Practical Tips for Presenting search engine optimization Projects to Executives — Whiteboard Friday

Any time it’s a must to current your search engine optimization work to different departments or executives, you are going to have completely different teams of stakeholders with completely different pursuits, so it is advisable strategy them in another way. That can assist you, Bethan walks you thru her prime 5 ideas for sharing your work with the C-suite.

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Video Transcription

Hello. So my identify is Bethan Vincent, and I am the Managing Associate at Open Velocity and I am right here to speak to you about the way to ship higher shows to govt stakeholders. 

1. Set the groundwork

So we’ll begin off with a tip that type of happens pre-presentation, and primarily it is setting the groundwork to grasp your stakeholders.

In any state of affairs, you are going to have completely different teams of stakeholders with completely different wants and completely different stakes, and also you wish to strategy them barely in another way. So I like a magic quadrant. So right here we have got one which mainly exhibits you inside any decision-making course of you have received folks with excessive affect and low affect. Stakeholders could be people or teams of people. Maintain that in thoughts.

You have then received folks or teams with a excessive stake, so they have a excessive type of curiosity within the consequence of the choice, and folks with a decrease stake. So primarily in any course of, you wish to divide and conquer, and that is one thing I counsel you do. Do not spend a great deal of time on it. It is extra a thought train. You are able to do it on the again of a serviette. However take into consideration who’re the folks with excessive affect and low stake, as a result of these persons are very fascinating and they are often your champions within the decision-making course of, as a result of primarily you may leverage their affect.

I’d be as specific to go and converse to the person or group of people that I feel fall in my champions field and say, “Hey, would you champion this determination? Would you assist it get pushed by means of? That is what it is going to imply for you. That is what it is going to imply for the group.” You have then received the excessive affect and excessive stake teams, and people are the folks that basically you wish to spend nearly all of your time on participating, persuading, and provoking.

Primarily, you wish to present them: How is that this determination, how is what I am proposing going to be higher for them? How is it going to provide higher outcomes? How is it going to contribute to income for the corporate? How is it going to contribute to one thing tangible? So spend a variety of time with these folks, as a result of in the end, really, if you cannot get it previous your type of precedence stakeholders, the choice might be not going to go in your favor.

So you have then received the folks with a excessive stake and low affect. This, I am afraid, is commonly advertising, particularly relating to tasks like, to illustrate, CRM adjustments. We love a shock CRM change. Primarily with this group, you do wish to seek the advice of them as a result of the impression of the choice goes to be so excessive on them that you just wish to seek the advice of them and just be sure you’re not likely irritating them, you are not going to introduce one thing that makes their life, their work unworkable.

You have then received your type of low stake, low affect group, and people are folks you wish to inform and also you wish to mainly monitor their type of suggestions on the proposed determination since you would possibly really discover these folks that you just suppose are low stake and low affect transfer into one in all these teams once you totally resolve really what their work is, what are they attempting to attain.

In order that’s one thing to be conscious of. So set your groundwork. Have interaction folks pre-presentation. Get these champions on aspect. 

2. Maintain it succinct

So secondly, once you come to current to govt stakeholders, and whether or not it is a formal presentation with a whiteboard and slides and all of that type of stuff, or whether or not it is in a gathering and also you’re simply proposing an thought, I need you to maintain this barely weirdly named BORA acronym in thoughts.

So that you wish to maintain it succinct. Any presentation, any type of pitch to senior stakeholders, you wish to maintain it actually digestible and comprehensible. The way in which I prefer to construction my type of presentation, or even when it is a doc that I am presenting to senior stakeholders, is I will begin off with the background, begin off with the context, paint the image.

I will then get straight to the chance. So what tangible factor is on the bottom? What can we really get out of creating this determination? How is it going to impression the corporate? How is it going to drive income? You then wish to transfer on to the request, and I feel that is one thing that individuals typically miss out of shows. So that they will type of set the background, set the chance, after which type of depart it as much as the senior stakeholder to type of work out what they’re asking for.

Be actually specific. What’s your ask? Is it finances? Is it useful resource? Is it a call to be made? Then lastly, stick all your appendices with this info. If folks wish to go into element, be sure they have the information, be sure they have the contextual stuff readily available, however do not attempt to get by means of all of it inside a gathering, as a result of frankly you are simply not going to have the ability to get by means of all the nuance of the fabric inside a good timeframe as a result of I feel it is honest to say that once you’re presenting to senior stakeholders, their time is commonly actually treasured, and if you happen to’ve received an hour or half an hour for the presentation, frankly that is all you have received, so it is advisable maintain it very, very time-bound.

3. Anticipate interruptions

This brings me on to level quantity three. You have to anticipate interruptions. So I feel a variety of us have been in conferences with senior stakeholders the place we have began off doing our presentation, doing our pitch, and we have been interrupted with questions. Lots of people discover this fairly irritating. You recognize what?

To a point it’s a little bit irritating, however I feel we have got to grasp that senior stakeholders are sometimes questioning stuff as a result of they’re actually invested, they’re , they’re attempting to dig into issues just a little bit deeper. Really, there’s nothing worse than doing a presentation to senior stakeholders and there may be tumbleweed and silence. That is a worse signal. So the actual fact you are getting these questions is great. However you have to anticipate them.

You have to construct them into the assembly construction. So once more, this comes again to conserving it succinct. Begin off with the background and your alternative, perhaps in type of 5 or 10 slides, or a one-page doc. However then give that area for these inquiries to occur and simply anticipate. It will. You may’t combat towards it. However then additionally on the finish of the assembly, you have to carry it again round to the request, as a result of once more, if you happen to’ve been derailed, some folks run out of time, oh my gosh, I’ve received 5 minutes left, or have run out of time and people folks have gotten to go they usually’ve not received something out of the dialogue.

So anticipate interruptions. Carry it again to that request. You have to know your request, know your ask earlier than you are going into the assembly. 

4. Weekly updates

We will transfer on to some extent that is linked with virtually my first level, which is about setting that groundwork and earlier than you type of do your proposal or your presentation, ensuring you perceive the stakeholders, you perceive the panorama. You have achieved a few of that pre-work.

After you have achieved the assembly, I feel there’s a variety of type of post-decision work. So hopefully you have received the choice. You wish to mainly maintain folks abreast of the nice work you are doing. What I like to do is ship round a weekly replace. It is a actually tremendous brief e-mail I will put collectively, or it could possibly go on an inner wiki, for instance, as properly, if you happen to’ve received that. However I will ship it to the broader group, not simply stakeholders, and it retains folks abreast of the nice work you are doing.

It may be so simple as a abstract, so that is what’s occurred this week, just a little little bit of, once more, setting the background, after which a bulleted record of updates. That is what we have achieved. These are the outcomes we have achieved. These are the issues we have launched. It’s possible you’ll not have a great deal of stuff that you have launched. It might simply be that is what the crew has been doing. That is what they’ve loved engaged on.

It would not should be actually in-depth or something like that or something scary. Then lastly, that is an important level of this communication — shut with an invite to have interaction. I’ve achieved these earlier than and despatched them round organizations and despatched them to builders and engineers, and truly opening that door and saying like, “Look, that is what Advertising is as much as. These are among the issues we have been doing. These are among the outcomes, the outcomes we have got. Hey, does anybody have any questions or ideas on them?”

It invitations that dialog, and it actually helps you type of nurture your inner viewers. We’re superb at nurturing exterior audiences, however I feel we are able to do higher internally as properly. 

5. Why I go

Lastly, I simply wished to type of give just a little little bit of context on why I am now comparatively, properly, fairly senior in my profession, I run an organization, and why I go typically on issues my crew brings to me.

So firstly, I go on stuff as a result of frankly I do not perceive it. I feel there’s this type of false impression that individuals in actually senior positions know all the things. We undoubtedly do not. Particularly once we’re coping with specialists, like search engine optimization specialists, you have received an entire depth and contextual info that I could not have. So typically I simply do not get it.

I do not get what I am purported to do right here. I do not get the context. I do not get the background. So then that goes again to conserving it succinct. Secondly, I simply merely do not have time or finances. I feel when persons are type of proposing and ask, that they have a proposal to do one thing, they could put within the finances price of it, they could put within the monetary price of it, however they do not essentially acknowledge that there is a time price.

Price range and time are the 2 issues which might be very, very finite inside a company. So have just a little little bit of a take into consideration the time implication and what you are asking for and does the group have the useful resource to ship on that. So typically, yeah, I simply do not have time and I haven’t got the finances for it. Thirdly, I do not see the massive image. What I imply by that is you are pitching one thing to me, and I do not perceive or I am unable to make the hyperlink between what you are pitching and our organizational objectives, our enterprise objectives.

That is the place it is actually essential, even if you happen to’re an search engine optimization specialist, PPC specialist, no matter, that you just perceive that organizational goal that you just all must be working in the direction of. Any good enterprise ought to have a marketing strategy and will be capable to talk that to you. So wherever attainable, be sure what you are proposing matches into that greater image.

Then lastly, I simply do not see how that is going to make us cash. Companies exist to make cash. We reside in a capitalist world. We type of cannot combat towards that. So typically I simply cannot see the path to ROI. I do not essentially should see the direct route. It would not should be we’re assured this ROI inside this time interval.

I do perceive, particularly in issues like search engine optimization the place it takes time, there’s a variety of unknowns, that it may be a bit extra intangible. However I would like to have the ability to see the causal hyperlink. If I am unable to see that, I am not going to signal it off. So I hope that is given you some context about the way to strategy these conversations with senior decision-makers. Thanks.

Video transcription by Speechpad.com