Founders and business owners often have brilliant ideas, but sometimes struggle to translate their ideas into a coherent narrative. Explanations that are too detailed, too technical, or do not resonate with the audience will not resonate properly. That can mean the difference between a sale, an investment, a partnership… or walking away from any future collaboration.
How can you ensure that the message you want to share is resonating with your target audience? Let’s explore four key strategies, using the recent TEDx presentation that was delivered in 2024 by Matt Schaubroeck – Leverage Point’s principal and founder.
Know your audience
The content of this TEDx talk was built upon years of Matt’s time as a founder in data intelligence startup ioAirFlow. This startup, which was acquired in 2022, focused on identifying gaps in a commercial building’s energy efficiency, occupant comfort, and air quality.
Matt had given hundreds of pitches to investors and clients over the years about the need to focus on air quality in buildings. However, TEDx required the content to be delivered in a different way than past presentations. The audience had limited knowledge on building science and did not have the ability to directly enact change in the commercial buildings where they spent their time. Spending time on technical building science explanations was not going to create a compelling talk; a different focus was needed to resonate with the audience. Reducing technical jargon made the content more accessible, while providing examples helped the audience understand why the content mattered in a real-world setting.
Understand your purpose
What does an audience want to hear from a presenter? Identifying those needs will help you craft a message that resonates more directly with them.
Great speakers will shift their narrative based on the audience they are presenting to – even if you are presenting the same content, different audiences will be in that meeting for different reasons. Future customers want to know why your solution is effective, and why they should pay for that solution – while partners will want to know how a collaboration between you can provide more benefits than not teaming up. Meanwhile, investors want to know how your team will execute that solution better than anyone else to create a fast-growing company.
In all these examples, a clear opportunity exists for an ongoing relationship between the presenter and audience. However, TEDx audience members were not looking to engage with a company or service; they were there to learn new ideas. That meant focusing on sharing a narrative in simple and clear terms, that would be easily understood and resonate with a general audience.
Make the content personal to your audience
When speaking with investors or customers, founders will often spend a lot of time focused on the value they bring to the table, without addressing a key question – why does this information matter to the other party?
It’s essential to come into any presentation with a clear vision on what you want to achieve from that meeting – and to ensure your narrative helps everyone present to reach the same vision. To do that, imagine your audience’s perspective – what would be a win-win outcome for them? How can you present your content in a way that will make that win-win outcome more likely?
For this TEDx talk, there were no sales or partnerships at stake – but everyone has a personal stake in the air they breathe, and can take action to improve air quality if they know what to look for and what the stakes of not acting are. By shifting the content to focus on how the topic addresses each audience member personally, it became easier for the audience to become more invested in the content. As a result they were more alert, retained the information better, and were able to clearly articulate why it mattered to them.
Provide a call to action
It’s not enough to present information – particularly in a sales or investment setting. Creating a strong narrative strategy means you will also identify what you hope to get out of the presentation.
In the TEDx example, the calls to action were a central part of the content: learn the signs, prepare to take action, and advocate whenever necessary. These were actionable steps that any participant could engage with. The calls to action were simple and actionable – and provided a vision of what could happen if those results were achieved.
Get help refining your narrative
At Leverage Point, our team has the experience to refine your business’s narrative so that it it more persuasive, clear, and connects directly with your audience. Reach out today to discover how we can help.