Businesses of all sizes use presentations to achieve a whole host of goals. Whether you’re selling a new product, onboarding new team members or educating potential investors, an effective PowerPoint allows you to showcase and enhance your message.
The question is – are you using a trustworthy and creative design service to maximise your presentations’ potential? In today’s blog, we’re going to explain why professional PowerPoints are essential for your business.
While most people already have a basic understanding of what a PowerPoint is, let’s take a quick dive for maximum clarity.
Traditionally, PowerPoint refers to Microsoft’s virtual slideshow software. While the term is technically specific to the tech giant, most people in the modern-day use the word PowerPoint to refer to any kind of digital presentation. Most software options like Keynote or Google Slides offer a templating system which allows users to fill in the blanks, as well as a host of different graphic and text elements to enhance design.
According to a 2020 survey, Microsoft PowerPoint is the most widely used presentation software globally. In fact, more than 35 million PowerPoint presentations are given each day to over 500 million audiences! If that isn’t a reason to incorporate them into your business strategy, we’re unsure what is…
Now for the critical question: what makes a presentation impactful?
The truth is, it ultimately depends on the purpose of your PowerPoint. If you’re trying to convince your audience to participate in a charity event, it should be informative, motivating and emotionally appealing. Alternatively, if you’re looking for a loan from the bank, your presentation should be stat-driven, professional and easy to understand.
As a rule of thumb, ALL presentations should be:
— Branded to match your business or organisation
— Clear, concise and minimal indesign
— Always free from errors, typos or mistakes
— Tailored to your target audience
— User-friendly and customisable
Now imagine you’re the client – how do you feel? If confusion and apprehension come to mind, you’re probably on the right track.
Picture the scene. You’ve organised a sales pitch with one of your loyal clients, but this time you’re sending a new team member to secure the deal. The audience awaits the presentation, only to find it looks completely different to anything they’ve ever seen from your brand before. There are no logos, the colours are off, and the imagery just doesn’t match your visual identity.
Investing in a professional design service allows you to make sure your presentations fit seamlessly with your brand identity – no matter who’s delivering them. This level of consistency is what takes your business to the next level, showcasing your values while making professionalism a priority.
Another BIG benefit of professional presentations for businesses is the opportunity to meet face-to-face. While PowerPoints can easily be emailed over or shared via Zoom, they also give you the chance to meet potential clients or investors and win them over in person. In fact, this is often the most persuasive way to secure a deal and is bound to give you a competitive edge, according to Olivia Mitchell.
The thing that sets bog-standard presentations apart from their professional counterparts is design. The colours you use, the visuals you incorporate and the flow of your presentation will make ALL the difference, so make sure you brand up effectively before your meeting.
Having a bank of professionally designed PowerPoint presentations at your disposal is a major win for your business, especially if versatility, flexibility and accessibility are important. If you’re constantly switching between different target audiences or changing the aim of your presentations, being able to make minor adjustments without impacting your robust brand strategy is essential.
Professional and innovative presentations unlock a whole load of potential that you might have never thought to tap into, giving you new ways to communicate with your audiences. 70% of marketers believe that presenting interactive content is key for engaging your audience, something only possible with the right tools to make that connection.
If you’re struggling to hold your audience's attention, a PowerPoint designed by a professional could be the solution. Striking visual imagery or graphics will pique their interest, and branded content will reaffirm your mission, allowing your presentation to speak for itself.
Let’s admit it: statistics may be impactful, but they can also be pretty boring. If your audience has already faced a long day of mind-numbing presentations, the last thing you want is to send them to sleep with a meaningless list of numbers.
Professional PowerPoint presentations allow you to put those numbers into context. Through innovative charts, digestible graphs or even creative animation, you can bring your statistics to life in a way that engages, motivates and inspires. Polling in-situ is also soaring in popularity, so why not collect some data in the moment while enhancing your interactivity?
No matter how you choose to represent the numbers, a professionally designed presentation is bound to make things more interesting.
Need help bringing your presentations to life? Ready to take your PowerPoint branding to the next level? We’ve got you covered. Get in touch today to boost audience engagement and maximise your presentation’s potential!
