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05.27.08 Introducing The Escalator Pitch  By Brian Solis The escalator is the new elevator when it comes to pitching and the emerging practice of micro public relations. While some bloggers and reporters are actively blacklisting PR people, whether it's fair or not, it's not truly fixing or changing anything at a grand scale - at least not yet. I'm part of a growing number of PR folks who are committed to sharing stories, experiences, tools, practices, and ideas on how to specifically fix the relationships between PR and influencers. But, it's not only PR people who are guilty of unfocused and irrelevant storytelling (spam), it's also company executives and founders who lose a bit of perspective during the reality and grind of product development. In a sense, it puts the blinders on making it incredibly difficult for entrepreneurs to transcend their passion into something more substantial to those outside of their day-to-day ecosystem. This doesn't only correlate to bad or even worse, zero publicity, it affects everything from financing to business development to valuation. So, I'm here throwing my hat into the ring to also help company executives, as well as PR representatives, condense their pitch into something more palatable, important, promising, and also intriguing. This is an exercise in how you can help those that matter to your business quickly get to the point where they want to know more about your company. We've all heard of the elevator pitch. As our attention span thins and tests the true extent of our elasticity, many are finding that most businesses still can't tell their story quickly and concisely without superlatives, buzzwords, technical jargon, and deafening marketing speak. The answer to "what do you do?" doesn't yield much, usually requiring the person listening to ask further qualifying questions in order to get a truly meaningful and relevant answer.
I'm sorry to say that most people don't have the time, patience, or attention to continually ask for more information - nor should they. The onus is on you to tell your story in a way that helps them get it, almost instantly. And, you want them to do something about what they're hearing, not just nod their head in agreement. That's right. Forget the elevator pitch, it's time to hop on an escalator to a more effective company pitch. Introducing the escalator pitch. My good friend Stowe Boyd, recently introduced the concept of the #TwitPitch, a very streamlined way for using Twitter to simplify the process of booking briefings with companies during the show. It forced companies to distill their message in 140 characters, which, in the process, will hopefully tighten and streamline the typical elevator pitch. As Stowe says, "I think twitpitch takes the elevator pitch to new brevity: the escalator pitch." The idea of the escalator pitch is game changing and powered by the brevity that takes place on Twitter every minute of every day. It inspires us to embrace brevity and relevance outside of twitter, in the real world, to help people "get" what we do and why they should care. I've been on the receiving end of elevator pitches for years, and I can honestly tell you that most are much longer than most elevator rides and most certainly, very difficult to discern the value within each - regardless of whether or not the product or service is indeed promising or revolutionary. Simply said, don't assume that anyone is going to see things the way you do. Continue reading this article. About the Author: Brian Solis is principal at FutureWorks PR, an award-winning PR and Social Media agency founded in 1999. FW PR bridges the communications gap between companies and their customers, and between products and their specific benefits for their target markets. Solis blogs at PR2.0, http://www.briansolis.com, and regularly contributes to many industry trades. He is also frequently quoted in articles relating to technology trends and Marketing/PR strategies. |
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