Irrespective of size or shape, marketing projects that demand financial, personnel or time investment are going to need approval from your management board.
Multiple people are responsible for business purchasing decisions nowadays, so you need a presentation that gets multiple decision-makers invested in your project and vision before you can action it.
This can seem a tall order with your stakeholders having different priorities and interests. But here are some key steps you can take to strengthen your proposition and present it in terms that highlight its value to the business’s bottom line.
Clearly Communicate Intent
Ensuring your stakeholders are on the right page at the very outset of the discussion is crucial to the success of your proposal. Get everyone in the room early on and dedicate time to explaining why you’re there and what you’re going to talk about.
This simple step enables you to circumvent surprises and confusion and guarantees that your audience are in the most appropriate frame of mind to absorb your message and make an informed decision.
Boil Down Essential Content
When presenting your project, you don’t need to comb exhaustively through every detail – and you shouldn’t try to. Limit yourself to one point per PowerPoint slide so that you can guide attention and move through your message with good momentum; tell a story with your proposal and get your audience excited about the future.
Remember not to get bogged down in supplementary detail. Present the headlines you want stakeholders to focus on and remember that you can always talk around information in greater detail if required.
Speak to Your Stakeholders’ Interests
Think about your stakeholders’ personas: are they involved in the marketing process? How receptive are they likely to be to your project? What information do they need to know? Take this qualitative information into account and only deliver messaging that is relevant to your audience’s priorities.
They likely won’t care about the nitty-gritty operations of your project, but what they will capture their attention is the key strategy and bottom line results it will produce for the business. Sell the benefits and present your project in terms that matter to who you’re talking to.
Involve and Listen to Your Audience
Nothing makes eyes glaze over faster than a one-way conversation. Stakeholders are more likely to entertain and ultimately buy into your project if they’re playing an active part in the dialogue.
Increase engagement by involving your decision-makers: hook them in with snippets of information, ask questions, listen to their concerns and encourage debate. If your idea is solid, some spirited discussion will often go in your favor: it can bring to light the need for your project and allow you to build multiple layers of messaging.
Use Data to Bolster Messaging
Data is one of the most powerful tools in your persuasion arsenal – used properly, it can add weight and credibility to what you’re saying. It takes conjecture out of the equation, meaning that you can bypass objections based in subjectivity and opinion.
As with your core messaging, you don’t need to be exhaustive here. Pick out the quantitative information that is most important and which supports your assertions, then present it in a way that’s visually interesting (no Excel sheets!). You can always create hidden slides with full breakdowns of the numbers, then bring them up if necessary.
Read more: Six Steps to Get Management Buy-in