How to Build Personal Brand Pitches

“Short and clear pitch – interesting and clear brand”

The statement above is the core message of this post. Maybe that’s all you need, maybe you want to read the whole post. The choice you made depends on your interest for the subject, your relation to the author (that’s me) and your curiosity of what the rest of the article is about.

News articles are written in pretty much the same way for two reasons: to keep the interest of the reader and to make it easy for the editor to remove the less-essential material. Simply, it’s about keeping things concise.

Even commercial messages have started to see the advantage of this. Just look at this site for the car brand Mini. The key here is to match the message to the audience, within a short time frame. Commercials are nothing more than brand pitches. So what can you do to make your pitch work in several situations?

Purpose

Always start with the purpose. Why am I doing this? What are the desired results and outcomes? For what context is this useful?

Multiple Pitches

First, make very clear what you want to communicate and what you want someone to remember after your pitch. This involve the critical element of knowing your time frame. Tailor different pitches based on how much time you have to work with. Some suitable pitches might be…

• 60 seconds (introduction of a presentation, when someone ask you to explain what you do, etc.)
• 30 seconds (formal networking with timeframes for each participant, etc.)
• 15 seconds (a phone call introduction, networking introduction, etc.)
• 5 seconds (a tagline, end of presentations, cliff hanger, business cards, etc.)

It is hard in the beginning to see what is the purpose and possible situations for each pitch, but bear with me, the ends justifies the effort.

Be Personal and Professional

The pitch is about you. Do not hide behind a formal title that can mean different things to different people. Imagine what you think of when you hear “sales executive.” Some may think s savvy corporate businessman, and some may think of a door-to-door evangelist. So your pitch should describe you, but also contain a professional message.

No One is Interested in What You Do

Maybe this is  an over-statement, but the reality is not far from this. The reason why you are interested in others is that you have value to provide them. It could be just listening or being there when needed, but when we talk pitches always think of how the recipient will receive the message. What´s in it for him/her? How can you help them achieve their goals? This is extremely important in all brand building, as any brand is defined by how others perceive it.

End with a Cliff-Hanger

When wrapping up your pitch, try to define once again the very core of your brand in one simple statement. This is important, as it will leave a lasting impression for the other person to remember you by.  Also, it will force you to always remember what the core of you and your brand really is.

Here is my pitch when working with personal branding:

Better self-awareness, clearer brand

Feel free to add your cliff hanger in the comments.