Author: thefuturecountry

Categories
Pitching

How to pitch an idea

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The few elements of a pitch that really matters.

I will keep this blog post really short because that is what you have to do too. Let’s say you are at the idea-stage. You have one or more great ideas and you are wondering whether or not others will think so too. This means you are ready to tell a friend, first customer, jury or even an investor about your idea.

Your pitch needs to be balanced, spend as much time explaining each part.

Excitement

Start with a catchy one-liner or food for thought that explains the basis of your idea. But don’t be too clever – not so much food for thought that it goes over people’s heads. Here are two easy formats to take inspiration from:

“What if [dream scenario of your business]?”

“My company will [solve the chosen problem] by [describe what your service or product does]”

Need

Describe the problem that needs to be solved for the customer you have in mind. Explain why there is a need for your service or product. If you can, put a monetary value on this problem to make your business case.

Application

Tell the person who is listening how your idea solves the problem. The more you can explain about the customer’s journey the better. Don’t forget to include the payment in this journey! Explain the business model. Still keep it brief and simple. Example:

“This is how you use our service….” ” We connect [Customer A] and [Customer B] and charge a % fee from [Customer B].”

Benefit

Clearly explain the benefits of your idea. Choose one big benefit or make a shortlist of the positive effects of using your service or product.

Competition

This part is key to convincing people of your credibility. Make sure people know you are grounded in reality, tell the listener about what competitors there are today. Of course, explain how you stand out.

CTA – Call to action

Your audience has now listened and liked your idea, they want to support you. Always end by telling people what to do next after hearing this amazing pitch.

A CTA can be to buy or perhaps you are looking for expert advice, testers, cofounders, an office, network… Ask for what you need right now.

Categories
Okategoriserade Pitching

The value of pitching yourself and how-to:

A guideline to social selling and talking about yourself.

We know companies need a sales pitch and brand, but it turns out You might even be a more effective tool in the marketing strategy than the brands own advertising. An employee with a strong presence on social media will reach far more people and create a deeper relationship and associations to customers than paid advertising ever could.

This means that no matter if you are an employee, freelancer, entrepreneur or running a big company personal branding is important.

The future belongs to storytellers

A business has to be able to answer “Why do I need you?”. A person has to answer “Why should I care to listen to you?”. You answer that question with a really great story. I recollect hearing Michelle Obama saying something along the lines of “The future belongs to storytellers.”. If she didn’t, then now it’s what I said.

We connect through storytelling, in a sense our brains never left the campfire.

In a way, storytelling is the most human activity. Before the written word there were only stories and when us humans started to write, we wrote down the stories that had been told for generations with impressive detail. In such credible detail that older books have been used for genealogy and people to this day debate whether evolution theory or creationist theory is correct! Stories, fairytales or songs have always captured the human minds imagination, attention and memory. We connect through storytelling, in a sense our brains never left the campfire.

The Story Arch

This leads us to the art of storytelling. Every good story follows a story arc that goes roughly like this:

  1. Start from the beginning.

Start your story off with a beginning, where you were before you became what/who you are today. I grew up with a psychologist mom so I always end up going back to my childhood, haha. Get. Used. To. It.

  1. The obstacle

Then there is an incident or trigger. Perhaps a challenge, an experience of being new at something or an event or thing that didn’t go as you planned it to. This is when you build a relationship with other humans by showing you are also human (surprise!). So rather than being ashamed of your obstacles or failures, wear them proudly on your sleeve and tell others so you can help them too.

  1. The becoming

Of course, exactly as readers or viewers of any book or movie, at this point of the story, your audience is now at their tippy-toes concerned with how it went. So, now you tell them how you overcame this obstacle.

4. Expert level unlocked

You finish your story off by highlighting lessons you learned or skills you honed from this experience and conclude affirming why you are now a …. wait, what is it that you were?

  1. Conclusion

The most difficult part is often the start and end to a story. Here are some suggestions to get your head going on how to brand yourself:

  • I am now a [title] and help [customer] with [problem] so that they can [actual goal of their business/life]
  • Go to for [service] to [specific customer] in [industry]
  • Expert in [your field]
  • able to help [customer segment] with [specific knowledge]
  • Experienced [title] eager to [something you love contributing with at work]

If you found this post useful please comment, like & share. What is the hard part for you when you have to talk about yourself?

Categories
Communication

Introduction to the blog

This blog will cover sustainable business development and communication. The benefit is there is an endless amount of things to write about. But it will likely also break most (all??) communication rules such as consistency, one-topic one-voice, and other really solid advice I’ve gotten and will continue to give to others (=You!). Why?

There are three reasons:

  1. Perfection is a wild goose chase. No one or thing, nor you or I am perfect. All we can do is start and learn. The same goes for this blog.
  2. Sustainability. True sustainability is interdisciplinary and includes many different perspectives.
  3. Business development. To develop a business, new or old, you have to look at the many different pillars of which a business rests on.

Sustainability means so many different things!

Since this blog will cover my work on sustainable business development and communication the benefit is there is an endless amount of things to write about. Sustainability includes income and gender equality, future-proofing our society, climate change, biodiversity… And then add on top of that my fiery interest in all things business and sales. As a business developer/advisor/communications consultant I have the pleasure of having very varying jobs and end up coaching, learning-by-doing and reading up on a lot on different topics.

The downside from a communications perspective when choosing such a wide topic is always that it is too wide. Not narrowing down means it might not be explanatory or specific enough for someone to understand why they would follow, read, hire or buy from you. To overcome this and make it easier for you – my reader – to navigate I will use tags and categories.

Communication starting-kit

For you who reads this that is also starting out with building your personal or business online presence, I will end this post with a few simple guidelines. In other words what rule of thumb to think about when you start or evaluate your online communication.

  1. Clear message
  2. Tone
  3. Consistency

Choose a main topic + 2 subtopics and relevant channels where you will talk about this. The more specific your main topic is, the better. If you run a product-based business then this would mean “The latest products” and then the subtopics might be “Process of making the product” and “customer stories”. It is always easier to narrow this down by having an outsiders perspective, book a consultation with me here.

Your tone of voice means what personality you will have, what feeling do you want to express? What kind of language; informal or formal, and structure; short or long text?

Finally, choose a frequency of publishing new content and stick to it. Remember to adjust it to the optimal frequency for the platform(s) of your choice. Choosing the correct platform and frequency is important. To hear more about what platform would fit you or your business, fill out the form on this site and I will get back to you shortly.

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