Elevator pitch?! Who has that kind of time?
The expression “elevator pitch” has become old and misleading, because it suggests that you have 20–30 seconds of someone’s attention. We should all be so lucky.
In today’s reality, you probably have 5–7 seconds max.
This is the amount of time you have to offer someone a benefit in a way that is clear, compelling, and trustworthy. It’s not an easy thing to do, but it’s absolutely necessary.
One area that I’ve seen have an especially tough time with this is professional services. For this, I like to turn to John Jantsch of Duct Tape marketing. In fact, Jantsch’s tips on marketing a professional service were what first set me on the path to learn more about how to market the hard-to-explain. A lot of Jantsch’s advice on this topic applies just as well to any hard-to-explain product or service, and if you’re interested in the subject, I strongly recommend that you follow his work.
While many like to emphasize the benefits of their product or business, I find it’s the part that comes next that is often difficult for many — the part where you simply tell someone what you do. People selling hard-to-explain products often find this especially hard, but that’s exactly why it’s such a significant way to distinguish yourself.
Between your broadest, most aspirational statement and simply listing your company’s verticals or product’s features is a layer of meaning that you could call, “medium abstraction.”
Think for a moment about a law firm — not an easy thing to market in 5–7 seconds. In the marketing of law firms, we tend to see a fairly strong polarization between those that lean heavily on their prestige and size, and those that risk being called ambulance chasers by running TV commercials (think personal injury attorneys).
Is there a space between these two extremes where a mid-sized firm could position itself? What about a brand that conveys both loyalty to clients and expert knowledge? Surely a “Quality and Care” positioning could work for a firm in this space. This is where it all comes down to triangulating where you want your brand to be, and then bringing in someone with an expert command of language to help you define and own that space.
Of course, it’s always easier to pitch a product in 5–7 seconds than it is a company. But that doesn’t mean you’ve got a full minute to list all of your company’s verticals. Between your broadest, most aspirational statement and simply listing your company’s verticals or product’s features is a layer of meaning that you could call, “medium abstraction.” This is the layer that gets you from high abstraction, or very broad value statements, to low abstraction, which is simply describing your company or product’s features and capabilities.
It’s this layer of medium abstraction that I’ll focus on a lot in upcoming posts, as I’ve found it’s the layer that marketers struggle with the most. In the meantime, I’d recommend you incorporate the framework of high abstraction, medium abstraction, and low abstraction in your own marketing conversations. It can be a useful way of clarifying exactly what kind of goal you’re trying to achieve, and what kind of language is appropriate to each goal, when marketing your company.
