Three Tips to Create a 140-Character Pitch That Gets Results

We all know that to successfully market any product, image is everything. We decide what to buy based on the impression we have about a product’s quality and reputation. If you are involved in a job search or seeking to advance in your industry, you are engaging in self-marketing. And, the product is YOU!

It's important to leverage social media tools and platforms to create a buzz about you and your accomplishments. Here's a twist on the "30-second elevator pitch" - a 140-Character Pitch that can help expand your online presence, particularly on Twitter. Read on to learn Three (3) Tips to Create Your 140-Character Pitch for the Twitterverse.

1. Determine your target audience: Your message will be different depending on whether you're aiming to reach potential employers (job seeker) vs. potential "champions" or supporters (career builder/changer) vs. potential clients (business owner).

**NOTE:** There are many companion sites to Twitter that can help you to do research, and even gain more visibility. To find people to follow in your target industry or geography, consider a site such as wefollow. You can search this directory via "Top Cities" or "Top Tags" (keywords that are relevant to you/your industry). You can even find the "Top Twitter Users" (lots of celebrities), and decide if it would be relevant for you to follow any of them. For 9 more ideas on how to find people on Twitter, check out this Mashable article.

2. Consider your desired outcome: Your message will vary depending on the action you're hoping the person will take. Will this pitch help you prove your expertise (perhaps via an article you've written), or will it highlight your accomplishments (perhaps via a link to one of your online profiles)?

**NOTE:** Remember, as with all networking platforms (live and online), Twitter is about sharing valuable, relevant information. Be sure to balance your "pitch" tweets with objective, non-promotional tweets that will provoke your followers to think. This helps you become to be seen as a helpful person who is interested in other people's interests in addition to your own.

3. Craft and refine your primary message: Your initial message may not fit the 140-character limit right away. But, don't let that stop you -- it may help to do some brainstorming and free writing first to get your creative juices flowing.

Start with your target audience: What do you know/can you offer that they care about? What keyword or phrase will get their attention? What skills or accomplishments would generate their interest in you or your brand?

Then, return to the desired outcome: What action do you want them to take?

Once you have come up with your initial pitch, use the "Word Count" feature in MS Word to determine how long it is (including spaces), and begin editing to take out words that won't diminish meaning. Also, you can use symbols for words like "and" to reduce space. If you are linking to an article or your online profile, shorten the URL link also to reduce space.

Want a sample 140-Character Pitch? Here is a pitch I've created: "Coach Colette helps team leaders define their 2010 vision and motivate members via helpful tools and seminars: http://bit.ly/6fRJsF"

What do you think? Share your comments here on the blog or tweet me your pitch on Twitter for feedback: @Coach_Colette

Colette Ellis, Founder & Head Coach
InStep Consulting LLC
Creator - Competent Advantage Community

Comments

[Doreen Blades]

Colette,
Thank you for the helpful tips on how to tweet. The 140 characters can be hard along with trying not do to 140 characters so others can retweet your tweet.
Regards
Doreen Blades
@todayisdiffern

[Lea]

Twitter is one of those things that's been used to check the profile of a person and some even for business purposes.

[Nancy Loderick]

Colette, thanks so much for the Twitter tips. It's hard enough to craft a concise pitch, getting it to fit 140 characaters is even tougher. Your tips help.

[Amanda Miller]

I love how you mention 'the product is YOU' - that is a key message I am working on in my Personal Branding workshops. If you dont know who and what you are, how can you market yourself to other people. This fits so well with my message, thanks Nancy for spreading the word a bit further about the power and importance of personal branding.

[Diane Danielson/CEO, Downtown Women's Club]

To make things a bit trickier, you actually need to make your pitch less than 140 characters if you want someone to "retweet" it. You need to leave them room to include "RT @YourName".

[Kate Hutchinson]

Great post!

You know what would make it even better? One of the widgets that would allow me to share this on Twitter instantly! :)

[Diane Danielson/CEO, Downtown Women's Club]

Hi Kate - We do have the Share This widget. Unfortunately, we tried some of the other ones but had some quirks. I also use www.twitthat.com to quickly tweet what I'm reading. Find that's the easiest.

[Coach Colette]

Thanks for all of your great comments and input to this article! Feel free to post or tweet me your 140-character pitches if you'd like some feedback. :)
Happy tweeting,
@Coach_Colette