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Storytelling is an art form prevailing since ancient times. Spark it up with graphics and illustrations to support the narrative and alter it into visual storytelling. With technological advancements, the trend of visual storytelling is gaining traction in the corporate and marketing world. When it comes to selling your business ideas, products and services, a PowerPoint presentation is perfect for your pitch deck.
An enticing and intuitive presentation with professionally designed presentation templates and pictorials can level up your sales game. A business presentation, when infused with visual storytelling, evokes emotions and inspires stakeholders to take beneficial decisions- both handy for marketing tools. Eloquent storytelling with eye-catching visuals in your presentation will want your listeners to stay tuned to the journey unfolding, keeping their imaginations active.
Why Visual Storytelling Sells?
According to a study, an average person can recall 10% of what they hear when tested 72 hours later but, with visuals added to the mix, it increases to 65%. Think about it: Which type of presentation is more likely to attract your clients’ minds: visually appealing or text-heavy? We have sat through numerous business presentations loaded with texts, screens awash with unrelatable images and charts enough to fill a math book. Your presentation is not an agenda list, it is a design of ideas which must tell a visual story.
A business presentation with visual storytelling resonates a huge impact and unleashes a wave of momentum transforming clients’ perceptions. So, whether you’re delivering a complex idea, drafting a proposal presentation, presenting a business plan for a startup, opt for visual storytelling of presentations for them to imprint an indelible mark.
Here are some ways you can adopt to brush up your skills of visual storytelling in a business presentation:
Follow a Set Arc
Every great story has a well-defined structure consisting of a thoughtful beginning, middle and an end. A presentation which does not have a narrative arc or is a collection of a haphazard sequence of facts and images will be forgotten soon. Your presentation story arc should follow an exposition, climax and a denouement.
- Exposition- Grab the clients’ attention with an impressive splash slide. Exhibit the who, what and where of your story with it.
- Climax- Move on to the climax of your slides with a light on conflicts and why they exist.
- Denouement- The falling action or end of your presentation story should finish off with the resolution, strategies and reasons for your audience to believe in your business.
Guide your clients through the journey, obstacles and outcome which brings your story to a convincing end.
Storyboard Your Slide Deck
What is meant by a storyboard? A storyboard is the graphical blueprint of your presentation ideas. It aids you in visualising the content of your slides in a structured form. Formulate your business presentations with a clear outline, definite pattern and a perfect storyline to master your creativity.
SlideModel can help you pre-visualise your business ideas and arranging them in the form of a story in your slides will make them more engaging and memorable. With a visual storyboard presentation, your storytelling will hold the attention of your clients. Adopt these ways to make a storyboard presentation:
- Inclusion of core ideas
- Assign Graphical Narratives
- Use taglines or section headers
- Dot-Dash Storyline approach- Assign dots to key points and dash to less significant ones.
Templates Do Matter
No matter how persuasively you deliver your story, a presentation with conventional stock templates will not grant that wow factor to your audience. A template corresponding to your business niche, which reinforces your branding strategy will render your presentation as unique and stellar.
Online SaaS like SideModel, Prezi, Visme, Google Slides host a plethora of awe-inspiring corporate-ready templates. Pick Marketing, Finance, PESTLE, Accounting, SWOT templates suited to your needs. A tip here is to keep three maxims in mind while choosing a template:
- The corporate culture of your workplace
- The content of your presentation
- Your brand
Compelling Narrative is the Key
For your business presentation to be mind-blowing, it ought to be presented in a ‘never seen before’ way. Simply dictating what’s written on the slides will bore your audience out of their minds. Build a compelling narrative of your presentation’s central theme. Who is your audience? Why are you presenting to them? How do you want them to react?
Keep all these questions in mind while developing a story of your slides. You want your audience to relate to your slide content. Create internal conflict within an audience and then present the yin and yang of the problem and solution. While forming a narrative:
- Start with- Business Mission, Vision, Goals, Products and Services
- Advance with- Achievements, Challenges, Improvements
- Support with- Images, Videos, Infographics, Data Visualisations
Include Eye-Catching Visuals
Images and illustrations work wonders for storytelling. What is better than viewing the graphics of what’s being narrated! Visuals assist in easy comprehension of ideas as well as make the presentation look charismatic and vibrant. For a stunning presentation, imbibe it with breathtaking images and infographics to complement your story.
A well-crafted infographic will prove an asset for you to highlight your slide points compactly and concisely. Highly versatile and easy to create infographics connect to the audience at an emotional level as they perceive the ideas visually. Make your narrative more digestible with superior quality, high resolution and non blurred images. For a more personal approach, incorporate the slides with short videos about your journey of ideas.
Transform Data Tables into Graphics
Charts, graphs, timelines, diagrams, shapes are the essence of a visual pitch deck design. These graphics convey your quantitative data and statistics in a simple and easy to understand way. Want to prevent your non-financial audience from entangling in a web of complex numbers?
Convert your data tables into bold graphics from them to create a first impression. Let your story flow seamlessly with gripping data visualisations which hook your audience to your visual storytelling. Decipher budgets, revenues, costs, balance sheets, quarterly sales, fiscal reports with graphics to ace your story framework.
Essentials of a Slide Design
A phenomenal story depends on its plot, characters, their development, moral and its end. Similarly, peculiarities of the slides are as important as the delivery of your presentation with an effective narrative. Here are some points to note while formatting the content of your slides:
- Typography- Use functional fonts like Time New Roman and Arial. Avoid fancy fonts. Always pick complementary fonts for the heading and content.
- Font size- Keep the font size to legible text readability.
- Colour Palette- Choose a bold and high contrast colour scheme with complementary colours for text and background for text clarity. Ensure to use only 2-3 colour schemes for visual consistency.
- Background- Pick graphics or colours which reinforces your brand and are warm to the eyes.
Conversation and Connection- Driving the SalesForce
Where data, facts and lists merely inform about the ideas, storytelling has the power to convince the audience to care about that information that is being presented. Your clients are more emotionally invested in you than your product. Deliver your presentation with a friendly and conversational tone.
Leverage compelling narratives and place the clients at the heart of the story. Engage and converse with your audience and move your story smoothly slide by slide. Narrate about what makes your business different from your competitors, why your audience should choose you and what will you contribute to their growth.
Perfect storytelling of your presentation is an investment in both personal and business level. Visual storytelling in business presentations can create an unforgettable impact on your clients. Businesspersons, strategists and marketers should master their skills of story-making, story visualising and storytelling. Design beautiful business presentations with a graphic touch and narrate them with a story to achieve success.