Dazzle Your Stakeholders: Presentations to Investors and Buyers

Every presentation you do, whether it’s directed to investors or buyers, should aim for the mind, heart and gut.

How do you engage stakeholders?

First, present polished ideas. Do not leave anything to the viewer’s imagination. Stakeholders want to be persuaded. They want to be entertained. That means you must go beyond The Powerpoint Presentation to a Whole-Brained Presentation. A dispassionate handful of bullet-point slides aim for the intellect, not the heart and gut.

In the old economy, we presented the sketchy mockups—marketing renderings—and hoped our audiences would fill in the visual blanks. In the new economy, we can do better. Much better. We can inexpensively create gorgeous four-color presentation boards and 3-D models. Visual aids illustrate your brand’s value.

But pretty is not enough, especially if you are presenting to investors. Accompany the pretty stuff with a strong business overview that presents the logical, practical, rational and functional aspects of your business model. Talk about profit margins, how you plan to make money. Demonstrate your brand’s inherent value and equity, and why the brand is sustainable. Talk about your core competencies and your internal branding. Demonstrate value on the inside. Discuss liabilities openly and honestly, then show why liability is limited. Focus on showing what is possible, from co-branding opportunities to future line extensions.

When you are presenting to partners who will help you sell product, show how the functional and emotional benefits must be crafted to assure purchase action from customers. Show how your brand fulfills aspirations and how it will make an emotional connection. When it comes to the customer, remember: Emotional always trumps rational.

So, does your brand have what it takes to dazzle?