The importance of a PowerPoint presentation should never be underestimated. Not only do they enable you to deliver a powerful message but they are a portable communication channel that enables your business to be represented in virtually any type of space. Millions are produced every year and the amount of business revenue they help to generate is incalculable.
Yet, the art of creating a great presentation is often taken for granted, and for all the business won there is just as much lost through lack of preparation and poor design. This is why using a custom PowerPoint template proves to be such a powerful option for businesses of all sizes. It saves time, upholds brand consistency and boosts overall performance across multiple departments.
Every company wants to make the most of the opportunities that come with delivering conference presentations, sales pitches, and internal presentations, and bespoke templates enable you to do just that. From our years of working with SME’s and corporate organisations we’ve come to the conclusion that there are three core advantages they provide. Read on below to find out the 3 main advantages of having a professionally design PowerPoint in your arsenal.
Brand image consistency
The average revenue increase attributed to always presenting the brand consistently is 23%. (Lucid Press)
Every presentation is a reflection of your company and the people hearing it will make quick judgments about your professional standards based on how it is delivered. The branding displayed in your presentation plays a crucial role in how potential prospects, partners and industry peers will view your business.
Even if you have clearly defined brand guidelines in place there is never a guarantee that staff members will always follow instructions. This can have a negative effect on things from sales pitches to conference presentations, damaging business opportunities and casting a shadow over the services or products you provide.
A standard custom PowerPoint template simplifies the design detail for staff and offers assurance that presentations will look more uniform across the board. This doesn’t restrict their ability to pick and choose the right content depending on the needs of the presentation, but it means the branding and overall aesthetic remains the same every time.
The knock-on effect is that not only will staff become more aligned with branding requirements for external and internal presentations, but clients will also see the professionalism of your approach.
A custom PowerPoint template is also not set in stone forever. As time moves on so too will the requirements of the company and the layout can be adapted to suit.
Saving time and money
Having a custom PowerPoint template available to use whenever needed will also save you a lot of time and energy.
Time remains one of the most important commodities regardless of how large or small your organisation is. The entire business will benefit even if only incremental solutions are found through better management of preparing presentations.
In reality, there will only ever be a limited amount of content requirements needed for internal meetings, sales pitches, or conference presentations. Rather than designing a brand new template every time, a custom PowerPoint template makes the entire process a lot faster while keeping branding consistent from start to finish.
“Thirty million presentations are created daily”
BBC
Using a consistent structure throughout ensures it is easier to add graphs, image, video or statistical data without having to alter the make-up too dramatically.
Using the premade slides makes the design process more efficient without having to compromise the accuracy of the information or the quality of the presentation.
This results in the more effective use of staff and allows them to concentrate on other areas of the business on more pressing matters. Which is a positive for any business!
Even if one of your conference presentations is required at short notice, using a custom PowerPoint template will guarantee you can properly prepare without losing time in the design stage.
Improved performance
The point of a custom PowerPoint template is to create an effective design that serves as a platform that not only enables a consistent aesthetic but also a sustained level of high performance. The layout can be structured in a way that will encourage the type of responses you want to see depending on the environment and its purpose.
Presentation is everything when it comes to the sales team and there is no worse feeling than walking into an important meeting feeling unsure due to a history of delivering poorly designed sales pitches.
On many occasions this comes down to how the presentation is put together and if the sales person is confused or lacking confidence then those hearing it will be too. You can have the best product or service on the market but that can be quickly undermined by a lacklustre PowerPoint.
Using premade slides will remove many of these concerns to give the sales team the support they need to go and win new business. They will go into important meetings fully armed with the right materials and feeling a little more confident in how the presentation looks to potential clients.
These few extra percentages can make all the difference when it comes to closing a deal, giving you that all important edge over competitors who may also be in the frame.
Creating a PowerPoint template
The good news is that creating a custom PowerPoint template does not require you to go on an intense PowerPoint training course to learn the required skills! Learning any new software package can seem daunting, especially if time is not on your side. This is one of the main reasons why so many presentations remain underdeveloped, and yet by exploring PowerPoint a little further you will see that a fantastic presentation can be created without spending days and weeks perfecting it.
Ensuring you have a base custom PowerPoint template to work from should form an essential part of your business communication tools. Once you have it mastered, the changes made to your sales pitches, internal presentations and conference presentations will make all the difference to your business.
Re-visit our blog to see our quick guide on creating professional looking PowerPoint templates soon.
