What is your elevator pitch?

Jun 3

Have you ever seen the TV show called Dragon’s Den? (In the U.S. there's a similar show called Shark Tank.) It brings would-be inventors and entrepreneurs in front of five wealthy angel investors and gives them less than five minutes to make their pitch. It’s fascinating to watch. We often watch through the eyes of the dragons: would I give money to this venture? Is the entrepreneur likeable? Do they have a genuinely good business idea? Is their evaluation out to lunch?

But what if you had to pitch your business to the dragons? What would you say?

An elevator pitch is like standing in front of the dragons, but with less time. Could you pitch your business idea to someone you meet in an elevator from the time it takes to go one floor—30 seconds or less?

The elevator pitch challenge

I started listening to Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger podcast this week. He’s a smart guy who started blogging in 2007 and now travels the world as a speaker and teacher. His first challenge for bloggers is to come up with an elevator pitch. This isn’t just in case you meet a venture capitalist in an elevator. It’s so you can easily share your story with acquaintances, potential clients, peers and even your spouse.

Rowe said an elevator pitch has two goals:

to communicate what you do
to entice the person receiving your pitch to want to know more

My elevator pitch

“Is your story under-told? Branding Geek helps small business owners and marketers tell their stories in a digital world.”

One common theme I notice from watching Dragon’s Den is that all entrepreneurs needed help with marketing. They know their product inside and out, but feel their story is under-told. There is a good reason for that. Marketing is hard work.

One thing I continually hear from business owners is that they are overwhelmed by trying to keep up with new marketing trends and technology.

How can I get my website on the first page of a google search?
Do I need to be on social media? If so, which one?
How do I know where to spend my marketing budget to get the best results?
How can I tell my story in a complex digital world?

My goal with Branding Geek is to help small business owners and marketers keep up with trends in a meaningful way. With each blog post I hope to provide practical tips that you can easily apply to enhance your marketing efforts, today.

You can read more about my story on my about page.