Most Americans are exposed to around 4,000 to 10,000 ads each day. A conflux of information and responsibilities has reduced the human attention span to a mere 8 seconds. This makes it critical to develop a compelling, brief, and impactful introduction that piques the curiosity of others.
What is an elevator pitch?
An introduction that is brief, succinct, and powerful is called an elevator pitch. In other words, it’s a way for people to present your value during the time it takes to ride an elevator between floors. People who take the time to perfect their elevator pitch have a marked advantage over competitors. Many business leaders simply fail to make use of this powerful marketing tool.
Why your personal brand needs an elevator pitch
Using an elevator pitch, you can quickly describe your experience, background, and strengths. It’s an effective tool for initiating professional relationships, developing new business and establishing your personal brand.
The opportunity to pitch a business leader, a decision maker, or an influencer may arise under a variety of conditions and in diverse environments. So, it helps to have slightly different versions of your elevator pitch prepared for different circumstances.
Additionally, an elevator pitch does not always take place in person. An equivalent pitch for use in written correspondence is another important marketing tool for you and your company.
Stand out in the marketplace
A strong brand identity has traditionally been a tactic for large companies. When business leaders cultivate their personal brand on places such as LinkedIn, they can guide how others perceive them.
Today, nearly everyone has a digital footprint by the age of two years old. Therefore, almost everybody has a digital brand. Those who don’t manage their digital presence have left their brand identities to chance. This identity, cultivated or left to fate, can determine what people think when they conduct online research to find out more information about you and your company.
Developing the perfect elevator pitch
When developing an elevator pitch, it’s important to clearly present an intended outcome in the statement. Therefore, the message recipient needs to walk away understanding how they will benefit by working with the person who delivered the message.
Therefore, the first step in developing an effective elevator pitch is outlining the desired outcome of the business relationship. For instance, a consultant may incorporate how their services have helped another firm into their pitch. This will help a potential client visualize those positive results for their own company.
Statistics and numerically definable outcomes are one of the most powerful data points for this kind of pitch. The elevator pitch serves as more than a concise introduction; it’s a segue to open-ended questions that lead to a deeper conversation. By incorporating a strong, unique selling proposition into an elevator pitch, you can deliver the right information. This will raise interest in your organization’s products and services.
In approximately 30 seconds, the elevator pitch relays what makes you and your company stand out among a sea of competitors. A elevator pitch is equivalent to a hiring manager asking a potential job candidate about their career.
Finally, it’s important to incorporate proven psychological and emotional triggers that encourage listeners to view delivered messages in a positive light and take a desired course of action.
Preparing to succeed
People who promote themselves as skilled experts create opportunities and make powerful business connections. However, once a business leader delivers the perfect pitch, they must also have the negotiation skills to close the deal.
Today, self-promotion is vital to success in nearly every field and industry. For example, career analysts forecast a 20-percent growth surge in the health care career field throughout the decade preceding the year 2026. As young executives vie to fill the lucrative new career openings, a strong elevator pitch may serve as a prevailing resource. It could attract the attention of hiring managers amid a large and ambitious candidate pool.
An elevator pitch is an opportunity to make message recipients want more information. It’s your job to relate how you and your company can solve problems. The elevator pitch is a great tool for expressing how you and your organization relives pain points. It allows the recipients to visualize how a product or service will help an organization achieve its objectives.
An elevator pitch is critical to a building successful personal brand
In a world where consumers and executives are constantly pummeled with generic with brand messages, the elevator pitch is a necessary step for you to build your personal brand. This is the front-line tool for managing your personal brand image.
This guest blog article was written by Quinn Cooley, content coordinator at Data, Content & Scholarships (DCS), a premiere collection of higher education data, research and visualizations.