A Great Tactic for Both Pitching Investors & Thriving On Twitter

I attended a great online marketing conference a few months ago and learned a lot about marketing your business via Twitter.

The key Twitter advice that was given was to treat Twitter interactions just as if they were offline in the "real world."  That is, act just like you'd act as if you were meeting at a cocktail party.

For example, at a cocktail party you wouldn't go up to someone and start screaming "this is what I do" and "buy my product now." (A lot of people do this on Twitter.)

Rather, you would get to know the person, ask them some questions, and hopefully provide some valuable information and advice. This process builds rapport, shows them that you care about them, and positions them to reciprocate in the form of wanting to learn more about and support your business.

So, how does this relate to pitching investors?

Well, I recently read an interesting blog post by Nic Brisbourne, a venture capitalist based on the UK. The key message of Brisbourne's post was that entrepreneurs should pitch him as if they were pitching their best friend.

In doing so, entrepreneurs should:

• Give the information straight
• Keep it interesting
• Deliver it like a conversation rather than like a fire hose
• Try to inject some humor
• Do as much listening as talking
• Focus on the areas that your friend wants to hear about
• Adjust the length of the pitch to the level of interest

Like in your Twitter conversations, it's not all about you. You need to listen to the needs of your investor audience before you pitch them. You must develop rapport. And you can't pitch, pitch, pitch. You need to slow down and deliver your pitch in a more integrated fashion (such as giving some information, allowing the investor to ask questions, and responding as appropriate).

So, before you speak with your next prospective investor, you should create a checklist in your mind. Make sure you understand the needs of the investor, make sure you ask questions and do a lot of listening, and make sure that you effectively convey your message without being overbearing.