Presentations bring brands to life
Good craftsmanship as a basis
Before we get to the performance part – and naturally for routine presentations, you’ve got this by now, they’re first-class – let’s look at the presentation:
- You’ve programmed the PowerPoint master and set design guidelines, from the title slide to content slides: colors, layout, fonts, bullet points, charts, tables and stylistic elements. All in your corporate design.
- You’ve thought about formats, file names, storage locations, versions and keeping files up-to-date.
- You have a kind of basic company presentation or, better still, you’ve made a modular “presentation kit,” which is available to be used as the official template for various types of presentation.
- As a skilled expert, you also pay attention to defined imagery, icons, headlining and corporate wording.
- And, as a top professional, you’re concerned about addressing target groups, structure and composition. You want a logical narrative that takes into account the company’s objectives ‒ all the way to a conclusion that points to a desirable future outcome, not just a “thanks for your time” slide.
All done then, right?
Brands should be experienced
Precisely. This brings us to the performance part. Bring your brand to life based on the characteristics, values, and image objectives you defined, and – if you have a marketing slogan – based on the slogan that communicates the essence of your brand.
Presentations are essential experiential touchpoints for your brand. They make it tangible, believable, exude its character and radiate its values. Both through its styling, its wording, in the narrative and via the people who present it. Together, they help the brand penetrate the market and exude the right feeling or character.
Do a quick presentation brand check
PowerPoint isn’t just PowerPoint. It’s a vehicle for your brand management.
List your defined brand characteristics (for example: warmhearted, passionate, simple, quick, customer-oriented, unlike any other). Align all characteristics with the structure, composition, and key messages of your presentation. For example:
- Customer-oriented… Does your title slide grab your recipients? How can your listeners relate to your presentation? How can they tell you’re talking specifically to them and no one else? How do you come across as customer-oriented? Or is your title slide still in the classic bureaucratic style, populated with title, date, name of the speaker or your company? Are you still thinking “I” or are you thinking “customer?”
- Unlike any other … Is your presentation really that different to all the other presentations? Do you perhaps kick off with an unusual opening? Is your lateral thinking evident? What’s your unusual ending? Although “unusualness” is always relative to your brand’s attributes. What’s the significance of the brand attributes rooted in your corporate identity with regard to implementing and performing your presentation?
- Do you have a claim or slogan? How does it run through the presentation? In allusions, wording and stories? How does it become tangible?
- Have you trained everyone in the characteristics, image objectives and values that match what your presentation projects? Briefed the coach or trainer as to your brand image? Are the stories you want told clear and easy to repeat? To what extent are your speakers perceived as unusual, noticeably different, customer-oriented, or even human? How do you help them develop their performance so they come across that way?
- Be honest: Is your presentation performance exciting? Does it make your audience smile at times? Are they nodding in agreement? Looking at you attentively?
- How do you prepare for a presentation? What can you do afterwards to make the brand an experience?
This is only a tiny checkup. It would be, however, your routine check to ensure your talk or pitch is a lively performance on the presentation dancefloor. We often conduct checkups like this for our customers, but more thoroughly, and with positive results. Get in touch if you need a brand checkup, or simply a neutral perspective. Such feedback can be enlightening.
Most importantly: Simply be as unique as you are.