Are you “Uber for this” or “Match.com for that”? Use an analogy to describe your startup

How would Netflix had pitched their idea many years ago?

It’s not easy to get your full message across in a short elevator pitch. You want to make a great first impression, and you want to make sure your audience “gets it”. But what if you have a really complex offering or your market space is not really well known?

To help get over that hurdle, it may help to think of an analogy (or three) that enables your listeners to easily understand what it is that you’re doing. No analogy is perfect, but many times using the right analogy can very quickly get your message across, especially to your target audience. Here are some simple examples.

• Blockbuster video by subscription through the mail (early Netflix)
• Like email for sending someone money (PayPal)
• A lightweight version of Microsoft Office in your browser (Google Apps)

Those might help the thought process of coming up with an analogy that describes your business idea. From recent sessions of Pitch Practice, here are some of the analogies that have been used effectively.

• LinkedIn for professional soccer players (Arenalinq)
• The Uber of valet parking (Luxe)
• A coding bootcamp for marketing technology (DGM Camp)

Your business is like something, so if you’re having trouble explaining what you do, try to find a good, popular analogy that will help anyone understand your business. Not every business has a nice analogy, and not every pitch requires an analogy. And one should be careful when applying analogies, especially when you think you might use “Uber for X”. That one has been used in every conceivable way in this new sharing economy.

These are the kinds of lessons that come up in every session of Pitch Practice. That’s why we’re launching the Pitch Practice Podcast to share these lessons with the entire interwebz. Will you join our podcast launch team? All you have to do is subscribe, rate, and review the Pitch Practice podcast on June 27th. Click here to be part of something great as we launch this new podcast to #1 on iTunes “New & Noteworthy”!