Be Prepared For Your Pitch
Session 7, the very last before our final pitch, started out with our teams presenting their strategy towards the Coopr team in order to get a first taste of what an actual PR pitch for a client can look like. Quickly it became apparent that one of the lessons we have learned about PR has stuck firmly into our heads: be conscious about your competition. Nevertheless, although no team revealed the special key ingredient, campaign directions have become clear and we engaged in a Q&A to clarify last questions to what a good pitch must entail.
The last session was accompanied by Jody, who after our first presentations guided us through several steps in not only preparing your pitch, but also how to deliver it and how to read decision makers, ready to make a judgement on your presentation. Quintessential preparations entail two key ingredients: understand profiles & personalities and most of all do your homework.
Being prepared in PR is fundamentally different than being the Lion King (less killing and animals, I assume). First up, delegate the tasks and work as a team. What will you wear? How will you introduce yourselves? Does the pitch start when we start the PP, or when we enter the building until we leave it? And most important of all: Script! After the small, yet important attention to detail, it is up to you to read the audience, and the presenters need to familiarize themselves with different ways on engaging different people. For that, Jody presented us with a model which contained four different people you may encounter during a pitch:
Logo: People who want discuss their opinions with others, but do not make direct decisions. While they are easy to engage, it is hard to convince them.
Body Copy: A person that is all about the “how”. In order to convince this guy, be prepared to present all about process and details. Life is a To-Do list.
Headliner: This person is task focused and usually the highest-ranking in the room. As the one making the decisions, orientate your pitch towards results.
Illustrations: This person is a creative which delights big ideas the world has never seen before in which he/she can be a part. With a high ego, everything surrounds this person, which makes it hard to sell a pitch.
Again, preparations come into play. A good PR agency also needs to consider who they send into the pitch, considering which kind of person they expect behind the table. “Although we believe we are unique, there are reasons we connect with one person more than with the other” – wise words by Jody. Then on the day you will be well prepared: rehearsed, well-rested and being yourself. Ready to be king.
If your strategy is convincing.
