Picture the scene. You’ve built your business from the ground up and things are going well. You have capacity to expand the business. But despite your income, your money is stretched thin and tied up in other essential parts of the company. You need funds fast.

Luckily, a friend tells you of an opportunity to put your business case forward to a local investor. This is ideal, but how do you convince them you’re the one to invest in? This is where a pitch deck comes in.

Part explainer, part visual aid, pitch decks are a type of presentation that can help you tell the narrative of your business. But they’re not always simple to put together. We’ve assembled a complete guide to show you. Read on to discover how to create a pitch deck, including what you need to include, how to structure it, and tips on what a good pitch deck offers.

What is a pitch deck?

Pitch decks, also known as marketing decks or simply just decks, are a tool used by businesses to convince others to work with them. It could be pitching for investment as a start-up or proving you’re the best business for a website redesign. The main goal of a pitch deck is to teach someone about your business in a short space of time and showcase all the things you’re good at.

When you create a pitch deck, you’ll typically include slides that cover a range of important topics around your business. This might mean slides on your business plan and future goals, along with your recent performance and latest achievements. Pitch decks are typically presented live to the client but are sometimes emailed over to give them a chance to read the slides when they’re ready.

When should you use a pitch deck?

There are a handful of cases where you might need to use a pitch deck. But the most common are the client pitch, potential investor pitch, and the start-up business pitch. The layout of these decks and the areas they focus on will change depending on the goal of the pitch.

For example, if you want to create a pitch deck to prove your business is best suited to social media management, you’d lean into examples of content. Alternatively, if you were trying to encourage investment, you might only use a top-performing example of your content to prove your audience interaction.

Ultimately, every pitch deck should be different, especially if they’re going to be effective. This is because a good pitch deck needs to be tailored, not only to your business, but to who you’re speaking to. If you’re meeting multiple investors or clients over an extended period, you’ll want to create a pitch deck that focuses on your audiences’ wants and needs.

For a client pitch or presentation.

If you’re creating a client pitch deck, you’re likely competing against others for the chance to work with them. To stand out from the crowd, you’ll need to get to know your client beforehand and understand the challenges affecting their business. Once you know their issues, you can position yourself as the solution to their problems.

For potential investors.

If you’re pitching to potential investors, you’ll likely have limited time to make an impact – potentially as little as two minutes. Your deck needs to be focused on four key elements:

• The service or product you’re providing
• Your competitors
• How you plan to expand and make money
• Evidence that you and your team are capable of succeeding.

For a start-up business pitch.

If you’re creating a deck for a start-up business pitch, your aim probably isn’t to close a deal but to encourage conversation with investors. Realistically, you want to convince potential investors that your business will provide a reliable solution to a problem.

How to structure your pitch deck presentation.

The structure of your pitch deck will vary depending on who you’re presenting to, what you’re presenting and the purpose of your deck. Below we’ve included a generic structure for a pitch deck – but you can edit and amend this to suit your needs.

1. Title slide.

This should include the name of your business, the names of the people presenting and their titles within the company. Use this as the initial introduction and think carefully about the first impression you want to make.

2. Summary.

This should sum up the deck in a couple of slides, so think about the key points you want to make or highlight. It could include your business mission, your long-term plan, key stats or something else entirely.

3. The problem.

What is the core problem your business is trying to solve? Think of this as the set-up before you showcase the features of your product or service.

4. Competition comparison.

Use this to talk about who else is in the market, what they offer and how they approach the problem. What are they missing that you cover? How is your offering better than theirs?

5. Key successes so far.

Your key successes will be specific to you, but you’ll also need to think about what will impress the audience. Maybe it’s a trial run that proved successful or it might be a fully functional app that will be rolled out this month. Whatever your successes, this is your chance to shout about them and show that you’re someone to watch.

6. Your solution.

Think back to the problem that you first discussed – this is your chance to show how you’ll provide a solution. Whether it’s a service or a product, you’ll need to demonstrate that you’ve thought in great detail about how you’ll tackle the problem.

7. Market opportunity.

Is there appetite for your product or service? Provide data on searches, email sign-ups, or the results of your trial runs. Use whatever you can to prove that there’s a market for your product.

8. Marketing strategy.

If there’s a market, how are you going to promote your product or service? Use this to outline your marketing strategy. Think about all aspects of marketing and which channels would be best suited to you.

9. Introduce your team.

You may be the CEO, COO or the CFO, but what about the rest of the team? This is where you should introduce the people who will be working for the business. It doesn’t have to be a long list, or comprehensive, but it should show that you’ve chosen your staff members wisely and that there’s a consistent level of experience in the team.

10. Financial projections.

Finally, you should talk about the finances of the business. Based on your track record, competitors, and other relevant calculations, you should include your financial projections. Expect this to be scrutinised and be prepared to answer questions on your calculations!

Top tips for how to create a good pitch deck.

Tailor your deck to your audience.

It’s important when you create a pitch deck that’s tailored to your audience. Think about what they’re likely to know, how they’re likely to feel about key topics and their past work. Adjust your presentation accordingly. If you’re able to speak to your audience in a way that resonates with them and shows you’ve done your research, it should help you connect with your listeners.

Have one idea per slide.

You may want to cram multiple ideas on to one slide, especially when you have a lot to say. However, this can be confusing to the audience and, even worse, lead to key ideas getting lost in the overall conversation. Focus on simple communication to avoid misunderstandings and information overload.

Tell a story for your audience.

Stories are a natural part of conversation and can be a compelling way to convey information and data. It can be the story of how you built your business, or what inspired you to invent the service or product you’re trying to sell. Whatever story you choose to tell, ensure that it’s relevant and contributes to the presentation.

Make sure you use consistent branding.

When you’re designing your presentation, your slides should include your business’ branding. Not only does this look better, but it’s professional and acts as a reminder of the business identity – something investors may recognise if they receive multiple documents from you.

Branding doesn’t have to be flashy or over the top. It just needs to be distinct enough that you aren’t mistaken for someone else.

Switch up your slide layout to keep things interesting.

While your brand identity should be consistent throughout the presentation, it doesn’t mean your slide layout has to remain the same too. Instead, switch up your slide layout. This will keep your audience engaged and help tell your story. There’s no hard and fast rule here. Just try to include some variation in the slide design.

Choose the right font for the job.

Like slide layouts and the use of consistent branding, the right font can make all the difference to a presentation. Some fonts are hard to read, and others take up too much space to be useful in a presentation. Factor in accessibility and practicality when picking your font and you can’t go too far wrong.

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Good to know.

What’s the difference between a pitch deck and a presentation?

A pitch deck is a form of presentation, but not all presentations are pitch decks. Presentations, in theory, can be on anything. You’ve probably seen presentations at school, university or at work. Pitch decks, however, are highly specific. Their aim is to convince someone to work with you or invest with you.

What makes a bad pitch deck?

A bad pitch deck is one that ultimately fails to convince investors or clients to work with you. Factors that can influence this might be a lack of information or information overload. It could also be a lack of professionalism, or simply good ideas being communicated poorly.

How do I make my pitch deck stand out?

Some of the best ways to make your pitch deck stand out include:

• Distinctive branding
• Compelling narratives backed up with tangible stats
• Clear solutions and long-term plans
• A variety of slide layouts.

Is Adobe Express free?

Yes. The basic version of Adobe Express includes everything you need to start working creatively. Adobe Express offers thousands of design templates, images, videos and royalty-free photos, quick actions for processing images, as well as much more. You can build a pitch deck, for example, by using free templates, utilising free videos, and including images to tell your story.