Practical Tips for Presenting SEO Projects to Executives — Whiteboard Friday

Any time it’s important to current your search engine optimisation work to different departments or executives, you are going to have completely different teams of stakeholders with completely different pursuits, so you must method them in another way. That will help you, Bethan walks you thru her prime 5 suggestions 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 Companion at Open Velocity and I am right here to speak to you about the right way to ship higher shows to government stakeholders. 

1. Set the groundwork

So we will begin off with a tip that form 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 method them barely in another way. So I really like a magic quadrant. So right here we have one which principally reveals you inside any decision-making course of you’ve got obtained individuals with excessive affect and low affect. Stakeholders could be people or teams of people. Hold that in thoughts.

You’ve got then obtained individuals or teams with a excessive stake, so they have a excessive form of curiosity within the final result 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 individuals with excessive affect and low stake, as a result of these persons are very attention-grabbing and they are often your champions within the decision-making course of, as a result of primarily you possibly can leverage their affect.

I’d be as specific to go and communicate to the person or group of people that I believe fall in my champions field and say, “Hey, would you champion this determination? Would you assist it get pushed via? That is what it’ll imply for you. That is what it’ll imply for the group.” You’ve got then obtained the excessive affect and excessive stake teams, and people are the individuals that actually you wish to spend the vast majority of your time on participating, persuading, and galvanizing.

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 lots of time with these individuals, as a result of finally, really, if you cannot get it previous your form of precedence stakeholders, the choice might be not going to go in your favor.

So you’ve got then obtained the individuals with a excessive stake and low affect. This, I am afraid, is commonly advertising and marketing, particularly with regards to initiatives 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 influence of the choice goes to be so excessive on them that you simply wish to seek the advice of them and just be sure you’re probably not irritating them, you are not going to introduce one thing that makes their life, their work unworkable.

You’ve got then obtained your form of low stake, low affect group, and people are individuals you wish to inform and also you wish to principally monitor their form of suggestions on the proposed determination since you may really discover these individuals that you simply assume are low stake and low affect transfer into one in every of these teams while you absolutely unravel really what their work is, what are they attempting to realize.

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

2. Hold it succinct

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

So that you wish to maintain it succinct. Any presentation, any form of pitch to senior stakeholders, you wish to maintain it actually digestible and comprehensible. The best way I wish to construction my form 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 constructing this determination? How is it going to influence the corporate? How is it going to drive income? Then you definitely wish to transfer on to the request, and I believe that is one thing that individuals typically miss out of shows. So that they’re going to form of set the background, set the chance, after which form of depart it as much as the senior stakeholder to form of work out what they’re asking for.

Be actually specific. What’s your ask? Is it funds? Is it useful resource? Is it a choice to be made? Then lastly, stick your entire appendices with this data. If individuals wish to go into element, be certain they have the information, be certain they have the contextual stuff available, however do not attempt to get via all of it inside a gathering, as a result of frankly you are simply not going to have the ability to get via the entire nuance of the fabric inside a decent timeframe as a result of I believe it is truthful to say that while you’re presenting to senior stakeholders, their time is commonly actually valuable, and if you happen to’ve obtained an hour or half an hour for the presentation, frankly that is all you’ve got obtained, so you must maintain it very, very time-bound.

3. Anticipate interruptions

This brings me on to level quantity three. You have to anticipate interruptions. So I believe lots 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 realize what?

To some extent it’s a little bit irritating, however I believe we have 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 slightly bit deeper. Truly, 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 superb. However you have to anticipate them.

You have to construct them into the assembly construction. So once more, this comes again to protecting it succinct. Begin off with the background and your alternative, perhaps in form of 5 or 10 slides, or a one-page doc. However then give that house for these inquiries to occur and simply anticipate. It’s going to. You possibly can’t combat in opposition to 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 individuals run out of time, oh my gosh, I’ve obtained 5 minutes left, or have run out of time and people individuals have gotten to go they usually’ve not obtained something out of the dialogue.

So anticipate interruptions. Deliver 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 nearly my first level, which is about setting that groundwork and earlier than you form of do your proposal or your presentation, ensuring you perceive the stakeholders, you perceive the panorama. You’ve got achieved a few of that pre-work.

After you’ve got achieved the assembly, I believe there’s lots of form of post-decision work. So hopefully you’ve got obtained the choice. You wish to principally maintain individuals abreast of the nice work you are doing. What I like to do is ship round a weekly replace. It is a actually tremendous quick electronic mail I will put collectively, or it may possibly go on an inside wiki, for instance, as nicely, if you happen to’ve obtained that. However I will ship it to the broader group, not simply stakeholders, and it retains individuals abreast of the nice work you are doing.

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

It would not need to 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 really opening that door and saying like, “Look, that is what Advertising and marketing is as much as. These are a few of the issues we have been doing. These are a few of the outcomes, the outcomes we have. Hey, does anybody have any questions or ideas on them?”

It invitations that dialog, and it actually helps you form of nurture your inside viewers. We’re excellent at nurturing exterior audiences, however I believe we are able to do higher internally as nicely. 

5. Why I go

Lastly, I simply needed to form of give slightly little bit of context on why I am now comparatively, nicely, fairly senior in my profession, I run an organization, and why I go generally on issues my workforce brings to me.

So firstly, I go on stuff as a result of frankly I do not perceive it. I believe there’s this sort of false impression that individuals in actually senior positions know every thing. We positively do not. Particularly after we’re coping with specialists, like search engine optimisation specialists, you’ve got obtained an entire depth and contextual data that I could not have. So generally I simply do not get it.

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

Funds and time are the 2 issues which can be very, very finite inside a corporation. So have slightly 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 generally, yeah, I simply do not have time and I haven’t got the funds for it. Thirdly, I do not see the large image. What I imply by that is you are pitching one thing to me, and I do not perceive or I can not make the hyperlink between what you are pitching and our organizational objectives, our enterprise objectives.

That is the place it is actually vital, even if you happen to’re an search engine optimisation specialist, PPC specialist, no matter, that you simply perceive that organizational goal that you simply all ought to be working in the direction of. Any good enterprise ought to have a marketing strategy and will have the ability to talk that to you. So wherever attainable, be certain 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 form of cannot combat in opposition to that. So generally I simply can’t see the path to ROI. I do not essentially need to see the direct route. It would not need to be we’re assured this ROI inside this time interval.

I do perceive, particularly in issues like search engine optimisation the place it takes time, there’s lots 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 can not see that, I am not going to signal it off. So I hope that is given you some context about the right way to method these conversations with senior decision-makers. Thanks.

Video transcription by Speechpad.com