benefit from the abovementioned tips and how did you use them in your marketing presentations.
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Marketing Presentation 101: How to Ace Your First Marketing Presentation
Mar 10 2020 ● 3 min read
Table of Contents
A marketing presentation is a performance. Bore your audience, and you fail. Confuse your audience, and you fail. Fail to deliver one key message that they can repeat by the end of the presentation… and you fail.
We don’t want you to fail, and you don’t have to. So we’ve rounded up the best marketing presentation ideas, tips, and examples so you can crush your next marketing presentation.
Tell a Story
Storytelling in marketing is a major trend right now, and it’s something you must use in every presentation you conduct.
Storytelling can be distilled down to something called “The Dramatic Arc”. It can even be plotted on a graph:
Many of you will recognize this dramatic arc immediately, which suggests the outline of a marketing presentation template. Taking what we see above, you could extrapolate a basic presentation template like this:
- What will be explained.
- The key players of this story/of this situation.
- The problem the characters face.
- An assessment of how to solve the problem.
- The actions taken to solve the problem.
- A few challenges along the way.
- The resolution of the problem.
- The results now that the problem is solved.
- Key takeaways.
- Ask the audience to think about how this problem and these solutions might apply to them.
- Ask the audience to reach out to you (also known as the “Call to Action”) if they’d like to discuss how to solve their own version of this problem with you.
Those 11 points would make a good beginning for any marketing presentation. And if you kept your presentation to 18 minutes, the recommended length of a TEDTalk , that would give you a little bit more than a minute and a half for each section.
Interestingly enough, many presentation experts recommend you don’t spend more than 2 minutes showing any one slide . So your very simple marketing presentation template could include those 11 sections, plus a cover slide and a slide with your sources. Those 13 slides could be a very good starting presentation template for any marketing presentation.
But that would only be the first step.
Practice your presentation at least ten times. That's one the biggest presentation tips one should keep in mind.
No exceptions. No excuses. No whining.
Why? Because knowing your presentation by heart will give you confidence. If you have any anxiety whatsoever about giving a marketing presentation, the single best thing you can do is to be prepared. And being prepared – having practiced your presentation at least ten times – will give you the best boost of confidence possible.
Practicing your marketing presentation will also polish your delivery. Even without a script, as you talk through your presentation over and over, you’ll refine how you describe things. Your timing will improve. How you set up each slide will get smoother. Who knows… you might get so confident that you’ll actually have fun.
Want to take this one step further? Professionals from Throughline Group advise that you should ask someone to watch you as you practice, especially around practice sessions three or four. Your observer should be positive, but also give you honest feedback. You need to know:
- If any of your slides could be clearer.
- If they can articulate the one key point of your presentation.
- If they got confused at any point.
- If they got bored at any point.
- If they wanted additional information at any point.
- If the marketing charts and graphs you use are easy to understand .
If you can’t find someone to watch you practice, record yourself as you practice.
Bonus tip : If at all possible, practice your presentation in the room you will make the formal presentation in. Take note of any furniture or cords that might block your movement, and where your audience will be.
Know Your Audience
This should shape your marketing presentation from beginning to end. In the beginning, use your knowledge about your audience to pick examples they’ll resonate with. Use images and language they’ll understand.
As you practice your presentation, think about how your audience may receive the information. Will they agree with it? Be challenged by it? Agree with the problem you’ve defined, but maybe have opinions on other ways to solve it? Incorporate all this into your talk.
Finally, when you do your formal presentation, ask the audience a few questions along the way. Ask these in a way that doesn’t put anyone on the spot, and that the audience might have a little fun with. If possible, try to come up with a joke or two they’ll like.
Watch Great Marketing Presentations
The TED Talks website is a goldmine of recorded presentations and different presentation styles. You can get hundreds of marketing presentation ideas just by watching a few hours of talks.
If possible, also watch a few marketing presentations that have been recorded from marketing industry conferences , or check out the thousands of marketing presentation examples on the site BrightTALK . These will teach you an enormous amount about how people present themselves and their ideas, and about how audiences react .
To Conclude
So those are our best tips for how to create and deliver a great marketing presentation. We hope these have been helpful. Just remember : Practice, practice, practice. And if you possibly can, have fun. Presenters who have fun allow audiences to have fun.
Published on Mar 10 2020
Pam is a devoted freelance content writer and THE expert in the SAAS industry.
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IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
No matter what you are selling, you need to have a solid plan on how you are going to do it. A marketing presentation, simply put, takes you
1. Determine who your audience is · 2. Decide on a presentation method · 3. Gather information and materials · 4. Plan your marketing presentation.
A marketing presentation is a visual slide deck introducing a new product's marketing plan. It's often created from presentation software (e.g., Google Slides
5 tips on how to create an effective marketing presentation · Seize your audience's attention · Promise something and deliver it · Tell an engaging
How to create an effective marketing presentation · Step 1: Tailor your presentation to your target audience · Step 2: Use storytelling to develop a presentation
Make Your Marketing Presentation About Your Audience · Create Value Quickly in Your Marketing Presentation · Tell an Engaging Story With Your
13 Actionable Tips For More Awesome Marketing Presentations · #1. Take Your Audience on an Emotional Rollercoaster · #2. The More Slides, The
13 Expert Tips on nailing your marketing presentation · 1. Make your first slides count with a catchy CTA · 2. Follow a consistent brand theme · 3.
It means the difference between getting attention or languishing without an audience. Effective, successful presentation in marketing is the goal of every
Table of Contents · Tell a Story · Practice · Know Your Audience · Watch Great Marketing Presentations · To Conclude · Product · Solutions.