The Twitter Pitch
One of my colleagues, Rene Ryan, called my attention to a blog post on BusinessBytes, a small business technology blog. The Death of the Elevator Pitch highlights the fact that the “elevator pitch”–the supposedly succinct description of a business offering that marketers could use to entice a prospect when time was tight–is on its last legs. The blogger blames SMS and Twitter and mentions something about the downfall of civilization.
It’s way past time for the elevator pitch to go the way of the dodo, washboards and rotary-dial telephones. An elevator pitch is too long, and allows for too much fluffing-up. That’s right–if it takes you 60 seconds to describe the basics of what you do or sell, you have some work to do.
Too many people go into this elevator-pitch exercise with the goal of describing every wonderful thing about the company, the widgets, the service, and how they relate to every single customer segment or vertical. You’re not supposed to be doing that in an elevator (“Sorry, I pushed the wrong button, I’m getting off at 3 not 6″), at a cocktail party (“Um … I’ll be right back, I see my ex-boyfriend from high school over there”) or in professional or social networks (“un-friend,” “un-connect”).
If someone wants to know EVERYTHING about your company or service, they’ll come to your website or invite you to respond to an RFP.
First, make them want to come to your website or send you the RFP. And in a world of ever-shortening attention spans and information overload, anything more than the very basics takes too long whether you’re on Twitter or in an elevator.
The BusinessBytes blogger gave a wonderful example of what I’ll call a Twitter Pitch.
- Start with the basics; noun, verb, object. (i.e. We sell cloth.)
- Add a modifier to clarify what is special about you or your business. (i.e. We sell cloth made from bamboo.)
- Add a short modifying phrase to clarify what is not only unique; but niche about your business. (i.e. We sell cloth made from bamboo that is cheap, ample and green-friendly.)
- Edit the whole thing down by a third to one half and start with the most ear-catching words. (i.e. We’re totally green. Bamboo cloth. cheap & ample.)
- Exchange email addresses.
- Hook ‘em.
Marketers who can boil their company’s offering down to eight to 10 words or a single sentence have a firm grasp on what they’re selling and how to communicate effectively with their target audiences.
Hook ‘em.
I don’t know anything about twitter but it makes me think of the K.I.S.S. theory
Keep
It
Simple
Stupid
Exactly. Well-said.
OK — so then use this model to tell me what Imagination does . . .
We help our clients build relationships with their customers through content marketing.
I agree fully with this approach of course. It is KISS at it’s best and brilliant.
However, let me also state that it is a sad state of society when we have to introduce ourselves in “10 words or less” or risk being viewed at too wordy. If only we could translate popular text message scripting protocol (i.e. “r u there?”, “lol”) into universal verbal language we could cut it down to only 10 characters. Oops running late, g2g, cu. (was that fast enough, did I take too much of your time?)
I’ve used Twitter for about six weeks. It’s a great way to relearn the value of brevity and clarity. Per your response to Adam, isn’t a good Twitter pitch much like the mission statement on a business card?
1. I like your approach.
2. I like your short, direct approach.
3. I liked your short, direct approach that focuses on what you do and why you’re unique.
4. I like value of direct and differentiated.
5. amcdonnell@optonline.net
6. Faster, Better, Value Proposition…Now!
Michelle, so if I were to hear you say, “We help our clients build relationships with their customers through content marketing.” I’m not sure I’d make it to your website.
Is this a generational thing? The younger generation doesn’t seem to have time for things these days. I agree with Bob Raus.
Brutal brevity is inappropriate when developing relationships. It may be effective in initiating a relationship. But, brevity AND low channel ‘richness’ do not convey the characteristics that make you a superior choice, regardless of vocabulary or emoticons.
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