Pitch-ing About Stuff

Over the past 12 years in advertising and PR, it’s fair to say i’ve been in my fair share of client meetings. Big, small (and most recently without face-to-face interaction) I’ve seen and sat in all types. 

And the king of client meetings is undoubtedly the pitch. Like a first date – this is the make or break of whether you’ve got a dud catch-up that goes nowhere, or the blossoming of a beautiful relationship. 

The nature of these meetings is one of secrecy. Everyone is keeping their cards close to their chest, no one wants to give away too much to a stranger. 

Well, in Mutant’s spirit of transparency – I’m here to lift the agency veil on some of the most common questions that clients might have during the process, and what the agency is thinking. 

The agency has asked me for my budget before they start working on the pitch – but if i give it to them, then won’t they just use it all?

Well, that’s kind of the point of a budget.  

I mean, I get it – the idea is that if you don’t tell the agency a budget, then you get a true sense of what the work is worth. Not just something that matches your number.

Take it from me – sharing the budget you’re willing to spend up front is the single best way you can get to a great solution in a good timeframe. It gives a guardrail for the agency to operate within, and it means the ideas presented are actually viable. Not ridiculous stuff that could never actually be made. 

If you want to save some money from your marketing budget, then take that discount into account before you give the agency the budget. Better yet, give a ballpark range of budget. It gives you the flexibility to not commit to the exact dollar amounts, and a good agency will see this as a way of showing how their core ideas can extend, if the client appetite is there. 

OK so I’m in the pitch process. And a load of agencies are lined up to present to me. Aside from answering the brief, how should I judge the agency?

Think of the pitch process like interviewing a new employee. Sure, a slick presentation is an indicator in pride of work and a great ability to communicate ideas and strategies. 

Every agency should be able to do their pitch presentation well, as a base level of competence.

But like that unqualified friend you know somehow got that dream job against all logic – agencies will also talk about themselves and project themselves in a favourable light. Of course they will. They want your business. They’re not going to say anything bad. 

So just like vetting that prospective employee, the best way to judge if they’re suitable for the future is to look at their past. Review what results they’ve done in the past (case studies with hard objective metrics), get referrals from other clients that they have worked with, and do your research on their  previous creative ideas  to get a flavour of their ambition. 

How can I know the team working on my brand? 

I’ve been in countless pitches in previous agencies where the senior people will be in there just for the meeting itself. They’re experienced, they’ve been in a load of pitches, so they’re gonna impress you with their delivery. I’ve had Creative Directors fly in for just the meeting to impress the client. 

My only advice is to ask this one question – ‘who will actually work day-to-day on my account’. If there is a team member that isn’t in the room, why aren’t they there? And if someone is in the meeting, whilst not being on the team, why are they there? You’ll quickly discover whether the agency is just trying to impress you in the room, or looking to set up an authentic relationship up front. 

The agency’s initial ideas – they’re not quite right

This is one of the most common issues agencies have to combat in the first meeting. 

The simple answer is of course the ideas aren’t 100% right. The agency is operating off a written brief, google searches and scanning your website. They’ve got no clue on your internal discussions, and the brand’s history among other things.

Most of the great ongoing client relationships I’ve had in my career were won on pitch ideas that never got made. 

The execution of an idea can be changed easily, but the rationale, and the decisions behind it are what you want to judge the agency on. 

Sh*t – the quote is expensive! Can they bring the cost down?

Short answer – yes. But there’s only three realistic ways they can do it:

  • Reduce the seniority of staff on the account – having less senior team members means the head hour rate comes down.
  • Reduce it and ‘take a hit’ – because they want to work with you. 
  • Change the deliverables – reducing some, increasing others, to fit within your budget. 

If your agency does reduce the cost for the first reason, it should raise a red flag. Sure, your budget is now met – but your work is going to suffer eventually. Any agency can throw interns at a problem to reduce the cost of head hours. The good agencies will stick to their guns and give you the right resource for the job. 

The second reason? Well, this is even worse. If an agency can reduce it without giving you a credible explanation – then it means that they were either overcharging or they are willing to commit business suicide for the sake  of getting a client. Both are not great – because every cost they give in the future will create doubt. 

The best way to get to your budget is obviously option three. It figures out a middle ground of deliverables that get the maximum use out of your budget, whilst not killing the agency. Over time, once the agency shows it’s worth, the budget usually opens up to drive even more results. 

If the agency manages to get the budget down, then I would encourage you to ask them how they did it – and judge accordingly.  

What else should I know?

The one thing to know about pitches is that for the agency, it is a time of complete and utter stress. It is effectively an unpaid project, that is piled onto existing employees workloads,  which may go nowhere. 

I’ve had pitches in previous agencies that have totalled over $300,000 in internal fees. I’ve also had pitches where we worked for months, only to be asked to send the document over a procurement platform and be informed that we didn’t win via automated message. No context, no chance to present, nothing. Months of effort and stress down the drain via a single sentence in an automated email. 

It’s part of the game, but just know that if something isn’t perfect, or you’re not going to proceed with a certain agency, then it’s good to be a little understanding. Because behind that shiny document lies a lot of late nights, stress, and effort, with the faint glimmer of hope of a new client relationship.  

Appreciate our honesty? Chat with us at hello@mutant.com.sg

5 tips to get media coverage for your brand

“Hello. I just sent you a press release about my client—a semiconductor company launching a new design for its latest power adaptors. Could you publish it on your website?”…Except I write for a marketing and advertising magazine.

I can’t recall the number of times I’ve had to politely and curtly tell eager PR executives that I wasn’t interested in what they were pitching. But I can tell you how many times I have received a good, well-rounded and articulate pitch– 15 maybe 20 times in nine years. That’s shockingly disproportionate for two professions that have so much in common.

When engaging with the media,please consider these tips from an ex journalist who has recently made the jump to PR.

  1. Know the publication and journalist’s beat

    Please spend time researching the publication and journalist. I’ve been called “Mr. Iyer” more times than I’m willing to admit. It is off-putting and offensive to call someone, not know their correct name, and not have a clue about what they cover. Referencing some of the journalist’s previous work and demonstrating how your client’s content fits in is a huge plus.

  1. Presentation

    In today’s fast-paced, competitive content hungry environment, journalists are far more willing to write something when you give them a good, relevant story. Think of a fresh angle and build it into a wider narrative. Please do not cc the entire world in your emails—certainly not reporters and editors at rival publications.

  1. Expectations matter

    Just because all publications have digital versions doesn’t mean they are going to change words and sentences to suit clients whims and fancies. There are house-styles to adhere to and it’s a reporter’s job to bring in different perspectives. So unless something is factually incorrect, please try to manage expectations as best as you can.

  1. The race for exclusives

    Journalists will lap up anything with the word exclusive. If you can’t offer an exclusive on some big news, arranging an interview with a top executive from the firm in question could be useful. Pitching a sensible follow-up could also earn you brownie points.

  1. The follow up

    This is a big pain point. A journalist will typically show interest in a story idea immediately. If he/she is somewhat interested I would recommend following up once presenting new information or context. Find out what additional information or angle would work better. But please do not spam or call someone everyday. Move on to the next publication.

Whether you work in PR or are simply looking to get your brand noticed by the media, it’s critical to do your research and creatively frame every single pitch.

If you need help developing a compelling story and delivering the right messages to the media, get in touch with us at hello@mutant.com.sg.

 

4 steps to simplifying your fancy shmancy software pitch

How many times have you attempted to explain your software platform or application and start blubbering out a list of features before flatly declaring, ‘Well, it’s an Uber for…’

Every time you fumble with your pitch, you lose out on potential clients, investors, customers and partners. ‘Geek speak’ won’t help you scale your business to billions. So how are you going to explain deep tech to the masses?

Even if you are able to sell it to a potential customer well-versed in jargon – sales people won’t be able to sell the jargon, they need something easily digestible.

Whether you’re working on a deck, elevator pitch, sales pitch, or just talking to someone at a party – you’re going to want take the lingo down a notch.

Here are four steps to simplified success:

Before you start, think of your product, answer these questions, and look to them often for anchors.

1. Why does this exist?

Most people tell the ‘what’ before the ‘why’, and the listener loses interest. Answer the question, ‘so what?’ before some even asks it.

Let’s take a great example. If you watch HBO Silicon Valley, here is the product elevator pitch before (By the CTO, Richard) and after (The Visionary, Erlach):

The what (Richard): “Pied Piper is a loss-less middle-out compression algorithm.”

Mutant-piedpiper

 

The why (Erlach): “Today’s user wants access to all of their files, from all of their devices instantly. That’s why cloud-based is the holy grail. Now Dropbox is winning, but when it comes to audio and video files they might as well be called Dripbox. Using our platform, Pied Piper users would be able to compress all of their files to the point where they truly can access them instantly, we control the pipe they just use it. ”

2. Replace jargon with how it works

What’s the point of sounding smart if no one knows who you are? The best leaders are ones that show people what they are doing. Particularly in ad technology, it’s a really really crowded space and everywhere you turn there’s a new best practice article about what all these acronyms stand for.

3. If you’re struggling, use metaphors 

If you’re not able to identify a problem that you’re solving, try to explain how your product works using metaphors. This works best when you’re talking about your product at a networking event. If you’re talking to a total stranger with no knowledge of their background, it’s an easy way to get people on the same level before hitting them with the facts. Here’s an example:

 Ad impression

Jargon: When an ad is fetched from its source and is counted whether or not the ad is clicked is not taken into account.

Translation: An ad impression can represent an employee that showed up to work but didn’t really do anything, and still got paid. When an ad is loaded onto a web page, and there’s a chance that someone will view it, it’s counted as an impression even without clicks. (Jargon translated from www.mediaratingcouncil.org).

4. Write an email

If you’re having trouble writing an email about what your product does write it, then delete it, and write the entire thing again — it is guaranteed to be clearer the second time around.

The first time you write it out, your mind is just working through how it works – rather than the bigger picture. When you clear your physical space and write it again, it will come out with more brevity and clarity.

 

Need help simplifying your message? That’s what we do. Write us at hello@mutant.com.sg.