Know Your Audience: The Fine Art of Framing

“Framing bias suggests that how something is presented (the ‘frame’) influences the choices people make.” — Framing and Framing Theory

The term framing comes from cognitive science, which explains that people make decisions based on how choices are presented to them. When someone says “tiger,” we automatically think of things like big cat, teeth, stripes, etc. Each of these associations, in turn, have secondary associations. The idea of a tiger is both thrilling and terrifying.

When someone tells you they have “a great new idea,” what associations come to your mind? Investment opportunity? Potential wealth? Inevitable failure?

If you’re considering approaching investors for capital to get your product idea off the ground or take your startup to the next level, getting to know your audience will help you predict what frame they’re in. If your audience believes that your new idea is an investment in their future or their company, they may be more inclined to believe the numbers in your presentation. Conversely, if a “new idea” conjures associations like risk, failure, cost, or liability, they will question your facts and figures and be less likely to believe them.

When the frames are in alignment, your audience will take in your facts and figures and be more likely to trust they are accurate — upping your chances of getting the approval to move forward and work out a deal.

When it comes to framing your project for investors, one of the most elemental concepts to keep in mind is status.

Status is how a person, product, or company measures up to others doing similar things. Knowing how to wield and work with status can prompt easy agreement or trigger envy and frustration that can lead to failure to sell your idea. Learning to negotiate around status is crucial to embolden your audience and sell your idea.

If you’re pitching to an investor, it’s a given that you’re trying to show how financial reward will offset financial risk. Go beyond this, and differentiate your idea by describing how the investment will pay off in additional dimensions beyond just the financial. Status is very important to investors. Offering them an increase in their perceived clout is a smart way to get funded. In fact, it can be even more important than financial returns.

Before you get in front of an investor audience, do your research.

Find out what kind of investments they like.

Everyone in Silicon Valley knows the name Sequoia Capital because that firm has funded some of the biggest hits in history: Apple, Google, Oracle, PayPal, YouTube, Instagram, Nvidia, LinkedIn, and Yahoo. Sequoia Capital doesn’t enjoy the ego boost of all these successes; such wins help them stay relevant, so the best ideas come to them first. One of the things you might have to offer an investor is an inroad to a new market. You could be the perfect product to help them expand their portfolio and increase their credibility.

By getting to know your audience better, you will gain an idea of how to increase their perceived status and help them build more credibility with their peers. If your presentation can show them a clear path to improving their status, and explain how they’ll get a win from their partnership with you, you establish credibility — and that creates an enormous desire.

Learn from others.

Before you present, it’s a good idea to seek out others who have already presented to this same audience — specifically, others who have gotten funded by the investor in question. They’ve already navigated these waters, and obviously made a worthy impression. How did they do it?

People who have succeeded at their dreams love talking about their methods. They’re eager to share their experiences and stories. Reference these stories in your own presentation, and you automatically elevate your status. By understanding what others went through, you’re setting yourself up to gain product approval and funding under similar circumstances. And when you talk about the powerful lessons you’ve learned from others during your presentation, it shows passion, commitment, and a level of earnestness.

You can usually see a list of boasts on a VC’s website, but another trustworthy resource for this sort of information is Crunchbase, which lists which VCs have invested in which startups.

Be realistic.

You might have a clear notion of why your product is better than others, but that connection may be harder than you expect for your audience to understand. As you’re building your presentation, constantly keep your specific audience in mind. If you’re comparing your brand-new product idea to an established brand, don’t just assume that it’s a useful comparison. You don’t yet have any active users; they’re a $1B unicorn. Is your comparison realistic? Or are you reaching for the stars?

Build trust.

Trust is earned over time. If you’re seeking funding from someone you already work with regularly, you have an advantage because you’ve had a chance to develop a trustworthy relationship. Let’s phrase this a different way: if you think you might be asking someone you already know for funding, start building a foundation of trust way in advance. Then, when it comes time to make a big ask for funds or seek approval on a project, you can leverage this trust to make the deal. This sort of trust can be built over time with baby steps and through any other work you’ve done outside of this project. Your audience will feel better and give you more leeway when there is an established relationship of trust.

Of course, you’re typically approaching investors you’ve never worked with before or even met, so you won’t have a chance to establish a trust rapport in advance. If you’ve successfully brought other products to market, or been part of a team that has, super. Include those boasts. It implies trustworthiness and capability.

But if this is your very first product ever, your best bet for getting a potential investor to trust you is to have a solid core of engaged users for your fledgling product. This “proof in the pudding” pretty much speaks for itself.

If at any point during the presentation it becomes clear that a person’s frame is out of sync with your own, it’s time to abandon facts and figures immediately and reframe the discussion or presentation. This can be a very challenging process, and sometimes it’s best to simply abort mission and find a new audience. The effort you’ll have to put into trying to reframe for this one probably won’t be the best use of your time.

Want to keep going? Read our book Got Ideas? How to Turn Your Ideas into Products People Want to Use, which takes novice product-makers through the journey of creating great, user-friendly digital products from the thin air of their imaginations. Available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook, it’s a hands-on, practical manual for aspiring entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs.