Presentation Skills 101-1 Introduction to Presenting
Public Speaking is one of the most feared and avoided tasks among modern civilizations. Apparently people would rather run naked through a crowded room or die of drowning than speak in front of a group of people. The good news is that unlike drowning, speaking does get better and easier the more you prepare and practice, not sure about the being naked part.
We are going to look at some simple techniques and tools that will set you apart from others and get you to a point where you can walk into a room with confidence knowing that you are confident, capable and prepared to handle whatever is requested from you. Winston Churchill said, “The best unprepared speech I ever did, was the one I prepared the night before.”
As an Entrepreneur you will be required to be prepared to pitch yourself, your business and your ideas to people at the drop of a hat. This week we will take you through the preparation of the following presentations;
- Personal Elevator pitch
- Business Elevator pitch
- Tips on Visual Aids
- More tips on presenting
The rules of any presentation are simple: Keep it simple. Unless you are presenting a scientific notation to a bunch of PhD graduates at MIT, keep it simple. People do not enjoy getting bogged down by detail. They are never impressed by your ability to show off how clever you think you are by using big words and techno jargon. Simple wins every time.
At the end of your pitch there are six questions that, if you could ask your audience, would grade the success of your presentation;
- Can they repeat your main points?
- Could they visualise what you were saying?
- Will they remember this tomorrow?
- Could they relate it to their own lives?
- Did they respect what you were saying?
- Do they want to talk to you afterwards?
Wow, heavy questions, but worthy of keeping in mind as you prepare your presentation.
Let us know of some of your presentation ‘YES’ and ‘OH NO’ experiences.
Missile Marketing 5: FAF
To simply FAF, Fire and Forget a missile require a lot of confidence in your product, technology and targeting system. Missiles that use this technology today are expensive and only used when other methods are not viable.
But in marketing, this method of Fire and Forget is not only the best method, but the cheapest as well. A well established network of happy customers, appointed Brand Champions and solid referral strategy will see your marketing develop from strength to strength. Here are some simple, yet effective FAF strategies for your business:
- Develop a team of Brand Champions who will assist in marketing to potential customers that you do not have direct access to.
- Develop a strategy to gain referrals from others. This can be done through your current customer base as well as through networking organisations such as BNI.
- Develop a number of Affiliate programmes into your business. This is normally done using other businesses that you refer to or recommend and in doing so earn an income.
- Develop a number of online forms, landing pages and links that will automatically direct customers to the place ofpurchase. This requires some planning in design, but once done well, will give you a constant stream of income.
- Converting some of your wisdom or products to video or into a book, will develop alternate income streams into yourbusiness. There are a number of online platforms that will host your training materiel or eBooks and send you money each month for sales achieved.
This is just some of the strategies we use for ourselves and our clients. Fire and Forget, with confidence and guaranteed results time and time again. Take time to develop these into your business for a more focused strategy to developing a diverse array of income streams.
Missile Marketing 4: SACLOS
We have chatted about HOPE and MCLOS as ways to run your marketing strategies, but there is a more advanced technology used to fire missiles. Called SACLOS, Semi-Automatic Command to Line Of Sight. This allows the target to be loaded into some form of guidance system and then only minor adjustments are required to hit the bulls-eye.
Seen in military using wire connected torpedoes or guidance missiles led to their target using laser painted targeting systems. The outcome is much better than manual targeting or hope. But still requires some manual processes.
As example marketing online using Pay-per-click on FaceBook or Google. You can set up your desired target audience ahead of time and then start your campaign. It runs well, but may require some minor adjustments as it progresses.
This is also seen in live marketing such as Expos, talks or 1-on-1 marketing. A set structure is designed ahead of time and then may be adjusted according to the audience you are delivering to.
Effective and better than others discussed but still requires manual input and some form of intellectual strategy to get the best results.
But is there a better way? Could it be possible to Fire and Forget and know that you will hit your target. More on this in our next post.
Missile Marketing 3: MCLOS
Being able to manually control a missile to its target has proved to be a huge advantage in the battle field. Looking at the current unrest in the Middle East, we see onside using ‘hope’ rockets just firing in the general direction of a target and the other side using technology where the missile is directed towards a specific building or vehicle. The outcomes are obvious. Once side has a much better success rate and far less collateral damage in the process.
What about your marketing. Can you use MCLOS technology in your campaigns. MCLOS stands for Manual Command to Line Of Sight. Giving you manual control of your marketing as it happens. This allows for minor changes in strategy and direction as your campaigns evolves.
This would exclude any form of printed advert in a newspaper or phone book with very little room for manoeuvre during its life span. It may be able to include handing out of flyers to the right type of people at the right time. Or it could include running online campaigns that you can adjust as you see things change.
But all these, as great as they are, require you to be in control and direct things as they change. It is expensive as well as time consuming. MCLOS requires hands on deck and a real understanding of your market, but gives you the ability to change and adjust as you go along.
Think for a moment how you could add a manual adjustment to your marketing campaigns that you are currently running or will run in the near future and implement this MCLOS strategy. But is there a better way? More in our next post.
Missile Marketing 2: Hope
So many people run what I call HOPE based marketing. They place adverts online, in the phone book or local newspapers and then sit back and hope that someone reads them and calls with an order.
If you have ever, or currently use the word “hope” in connection with your marketing, you know that you are in trouble. In fact this word should not be used in any association with running a small business. Never hope money will be paid, never hope people will read your adverts, or hope they come to an event.
Turning hope into certain confidence is key to developing a solid marketing strategy that will develop your business into the future.
So our lesson today is: take a look at your business marketing strategy and where you ‘hoping’ that things are going to work, start to change these. In our next post we will begin to discuss more productive ways to target your customers