Imagine you’re an investor. You’re looking to invest. You sit down to go through the numerous pitch decks and video elevator pitches you’ve received. Video no.25: “um, I kind of, um, my business em going to make a…”.
It’s a swipe left from you!
So let’s have a look at how you can create a video elevator pitch that will hook your investor and get them wanting more.
What is a video elevator pitch for investors?
A video elevator pitch is a recorded, succinct and persuasive 30-90 second video about your company. You use it to spark interest in your business and get your potential investor curious to know more.
Why use a video elevator pitch?
Business is built on relationships. Your business might be that potential unicorn that has come up with the totally unique ingenious idea that will just sell itself and won’t need any administration, marketing or sales to make millions. But probably not.
Ultimately the difference between a successful profitable business and a flop comes down to the people that are working on it. Your potential investor wants to know who will be working on this business. Letting them see and hear you, even on video, starts off that trust cycle that they’ll need to have before they invest in you.
What to include in a good elevator pitch?
A video elevator pitch follows a similar structure to a normal “in person” elevator pitch. Set out your goals for the video before you start. What do you want to achieve? And as you follow this structure below make sure you’re achieving your goal:
♦ Introduction – tell them who you are and the name of your business
♦ Problem – what problem are you solving for your clients? eg. Let’s say your business provides detangling combs for kids that they’ll enjoy using themselves. The problem you could be solving is the fact that 75% of parents have said combing hair is the number one cause of stress and lateness when getting their kids out of the door in the morning.
♦ Solution – give them the solution to the problem you’ve just outlined. “Our comb has …. that means that …. so stress and lateness are significantly reduced.”
♦ Investment you’re looking to raise and how it will be spent. Just a few words, you don’t need to go all Dragon’s Den here but give a general idea of what you’re looking for.
♦ Call to action – tell them exactly what they should do next: contact you, look at the attached pitch deck or executive summary etc
Top tips to create a standout elevator pitch
♦ Watch your time. This is not a 30 minute Oscar aspiring short film. It is a concise video to get your message across to busy business people. 60-90 seconds is probably about right but you could be a little over or under that.
♦ If you’ve got fancy camera equipment and access to a studio, great. But your phone is fine too. Consider whether you need to use a stand, and film in an area with good natural light, but not directly in front of a window or under a light. Think about what your favourite Instagram influencers do to make themselves look good – it’s not expensive to buy a phone stand and LED light in one. And check that there’s nothing in view behind you that you wouldn’t want to be seen!
♦ Write a script. Write down exactly what you need to include so you make sure it’s all there and you get rid of all the ums and ahs. If you’re not great with words then consider a copywriter, they write video scripts too. They’ll be able to write in a way that’ll make you sound natural and ironically, unscripted.
♦ Practice your presentation techniques. Yes, we know it can be excruciating for some of us to get in front of the camera but it has to be done. On your business journey you’re going to have to do a lot of presentations to get people enthused and interested in what you do. If you find this difficult then get some external training.
♦ Add in some visuals and/or animation. Make your video colourful and interesting by showing relevant images or use animation to make a point. But… don’t use this as an excuse to hide – you still need to show who’s behind the business.
♦ Edit the video – add a short intro and outro. If you’re not great at video editing then get some help. (top tip – if you know a teenager that does TikTok videos or Instagram reels they’re probably pretty good at video editing!)
♦ Be creative with how you use your video. Yes, the main goal is to get your investor interested enough to investigate further. But you can chop your video up and put bits of it out on social media. Use it on your website. Share it on Linkedin. Do a behind the scenes blog post.
In conclusion
Once upon a time a video elevator pitch would have made you stand out from the crowd. Now it’s the done thing. If you don’t have one you’ll stand out, but in the wrong way. As already discussed in our previous articles there is no one thing that will unlock the magic £50k investment. But create an impressive video pitch and you’ll be one step closer.
If you need some guidance on getting investment for your start-up we’re good at that. Contact us for practical advice on securing funding.