When should you use a pitch deck?
There are a handful of cases where you might need to use a pitch deck. But the most common are the client pitch, potential investor pitch, and the start-up business pitch. The layout of these decks and the areas they focus on will change depending on the goal of the pitch.
For example, if you want to create a pitch deck to prove your business is best suited to social media management, you’d lean into examples of content. Alternatively, if you were trying to encourage investment, you might only use a top-performing example of your content to prove your audience interaction.
Ultimately, every pitch deck should be different, especially if they’re going to be effective. This is because a good pitch deck needs to be tailored, not only to your business, but to who you’re speaking to. If you’re meeting multiple investors or clients over an extended period, you’ll want to create a pitch deck that focuses on your audiences’ wants and needs.
For a client pitch or presentation.
If you’re creating a client pitch deck, you’re likely competing against others for the chance to work with them. To stand out from the crowd, you’ll need to get to know your client beforehand and understand the challenges affecting their business. Once you know their issues, you can position yourself as the solution to their problems.
For potential investors.
If you’re pitching to potential investors, you’ll likely have limited time to make an impact – potentially as little as two minutes. Your deck needs to be focused on four key elements:
- The service or product you’re providing
- Your competitors
- How you plan to expand and make money
- Evidence that you and your team are capable of succeeding.
For a start-up business pitch.
If you’re creating a deck for a start-up business pitch, your aim probably isn’t to close a deal but to encourage conversation with investors. Realistically, you want to convince potential investors that your business will provide a reliable solution to a problem.
How to structure your pitch deck presentation.
The structure of your pitch deck will vary depending on who you’re presenting to, what you’re presenting and the purpose of your deck. Below we’ve included a generic structure for a pitch deck – but you can edit and amend this to suit your needs.
1. Title slide.
This should include the name of your business, the names of the people presenting and their titles within the company. Use this as the initial introduction and think carefully about the first impression you want to make.
2. Summary.
This should sum up the deck in a couple of slides, so think about the key points you want to make or highlight. It could include your business mission, your long-term plan, key stats or something else entirely.
3. The problem.
What is the core problem your business is trying to solve? Think of this as the set-up before you showcase the features of your product or service.
4. Competition comparison.
Use this to talk about who else is in the market, what they offer and how they approach the problem. What are they missing that you cover? How is your offering better than theirs?
5. Key successes so far.
Your key successes will be specific to you, but you’ll also need to think about what will impress the audience. Maybe it’s a trial run that proved successful or it might be a fully functional app that will be rolled out this month. Whatever your successes, this is your chance to shout about them and show that you’re someone to watch.
6. Your solution.
Think back to the problem that you first discussed – this is your chance to show how you’ll provide a solution. Whether it’s a service or a product, you’ll need to demonstrate that you’ve thought in great detail about how you’ll tackle the problem.
7. Market opportunity.
Is there appetite for your product or service? Provide data on searches, email sign-ups, or the results of your trial runs. Use whatever you can to prove that there’s a market for your product.
8. Marketing strategy.
If there’s a market, how are you going to promote your product or service? Use this to outline your marketing strategy. Think about all aspects of marketing and which channels would be best suited to you.
9. Introduce your team.
You may be the CEO, COO or the CFO, but what about the rest of the team? This is where you should introduce the people who will be working for the business. It doesn’t have to be a long list, or comprehensive, but it should show that you’ve chosen your staff members wisely and that there’s a consistent level of experience in the team.
10. Financial projections.
Finally, you should talk about the finances of the business. Based on your track record, competitors, and other relevant calculations, you should include your financial projections. Expect this to be scrutinised and be prepared to answer questions on your calculations!
