Marketing presentations and marketing are very similar. Both involve communicating appropriate messages effectively so that the audience thinks that what is being suggested is effective, practical, and lends value to the client. You need to ensure that any marketing presentation delivered to your audience has the impact and results that you are seeking, and you are able to convince them of the merits of your ideas. Some secrets of effective marketing presentations:
Preparing For the Presentation
The reason why most meetings do not achieve much is because usually they lack a clear-cut agenda. It is important for you to set down the agenda at the very start of the presentation so that everyone knows the topic. If you are in charge of the meeting, then you need to specify the issues that will be discussed, who will lead the discussions, and an idea of the time allotted to each topic. By doing this the attending people can set their own expectations on the purpose of the meeting.
If you are only handling a part of the presentation, you can discuss briefly on the intent of the presentation before you start off so that the audience can better focus on it. Be familiar with the layout of the meeting room and the presentation equipment so that you do not fumble around in front of the audience and let their attention dissipate.
Present Yourself Properly
Even before you start delivering your presentation, the audience will form a very good idea about you by the way you look and have conducted yourself. Dress smartly without succumbing to the temptation of being too casual. However, you need to take into account the composition and expectations of your audience as well as your own status to get it right. For example, if you are addressing a group of senior client representatives, a formal suit would be compulsory.
You must speak clearly and loudly when addressing the audience, and ensure that you have their full attention. You can announce right at the very start that you’ll be sharing the presentation with them so they need not dilute their attention taking unnecessary notes.
Structure the Presentation Right
Make sure that your presentation has a logical flow. You can start off by enunciating a problem, go on to suggest a solution, and also discuss the main benefits. Do not hesitate to discuss threats and issues. Make your presentations slides look smart with a professionally-designed PowerPoint template that will lend a visual structure to all the slides. Limit the text to the minimum and use images to the maximum to make your point better.
Be simple in your approach, don’t labor the points, and keep the slides clean with lots of white space so that the audience can easily assimilate the issue before them. Above all ensure that you restrict the presentation to within a maximum of ten minutes irrespective of how complex the subject matter may be.
Adapt To the Online World
With most business organizations having an extremely well-distributed footprint, you can no longer assume that you will always have the advantage of a live audience every time you make a marketing presentation. Rather, most situations may require you to upload it to the cloud and share it with the relevant persons concerned or even to the public at large. You need to ensure that since these online audiences will not have the benefit of your personal presence, the presentations should be able to convey your views on a stand-alone basis.
While both types of presentations require you to be very selective about what you include, presentations that need to be shared on online platforms need to be a little more explanatory than the ones that you deliver personally. You can add an audio narrative so that your absence is somewhat compensated and the audience does not feel compelled to read through all the slides.
Author bio: Nancy Brewer is a senior marketing manager of a leading auto manufacturer. He makes it a point to introduce new products to the dealers with detailed presentations that are made distinctive with a custom PowerPoint template.