From the course: Creating and Giving Business Presentations

Tailor your message to who and what it's for

From the course: Creating and Giving Business Presentations

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Tailor your message to who and what it's for

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- You've been told that next week you'll be presenting your quarterly digital marketing update to the CMO. You haven't presented to her before, nor do you have much time to get it prepared. So what do you do? This course is going to walk you through, step-by-step, how you can build your presentation, tailor your messages, build your reputation as a trusted advisor, and deliver a presentation that persuades your audience. I recommend opening a document where you can follow along and start planning a presentation that you need to do in the future. Let's start with the two most important questions we need to ask when starting a project such as this. Who's it for? And what's it for? Let's start with who's it for? Well, it's for our CMO, but who is she? What does she believe? What is she expecting? Have you ever paused to think about what a typical day looks like for a senior executive? Her inbox is exploding. Her calendar is packed with back-to-back meetings, and in those meetings, everybody wants her to make a decision, to green-light something, to give the next steps or to give advice. She is time-poor. She needs to context-switch all day, and she has to make decisions based on little information. In the middle of that busy day, in one of those many 30-minute meetings, you will be giving your quarterly digital marketing update. How can you cut through the noise of her day? How can you boost the signal of your messages and reduce the unnecessary noise? In short, it's about empathy. Ask yourself, if I knew what she did, wanted what she wanted, had to experience what she experiences, then what story and messages would resonate with me? Well, she might want key messages and insights clearly communicated because she is time-poor, your campaign results connected to broader company goals such as revenue, clear, actionable insights rather than just data, a focus on outcomes such as lead generation and customer acquisition, and a clear ask with recommendations for a preferred option. The second piece is what's it for? Yes, it's to give an update on what you've been doing and and will do, but why have you been asked to do it? You want to be seen as a trusted advisor, so what do you need to communicate? It could be one or a multiple of these things. How well are campaigns doing against KPIs, strategic insights into customer behaviors, potential risks or challenges, and which activity has yielded the best return on investment? And maybe you want to prove that your campaigns need more budget next year. For our presentation, let's go with which activity has yielded the best return on investment and should receive more or less budget allocation next quarter? Now's a good time to pause and take a moment and get clarity on who's it for and what's it for. Write it in your document. It will make deciding what you put in your presentation much easier.

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