Simple Tricks for Pitching on Zoom

We have been able to help several marketers find and appoint a new agency while we have all been in lockdown. It is a process that’s challenging for marketers on both sides of the client and agency coin.

In the process, we have run a lot of pitch meetings on Teams and Zoom in this process; I think we can all agree this is not a natural environment to excel in showing off anything, let alone your credentials or creative prowess.

To help you with your next pitch, here are four simple ideas that might give you a leg up to stand out, alongside our other marketing agency resources that is too:

1. “Can you hear me OK?”

Assume the tech will let you down. I promise you the video or sound will fail at some point during the pitch.  

Please make sure everyone on your team can deliver their slides and someone else’s. The best pitch teams can roll with the punches; when the tech fails on one presenter, someone else can seamlessly step up. The show goes on.  

2. Leave out the video.

Go back to point #1; the tech will let you down. I promise you not everyone will see or hear your expensive video even if it was perfect in your practice session.

You can always send the video in the follow-up, or send the link in the chat so everyone can watch the video outside of Teams/Zoom.

What you lose in control, you gain in viewability.  

3. Practice pitching to a logo.

I promise you some or all of the people in on the client-side will turn off their camera at some point during your pitch. I don’t know why, but get used to pitching to a logo.

How do you engage someone you can’t see? Bake in some conversation and interactivity during the pitch.

4. Don’t fill your deck with text.

It’s easy for your audience to read your slides on their screen and especially when their camera is switched off (see point 3). You don’t want to lose their focus on your key messages, while they drift off reading your slide essay.

Keep the slides simple, use more graphics, make sure the audience has to stay focussed. Reread, point 3.

There you have it—four simple ideas to help with your next virtual pitch. 

I should probably mention the pitching basics too…get a golden thread, answer the brief, tell a story, show the client you understand their industry, practice practice practice etc. You know the drill.

Check out our training course The Art of the Pitch and coming soon, Pitch Perfect to help you nail your next performance. These courses are both part of the marketing agency resources we’re building up to help agencies grow.

Good luck with your next pitch.