NerdBrand Podcast
The NerdBrand Podcast is at the intersection of nerd culture, branding, and advertising. Nerd culture is no longer an isolated subculture; it’s THE culture of the day and makes its way into our daily lives through the entertainment we seek and the technology we rely upon. Listen as we discuss our views on visual design, branding, and advertising for movies, comics and novels, video games, technology, and other nerdy passions.
NerdBrand Podcast
Pitch Perfect: Crafting Captivating Presentations and Networking Success
What if your pitches could leave an unforgettable impression every single time? Join us as we unravel the secrets of creating compelling pitches that truly resonate with any audience. You'll discover how to harness the power of a captivating opening, whether it involves storytelling or a clever hook, and learn how to tailor your pitch for various audiences and situations. From navigating the complex landscapes of entertainment and advertising industries to understanding the nuances of reading the room, we equip you with the tools needed to stand out in competitive environments. Expect insights into the delicate balance between creativity and strategy, ensuring your message hits home regardless of the resistance to trendy phrases and gimmicks.
We also dive into the art of mastering professional networking conversations. Learn how to conclude meetings gracefully with practical tips on making meaningful connections without overstaying your welcome. We emphasize the importance of knowing your audience, drawing parallels between beloved franchises like Star Wars and Star Trek, and how even major brands can sometimes miss the mark by failing to resonate. With hints of humor about the role of non-verbal cues and the count of dad jokes in networking, this episode promises to leave you armed with strategies that capture interest, achieve sales, and help you make a lasting impression.
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NerdBrand is a national branding and advertising agency based in Louisville, KY.
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create a pitch that's memorable. Woo yeah. On this episode of the Nerd Brand Podcast, we're talking about creating a pitch that's memorable, memorable, memorable, memorable. This is not a word you say quickly.
Speaker 2:It's also one of those words that like when you look at it, you're like wait, that's how you spell that, yeah.
Speaker 1:I know it's like you have to use your spell checker when doing it because you're not sure of yourself, right it's?
Speaker 2:got that weird look. You're like uh, did I spell that right yeah.
Speaker 1:Anyways up on this episode of the podcast. It's what we're talking about creating a pitch that's memorable, because everybody likes to talk about pitching. Whee Woo. Welcome to this episode of the Nerd Red Podcast. We're talking about create a pitch that's memorable. We're diving into one that sticks. Whether you're pitching an idea, product or business, it's to connect and leave an impression.
Speaker 2:Go figure yep, I mean, that's your 30 second 90 second pitch.
Speaker 2:However you're able to pitch your, your basic intro pitch, uh, your two minutes of fame on the stage kind of pitch. I mean a lot of it just varies. You know you want to have multiple versions of it. In my opinion, I feel like that's a better way to go about it. So then you know how to react. You know how to what to say, what you can say, what you should focus on. A lot of it's reading the room, understanding. You know what you should try to lean towards and what not towards. You know, if you're in a one of the things I've visited bni's, you know, usually got the 90 second. Well, there's already an ad agency in the room.
Speaker 1:I'm not really gonna pitch really hard, you know I want to, yeah, yeah, you don't want to kind of like pull the curtain back too far if you got a competitor in the room, but at the same time, I mean you should be diverse. Yeah, you should. You should be different enough and have a differentiator or that will set you apart. Um, which you know, we have a few, but then our industry is different, to be honest, because of everybody says the same crap, but it means different things, which is what has caused a lot of the frustration and confusion in the industry, right, um, but yeah, so you got to start strong. Use a story or a hook. Yeah, there's always been a philosophy of a hook. Look, took kind of a thing with doing this and I do tell stories. People think that's the sale, that I'm trying to sell them, and I'm like, no, I'm just telling something, I'm just passing information, but the stories are real. It's like Dragnet Stories are real.
Speaker 2:Or is that something else? I'm not thinking of a different show, so I think it was a worst case scenario. These stories are real they protect the innocent.
Speaker 1:The names have changed to protect the innocent or something.
Speaker 2:Is that cops? No, no, no, that was uh one of those uh crime stories, or whatever it is.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay well, never mind. So yeah, yeah, there's lots of ways to do it, yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, I feel it's starting strong. I always like that. I know Mitch isn't the biggest fan of the rhymes or the catchphrases, but I feel like that's an easy way For me. My last job, I did the Dunder Mifflin reference and that was the pitch. People still recognize me as the Dunder Mifflin guy because of that and it was such a great pitch and you know, I was even telling my boss to lean into it a little bit and he didn't do it as much as I would have hoped.
Speaker 1:Kind of hard to do that, though, if he's on the job putting chairs together on the office floor somewhere.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it was one of those things where that was where like everyone kind of got into it, you know, and I didn't have little like thank you boxes. I was like can we? Make it look like an office. Yeah, thunder mifflin box, you know the office box or something. And you know it says put that logo on it or something.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was yeah, I mean mitch hates gimmicks and he hates, um, you know, like trendy kind of things like that. I mean that's just. But you know when it works, it works. You kind of have to, you know, go with what you got, cause your job is to get a sale, not to. You know, the the things that Mitch does doesn't like can get cleaned up after the fact. That's kind of his job. But you know, getting them there is like the hard part, cause you got to stand out from competition that we have.
Speaker 2:But uh, I mean one thing I say in that, just to make it quick. Is this be like hey, we get products in hands and butts in stands.
Speaker 1:Yeah, uh yeah. Mitch is always fun fond of saying butts in seats. He talks about, uh, you know, we build cruise missiles, we don't carpet bomb, so that's sort of what we do. 're an advertising agency. Yeah, yeah, we do the marketing, branding, all that. But you know, come on you, it's really funny. Um, recently, youtube just changed how they serve ads on their platform, like even the graphics and how it counts down now some ads you can't even skip. Oh yeah, some of them will play. They're mimicking, uh, amazon prime right now and I think they're accessing the same data as amazon, as amazon prime streaming, because some of the ads that are showing up are about the same.
Speaker 2:Oh, all right. Well, there's probably a little cross pollution.
Speaker 1:They're going on yeah, there has to be uh, and so they they don't really have the break going very well, like when it breaks in. So you'll be watching a youtube episode and it just uh, just jarring, so jarring, so jarring.
Speaker 2:That's the one thing they do not do good. Like actually, my wife and I were watching a movie the other day what was it? We were watching it on Amazon and like it was an intense scene, um, very like an emotional scene, and all of a sudden cuts away.
Speaker 1:Like right it's.
Speaker 2:Oh man, we were like oh man, it really takes you out of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah so, but anyways, back on topic um. Solve a problem. Focus on the benefits, not features. Um, you know it's hard to for us to determine an audience need until they talk to us. 30 A 30-second pitch isn't going to figure this out. I've had you just have to get really good at listening to what they may be complaining about and a lot of times when they're trying to search for something and they can't put their finger on it, honestly, that's the problem. Maybe there's nothing you need to do. You just look at your revenue and if it's healthy, leave it alone.
Speaker 2:That's our advice Just let it grow. I mean, there's this thing as overwatering a plant.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So a lot of that happens. A lot of people hear branding and they think, oh, I got to get a hold of that and do that. Well, now do you? You know, I actually I ended up talking somebody out of a website, but they ended up doing it anyways and I think once they did it, their sales dropped off and I was like, well, that's what I mean.
Speaker 2:I mean, you kind't find it anymore. It pisses you off. It can happen that way online. Oh yeah, you don't have the spot or the location where you're hoping to be, or whatever. Yeah, no, that's definitely be the case. I happened, uh, at when I worked in menards. All the time we did a store reset, people came in. They would be so mad. They're like why are you guys changing everything around? I knew exactly where it was Right and literally all they were doing was making the Madex, basically the shelf system, from four feet tall to eight feet tall so you could fit more, and it's all in one spot so it's easier to shop once you get used to it. But it's like, all right, yeah, you have to get used to it.
Speaker 1:People have routines. User experience is a big deal and it's not an online thing, you know. It's an offline thing too. So you have to understand how users are experiencing your services, which is, you know, be simple and visual. We just talked about metaphors and avoiding jargon. Clear message, yeah, so we actually say the things we mean. I don't think people know that or realize that, but we do. We say the things we mean. I don't think people know that or realize that, but we do. We're very clear. Like I say Google ads, I mean Google ads.
Speaker 1:I don't mean like we're going to post a bunch of stuff to Facebook, and when I say Facebook, I don't mean like we post a bunch of stuff to Facebook.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's actually going through the ads for Facebook, so it's automatically up, it's not the deliverables, it's always, they always, everybody always focuses on the deliverable.
Speaker 1:The end thing on the website, the Google ads, the Facebook posts, like you have to think about, how did it get there? That's where we live, but that's that Metaphor for that. Eh, you know, I guess you have to kind of. I remember there was a plumbing company. I can't remember where they were, it was on the side of their truck but it said drains, we love drains, and it was called zombie plumbing.
Speaker 2:That's good.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That's a good ad I like that yeah, anyways, that's good. Yeah, that's it, that's a good ad.
Speaker 2:yeah, anyways, that goes us to brings us to personalize, know your audience and tailor the message. Yeah, I mean that kind of gets down to like doing the pitch. I mean knowing who you're trying to talk to. I mean so if you're doing a pitch in front of a bunch of trade, like businesses and companies, is going to be a lot and sound a little bit different than if you're going in front of a bunch of uh, b2c or a B2B companies. You know like they're not dealing with the basic customers, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, B2B, they they don't. They don't really go to networking events. Um, they go to like trade show events, like you said, or specialized stuff, or specialized stuff. But knowing your audience, a great example of that is just the entertainment industry. I mean, there's now reports coming out in Hollywood there's just like studios that are just dead. It's ghost town Like. Stuff is just not happening.
Speaker 1:And so you know, when you like, franchises like Star Wars, you know are controversial, but I don't really care, I'll step on the toes. They didn't do anything and still aren't doing anything to focus on the audience. I was watching the other day Star Trek, which is Paramount, and Paramount you know the movies, the Star Trek movies have never been really a big draw for people About 100 million to do a Star Trek film, I think. But they have a look and they feel. And you know, when you watch a star trek film or see a trailer and then you look at star wars or you look at lord of the rings or you look, they all have a distinct vibe and tone and feel tone.
Speaker 2:I mean to be honest, it's color and sequence is kind of like the first thing that comes like the impression they give. But now they don't.
Speaker 1:Now you look at star trek and they got this um sector, whatever that's, their special sex, like everybody's, dark and broody. And then you compare that trailer of that show series to um the star wars one that's coming out oh, yeah, it's like the skeleton crew. Yeah, that one and and it's like there's no difference. Like the ships, the graphics, everything is the set.
Speaker 2:It's almost like the same person worked on it to me, our team, this might even sound a little weird or controversial as well. I feel like a lot of the star wars stuff coming out whenever it deals with anything like space travel, whatever immediate feel of guardians and galaxy yeah, it has that vibe.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're operating off a template that's been used a lot. Yeah, that's what it seems like. Yeah, because guardians galaxy, they did theirs and then they added color which, like the original star wars, didn't have all that color like a lot of, because it was all stage props like they.
Speaker 2:They, literally had to make practical effects, so they'd had a different feel. Now with all this newer stuff and then since guardians of the galaxy I think every space travel movie, anything is using that template because I hit it so well. But what people don't understand is is that that whole template and that whole vibe that that has is it's unique to them and that's why it works so well with them and people don't get that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so if you start doing ads for stuff, you start thinking about that, as this is an example to your business. It's like, well, this is, this, is the big boys missing the mark? Like Star Trek, federation ships are bright. They're gray, but they're bright, they're well lit. You know, when you look at like enemy ships like Klingon or Romulan or whatever, they're very, very different, very dark, grungy even.
Speaker 2:Right, you've got the grime almost.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like a bird of prey, you know, doesn't emote clean, so you know. But you look at a Federation vessel. I mean, come on, if you think about it, during the next generation they had carpet on the bridge. That was the only time I remember carpet on a bridge. So if you look at other shows that even depict the Enterprise, other variations, there's no carpet. So there's a bit of a difference there. So there's a vibe and there's a look, and that's because they know this is what makes them stand out.
Speaker 1:The audience thing is more in the Star Wars realm to understand how the marks missed, because people that have disposable income in their 40s are really the ones that are going to buy the merchandise and if you're not targeting them, if you're not telling stories or creating characters that resonate with them, like a lot of places I mean we talked about the jaguar ad and they just keep doubling down. Apparently it's 150 000 or 150 000 pound car like really that a shoebox design is 150 000 pounds, I mean that's about like that,000,.
Speaker 2:I think equivalent maybe Right See to me. I'm just like why do I care what it weighs?
Speaker 1:Well, no Pound is an English pound, like their currency.
Speaker 2:Oh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you know that's absolutely nuts. I mean, for a car that gets you two, three Teslas, you know, right, that would be get you two, three Teslas, you know, or Right, that would be. So the they're very out of touch with, they're trying to reach an audience that doesn't exist. They're very out of touch with their current audience and they miss them more horribly. And everybody's pretty much saying that, even in professional advertisers are like what are y'all doing, right?
Speaker 2:And that's just like you're saying. It's like knowing your ad and knowing the vibe and like the colors and how that's going to come across to the people that like your product.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so if you're doing a pitch for that, imagine like standing in a room and you're trying to tell people immediately what you do and you talk like that like no one's listening. They're just not. You know, it's just one of those things, just not, you know, it's just one of those things. Anyhow, um, that kind of lends into like ending with you know some other step like what now, okay, you gave me the pitch, now what? Um, you know it's, if you want them to go, like with you, we've got a qr code on your right card.
Speaker 2:Hey, yeah, just scan my card like it's telling them the next step. Right, yeah, hey, do this. Scan my card. I'll be happy to set up a meeting with you, yeah just very, very simple.
Speaker 1:Um, there's a schedule on that lander that jacob has. You just scan it, set a time. There you go um the things to avoid. Uh, don't overload with info. Less is more more.
Speaker 2:Oh, yes, oh, very much so, because there's too many people that they go oh, I got to talk about what I can do. Well, we can do this, and then we can also do this, and then this as well. We've also done this, and then we did that, and then one time we did this as well, and then at that point you're like well, what was the first thing you said again?
Speaker 1:Right, exactly, yeah, I'm always like, well, you messed up and you said, and yeah, usually the max of any three.
Speaker 2:three things would be the max of what you would want to bring up, Cause, usually that's going to highlight your three big points and be like all right, those are three things.
Speaker 1:I think people are just at the point now where it. Just say one thing it's like we do websites because people ask like do y'all do websites?
Speaker 2:Yeah, but why Do you need? You want to talk about anyone. When you're especially going to bni meetings, people just get really robotic and then you're like, all right man, it's like you're like half falling asleep listening to people doing their interest.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, well, those groups always like strike me a little bit because they, um, everybody knows it's coming because that person's been a member for so long and they've been in that group.
Speaker 1:So I I kind of, when somebody stands up and they're going to do the pitch after, like I don't know, eight meetings or whatever, you're just like I. If they still don't understand what you do, then there's a problem. But honestly you can almost verbatim can recall what they're going to say. Like it verbatim can recall what they're going to say. Like it's like watching your favorite movie over and over again and quoting lines from it you know, just kind of get to that point, Right.
Speaker 1:Um, so rehearse. Nothing wrong with rehearsing it. Get a buddy tell them, bounce it off of them and and see how that sounds.
Speaker 2:I usually would. Uh, especially with the, if I know I'm doing an intro or need to be ready for one, like I practice just on the way there, like, even like talking like to myself in the car you know.
Speaker 1:Just, we have to work on confident you and I talked about this like you got to sound confident. If you don't, if you're not confident, you're not going to get a sale because they don't trust you. There's just markers that you know if you over sell, enthusiasm your interest in them or you're not confident. Those are three things that will kill a sale every time because the trust isn't there.
Speaker 2:Right, it's almost like three different things. So the overconfidence, underconfidence and then, to be honest, thirstiness would be the better way I can.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean we talk about read the room, read the person you're in front of. You know there's people that we've been in front of that I can immediately tell like we won't get along. We're kind of a you know we're being nerd brand. I mean we're kind of nothing much has changed since high school, especially if you're in Louisville nerd brand. I mean. We're kind of nothing much has changed since high school, especially if you're in louisville and, uh, you know it's like the, the jocks and the nerds and the cheerleaders and you know all of that's still true. So you kind of when you're approached by one of them, you can kind of just size them up immediately, go like, okay, well, this is how they're gonna, this is the beats, what they're gonna say, how they're gonna be.
Speaker 1:It's really what's useful about shutting up and listening, because they kind of reveal everything you need to know about them in the first five seconds. Right, that's true, yeah, so anyways again. Show confidence, show energy, not too much Body language. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Body language. I know that's something. I have a tendency to really talk with my hands a lot. So I'm actually holding my hands right now, so I'm not talking, talking with my hands to a podcast that no one can see me except for, except for jason here. But uh, yeah, I have a tendency to really use my body, arms and talk that way. It's just I've always done it and just feels more natural to me. Yeah, yeah, that's something where it also having too much body language kind of can you can right away see certain people that over the top, that is just as off-putting, as you know, people who don't use any makes you look nervous, yeah, fidgety right.
Speaker 2:or if you're just like doing over the top like arm motions for no reason, people like, all right, well, this person just needs to calm down, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, they've had a lot of Red Bulls, yeah, um, so, anyways, keep them memorable. Try to make an emotional connection if warranted, but you know, honestly, keep that to a minimum. I feel like, solve the problem and, um, always leave people wanting more. That that this is like what I want to do is because there's just times when you need to end the conversation and you want to say more, but don't just walk away, because that last thing you do and say could be the deal breaker. Yeah, so that's all there is to it.
Speaker 2:Say nice meeting you walk away. That's being nice, I mean yeah, I mean especially an averaging vendor. If you're doing a pitch, you know, in front of someone like, yeah, they should be aware of what this is like, why. Why they're here. I understand, all right, cool, you're just here to meet me. I'm here to meet you, cool.
Speaker 1:We met Done. I got to move on and they, I know they have to move on because if I was their boss I wouldn't want them to move on. So just kind of break it, you're good. You know you have to be rude about it and to be abrupt, too abrupt anyway, but it just kind of you need to get good at knowing when to walk away.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, it's nice meeting you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'll talk to call Jacob. You all should meet him and then go back and report how many hand gestures he made.
Speaker 2:And or how many dad jokes.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, count the dad jokes. If he makes more than three, I need to know. So, anyways, thanks for listening and remember keep your nerd brand strong.
