This week we are going to talk about crafting an elevator pitch.

What’s up Fish Fans! My name is Marcus. You’re watching Marketing Madness, the Blue Fish vlog!

It always surprises me when you meet someone, you ask about their job, and immediately their brain kind of seizes up and they get this weird look on their face. If this is you, we are here to help. Today’s video will give you some of the things we take into consideration when putting together an elevator pitch for clients.

An elevator pitch is meant to be 20-30 seconds and should highlight what your organization does in such a persuasive way that it creates interest in the person you are talking to. As an example, I typically say something along the lines of:

Blue Fish is an Advertising Agency based out of Mobile Alabama that helps small and medium sized organizations over come obscurity and connect with their audience. Because we know that clients cannot purchase from you if they do not know you exist. Blue Fish is a data-driven agency that uses social media management, social media ads, websites, videography, photography, branding, and graphic design to get results for our clients.

We are going to assume you’ve already created user personas and are aware of the audience you are trying to reach. If not, you’ll want to picture your ideal customer, give them a name, give them a face, write down anything that helps you define and imagine this individual. This is all going to help you in creating an elevator pitch. You’ll be able to better define what they like or dislike and what they might respond to.

You’ll also want to make a list of the top 4-5 things you do for people. Use language that they understand. Do NOT use technical or industry jargon. You want to be able to break down what you do in such a way that even your parents can understand it.

Probably the most important aspect of an elevator pitch is the Unique Selling Proposition. A Unique Selling Proposition, or USP for short, is something that sets you apart from your competitors and makes the person remember you. It might be a focus that you have, or a specific technology, or the speed with which you operate. Anything that you can say that makes them remember you is great, and bonus points if it is something that they can immediately think “I need that”.

You’ll notice that I use a word that is not often used in conversation, obscurity, as a way of triggering people to remember Blue Fish. Be careful in doing this. You don’t want to just use big words for the sake of making yourself appear smart. You want to use them sparingly, Also, I don’t talk about A/B Testing headlines and body copy as a way of describing Social Media ads. Keep it at a level that is high enough for the general population to understand. If they are interested then you can go deeper into the “how” you do things.

Make sure to time yourself stating the pitch. You don’t want to assume you are under 30 seconds only to drone on for 60. Play around with it a little bit as well. Play with words. Play with the order of services. Figure out what feels right.

I’d love to hear what you have when it comes to your elevator pitch. Send them to me at marcus@bluefishds.com.

Well, that’s a wrap for this week! I want to thank you for checking in. Make sure to hit that like button. And if you have any questions or comments leave them down below. If you want to talk about how Blue Fish can help you grow your business just send us a message and we’ll get the conversation started!