It’s a Pitch, Girl -Hall & Oates

I’m pretty sure he says pitch, right? It was that or, ‘99 problems but a pitch ain’t one’ by Jay Z… I’m sure you’ve heard of both.

When a pitch is on the radar, agency life becomes even more interesting than normal. As I’ve said before, no day is the same at an agency. The same applies to pitches – there’s no one size fits all. That’s both the best and hardest part.

One of the (many) reasons I love my job is because I’m very competitive. Those of you that know me are probably rolling your eyes saying, “Yeah, we know” for every game you’ve lost… I mean played with me. Pitching is just that. You are essentially trying to be the most humble peacock in the room, which as you can imagine, is not easy to do. If you’ve made it to the pitch, you’ve left your mark – but it’s not enough. You have to win the client over and prove why you’re the best partner for their business. In fact, this may be the easy part, since you share the common goal of wanting to grow their business.

You have to be impressive, innovative and most importantly, convincing. Your presentation is back up for all of the reasons why you say you’re the ideal partner. There’s no special formula, either you click – or you don’t. You can give a flawless pitch and be so sure you’ve won the business, but at the end of the day, it’s up to the client – and I’ve said before, the customer is always right.

Understanding your Audience

Clients want to be understood, they want to know their money will be put to good use, and in the end, see that advertising provides them with success. You must show your passion for their brand, you need to show you “get” them. If you understand what they’re looking for, it’s only up from there. I should note that if you don’t have the work to back you up, you should move on. Your presentation is essentially your resume, and experienced professionals will see right through you.

Understanding your audience is important for all aspects in advertising, not just pitching. But when you’re pitching, odds are you have the decision makers in the room – and you’re not the only agency that has an hour and a half to present. Keep things simple. They don’t care about why someone clicked on the ads you did for XYZ company, they want to know you did your research which resulted in purchased items for their company. Simple is typically best, unless your audience is Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory… which reminds me of this great ad from Intel.

If you can show that you understand what the client is trying to achieve, show them how you’ve done it in the past, and explain how you’ll help them get there, you’ve done all you can do. I’ve mentioned that finding your career is a lot like dating, so is pitching in the advertising world. Sometimes it’s not love at first sight, but opportunity awaits in other places. That’s the beauty of any competition – there’s no time to wallow in a loss. You pick yourself back up and get into a new game, just as hungry and driven as before.

Remember that confidence is key. No one wants to hire someone who isn’t sure of themselves.