#5 Perfecting your Elevator Pitch
How to explain your One Big Idea, plus the evolution of LinkedIn, Green-washing & hushing, managing Gen Z-ers, and ChaptGPT & the Great Disconnect
Last week I talked about sticking to One Big Idea.
Let’s face it, if coming up with your One Big Idea wasn’t hard enough – the next daunting thing is pitching it to your boss, your stakeholders, explaining it to your client or selling it to your audience.
Here are some ideas to help.
The first elevator pitch
The origins of the phrase ‘elevator pitch’ are said to have come from an enterprising 19th century inventor called Elisha Otis.
Elisha came up with a brake system which stopped elevators from free-falling.
A huge breakthrough - or so you’d think.
But Elisha struggled to gain attention.
So he staged a publicity stunt standing on the top of an elevator several floors up, in full view of a live audience.
When the cord was cut, the elevator predictably went into freefall. The audience gasped. But just before Elisha plunged to certain death, his automatic brake system kicked in.
In thirty seconds Elisha Otis showed the world the value of his invention.
Although this may have been literally the first elevator pitch, the term really took off in Hollywood’s early days, a time when business was done face to face.
Young, aspiring screenwriters would loiter in the lobby for big-wig studio producers to get into the lift, then spend the ride pitching their movie idea.
Loglines are the way forward
Today movies and books are still pitched using a logline; a concise, compelling sentence summing up the story in about 25-40 words, or 15-30 seconds of speaking time.
Long before email or pdf, the title and a one sentence description of the movie would be written on the spine – or log – of the script.
Take for example …
Two star-crossed lovers fall in love on the maiden voyage of the Titanic, and struggle to survive as the doomed ship sinks into the ocean. [Titanic]
Or
When his son is swept out to sea, an anxious clownfish embarks on a perilous journey across a treacherous ocean to bring him back. [Finding Nemo]
Now, if you Google ‘how to write a logline,’ pages and pages of advice will pop up.
To make things easy, here are two formulae I’ve found helpful when constructing a logline.
One for a business proposition.
One for writers or leaders to sum up their story.
The Business Formula
This three-step framework will get you to a simple clear point, focused on value to the end user.
1. Problem – first share the problem / pain point / need of your user or audience.
People aren’t taught how to communicate but it’s a key business skill.
Employees who are diverse can face discrimination.
It used to take three weeks to approve a finance application.
2. Solution – then explain how your product, service or campaign offers a solution.
The Communicator’s Notebook lifts the lid on simple communication techniques.
We’re changing our hiring practice, introducing mentoring, fast-tracking under-represented groups.
We’ve revolutionised our financing, using blockchain instead of paper.
3. Outcome – finally explain the value of your product or campaign by proving the benefits.
In the first four weeks since launch, subscriptions have quadrupled.
By 2030, we will have hit our diversity targets (which are … )
Now, it takes just three days for approvals to be given, and they are more secure.
Let’s put the three elements together.
People aren’t taught how to communicate but it’s a key business skill. The Communicator’s Notebook lifts the lid on simple communication techniques. In the first four weeks since launch, subscriptions have quadrupled.
Employees who are diverse can face discrimination. We’re changing our hiring practice, introducing mentoring, fast-tracking under-represented groups. By 2030, we will have hit our diversity targets (which are … )
It used to take three weeks to approve a finance application. We’ve revolutionised our financing using blockchain, instead of paper. Now, it takes just three days for approvals to be given and they are more secure.
The story formula
My second formula is for writers trying to wrangle their 100k word book - or three hour film - into a short synopsis.
It’s also a great framework for putting together corporate stories or personal anecdotes.
Thanks to the my talented friend, writer Hesse Phillips, for sharing.
In (time/ place), (catalyst) happens to (character A), who then (makes a decision) to (action) with (character B), leading to (high-stake consequences).
Here’s the formula in action to create a short synopsis of my debut novel:
Costanza is a dark tale of art and obsession set in the seething world of Baroque Rome [time/place]. When young wife Costanza [character A] falls in love [catalyst] with her husband’s boss, artist Gianlorenzo Bernini [character B], she is persuaded [decision] to sit for a portrait [action with character B] which will break new artistic ground. But at what cost? [high stake consequences]
Need it even shorter? Once you’ve got your short elevator pitch, you can turn it into one sentence.
Baroque Rome: A young woman falls in love with an artistic genius with life changing consequences.
And here’s the formula in action once more, this time in the kind of anecdote I might share if asked for advice about my writing process.
Writing my first novel I felt really out of my depth [time]. I decided to apply for the Faber Academy Novel course, where I met fellow novelist Alice [catalyst]. Since then, I’ve [character A] shared my rawest work, bitterest moments and writing triumphs [action] with Alice, who has become my longstanding writing partner [character B]. My best advice to any aspiring writer is to find a creative partner you trust; it will transform your writing life. [high stake consequences].
While true loglines are shorter (around the 25-word mark), hopefully these two formulae will help to wrestle your One Big Idea into a communicable form.
Getting to one, two, or even three lines takes practice - but I promise it’s like exercising, the more you do it the easier it gets - and the effort is worth it.
Starting any pitch, post or presentation, with a crisp explanation of your Big Idea will always give you an advantage.
As a Forbes list billionaire investor once commented; “If an entrepreneur cannot express their idea in once sentence, I’m not interested – period.”
Thought Provokers
The tectonic plates of social media are shifting, and as I ghost write for leaders on LinkedIn, this article caught my eye: “How LinkedIn became the next best option for journalists and media leaders after Musk took over Twitter.”
As did this post from Clinical Psychologist Kelly Kinnebrew about a Bloomberg article reporting that CEOs at Davos couldn’t stop asking one another for help with their Generation Z-ers. Equally fascinating are the responses by Gen Z-ers in the comments.
Sensu Insight’s report “50 Shades of Greenwashing Research Report: How to create effective ESG communications” also makes interesting reading. Accusations of greenwashing are on the rise – as are complaints of ‘greenhushing’ - organisations who avoid ESG communications. In reality there is an unavoidable pressure to explain and justify ESG credentials – from investors, customers, employees, and the media.
Cision and Deloitte have both published state of the nation reports on corporate affairs.
Finally, ChatGPT is already having an impact. In the last couple of weeks I’ve spoken to two freelance writers who’ve lost gigs to the new tech.
I know it’s like a turkey arguing against Christmas, but here are two pieces which sum up why I think news organisations and corporations ought to think twice before rushing headlong into replacing communicators with AI.
The first is from David Murray who argues in this Forbes article that the extent to which AI will replace speechwriters doesn’t boil down to how good ChatGPT can be, but rather: “How much of the volume of corporate communication is a sincere attempt to communicate strategies, build culture and create a human connection between an organization’s leaders and its stakeholders? And how much of it is just filling the vacuum with corporate noise …?”
The second is this brilliant essay by journalist and ex-women’s magazine editor Farrah Storr, writing about “connection deprivation,” following Buzz Feed’s announcement it will be using CHATGPT to write “some” of its content.
“There’s a difference between absorbing information and connecting with the emotion behind it … Fleeting human connection is a powerful thing. The problem is, it’s a bit like state-run public transport. We don’t realise its value until it’s gone.” I recommend upgrading to Farrah’s paid content, it’s really very good.
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Until next time,
Rachel
About me: I’m Rachel, the writer of this newsletter. I’ve worked in communications for over a quarter of a century and am a board-level adviser and content creator. I’m also an author and teach communication skills. You can read more about me or contact me about freelance work here.
What a brilliant post...so much information, so much knowledge. Thank you so much Rachael for sharing all this wisdom...and for all the work you put into this Substack to help us all travel smoother on this creative road...I learned so much from this post & was reminded of bits I had forgotten too. Did I tell you lately that you are fab? 💖🥰😍💖 well, you are 💖😍🥰💖 xx
I had no idea that’s where elevator pitch came from, so interesting! Such great advice about log lines. When I worked in an agency we always had to sum up our ideas in a log line.