Conduct Research
Once you've identified your audience, you'll want to get to know who they are. You'll also want to know who you're up against and how they are serving customers you want to attain. Preparing for building your pitch deck should also include research on successful decks in your industry.Prepare by Knowing Your Landscape
Trends with your Audience
Once you’ve identified your audience, you’ll want to get to know who they are, what they like, where they get new information, and what’s happening in their current world.
Data Sourcing & Research Resources:
Competitors to your Business’s Value / Service to Customers
You’ll also want to know who you’re up against and how they are serving customers you want to attain.
Understand your value to your customer, and what / who they are currently using to meet those needs. Become aware of your competitive landscape. Take note of how they differentiate themselves in the market.
Identify Brands You’re Inspired By
Whether or not they’re in your industry, it’s likely you’ve seen a company or two that resonated with you, one you felt did a great job communicating, or even inspired you into action. Collecting these can be used as a springboard to get your creativity flowing.
Gather Your Inspirations. Have you ever stumbled on a company and thought, “Wow, I’d love to look like that!” or gotten an email or an ad and couldn’t help jumping into action? What did they do right? As a first run of doing your own branding and marketing, you can get pretty far by studying those you feel do an excellent job and then creating something of your own. If you don’t have a collection of these now, it’s ok. As you go forward, especially when researching competitors and successful companies in your industry, start to take note of elements you think you could use. Remember less is more.
Successful Pitch Decks in Your Industry
Preparing for building your pitch deck should include research on other successful decks, especially company’s in your industry, or those raising similar amounts or at your same stage. Get to Know Other Successful Pitch Decks
There is no exact standard for what to include, or for what investors want to see. There are some starting templates and guides to get you started, but once you start to get more familiar with what’s out there, and what you want your own story to look like, you’ll notice some big differences. The best thing you can do is learn as much as possible so that you can make the best decisions around how to communicate your company’s value, current situation, and potential.
Here is a great article with lots of successful pitch decks to check out.