California ban on soda taxes worries health experts

By AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION NEWS

California’s new law banning taxes on sugary drinks in the nation’s most populated state handed the beverage industry a major victory.

Health advocates, however, say it’s a major defeat for the public’s well-being.

They’re already looking into options to repeal the law that passed Thursday after a swift and dramatic political fight. Experts worry the law puts millions of people at higher risk for obesity, diabetes and other major health problems linked to sugary drinks. When soda, sports drinks and other sugar-packed beverages are more expensive, people drink fewer of them, tax supporters say.

The American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association and about 20 other groups issued a joint statement earlier this week opposing the measure.

“This is one of the worst pieces of legislation I have seen in more than 30 years spent fighting for better health for kids and families,” American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown said in a news release.

The law forbids new local taxes on sugary drinks for the next 12 years. And while the soda industry is expected to try to duplicate its triumph elsewhere, one public policy expert warned that what happened in California might actually backfire in other states.

The legislation was part of a last-minute political deal to stop a different tax initiative that the beverage industry helped place on California’s November ballot. That measure would have prevented local communities from raising any kind of tax without first getting two-thirds “supermajority” approval from voters.

The beverage industry withdrew that initiative from the ballot after California Gov. Jerry Brown signed the local-tax moratorium into law. The Sacramento Bee reported this week that Brown met with top soda industry officials weeks before signing the bill.

The American Beverage Association, which poured tens of millions of dollars into anti-soda tax efforts in California and elsewhere, declined to comment beyond issuing a statement that said its legislation is helping local communities. “Our aim is to help working families by preventing unfair increases in their grocery bills,” the statement said.

California joins Arizona and Michigan as states with laws blocking local governments from passing sugary drink taxes. In Oregon, voters will decide the issue in November.

The California law represents a reversal for a state that boasted four cities, including the nation’s first, to have passed a sugary drink tax. Berkeley, San Francisco, Oakland and Albany each impose a one cent-per-ounce levy on sugary beverages, which have been linked to obesity, diabetes, stroke, heart disease and tooth decay. The new law will not affect any of the taxes already in place.

“This is a tragic day for both public health and democracy,” said Dr. John Maa, a general surgeon and president of the San Francisco Marin Medical Society.

Healthcare costs related to treating chronic conditions worsened by drinking sugary drinks have taken “an enormous toll on communities,” Maa said.

“To do something as shortsighted as banning soda taxes for an entire decade without understanding the science and economic implications is an error, a dreadful error,” he said.

The taxes have proven to be effective, Maa said. He pointed to a study that found purchases of sugary drinks in Berkeley dropped 10 percent in its first year of the tax, while sales of bottled water increased nearly 16 percent.

“People see the advertisements, they learn about obesity, diabetes and tooth decay, and then make a conscious decision,” Maa said. “Even in areas where a soda tax doesn’t pass, the campaign educates people.”

Outside California, Philadelphia, Seattle and Boulder, Colorado, also have sugary drink taxes. They’re also being considered in other jurisdictions. That’s partly why the beverage industry has started funding efforts at the state capitol level rather than the local level.

“It’s not surprising that the industry will have its periodic victories because they’re spending tens of millions of dollars to fight them, compared to very little money for the public health community,” said Kelly Brownell, dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.

Because the science linking sugary beverage consumption to negative health outcomes is “rock solid,” Brownell said California’s action may prompt other state legislatures to propose statewide excise taxes on sugary drinks.

“So far, the only taxes have been at the city level, at least in the U.S., but there are places where they’re countrywide,” he said, noting Mexico, France and the United Kingdom are among roughly 25 countries and territories with national taxes.

“The science is so clear that taxes have established benefits. I wouldn’t be surprised if some other states don’t start to think about passing taxes statewide, rather than just leave it up to the cities.”

If you have questions or comments about this story, please email editor@heart.org.

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(3) TESTERS WANTED: ARCCOS 360 with Caddie 2.0

Yeah, yeah, it's all about the data, but wouldn't it be cool, I mean really cool, to have a personal caddie following you around for the rest of the summer?

No, you won't have Cheech Marin telling you to forget immortality and start thinking about hitting the 7-iron, but you can have ARCCOS 360 help you understand your game better through analytics, and its new, dramatically improved Caddie 2.0 help you think your way through your round.

Now that's a defining moment.

TESTERS WANTED

ARCCOS believes if you allow Caddie 2.0 to be your on-course companion, you can avoid those bad shots that result from bad decisions and, ultimately, shoot lower scores. It's artificial intelligence, but it's based on your game, your strengths, your weakness and can be fine-tuned to the way you want to play.

But can a virtual caddie really help you shoot lower scores? For that, we need you.

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MyGolfSpy is looking for three hardcore, dedicated and tech-savvy golfers to use ARCCOS 360 and Caddie 2.0 for the rest of the golf season and determine if analytics plus using Caddie 2.0 on-course will help you improve your game and lower your scores.

This review opportunity is open to any golfer on the Planet Earth who uses an iPhone (sorry Android users - Caddie 2.0 is iPhone only at this time).

HOW TO APPLY:

This review opportunity is a little different from others we've done. We're asking for a serious commitment to use and evaluate ARCCOS 360 and Caddie 2.0 for the remainder of the golf season. Reviewers will need to be motivated, detail oriented and tech-savvy, so please make sure you read the following instructions carefully and apply in the proper place.

All of our member reviews are published in our Community Forum (click here to check them out). We expect a lot from our reviewers - writing a thorough, detailed and honest review is a lot of work. You'll be writing detailed reviews of your journey, as well as participating in the MyGolfSpy Community Forum itself to answer questions and discuss product performance with other golfers.

That means to be a potential reviewer you must be a registered member of the MyGolfSpy Community Forum, where you'll find tens of thousands of like-minded golfers from all over the world anxious to talk about golf equipment.

To apply to test, review and keep an ARCCOS 360 kit with Caddie 2.0, here's what you have to do:

- First, sign up for the MyGolfSpy Community Forum (click here to register).

- Second, apply ONLY in the Official ARCCOS 360/Caddie 2.0 Review Application thread in the MyGolfSpy Forum (click here).

We'll be announcing our testers next week in the Forum, so please check back there to see if you've been selected.

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How quickly electrical currents move through the legs may help predict heart failure

By AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION NEWS

Imagine stepping onto a scale – not to measure your weight, but the chance of your heart failing.

That’s the potential scenario envisioned by researchers who may have discovered a new risk factor for heart failure: leg bioimpedance.

More frequently used to calculate body fat, bioimpedance uses low electrical currents to measure resistance within tissue. In a study published Friday in the Journal of the American Heart Association, researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine found that people who had lower leg bioimpedance were at higher risk for heart failure. The discovery could potentially lead to earlier diagnosis and preemptive treatment of the condition.

The study’s authors examined data on more than 500,000 U.K. patients between the ages of 49 and 69 in a search to find new risk factors for heart failure, a condition in which the heart fails to pump blood efficiently enough to meet the body’s needs.

Researchers used computer-assisted techniques to weed through 3,646 variables reflecting lifestyle, health and disease-related factors for each patient. The results did not surprise – among the top predictors of heart failure were having a previous heart attack, chronic heart disease and a history of diabetes.

But then came leg bioimpedance.

“We homed in on that because the other risk factors are well established for heart failure, whereas [leg] bioimpedance was one of the novel risk factors and one that is easily measurable,” said the study’s senior author, Dr. Erik Ingelsson, a professor of medicine at Stanford University.

Bioimpedance was measured using a body composition analyzer, which looks like a standard scale but with handlebars. Electrodes beneath each foot send small electric currents and measure impedance, or resistance, met in the tissue.

Water, blood and other fluids easily conduct electricity and have lower bioimpedance than something more solid such as muscle tissue, which has higher resistance.

Ingelsson said it’s possible that people who had lower leg bioimpedance in the study had early stages of fluid buildup in their legs, a very common symptom of heart failure. The low bioimpedance may have identified a level of water retention that had yet to be detected by health care providers and before the appearance of other heart failure signs, such as fatigue or shortness of breath.

Dr. Barry Borlaug, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist and medical professor who was not involved in the study, said more research is necessary, but he sees potential for how leg bioimpedance could be used to predict heart failure, particularly among people who lead inactive lifestyles.

“A number of people might have the abnormalities in their hearts and lungs that cause symptomatic heart failure, but they don’t experience these symptoms because they are so sedentary,” said Borlaug, director of Circulatory Failure Research at Mayo Clinic. “Something like this might function like a canary in the coal mine.”

Borlaug said the findings need to be validated within another population to ensure the results can be reproduced, although he admitted that since there were more than 500,000 patients in the study, “the risk that this finding is spurious or due to play of chance is fairly low.”

The study’s authors suggest that a simple algorithm they developed based on their findings could provide an accurate prediction of developing heart failure within eight years. The formula combines leg bioimpedance with a patient’s age, sex and whether the person has had a heart attack or not.

Ingelsson said he’d like to see companies that manufacture body composition analyzers incorporate that algorithm into software for their scales.

“The ideal scenario would really be that you stand on the scale, and in addition to getting your body fat percentage, you also get your risk for heart failure within the next eight years,” he said.

If you have questions or comments about this story, please email editor@heart.org.

The post How quickly electrical currents move through the legs may help predict heart failure appeared first on News on Heart.org.

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Shot Scope Case Study #1: Scott the Poor Putter

Last month, we used Shot Scope data to examine the Previous Shot Effect and the Anatomy of a 3-Putt across a range of ability levels. Today, the guys at Shot Scope are narrowing focusing and offering a case study of a single golfer. It's an example of how, by analyzing Shot Scope data, one can identify not only areas in which to focus practices opportunities but also weaknesses in things like course management and even the equipment in your bag.

In this first study, the team at Shot Scope provides an analysis of one of its employees and in doing so, uncovers something unexpected.

If you're a current Shot Scope user, be sure to check out the last paragraph for an opportunity to take part in a case study of your game.

Scott's Story

Scott, the Sales Director at Shot Scope, is a former professional golfer who now has a handicap of 0. He plays club matches and some club tournaments. Scott is constantly in the office complaining about his Putts per Round total and how much he practices that area of the game. Eventually, the Shot Scope team took pity on him and decided to have a look at his performance data to hopefully make some suggestions which would result in lower scores.

Here is what we found!

As you can see in his game overview, Scott is a skilled golfer who hits the ball well off the tee, finds fairways a healthy percentage of the time. His green success (Greens in Regulation) is on the low side, and his avg proximity for approaches is farther from the hole than we'd expect from a scratch golfer. Scott routinely alludes to the fact that his putting statistics aren’t great. 34.2 putts per round is poor, and an average of one 3-putt once per round is also poor for a player at Scott's level.

Let’s start with a look at Scott’s putting:

As you can see his Make % for short (less than 6-feet), medium (6-18 feet) and long (greater than 18-feet) putts are slightly low, but they are not terrible. Ideally, Scott should be touching 90% for short range, 28% for medium range and anything in double figures for longs putts. Those ideal Make % stats are based on data gathered from 0 – 1 handicap golfers on the Shot Scope system.

His breakdown of Putts per Green highlights an issue; there are not enough 1- putts taking place. Understanding his Make % ratios, it would seem that he is not giving himself enough opportunities to make 1-putts regularly. His 3- putt % is also high. We know he 3-putts too many greens and this will either be due to inconsistent strike, poor green reading, or that his first putt distance is too far from the hole. With a scratch golfer it is unlikely that it is inconsistent strike and green reading so let’s have a look at Scott’s proximity to hole statistics.

Looking at Scott’s short game, he uses a mix of clubs (8-iron to putter) to pitch/chip. The simple solution is to improve his general sharpness and try to bring his avg proximity to under 10 feet. He might be capable of doing this by simply switching some of his putting practice to short game practice, but we don’t feel that his short game is the complete cause of his long initial putting distance.

Scott’s proximity to the hole from 75–125 yards could definitely be tightened up. 46.1 feet is below standard for a scratch handicap golfer, considering the best on the PGA Tour is 14.2 feet. His approach play from 125–225 yards also leaves a lot to be desired, with an avg proximity to the hole of 67.8 feet. Effectively Scott is managing to hit greens, but the putts he leaves are a long way from the hole.

To give Scott actionable insights, we looked into his wedge play, thinking that he could concentrate on making some changes over his next five rounds and we could measure improvement. Looking at his green success by club, however, we noticed an issue. There is a problem with his 9-iron. It is evident that this club is not performing at nearly the correct level, Scott is going to have it checked out by a club fitter to check the shaft, loft, and lie.

Checking the average distances for his short irons, we see that he also has a gapping issue. Scott is going to organize a testing session to check his clubs and improve his gapping.

OUTCOME

Out of sync 9-iron green success and non-existent gapping with short irons are the likely root causes of Scott's issues. The recommendation is to visit club-fitter for a check-up. Aim to improve proximity to hole between 75–125 yards initially and then improve 125– 225-yard proximity to hole.

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Would you like to take part in a Shot Scope Case Study? If you are a Shot Scope user with over 15 rounds in your account, enter your details below - including handicap, location, and the area of the game you think requires work. Shot Scope will select different users and compile reports.

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Uncommon heart attack, found more often in women, needs a second look

By AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION NEWS

One in 10 heart attacks in younger patients aren’t caused by blocked coronary arteries, but a new study found survivors have similar outcomes as those whose heart attack was triggered by the most common source – a blockage.

Scientists refer to heart attacks not caused by blocked arteries as MINOCA, short for myocardial infarction with non-obstructive coronary arteries. In a study published Thursday in the Journal of the American Heart Association, Yale University-led researchers took a close look at the people who typically experience these non-obstructive heart attacks – women and non-white patients.

“For a long time, patients with MINOCA were completely disregarded because the prior literature showed they didn’t have a higher risk of dying or recurrent heart attacks, and so they just were not studied,” said Dr. Basmah Safdar, an emergency physician and the study’s lead author.

Her research found that women were five times more likely than men to have MINOCA. These non-obstructive heart attacks also were twice as common in non-white patients than in white ones.

People with non-obstructive heart attacks have a similar risk of death within the next year as those with the more common type, the study found. Yet, MINOCA patients were less likely to be referred to cardiac rehabilitation, even though some research suggests they could benefit.

MINOCA is an umbrella term for a mysterious category of heart attacks that has befuddled experts until recently, said Safdar, an associate professor at Yale University School of Medicine and director of its Chest Pain Center.

Her report noted that despite being “seen more commonly in women and young patients, existing literature on MINOCA is extrapolated from studies enrolling predominantly men and older patients.”

The study’s researchers examined data on 2,690 heart attack patients between the ages of 18 and 55. The information, from 2008 to 2012, was collected from 103 hospitals nationwide.

Non-obstructive heart attacks generally account for 6 percent to 14 percent of all heart attacks. They made up 11 percent of those analyzed in the study.

MINOCA patients were less likely to smoke or have other traditional risk factors for cardiac disease, such as diabetes or high blood pressure. However, they were more susceptible to having blood clotting problems than patients whose heart attacks stemmed from artery obstructions.

The majority of MINOCA patients had “undefined” causes for their events, but specific reasons were identified for a quarter of cases. The most common one was a tear in the coronary artery wall, a condition in which blood pools between the inner and outer layers of the artery; this trapped blood can form a blood clot, slowing or even stopping blood flow to the heart.

Another cause leading to MINOCA was a coronary artery spasm, or a sudden tightening and narrowing of arteries in the heart.

“We have very little data about this population in general and so any good study – and this is a good one – that can help add to our understanding is an advance in science,” said Dr. Sharonne Hayes, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic who was not involved in the research.

“Among those patients who have MINOCA, this study asked, ‘What was the cause if it wasn’t plaque?’ That’s important because we may need to treat individuals differently based on the reasons,” she said. “This study highlights the fact that younger women do have heart attacks, that the cause is different, and that lifesaving treatments should be sought out right away.”

Because of a lack of understanding and guidance, even about its specific definition, Hayes said many MINOCA patients may not have been taken as seriously or may have failed to get the proper treatment.

“They were getting overlooked – or they were getting undertreated or overtreated,” Hayes said. “The standard heart attack guidelines we have are defined for a plaque-driven heart attack, and mainly in older people, so they may not be the most appropriate for those individuals. We can’t just lump everyone into one basket.”

Safdar hopes her study makes doctors more aware that non-obstructive heart attack patients require more caution than previously believed.

“Don’t ignore these patients. Continue their workup,” she advised. “And from the patient’s standpoint, they should still treat themselves as at risk for a repeat heart attack and take measures that would prevent one.”

That would include steps such as monitoring weight and blood pressure, keeping diabetes and cholesterol levels in check, and increasing physical activity.

If you have questions or comments about this story, please email editor@heart.org.

The post Uncommon heart attack, found more often in women, needs a second look appeared first on News on Heart.org.

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First Look: Fourteen TC 340 Irons

This just in, JDM companies haven’t yet entirely “figured out North America” but Fourteen’s latest iron release – it’s TC 340 – likely won't fit that narrative anytime soon regardless.

The SGI (Super Game Improvement) iron was released in Japan on March 21^st without any expressed intention of introducing it to the North American market. That said Marcy Kamoda, COO of Fourteen Golf, wouldn't rule the possibility should the demand warrant.

It’s not atypical for Japanese companies to design models for different markets, though the domestic Japanese market is only becoming more saturated as major North American OEMs continue to drip product into the Asian market. While this isn't a flagship product for Fourteen, it does seem to indicate Fourteen feels that whatever growth opportunities remain in the JDM space, are likely in the GI/SGI category.

TECH STORY:

The tech story here is straightforward. The TC 340 features Fourteen’s lowest and deepest CG ever in a one-piece forged iron. No tungsten weighting, cavities filled with top-secret liquid polymers or multi-material designs; the construction consists of just a single piece of S35C forged carbon steel. Fourteen labels the TC 340 as “ultra-forgiving” yet retaining its “signature (forged) feel.”  So much of the JDM narrative revolves around the heritage and history of Japanese craftsmanship and forging houses which makes it at the very least noteworthy that Fourteen's clubs are forged in China. There are several possible reasons why Fourteen goes this route. One is cost. The TC 340 requires a seven-step forging process and it's possible contracting with a third party like Endo (which has forged for Fourteen previously) was cost prohibitive for this limited run. The other is that Fourteen's genesis is as a club design OEM, not a forging house; thus it doesn't push the "Forged in Japan" narrative because it neither applies to nor defines the brand.

THE DEETS:

The trend in North America and Europe is to pack irons chock full of game improvement features and attempt to conceal them while retaining playerish aesthetics (thinner toplines, less offset and a more compact overall footprint). The TC 340 is the antithesis to this evolving norm of iron design.

The TC 340 is thick with plenty of offset and an undercut cavity which is visible at address – though it's less noticeable in the short irons, where a higher CG location allows for a more traditional (albeit relatively larger) shape. The longer irons (5-7) feature a shorter blade height and excessively wide soles, which provide hybrid-esque launch and forgiveness, particularly out of the rough. The net result is a tremendously forgiving iron, with two trajectory options – high and higher.

Generally, the practice with SGI irons is to accept a less pleasing hollow and metallic feel as the opportunity cost for maximum forgiveness. Because the TC 340 are one-piece forged, centered strikes feel acceptably solid though it is at least several steps removed from the density of a CB/MB forged iron. It would be easy to pick on the S35C carbon steel (which is marginally harder than S25C) though consumers are coming to understand the role each component (shaft, shaft flex, grip, ball preference, acoustic engineering) plays in determining how a club feels.

Regardless of where a design such as the TC 340 is forged, a 7-step process is going to be quite a bit more expensive than casting and given the advancements in precision casting (particularly in the last 15 years), it reasonable to question why Fourteen didn't go that route.

In speaking with Kamoda, he agreed that casting would have kept costs down. However, Japanese consumers expect to pay a premium for forged irons, and the western concept of lower prices driving demand doesn't play out the same way in the Japanese golf market. In a material sense, Kamoda also stated that the forging process allowed for a finished product with more consistent CG locations throughout the entire production run and an aesthetic which better matched the original CAD designs.

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Specs, Pricing, and Availability

Whether or not the TC 340 reaches North American distribution channels remains to be seen. For now, it is available RH only (5-Gap) though with a 22° 5 iron and 46° P/A wedge. Effectively, it's a 4-PW set.  Nippon is the preferred shaft partner, with the both the Zelos 6 ($220/club) and NS 950 ($200/club) available as stock options.

The likely target is an already loyal Fourteen consumer who has lost some swing speed but still wants to bag forged irons (or at least say they do) with maximum forgiveness and launch.

Is the TC 340 an option you'd like to see in North America or do other OEMs already have this segment fully covered?

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She had a heart attack on the way to her wedding – and recently celebrated her third anniversary

By AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION NEWS

Sara and Court Hoffman on their wedding day in Mexico, just days after her heart attack. (Photo courtesy of Sara Hoffman)

Four hours into a nearly six-hour flight from Seattle to Mexico, Sara Metz felt overly anxious – far more than the usual jitters of a bride-to-be days before her wedding on a beach in Playa del Carmen.

She was watching the movie “Unbroken” when that feeling hit. Thinking maybe the intensity of that story was getting to her, she switched to a Disney film.

It didn’t help. So she headed for the restroom, only to be overcome by a burning in her jaw, upper chest and left arm – a few of the common warning signs of a heart attack, with the added complication of being 30,000 feet in the air.

Sara’s mom, Judie Haviland, was one row in front on the opposite side of the plane. A former medical assistant, Judie looked past the fact that Sara was 37 and in good health. She knew this was an emergency.

Judie got the attention of a flight attendant, and she asked if there was a doctor on the plane.

There was – a cardiologist.

Using equipment most U.S. airlines carry, he took her blood pressure and pulse and gave her aspirin and some nitroglycerin.

The plane was just beginning to cross the Gulf of Mexico, leaving the pilot with a tough decision: turn around or continue to Mexico.

When the flight attendant asked for her input, Sara said, “I need you to land as soon as possible.”

“I was worried they might think I was this silly bride having cold feet, but I thought I was going to die on the plane,” Sara said.

The pilot heeded her advice and landed at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. Sara was rushed to a hospital, where doctors determined she’d suffered the kind of heart attack called a “widowmaker” because of the low odds of survival. She likely would’ve died had the plane continued to Mexico, doctors later told her.

This type of heart attack is caused by a blockage of the left anterior descending artery, the main artery on the front of the heart.

“My poor husband thought he was going to be a widower and we weren’t even married yet,” she said.

Doctors cleared Sara’s blockage through an angioplasty procedure. Her heart stopped twice during the procedure, requiring shocks from a defibrillator to get it beating again.

Sara Hoffman (third from left) took a trip to Louisiana to spend time with the medical team that cared for her after her heart attack. (Photo courtesy of Sara Hoffman)

Only two days later, the doctor released her from the hospital and said she could continue to Mexico. So off she went, keeping her targeted date.

While she made it through the wedding ceremony and reception – and made a point of embracing every moment – she didn’t feel quite right.

“I felt nauseous, short of breath and I was very lightheaded,” she said. “We cancelled our honeymoon because all I wanted to do was go home.”

Back in Seattle, she still didn’t feel right. When she almost fainted stepping out of the shower, her now-husband Court Hoffman took her to the hospital.

Sara was suffering a mild case of congestive heart failure from fluid that had built up around her heart. Her drug regimen also needed fine-tuning.

While Sara was young and outwardly healthy at the time of her heart attack – she didn’t smoke, was a vegetarian, ran marathons – heart disease runs in her family. Her father had a heart attack at 36, her grandfather at 40.

“I thought my healthy lifestyle would counteract my genetics,” she said. “Obviously it didn’t.”

Three years later, Sara is doing great.

She continues to exercise regularly and feels stronger than ever. Tests show her heart is doing great, too, said her cardiologist, Dr. Tim Dewhurst.

“Unfortunately for Sara, there was a genetic component to her heart disease,” Dewhurst said. “She’s a lesson that it’s important not to ignore the warning signs of a heart attack and to seek medical care immediately if you think you’re having one.”

If you have questions or comments about this story, please email editor@heart.org.

The post She had a heart attack on the way to her wedding – and recently celebrated her third anniversary appeared first on News on Heart.org.

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10 Reasons Why Your Marketing Plans Don’t Work

Gathering your team to plot out your next marketing campaign can seem daunting, especially for a new business.

If you aren’t strategic and thoughtful about how you spend your money, you’re more likely to waste your money on campaigns and tactics that don’t work.  

Here are the most common slip-ups when you’re trying to build effective marketing campaigns—and how you can address them:

1. Lack of a marketing plan

Simply knowing how your business runs and what products or services you offer is not enough to plan your next marketing move. You need to have a solid marketing plan in place.

But it shouldn’t be just any old plan. This study shows that just implementing generic marketing strategies doesn’t work; you need to tailor your marketing plan to your company’s needs and goals. You probably wouldn’t use the same strategy to market high heels to an urban, fashion-forward audience as you would to market running shoes to suburban fitness seekers.

The value of a marketing plan:

A great marketing plan requires that you know who your target consumers are and where you actually stand among the competition. You also need to keep track of your day-to-day progress to make sure that your marketing strategy is actually hitting the right KPIs (key performance indicators) to achieve your goals and increase business bottom-line.

Without a marketing plan, you risk losing your customers and wasting your budget even if you have the right tools to support the campaign. Don’t do something just because it seems like you should. Think it through and make sure that your tactics contribute to your overall goals.

2. Not knowing your value proposition

A value proposition is a statement that summarizes why your target market should buy from you. This statement distinguishes you from your competitors, explains how your product/service improves your market’s lives, and delivers specific benefits that consumers will get from your company. In a nutshell, it is a promise that you intend to (and should) deliver.

Value propositions exist for a reason: they add more meat to what you have to offer to hungry customers.

Tight industry competition drives companies to fight over a huge piece of the market pie. But the real challenge is not about attracting new customers—it’s all about earning their loyalty.

How to present a clear value prop:

To define your value prop, you need to identify how your products or services will add more value to your customers’ lives. It has to be specific and targeted, and it should speak to how your solution eases a pain point.

Differentiate yourself. Your proposition should show how your product/service stands out among a sea of other companies providing something similar. Let your customers know why you are the best in the market.

3. Investing in a high-caliber marketing staff too early

Too often, business owners are tempted to hire the crème de la crème right at the outset. This can prove to be counterproductive.

While having the best team for the job will go a long way in helping you execute a winning marketing strategy, it could also put a serious dent on your budget—a huge problem, especially for startups.

The value of hiring slow:

Hiring high-caliber staff early in the game may take its toll on your time, money, and other resources.

Wait to start expanding your marketing team until you’ve exhausted other lower cost options, or it’s obvious that you can’t scale your business without expanding your team. Base every hiring decision on the value—dollars and cents—that your new hire will add, and don’t do it until your finances can support it.  

The good news here is, you don’t necessarily have to hire in-house marketers. You can outsource marketing to other experts in the field to help you start your campaign and keep it moving.

4. Targeting the wrong audience

When drafting your campaigns, it is crucial to keep your audiences and their preferences at the core of every tactic. It is difficult to create a marketing strategy if you are not sure who you’re even talking to!

The value of targeting the right buyer persona:

Targeting a huge number of people without narrowing down the demographics and qualities of your ideal customer means that you are wasting your energy on people who do not need or want your offerings.

On the flip side, being extra specific about who your target market allows you to send the right message to the right people at the right time. Know your audience. Make sure you understand their buying habits and the nature of their loyalty before you drop a big spend on a new marketing campaign.

It’s pretty easy to mess this up in an effort to increase your market share. Take, for instance, a 2010 marketing snafu by Gap. The clothing retailer attempted to appeal to a younger market by revamping its logo. However, this move alienated their current customer base, as they felt that Gap was moving away from the comfortable, non-trendy items and into a more fashion-forward brand.

Gap tried to appeal to a new audience without first understanding the needs and wants of their existing customers. This resulted in a massive, mainstream backlash. The clothing brand reverted to their old logo only a week after they released the revamped one.

Define your buyer personas by collecting data on their demographics, their hobbies, why they purchase from your brand, why they purchase from your competitors, and their pain points. Where do they hang out online? What do they want from services or products like yours?

Personalize your marketing efforts based on their tastes. Include strategic call-to-actions on your campaigns (e.g. landing pages, promotional merchandises, and so on) to help them throughout their buying journey.

5. Failing to document or refresh your marketing strategy

Prior to starting your campaign, make sure that your organization follows a seamless approval process. Most companies make the mistake of just repeating the marketing strategies that worked last year, expecting that they will get the same—or better—results this year.

The value of an updated marketing strategy:

One important lesson you have to remember is that the digital world offers tremendous opportunities to companies who are able to adapt to fast-changing customer preferences.

If you want to create a solid end-to-end marketing plan, make sure that you review your strategies and align them with your current customer’s expectations.

Look at the following factors and see what needs to be updated or overhauled:

SMART goals

Start with SMART goals: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound.

Do you know exactly what you want to achieve with each of your campaigns? Is it increasing brand awareness on social media in the next six months? Is it increasing sales by 20 percent per quarter?

Strategies for various stages in the sales cycle

Next, review the strategies that you’ve laid down to achieve your goals. Remember that each tactic needs to meet your target prospects at each stage of your sales cycle (from prospecting, to qualifying prospects, to addressing their objections, to closing the sale).

So if you want to reach out to cold customers, you may want to invest in optimizing your web presence so people can find you in Google search results, or even through billboards, or print advertising. If you want to contact warmer prospects (those who have been exposed to you before), you may want to start an email campaign or consider content marketing (like starting a blog).

KPIs

As the old adage goes, you can’t improve what you can’t measure. Make sure that your KPIs adequately measure the success (or failure) of your goals.

If it’s online brand awareness that you want, measure the increase in follower count and engagement from the time you started the campaign, as opposed to your numbers prior to campaign kick-off.

If those are just milestones leading toward the ultimate goals of increasing conversion (or product purchase), did you get your new followers to take the right steps? Did your strategies work? What needs to change for a positive ROI? Define success metrics before your campaign starts, then measure your effectiveness during and after the campaign.

6. Not having a website

Although a lot of companies have a website, there are still plenty who aren’t on board yet.

Even those who do have a website sometimes don’t think through exactly how they’ll guide visitors through their site to take a specific action—like making a purchase—or whether they’ll make it onto the first page of Google search results (SEO).

Plus, a subset of businesses who are thinking about SEO and website optimization haven’t mobile-optimized their websites, which means people who visit on a mobile device don’t have a great experience, plus Google penalizes sites that aren’t mobile optimized, so you’re more difficult to find in search results.

The value of having a website:

Setting up your company’s website will help you attract your increasingly always-on-the-go customers.

A social media presence is not enough for online visibility, especially in light of Facebook’s recent algorithm change possibly affecting even the biggest publishers on the social platform. What more when you only have a handful of followers?

Having a website means you’re not putting all your eggs in someone else’s basket—remember that social media owners can change their algorithm as they see fit. With websites, you control the content you publish and how many people will be able to see it.

Speaking of online searches, your audiences won’t magically appear on your website’s analytics; you have to put in the extra work by optimizing your website so Google will show it on the first page of search results (in other words, SEO, or search engine optimization). This way, your brand will be at the forefront of your customers’ eyes when they look for services similar to yours.

SEO is one way of helping your customers find you based on the solutions you can offer them. When done right, you can achieve better rankings on search engines, increase your website’s traffic, and build stronger brand credibility in the online space.

The truth is, having your own website isn’t optional—it is already a need. If you don’t have your own website yet, then you’re missing out on a huge chunk of potential customers.

7. Not having a blog on your website

Content marketing is gaining traction as one of the best and most effective tools in directing your customers to your website and sending valuable information to your audiences.

However, plenty of business owners don’t want to start blogs because of the time and money it takes to keep producing content.

The value of having a blog:

When you start pushing out content that proves to be valuable to your followers, you start building your reputation as an expert in the industry.  In fact, 60 percent of businesses with blogs acquire more customers.

To succeed at content marketing, make sure that you create a blog article lineup and optimize it with a winning content marketing strategy to build your audience online.

9. Being too competitor-oriented

It’s good to check what your competitors are doing once in a while so you can set yourself apart from them.

However, make sure that you are not executing your marketing efforts with the sole purpose of getting ahead of your competitors.

The value of focusing on your target market:

Remember that your business is about your customers, whether that is helping them improve their lives or solve their day-to-day problems. Don’t let yourself get stuck on what your competitors are doing; instead, focus your research on what your customers want and design your campaigns based on their needs.

9. Avoiding social media marketing

While it’s key to build your company’s website, a presence on social media can help you spread the word about your brand. According to Pew Research, seven in 10 Americans are using at least one social media platform to connect with friends, engage with news content, entertain themselves, or share stories and information with other people.

If that’s not enough reason for you to craft tailor-made marketing strategies, then you are missing out on reaching your potential customers.

The value of being visible on social platforms:

Creating an account on social media, posting a few photos, and sharing a few links will not automatically translate to conversions. Think of social media like any other paid advertising tool. Use it to both raise awareness about your brand and direct followers toward your website where they can purchase from you.

Take, for instance, HubSpot’s successful social media campaign. By monitoring and responding to brand mentions (even the negative ones), the software company gained valuable insights as to how effective their communications were. In the end, HubSpot used what they learned to improve their sales process.

You need to understand the differences between each social media platform and generate content that adds value to your customers’ lives. Similar to creating an end-to-end marketing plan, you also need to set SMART goals, strategize, and set KPIs for measuring the success of your campaign.

Start with knowing your audience’s needs and wants when interacting with a brand on social platforms. Then, regularly post content (e.g. videos, images, blog posts) that they will find engaging (look at their demographics and psychographics). Keep analyzing and testing your strategies to make sure that your campaign is working.

10. Investing in “big marketing” right at the outset

Plenty of small business owners make the mistake of diverting their resources toward the biggest and trendiest marketing channel there is today. This may come in the form of a powerful series of ads or an attention-grabbing booth in your field’s biggest trade show of the year.

Going big too soon can go one of two ways: Your (expensive) campaign could amount to nothing, or it could be such a huge success that your startup is incapable of keeping up with demand.

The value of starting slow:

As a small business owner, there are still a lot of details that you need to iron out before you risk your financial resources in huge marketing campaigns that may or may not work.

This includes conducting ample research on which platforms best suit your target market, and testing your hypotheses or ideas on what will work multiple times.

Refrain from rushing in, as tempting as it may be. Establish your buyer persona, and invest small amounts of resources in hyper-targeted marketing (showing relevant ads only to relevant people). You can also start with content marketing and publishing PR materials. You can even produce low-cost but engaging videos to get the word out about your business.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Run a small, relatively inexpensive test to figure out whether a particular tactic has legs in your market.

Prioritize and set your eyes on your customer’s needs

Feeling overwhelmed at the prospect of building a marketing plan for a new business is understandable. You’re probably juggling lots of competing priorities.

Start with making a list of every marketing tactic you could do, as this will help clear your mind. Next, prioritize your marketing tasks based on looming deadlines, those with a direct effect on your revenue, and those that can be delegated. Assign realistic deadlines to each of the tasks under these three categories.

Work on your deadline-driven tasks first. Then, work on those that will have a direct effect on your revenue and goals. Lastly, delegate what you can to your team (or hire a virtual assistant) so you can focus on other things without missing deadlines.

There are plenty of factors to consider when creating an effective marketing strategy. However, at its core, you need to keep your focus on your customers and how you can help address their day-to-day needs. With every tactic, go back to your buyer persona and make sure that you answer their pain points.

Have you committed any of these mistakes? How did you handle that situation? Let us know on Twitter @Bplans!

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Binge drinking linked to risk factors for heart disease and stroke in young adults

By AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION NEWS

Young adults who reported binge drinking more than a dozen times in the past year were more likely to have certain risk factors for heart disease and stroke than those who binge drank less often or not at all, a new study shows.

Previous studies have found binge drinking is associated with an increased risk of heart attack, stroke and high blood pressure in middle-age and older adults. The new study investigated whether there was a link between binge drinking as a young adult and known risk factors for these cardiovascular diseases, which typically occur later in life.

For the study, published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association, Mariann R. Piano and her colleagues looked at the health data and binge-drinking patterns of 4,710 adults ages 18 to 45 who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2011 and 2014. The long-running federal study collects health information on U.S. children and adults.

“I think young adults right now, when they think of binge drinking, they just think about having really bad hangovers,” said Piano, senior associate dean for research at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing in Nashville. “I think they put the risks or the harms of binge drinking in this bucket of ‘nothing too serious or life-changing.’”

But that may not be the case.

The study found that the men who reported binge drinking had slightly higher systolic blood pressure than those who didn’t binge drink. The average systolic blood pressure (top number) of men who didn’t binge drink was 117.5 mmHg. For those who binge drank 12 or fewer times a year it averaged 119, and for those who reported binge drinking more than 12 times a year, the average was 121.8. An ideal systolic blood pressure is less than 120.

The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines binge drinking as consuming several servings of beer, wine, liquor or other alcoholic drinks that may lead to blood alcohol levels of more than 0.08 g/dL. For women, that roughly represents about four alcoholic drinks in two hours, and for men, at least five in the same time frame.

Piano and her colleagues also found men who engaged in binge drinking had higher total cholesterol levels than those who didn’t. In addition, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol — the “bad cholesterol” — was higher in men who binge drank more than 12 times a year.

The study found binge drinking affected women differently. For example, women who were binge drinkers did not have notably higher blood pressure than women who didn’t binge drink. In addition, total cholesterol levels were not significantly higher among women who binge drank more than 12 times a year. However, women who binge drank were more likely than women who did not binge drink to have high blood sugar levels.

The study is one of several published in recent years to look at the relationship between excessive drinking and cardiovascular health.

A 2017 study found alcohol abuse was associated with increased heart attack risk and the likelihood of a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation, a heart rhythm disorder that may lead to stroke.

Piano’s investigation comes on the heels of a study from researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that found 37.4 million U.S. adults — 17.1 percent of the population — are binge drinkers. Although binge drinking was more common among 18- to 34-year-olds, half of the total binge drinks were consumed by adults over 34, the study showed.

Longtime heart disease and stroke researcher Dr. Michael Criqui said the results of Piano’s study didn’t surprise him. Cardiovascular researchers have known for a long time that excessive alcohol consumption increases blood pressure, he said.

Even so, Criqui, a professor of cardiovascular disease prevention at the University of California, San Diego, said the findings are important because they focus on young adults. Studies on the relationship between alcohol and heart disease, stroke and risk factors for those conditions have typically been on older adults, Criqui said.

Piano and Criqui both said the study findings suggest pediatricians and primary care doctors should talk about the long-term health risks of binge drinking with their patients as early as middle school.

Public health campaigns that address the serious and negative health consequences of binge drinking would also help, Piano said, “similar to how we popularized [the importance of] wearing seat belts and bike helmets.”

Ultimately, though, Piano and Criqui said preventing binge drinking behavior starts at home. “Kids can count,” said Criqui. “Kids don’t do as the parents say, they do as the parents do.”

If you have questions or comments about this story, please email editor@heart.org.

The post Binge drinking linked to risk factors for heart disease and stroke in young adults appeared first on News on Heart.org.

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The 11 Slides You Need to Have in Your Pitch Deck [Updated for 2018]

Image via WOCinTech.

If you’re raising money for your business, having an impressive pitch deck is a key component in your fundraising toolkit. A great pitch deck gets potential investors excited about your idea and engages them in a conversation about your business, hopefully leading to an investment.

In this article, I’m going to give you the formula for what you should include in your own pitch deck. I’m leveraging the knowledge I’ve gained from listening to hundreds—if not thousands—of elevator speeches and pitch presentations. I’ve seen all different kinds of pitch decks and presentation styles and found that there’s a simple formula that just works.

I’ve also built my own and presented to major Silicon Valley VC firms over the years and have learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t.

While every business is different, I’ve found that the following format works for most businesses and is most likely to generate interest from potential investors.

You can skip ahead and just download our free pitch deck template, but I recommend sticking around and learning why each slide is important.

Goals for your pitch deck

This may sound counterintuitive, but the goal of your pitch deck is not to raise money. What? I know that doesn’t sound right, but the real goal of your pitch deck is to get to the next meeting.

Remember, your pitch deck and pitch presentation are probably some of the first things that an investor is seeing to learn more about your company. And, because investments rarely are made after just one meeting, your goal is to spark interest in your company. You want investors to ask for more after they hear your pitch and not just show you to the door.

So, while a solid pitch deck is critical to raising money, the key goal of the deck is to get to the next step—another meeting and a request for more information.

The 11 slides to include in your pitch deck

Slide 1: Vision and value proposition

This is a quick one-sentence overview of your business and the value that you provide to your customers. Keep it short and simple. A great way to think about this slide is to imagine it as a short tweet—describe your business in 140 characters in a way your parents would understand.

It’s common for tech companies to make their value proposition a comparison to another well-known company. For example, you see many pitches that start with things like:

“We’re the Uber for Pets”

“We’re the Netflix for Video Games”

This can work, but be careful to make sure your comparison makes sense and you’re not just using a high profile company like Uber to signify growth potential. Your business model has to truly be similar to the company you are referencing.

Slide 2: The problem

If you aren’t solving some problem in the world, you are going to have a long uphill climb with your business.

Use this slide to talk about the problem you are solving and who has the problem. You can talk about the current solutions in the market, but don’t spend too much time on the competitive landscape on this slide—you’ll have a chance to do that on a later slide.

Ideally, try and tell a relatable story when you are defining the problem. The more you can make the problem as real as possible, the more your investors will understand your business and your goals.

Slide 3: Target market and opportunity

Use this slide to expand on who your ideal customer is and how many of them there are. What is the total market size and how do you position your company in the market? If you can find the data, investors will want to know how much people or businesses currently spend in the market to get a sense of the total market size. This is where you tell the story about the scope and scale of the problem you are solving.

If it makes sense for your business, you’ll want to divide your market into segments that you will address with different types of marketing and perhaps different types of product offerings.

Be careful with this slide, though. It’s tempting to try and define your market to be as large as possible. Instead, investors will want to see that you have a very specific and reachable market. The more specific you are, the more realistic your pitch will be.

Slide 4: The solution

Finally, you get to dive into describing your product or service. Describe how customers use your product and how it addresses the problems that you outlined on slide two.

You’ll be tempted to move this slide closer to the beginning of your pitch deck, but try and resist the temptation. This is classic storytelling where you build up the problem and describe how bad it is for lots of people. Now your product or service is coming to the rescue to help solve that problem.

Most entrepreneurs are very focused on their product when instead they need to be focused on their customers and the problems those customers face. Try and keep your pitch deck focused with this format and you’ll tell a better story.

If possible, use pictures and stories when you describe your solution. Showing is nearly always better than telling.

Slide 5: Revenue model or business model

Now that you’ve described your product or service, you need to talk about how it makes money. What do you charge and who pays the bills? For some businesses (content sites, for example), advertisers pay the bills instead of users, so it’s important to flesh out the details here.

You can also reference the competitive landscape here and discuss how your pricing fits into the larger market. Are you a premium, high-price offering, or a budget offering that undercuts existing solutions on the market?

Slide 6: Traction and validation/roadmap

If you already have sales or early adopters using your product, talk about that here. Investors want to see that you have proven some aspect of your business model as that reduces risk, so any proof you have that validates that your solution works to solve the problem you have identified is extremely powerful.

You can also use this slide to talk about your milestones. What major goals have you achieved so far and what are the major next steps you plan on taking? A product or company roadmap that outlines key milestones is helpful here.

Slide 7: Marketing and sales strategy

How are you planning on getting customers’ attention and what will your sales process look like? Use this slide to outline your marketing and sales plan. You’ll want to detail the key tactics that you intend to use to get your product in front of prospective customers.

Finding and winning customers can sometimes be the biggest challenge for a startup, so it’s important to show that you have a solid grasp of how you will reach your target market and what sales channels you plan on using.

If your marketing and sales process is different than your competitors, it’s important to highlight that here.

Slide 8: Team

Why are you and your team the right people to build and grow this company? What experience do you have that others don’t? Highlight the key team members, their successes at other companies, and the key expertise that they bring to the table.

Even if you don’t have a complete team yet, identify the key positions that you still need to fill and why those positions are critical to company growth.

Slide 9: Financials

Investors will expect to see your financials: sales forecast, profit and loss statement, and cash flow forecast for at least three years.

But, for your pitch deck, you shouldn’t have in-depth spreadsheets that will be difficult to read and consume in a presentation format. Limit yourself to charts that show sales, total customers, total expenses, and profits.

You should be prepared to discuss the underlying assumptions that you’ve made to arrive at your sales goals and what your key expense drivers are.

Remember to try and be realistic. Investors see “hockey stick” projections all the time and will mentally be cutting your projections in half. If you can explain your growth based on traction you already have or compared to a similar company in a related industry, that is extremely useful.

Slide 10: Competition

Every business has competition in one form or another. Even if you are opening up an entirely new market, your potential customers are using alternative solutions to solve their problems today.

Describe how you fit into the competitive landscape and how you’re different than the competitors and alternatives that are on the market today. What key advantages do you have over the competition or is there some “secret sauce” that you have and others don’t?

The key here is explaining how you are different than the other players on the market and why customers will choose you instead of one of the other players on the market.

Slide 11: Investment and use of funds

Finally, it’s time to actually ask for the money. That’s why you’re doing this pitch deck, right? I know—I said that this pitch deck isn’t about actually getting funded. That’s still true, but your potential investors do need to know how much money you are looking for.

More importantly, you need to be able to explain why you need the amount of money you are asking for and how you plan on using the money. Investors will want to know how their money is being used and how it is going to help you achieve the goals you are setting out for your business.

If you already have some investors on board, now is when you should be talking about those other investors and why they chose to invest.

Other slides you might include in your pitch deck

While you do want to keep your pitch deck short, sometimes you may need or want to include a few extra slides that help explain your business. Here are a few additional slides that are often found in investor presentations.

Exit strategy

If you are raising money from investors, you’ll need to show them how you plan on giving them a return. You do this in the form of an “exit strategy” slide that outlines who your potential acquirers might be if you manage to grow your company and be successful. Having an IPO and going public is a viable option for some high-growth startups, while other businesses are more likely to be bought by larger players in your market.

Partnerships

Some businesses have key strategic partnerships that are critical to their success. This can often be in the form of intellectual property licensing from a university or a key distribution partner who will be taking your product to market. If your success relies on these types of partnerships, it’s important to showcase them.

Demo and screenshots

If you have a prototype of your product, screenshots of your online service, or any other “show and tell” opportunities, it’s great to include a placeholder slide in your deck where you will actually show your potential investors how your product works and what it does.

Other documentation

Keeping your pitch deck as short and succinct as possible is critical. Remember, your goal isn’t to provide investors with all the information they need to make an investment decision. Its primary purpose is to tell a story, build excitement, and help get that all-important request for additional information and a follow-up meeting.

In addition to your pitch deck, you should have more detailed, additional information that you can provide if requested. Preparing these additional documents can also help ensure that you don’t try and fill your presentation with too much overwhelming information.

Here are some common documents that you may want to have ready for after you deliver your pitch:

• Executive summary: An executive summary, sometimes called a summary memo, is a two- to three-page overview of your business. It’s a document that investors can share with their partners and others in their firm to provide an overview of your business. Your executive summary should cover what’s in your pitch deck but in written form.
• Technical documentation: If you are starting a tech company or medical company, you may be asked to provide some additional detail on your technology. Investors in these types of companies will often want to vet your technical claims with an expert, so providing more detailed documentation, diagrams, workflows, and so on might be important.
• Detailed financial models: Any investor that’s seriously interested in your business will want to see detailed financial forecasts for at least the next three years so they can get an understanding of the underlying assumptions that are driving your forecasts. Investors will want to see your plans for hiring and employee-related expenses, R&D expenses, manufacturing costs, marketing expenses, and so on. Be prepared to provide a detailed sales forecast, profit and loss forecast, and cash flow forecast. A balance sheet is also often required. Whenever possible, visually represent your data with graphics. It’s proven to be more effective.
• Detailed market research: You may be asked to provide more details on your target market and the market research you’ve done to date. This isn’t always the case, but if you have the information it’s a good idea to be ready to present it in some format. Again, this data shouldn’t be part of your initial pitch deck, but instead should be ready if it’s asked for.

Tips to make your pitch successful

Here are a few tips to make your presentation as successful as possible:

Keep it simple: All entrepreneurs spend countless hours “in the weeds” thinking about every last detail about their business. But, for an investor pitch, less information is better than too much. You want your slides to be simple, convey high-level ideas, and leave room for questions. Simple and straightforward presentations always do better than detailed presentations full of bullets.

Skip the bullets: Speaking of bullets, skip them. Slides full of bullet points are boring and don’t help tell a story. Try and use large fonts and limit the number of words on each slide. Use images wherever possible to help tell your story and build an emotional attachment to your ideas.

Tell a story: Don’t just talk about the facts. Instead, focus on grabbing interest and getting your audience excited. Your deck doesn’t need to be the complete guide to your business. It just needs to generate interest so you can move on to the next step. One of the best ways to do that is to tell stories about how your customers use your product, how they currently experience problems that need to be solved, and how your company will make the lives of your customers better. The more you can tell stories that investors can relate to, the more you’ll be able to build excitement for your company.

Keep your presentation short: Make sure you have plenty of time for questions, demos, and discussion about your business idea. If you have a one-hour meeting, aim for your presentation to take 20 to 30 minutes.

Don’t overstate the market opportunity: Instead of top-down forecasts where you “only need to get one percent of a huge market” to be successful, focus on bottom-up forecasts where you detail your expectations for how you’re going to acquire customers. If you already have data on how an early version of your product is selling, use those numbers to help drive the rest of your forecast.

Ask for the money: Yes, it’s a slide in the presentation deck above, but entrepreneurs sometimes forget to ask for the money. When you ask, it’s very important to be able to intelligently discuss how the money will be used. Your detailed financial forecasts should also take an influx of cash into account.

Keep your deck current: Fundraising takes time. You’ll likely pitch your company many, many times before you get an investment. As legend has it, Pandora pitched more than 300 VC firms before getting investment. Assuming you’re working to build your company while you pitch to raise money, make sure that you keep your deck up-to-date with your latest progress, roadmaps, and so on. There’s nothing worse than presenting an out-of-date deck to potential investors.

Send your deck as a PDF: You’ll almost always be asked to either send your slides ahead of time to investors or to leave a copy behind. If this happens, don’t send Powerpoint or Keynote files. Instead, send a PDF. This means that anyone who looks at the deck will see it as you intended with your chosen fonts and styles.

Make sure your deck stands alone without your presentation: Your pitch deck will always be better when you present it, but it should ideally be able to tell some of your story without you being there to tell it. Investors might want to flip through the deck again after you’re done with your presentation and it needs to have enough content that the deck can stand alone and communicate some of your core ideas.

Ready to get started? Download our free pitch deck presentation templates and start working on your pitch in either PowerPoint or Keynote.

You can also find plenty of additional advice in our Elevator Pitch Guide. You’ll learn how to deliver an impactful elevator speech and find all the resources you need to perfect your pitch.

Hear more pitching tips with Peter and Jonathan on the tenth episode of The Bcast, Bplans official podcast:
Click here to subscribe to The Bcast on iTunes »
Click here to subscribe to The Bcast on iTunes »

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