8 ways to ruin your next pr pitch
TRANSCRIPT
NOT DOING ENOUGH RESEARCH
You've been called to better their image. Andyou need to show that you see the problemsthey have, and the ones they overlooked. Soread up on their recent outreach programs,markets, business models, their partners &
competitors.
No amount of advise or team swagger cancompensate for bad research.
1
TAKING TOO MANY FOLKS ALONG
A smaller team makes you look capable &organized, besides helping hugely in pitchprep. So, pick the core contributors and add
one. That's it.
Avoid making your pitch an intern trainingground.
2
NOT REV IEWING THE F INAL CONTENT
Content often gets put together by multipleteam members leading to unexpected orirrelevant slides & format changes which
break the pitch flow.
Have one reviewer review EVERYTHING.
3
CONTRADICT ING YOUR MESSAGE
Most personnel feel they can wing it duringtheir turn in the pitch and even in the postpitch Q&A. There's often little final prep.
So, while you may not have noticed thatyour team just contradicted itself, your client
certainly did.
4
CONTENT HAS NO TEXT OR TOO MUCH TEXT
VERY LITTLE OR NO TEXT =You're pretty much planning to BS your way
through.
TOO MUCH TEXT =Your presentation skills are questionable,there wasn't enough prep and you've failedat something you're expected to be pretty
good at.
5
RELY ING ON A SAVIOR
Bad prep renders you incapable of takingfollow up questions on a query you justanswered. There is then an immediatetendency to gaze helplessly towards themost senior personnel in the pitching team.
You're looking to get bailed out.
If you can't answer, don't start.
6
FA I L ING 'WHO WILL OWN OUR ACCOUNT? '
There are multiple ways to fail at this:1. By pointing to a person who never uttered a
word all through the pitch.2. Consulting your team in front of your client.3. Contradicting each other as your answer.4. Referring to a person who isn't even at the
pitch.
7
ASSUMING YOU WON 'T MESS THESE UP
This list was put together based oninteractions with some of the best agencies
in the biz.
But PR is people, and people make mistakes.
Unless you take special care, you are boundto mess up too.
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