Envato Tuts+ Business

30 Best PowerPoint Pitch Deck Templates PPT: For Business Plan Presentations

2016-04-27T13:30:07+00:00

Do you need to raise money for your business idea? Is an investor meeting fast approaching? If so, is your business slide deck in order?

PowerPoint pitch deck templates help you drive your ideas to get investors on board.

The Minimal Pitch Deck PPT Presentation is available on Envato Elements.

Investors have high expectations. To get the funding you’re seeking, your presentation PPT deck needs to impress them!

Learn all about the best PowerPoint (PPT) PowerPoint pitch deck templates. All available on Envato Elements.

New PowerPoint Pitch Deck Templates (From Envato Elements - For 2024)

It’s challenging to craft a compelling investor pitch PowerPoint template. You need a narrative that resonates with slides designs that engage and don’t overwhelm.

Your PPT deck must: showcase your team, the problem and your innovative solution. It must include your business plan and financial evidence for investors to know.

Here's a handful of the best new PowerPoint business plan pitch deck templates. These are trending on Envato Elements:

1. Startup Pitch Deck Template for PowerPoint

Create a business plan deck that will wow your investors. Try the Startup Pitch Deck Template for PowerPoint!

First, let's look at this investor presentation template for PowerPoint that has all the elements a winning pitch needs. Its premium look and design are perfect for professionals and entrepreneurs. The business plan PPT template's features speak for themselves:

Google Slides and PPTX files
30 total slides
fully editable elements
documentation file

2. Pitch Deck - Business Plan Template for PowerPoint

Check out this PowerPoint pitch deck template. These creative slides designs are ready to customize for your business pitch presentation. You'll find many professional PPT slides, graphs, charts, tables, and diagrams. As for its features:

over 100 unique slides
full HD resolution
16:9 widescreen aspect ratio
free updates and support

Use this great business pitch presentation example. Chowcase how your ideas are ready for success.

3. Fintech - Startup Pitch Deck Template PPT Presentation

Use this Fintech Startup presentation template for your startup company presentation. These slide designs have unique designs styles. They also use stand out colors and modern gradients. The pitch deck template PPT download includes:

40 unique slides
16:9 slide format
7 pre-made color variations
free fonts

Impress investors with a revenue business model slide pitch deck.

4. Startup Pitch Deck PowerPoint Template

Are you preparing a business pitch deck for an investor? This startup pitch PowerPoint template is one of the best choices. It comes packed with all the slides a startup business plan PPT presentation needs:

200 total slides
HD quality
dark and light versions
over 4000 vector icons

5. Farand - Pitch Deck PowerPoint Template

Use this great startup presentation template for your next pitch. It's a great PowerPoint pitch deck template. The PPT deck includes:

40 Master Slide layouts
resizable and editable graphics
content placeholders
mockup devices

Trust in this investor pitch PowerPoint template!

6. Maven - Pitch Deck Template for PowerPoint

Maven is an elegant and modern creative business slide deck. Is perfect for agencies and other projects. Choose the layout that works best for your business proposal deck.

See what you'll get in this complete business pitch PowerPoint template:

100 gorgeous layouts
based on Master Slides
16:9 aspect ratio

7. Corporate Infographic Business Plan Template for PowerPoint

Try this business pitch presentation template if you want to impress your audience. This pitch deck template comes with detailed infographics to put a powerful business plan deck together.

This business plan template for PowerPoint includes:

1000+ slides
dark and light versions
animated slides
over 1000 vector icons

Customize this download for your business model slides.

8. MakeIT - Business Plan PPT Template

Use the MakeIT template for both business presentations as well as to make pitch decks. The template is very customizable and features a modern and versatile design. It includes:

150 unique slides
5 pre-made color variations
handcrafted infographics
editable and resizable graphics

This business plan PPT template is suitable for IT startups and IT companies.

9. Sales Pitch Deck Template for PPT

This premium business pitch presentation template is great for sales and pitch presentations. Its modern and clean design makes it a versatile option. It works for an elevator pitch PowerPoint presentation. Also use it for a pitch deck with a pitch deck revenue model slide. On top of that, the template includes:

65 slides
seven color options
4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios
help file

10. Union - Pitch Deck PowerPoint Template

This is one of the best business plan templates for PPT. It's a top-notch business proposal pitch deck template that has what you need to create a powerful and winning presentation. This template comes with:

50 unique and professional slides
2 theme variations
vector shape illustrations
easy-to-edit graphs, charts, tables, diagrams

11. Business Overview - Business Plan Template for PPT

This premium template has a classic and versatile look. It comes with image placeholders to quickly customize your content. A great option for an investor pitch PowerPoint template. It has:

30 unique slides
HD resolution
elegant slide transitions
infographics and graphs

Use this PowerPoint pitch deck template to showcase what your business is all about.

12. Subtle - PowerPoint Pitch Deck Template

Subtle is a unique and beautifully design pitch template ideal to put together and elevator pitch PowerPoint. It comes with:

36 fully editable slides
16:9 widescreen aspect ratio
easy customization options
Google Fonts used

It's a great option for creative industries looking for investment to take their business to the next level.

13. Pitch Werk - Elegant PowerPoint Pitch Template Deck

You can create your professional slide deck quickly thanks to this easy-to-use PowerPoint template. Every object in this presentation design is fully editable in PowerPoint. Check out some of its highlights:

more 100 unique slides
HD resolution
5 pre-made color schemes
PDF documentation included

14. Tsaly - PowerPoint Pitch Deck Template

Tsaly is a modern startup PowerPoint template with a contemporary design. It's made for a digital startup that’s got one both feet in the future. There’s a compelling mix of simplicity and high end design. This pitch PowerPoint template is packed with:

36 slides
drag-and-drop editing
media placeholders
documentation file

15. Jozeka - Investor Pitch Deck PowerPoint Template

Are you pitching a fresh business plan and need a business model slides template? This PowerPoint slide deck is designed to appeal to investors. It features:

60 slides with a polished design that’s contemporary, colorful, and clean
light and dark variations
RGB color moders
hundreds of icons and polished data visualizations

16. Startup Pitch Deck PowerPoint Template

With all the features in this template, you’ll have your PowerPoint pitch deck ready in no time:

30 slides designs and many layout options
dark and light color theme variations
vector shape illustrations
icon variations

With this flexible design you can craft a presentation that hits all the key points. Showcase your business plan presentation. Illustrate how your company offers solutions to complex problems. Present exactly the data that'll secure venture capital.

17. Up! - Pitch Deck and Business Plan Template for PPT

If you're looking for a modern business pitch presentation template for your company, Up! is the right choice. Its high contrast color palette along with its subtle gradient applications makes it look almost futuristic. The features only add to its allure:

35 total slides
media placeholders
resizable and editable graphics
free web fonts

18. Business Proposal Presentation PowerPoint Template

This business pitch presentation template is ideal to tell your company story. This classic proposal deck keeps things simple and to the point with its "to the point" layout. Its highlights include:

15 total slides
16:9 widescreen aspect ratio
based on Master Slides for easy editing
documentation included

19. PLUSS - Elevator Pitch Deck Template for PowerPoint

This is a pitch PowerPoint presentation template bundle that includes:

three sets of PPT designs and 32 slides
16:9 landscape slide forma
fully customizable elements
Google Fonts used

If you need a number of style and presentation options, with high quality design, and minimal aesthetic, then this bundle is a great deal.

20. Startia - Business Pitch Presentation Example

Startia is an excellent proposal deck template for startups and companies looking to grow. Wow investors with a fresh business plan deck that has everything you need, like:

30 slide designs
16:9 widescreen aspect ratio
drag-and-drop editing
free web fonts

Highlight the market you’re targeting and pitch your business concept to potential investors.

21. StartUp Business Plan PPT Template

This startup pitch deck template for PowerPoint offers a quick and stunning way to show off your ideas. Inspired in a 2009 pitch deck classic, this business pitch presentation template has:

Keynote, Google Slides, and PowerPoint files
fully editable elements
functional and modern design
documentation

22. Lanzo - PowerPoint Pitch Deck Template

If you need a creative deck to feature your new startup to investors, Lanzo is a stunning business presentation template design. It's got:

36 slides
16:9 widescreen slide format
drag-and-drop editing
proper documentation

This startup presentation template also has inventive design features like high contrast data charts.

23. Quint Pitch Deck PowerPoint Template

You can't help but to feel a sense of trust as your browse through Quint's slides. This is a clean slide deck template, with a unique color palette. This premium business plan deck includes:

30 unique slide designs
content placeholders
resizable vector elements
free fonts

24. Business Plan Template for PowerPoint Presentations

This modern business plan template for PowerPoint is versatile. Use it for many types of businesses that are reaching out to potential investors. This investor presentation template set has:

more than 30 slides
16:9 aspect ratio
high-quality resolution
device mockups

25. Pitch Deck Ready Business Plan Template for PPT

One of my favorite features in this pitch deck template for PowerPoint is its unique geometric slide layouts. It includes:

150 total slides
full HD resolution
5 color pre-made schemes
content placeholders

This template will increase your chances of investment and support.

26. Pitchmo - Creative Pitch Deck PowerPoint Template

Pitchmo offers a unique set of ideas to approach pitch deck template design. Plus, it comes with amazing features, such as:

PPT and PPTX files
more than 30 unique slides
based on Master Slides
free support

You'll also get access to a huge library of icons that help you highlight your information. Update them easily to create a sense of visual interest in your next pitch deck presentation.

27. Business Pro - Business Plan Template for PPT

Looking for different pitch deck templates? Why don't you try a minimal and aesthetic approach to the business model slide template?

This unique PPT deck will surprise your audience. You'll get:

over 150 total slides
5 pre-made color variations
pixel-perfect illustrations
resizable and editable graphics

28. Pro Business Pitch Presentation Example Template

The pitch deck proposal template hits all the stops when it comes to presenting a tight business proposal. It can be used in many industries to create a beautiful pitch deck and it comes with:

150 total slides
handcrafted infographics
drag-and-drop editing
documentation file

This is a premium template with a well though out color palette and structure.

29. Marketing Business Plan Template for PowerPoint

Already mapping out that marketing plan for your startup? This premium elevator pitch PowerPoint template offers all the best tools to display data. The startup presentation template includes:

36 slide designs
light and dark color schemes
fully editable infographics and maps
vector icons and elements

30. Scofe - Business Model Slide Pitch Deck

Last but not least, check out this business pitch PowerPoint template. It's a minimal business slide deck with 45 creative slides. This business model slide pitch deck download also features:

16:9 widescreen ratio
handcrafted infographics
gallery and portfolio slides
resizable and editable graphics
700+ pixel-perfect icons

How to Make Startup PPT Pitch Deck Template Customizations Quickly

Premium PowerPoint pitch deck templates make startup PPT presentations easier. The best of these templates includes powerful placeholders that enable almost instant customization.

When you’re creating your pitch deck, it’s important to use visual aids to get your message across.

Show off wordy slide after wordy slide and you’ll lose the audience in no time. But by using visuals, you keep them engaged and focused on you.

1. Customize Charts

Tools like charts, maps, and mockups help you do just that.

Let’s begin by looking at a chart from Pitch Werk, a business plan PPT deck from Envato Elements.

Charts in PowerPoint work by linking directly to an embedded version of Excel. That's Microsoft’s spreadsheet software.

Right click on a chart and choose Edit Data to start customizing it.

To edit a chart like this, right-click on one of the columns and select Edit Data. An Excel window will pop up, and you can make edits to the chart labels and data. As you type in new values, the chart will adjust to match.

2. Customize Maps

Maps are another great technique to show your geographic presence.

Let’s say you want to showcase your business operations across the United States. You could make a list, but those are dull. Instead, try a color-coded map. Add color fill to states where you've got offices.

To customize a map, simply right-click on a state. Then, click Format Shape in the drop-down. A sidebar will open over on the right side of your screen. Click Fill, then Solid Fill, and select a color from the chooser. Just like that, you can build a beautiful custom map.

Customize a map by filling in a single state with a color on the Format Shape menu.

3. Customize Device Mockups

Device mockups are another professional tool to use in business plan presentations.

They’re meant to demo your app or website by showing how it looks on a real device. Suppose you've got a mobile website that’s key to your pitch.

The first step is to capture a screenshot on a mobile device, then transfer it to your computer. Once you’ve done that, the process is very simple. Simply click inside the image placeholder, browse to the screenshot, and click to insert it. Just like that, the image will drop onto the phone screen. It looks real and takes only seconds!

Customize a device mockup by adding your screenshot to the device.

Remember, the best pitch deck templates are incredibly easy to customize and offer stunning features just like these. It’s up to your sense of creativity to bring them to life. All the tools you’ll need lie right at your fingertips.

5 Quick Pitch Deck (Startup Business Plan) Presentation Tips

Great startups, and exciting small business ideas don’t magically get funded. You've got to get out there and work hard for every dollar of investing you bring in. It’s challenging to get funding at any stage of your company.

1. Include Only What Investors Are Looking For

Investors have a never-ending stream of pitches they review on an ongoing basis. There’s an expected framework to professional and effective pitch decks, which you need to work within.

For most early-stage startups or innovative small businesses, just 10 to 15 slides is on target, but ten or less is better. You want to keep your presentation concise: more like a 10 to 15 minute short, than a feature-length movie.

You need a great business startup presentation PPT to impress investors.

Here are a few quick-fire, pitch deck tips to keep your business presentation on point—including exactly what investors want to see.

2. Design Simple and Direct Pitch Deck Slides

Keep in mind that you don’t want to include much more than those ten or so slides in your initial pitch. The more information you try to pack into your pitch, the quicker it becomes confusing for investors.

Simple (easy to use) pitch deck PowerPoint template slide designs.

Move your key data points to early in your deck, so you can grab attention quickly. Avoid trying to hit every nuance of your company's expected positioning.

A great presentation focuses on the message you’re giving. Great design and visuals need to complement your message.

Consider using a PowerPoint business pitch template. It should have easy-to-use pitch deck slides already included. Here are three templates designed for presenting your business plan to investors:

Pitch Werk - Simple PowerPoint Pitch Deck Template. If you need a simple and modern pitch deck template, this set of over 100 slide designs is a great choice. Whether you want to make a new business plan proposal or investor pitch deck.
Business Plan PowerPoint Infographics. This is an attractive pitch PPT template with a modern design and all the slide layout choices a compelling pitch deck needs. With it you can create a perfect pitch backed by a great design.
Vinue Business Plan. This is a versatile business plan template for PowerPoint that can be used for many business types looking to get investor funding. Learn how to customize this PowerPoint template, so you’re able to quickly prep your deck.

3. Deliver Your Message and Startup Story

What’s that key problem that you’re solving? What’s the competitive advantage that allows you to take advantage and move quickly? What’s the innovative way you’re doing this that'll disrupt the market?

Present the opportunity your company represents to investors.

Your pitch deck should be an overall narrative that communicates your startup’s story. User stories of how your company solves a problem for its target market are great.

Capture your audience's attention, then keep them engaged with narrative and visuals. Image source: Envato Elements

Hit your big points in a clear way and avoid too much detail. You don’t need to overshare.

You can include appendixes if you deliver your deck out as a PDF. Your presentation is where you paint the big picture and spice it with just enough detail to pique interest.

Bottom line, don’t forget to ask for the money. Be really clear and specific about your ask and how you plan to use the funds.

Learn more about how to craft a compelling narrative and persuade with your PowerPoint presentation:

How to Make a Persuasive PowerPoint Presentation (With Powerful Tips + Video)

Celine (CX) Roque

14 Nov 2022

4. Focus on Company Growth

It's often said that investors focus on growth. Basically, you're trying to create a "fear of missing out." Showcase the side of your company that anyone would want to invest in.

That's why it helps to include a growth slide, particularly one with a chart and graph. Focus on a key metrics like new subscriptions or active users increment.

A growth slide like this one from Pitch Werk PPT deck can help you show opportunity.

5. Make an Ask at the End

The format of a pitch deck presentation implies you're going to make an "ask" of the audience. Make sure that slide gives the audience an option to jump on board with your company.

Examples of "asks" that you might make at the end of a pitch deck presentation include:

apply to open positions within your company as you search for talent to take things to the next level
investment to get the critical funding it takes to keep your company running and growing
introductions to others who can help you achieve your growth goals

5 Top Pitch Deck PowerPoint PPT Design Trends for 2024

If you want to make sure your pitch deck stands out, it has to be professional and modern. Keep the latest design trends in mind.

We've got the top 5 pitch deck PowerPoint trends for you to use.

1. Contrasting Colors

Color plays an important role in any design. This year, combine two contrasting colors for the most impact. Take cues from this Simple Presentation template. It combines yellow and black to make your information stand out.

This simple presentation template helps you get the job done fast without missing any details.

2. Slides Don’t Have to Be White

The use of background images with color overlays or full colored backgrounds is trending. This trend is sure to make your pitch deck stand out and make it look more on brand.

Venture offers a unique design with its colorful backgrounds and unique patterns.

3. Consider Space On Your Data Slides

Key information must stand out. Follow this PowerPoint design trend. Leave plenty of space around your charts, graphs, and infographics. This will make it easier for your audience to remember key points and important information.

This Pitch Deck PowerPoint template makes great use of white space in its slides.

This pitch deck PowerPoint template offers clean and sober layouts for a more subtle look.

4. More Than One Font or Font Weight

A cool trend that’s popping up in PowerPoint design is the use of two contrasting fonts.

For example, choose a serif font paired with a sans serif font. If you’re not sure what fonts go well together, consider experimenting with regular and bold font weight to add contrast.

5. Get Creative With Shapes

Shapes are a great way to spice up the plain white background of any slide layout. But you don’t have to limit yourself to squares and circles. Experiment with other shape types as well as the position of the shape.

The Getta PowerPoint template does an excellent job of using shapes creatively.

Getta PowerPoint Template challenges conventional layouts with its diagonal motif.

Important PowerPoint Slides Every Pitch Deck (Business Plan Presentation) Needs

Building a business plan presentation? There are a few slides that you should always include. Each one's designed to help you communicate crucial details to potential investors. These really set the stage for your pitch and guide you to success.

A strong intro. Any successful business proposal presentation has to start off by introducing your company and your team. In doing so, your audience can place faces with names and make an instant personal connection.
Outline your goals. If you’re asking for funding, chances are you’ve got a big idea. This business plan PPT slide puts that idea front and center: it's a statement of exactly what you aim to accomplish.
Highlight plans. Once you’ve stated your ideas and goals, it’s time to detail how you’ll accomplish them. This slide should include your core competencies, elements of your team that set your firm apart. Also focus on specific actions you plan to take to reach the objective.
The revenue model. Any investor expects a healthy return. Here, you detail your path to profit. Be specific and honest and highlight both monetary totals and timelines.
The funding pitch. Last but not least comes the reason for the business plan presentation. Here's where you outline your funding needs and make the crucial ask from investors. Again, focus on detailed plans for use of the money, and revisit earlier discussions about forecasted returns.

Sound overwhelming? It doesn’t have to be, thanks to amazing pitch deck templates from Envato Elements. These business pitch templates come with these slides—and countless others—ready for you to use.

They’re professionally designed, so you can be sure to get top quality throughout. All you've got to do is drop in your own content!

Let’s take a closer look at Redeem, a pitch deck presentation from Envato Elements.

The Intro Slide

As you can see, this business plan PPT has an intro slide built in. You don’t have to worry about building slides from scratch, thanks to powerful templates like this.

Redeem has the perfect intro slide to introduce your team and focus.

The intro sets the stage for the entire presentation. Break free of being simply another pitch deck. Establish strong personal relationships with your audience. If they connect with the people behind your idea, they’re more likely to invest in it.

To add an image, you can simply select the Replace Image Here box, and drop in your own photo.

To change the text, triple-click on a line and type over it. It’s that easy!

Building the intro slide only takes seconds with a premium business plan PowerPoint template.

The Growth & Revenue Slide

The best business plan templates for PPT include charts and graphs built in. These are especially useful when you need to share a lot of data in a clear and concise way.

Let’s look at the Revenue slide, which can be used to outline your financial growth strategy.

A graph can show your evolving growth over time.

The centerpiece of the slide is the colorful bar graph. Some business model slides templates include detailed charts that can be edited with PowerPoint’s embedded Excel editor. You can click and drag on the bars to precisely scale them.

Be sure to swap out the legends and axis labels to fit your needs. And then tie everything together with a strong description. Using a chart like this is far more engaging than merely talking about numbers.

Fill in your data so your audience can easily see the growth of your venture.

The Investment Ask Slide

Finally, we come to the true reason for a business plan presentation: the funding ask. This is the moment that counts, and that pays. Here, you ask investors to trust in your vision with their dollars.

In this section, we'll use a pricing table for a fundraising ask.

This slide is structured as a pricing table. But it’s also perfect for pitching a two-phase venture capital effort.

Begin by adding a title and subtitle over on the right. Continue by labeling the two boxes with the names and timelines of your fundraising rounds. Substitute funding targets for the prices and wrap up by highlighting planned uses for the money.

A modified pricing slide is perfect for our investment round.

These slides vividly show the value of using professional pitch deck templates. You've got more time to focus on your ideas, as you leave arduous slide design work to the experts!

Apply these tips and tricks to create complete pitch deck slides. Work with premium slides for pitch decks to close your next investment deal.

Find More Professional Pitch Deck Templates

Now you know the most important slides every pitch deck needs. Let's look at some of our best business plan templates for PPT, Keynote and Google Slides:

Common PowerPoint Pitch Deck Questions Answered (FAQ)

Making the best pitch PowerPoint presentation can be stressful, especially if you're just starting in this area. But don't worry, I'm here to help you with some of the most frequently asked questions:

1. What Types of Presentations Are There?

Before you even start working in PowerPoint, define what type of presentation you'll deliver. There are many types, and each will give you a different result. Here are the most common:

Persuasive. Presentations that are designed to change the mind of the audience or impart your perspective.
Decision-driven. Often found in the corporate world, these presentations provide a recommendation or path forward.
Introductory. An introductory presentation is the first point of contact. It basically showcases your business and work to potential clientele.
Informative (educational). With no ulterior motive, informative presentations are about showing knowledge or new ideas to an audience.

2. What Mistakes Should I Avoid When Making My Pitch Deck?

Doing a pitch presentation isn't as easy as it might sound. The top mistakes you should avoid are:

Using animation effects on the slides. They tend to slow your presentation and distract your audience. Plus, most transition effects don't look professional so it's best to avoid them.
Doing a long pitch. On average, we've got an attention span of less than 20 minutes on a task we're not motivated to complete. Keep this in mind for your presentation. If you stick to 20 minutes, it forces you to make your message more concise and you'll keep your audience engaged.
Having a weak conclusion. If you want your presentation to stick, don't go for a simple ending. By giving the notion you're wrapping up your presentation, only to conclude with an amazing fact, your message will stick better.

3. How Can I Make Slide Layouts in PowerPoint?

Technically, a layout is the combination and arrangement of the objects on a slide. In practice, the layout is a one-click starting point for your presentation and a real time-saver. That's why it's important to know how to create your own layouts and not limit yourself to the ones included in PowerPoint.

Learn all about it here:

25 Best PowerPoint Slide Designs (Best Designs for PPT in 2025) + Video

Andrew Childress

25 Oct 2022

4. What's the Right Size for My PPT Slides?

When you're projecting your finished presentation, you may find the slides appear cut off on the edges or boxed in on the screen. To prevent this, consider the size and aspect ratio of your presentation.

The first step is to figure out in what device your presentation is most likely to appear on:

laptop screens
conference room projectors
iPads and tablets
widescreen or large format displays

Each display has a different aspect ratio that describes the width versus height of the screen. The same presentation will appear differently on each device because the aspect ratio varies. Check more about this topic here:

What Are the Right Dimensions (Size) for Your PowerPoint PPT Slides? (+ Video)

Andrew Childress

21 Sep 2023

5. How Can I Work With Others in PowerPoint?

If you're working on a pitch deck presentation, chances are it's a team effort. So, you need to make a collaborative presentation. This way, all the members can work on it at the same time.

Thankfully, Microsoft PowerPoint has added many collaborative, online features in its recent versions. It's very easy to learn how to share a pitch PowerPoint here:

How to Collaborate as a Team on PowerPoint (PPT) Presentations (+Video)

Andrew Childress

21 Feb 2022

Learn More About How to Make Great Investor Pitch Deck Presentations

When you're building a business plan in PowerPoint, there are tons of tools available. Using a business pitch template is a surefire step to save time and focus on the content.

There are also helpful resources to learn from pitch deck pros, right here on Tuts+. I recommend checking out our guide. How to Make Great Pitch Decks (Startup Presentation Guide) is a comprehensive resource.

Check out the resources below for more articles and tips to build your best pitch deck yet:

Download Our Free PDF eBook on Making Great Presentations

We've got the perfect complement to a professional PowerPoint template. This will help you learn how to write, design, and deliver great presentations.

Download The Complete Guide to Making Great Presentations for FREE. Just subscribe to the Tuts+ Business newsletter. Get your ideas formed into a powerful presentation that'll move your audience.

Best PowerPoint Pitch Deck Templates on Envato Elements (With Unlimited Use)

You can find hundreds of the best PowerPoint pitch deck templates on Envato Elements. Premium pitch deck PowerPoint templates from Envato Elements are designed for business plan presentations.

Need the best pitch deck template for PowerPoint that you can customize quickly? We've got the best ones to work with in this article.

PowerPoint Pitch Decks

Browse through thousands of pitch deck templates for PPT on Envato Elements.

These business model slide pitch decks for PowerPoint have unique designs choose from. You can use them to showcase the concepts in your PowerPoint pitch deck with pre-built slides for your:

business plan
product vision
business model
market size
infographics

A PowerPoint pitch deck template will save you hours of design work. Add your business ideas and key data to these business plan PPT slides. Prep your business pitch template, and get ready to win over investors!

Subscribe to Envato Elements and download as many premium PPT pitch decks as you want. All for one low monthly price!

Not only that, but you get access to thousands of premium creative assets. Find logo templates, graphics, royalty-free music, and more!

Plus, now Envato Elements has introduced an AI-powered search feature! This new tool allows you to input a description of your project to effortlessly locate the finest human-crafted resources.

Start experimenting with this enhanced search tool! Discover the ideal pitch deck PowerPoint templates for your business plan presentations.

Grab the Best Pitch Deck Template for PowerPoint Today!

Put one of the designs above to use now. Or check out the wide variety of PowerPoint slide deck templates available for sale on Envato Elements. We've got the best PPT decks and business plan PPT templates and innovative new pitch deck designs to choose from.

Grab a quality business plan template for PowerPoint today. Learn how to customize it quickly, and use it to help secure the investor funding you need for your startup or small business!

Editorial Note: This post has been updated with contributions from Lex Soto, Brenda Barron, Maria Villanueva and Dacia Egurrola. Maria is the Associate Editor of the Tuts+ Design channel. Brenda is a freelance instructor for Envato Tuts+. Lex and Dacia are staff writers for Envato Tuts+.

25+ Best Event Sponsorship Proposal Templates (Example Downloads for 2025)

2019-09-09T09:47:56+00:00

Have an upcoming event where you need help from sponsors?

It can be challenging to attract sponsors for your events. Start with the right event sponsorship proposal template!

Use a new event sponsorship proposal template from Envato Elements.

Looking for event sponsorship examples? Work with a professional event sponsorship proposal template. It'll help you win the hearts of potential sponsors.

Before writing your own messages, look at event sponsorship examples for inspiration.

The key ingredients of an effective event sponsorship proposal example are:

persuasive content
easy-to-follow structure
visually captivating designs

Don’t know where to begin?

Learn how to write a proposal for an event.

Follow simple steps from real-life practices of some of the best event proposals out there. We'll cover the fundamentals in writing effective event proposals with practical formats.

We've also included some of the best event proposal examples for inspiration.

Edit these event proposal samples to better suit your event needs. Communicate your event as worth sponsoring.

Great Examples of Event Proposal Templates From Envato Elements for 2024

Let's look at some event sponsorship examples.

Here's our latest list of the best event planning request for proposal templates. They're all available on Envato Elements!

1. Modern Sponsorship Proposal Template

See more of this stylish template proposal sponsorship design in the gallery above.

Are you looking for modern template proposal sponsorship designs? This new sponsorship doc is for you.

This template features a unique color scheme and clean typography. No doubt, it's a winning proposal example.

This sponsorship proposal template is fully editable in Adobe InDesign and comes with:

A4 and US Letter sizes
easy customization options
print-ready design
free fonts

2. Square Event Proposal Template

This is a unique, square event proposal template that will catch the eye of everybody in the room. Use that to your advantage to get your point across.

Its features will give you options you need to create a winning proposal:

20 pages
210x210 dimensions
fully layered
help file included

It's a great reference if you're looking for event sponsorship examples.

3. Media Event Sponsorship Example

Be convincing, bold, and straightforward to get what you want! This event sponsorship example will help you get where you need to go. All thanks to its powerful design and the features it comes with:

12 pages
300 dpi resolution
layered file for easy editing
help file

4. Cooking Event Sponsorship Proposal

Are you proposing a cook off? Make your yummy event known with the use of an event proposal template like this one. It has plenty of space to include all the information you need. Add all the pictures you desire.

Its features are pretty tasty, too:

InDesign and PowerPoint files
16 pages
fully and easily customizable
well-organized layers

5. Sponsorship Event Proposal Template - MS Word & InDesign

Don't fuss! Do you need to get your message across? Don't spend time worrying. Download this awesome event sponsorship example and get working!

Not only does it have a professional design, but it also comes with:

Microsoft Word and Adobe InDesign files
20 customizable pages
automatic page numbering
editable texts, colors and objects

6. Minimalist Proposal Sponsorship Template

If you like minimal sponsorship proposal templates, try this one. This sponsorship template is a great option. Play around with the colors and shapes on this sponsorship levels template. Make sure it fits your brand.

The sponsorship proposal template has:

16 fully customizable pages
A4 size
editable text, color, objects
ease-of-use

Don't worry if you don't have InDesign. You can also edit this template sponsorship proposal in MS Word.

7. Event Sponsorship Proposal Template

This professional event sponsorship proposal template will get the right sponsors for your next event. This template sponsorship proposal is editable in InDesign. Also editable MS Word so you can brand it according to your needs.

Is a great event sponsorship proposal to get started:

2 paper sizes (A4 and US Letter)
print-ready design
easily customizable to your needs
free fonts

8. Company Proposal Sponsorship Template

Start working with this sponsorship levels template. It's perfect for design proposal sponsorship projects, as well as other business ventures.

Give this event sponsorship proposal and its features a look:

25 pages
A4 size
ready-to-print sponsorship proposal example
help file included

Start working with this elegant sponsorship template!

9. Clean Event Sponsorship Proposal

This clean sponsorship proposal design fits all kinds of projects. You can customize the colors to match your company's brand.

It's easy to work with this sponsorship levels template thanks to its features:

easily editable in InDesign
A4 and US Letter sizes for the template proposal sponsorship
customizable to fit your brand
free fonts

10. Blue Sponsorship Proposal Template

Here's a bold event sponsorship proposal template that's perfect for 2024. It's customizable on Adobe InDesign.

The event sponsorship example has:

a professional layout
20 pages
print-ready design
documentation

Try it if you want a modern event sponsorship proposal that will help you bring in funding.

11. Web Design Sponsorship Deck Template

This sponsorship proposal example is perfect for your hackathon or dev event. It's fully editable, and that includes premium icons and other artwork. Even though this event sponsorship proposal is for web design, you can customize it to fit other themes.

It comes with:

24 pages
2 sizes (A4 and US Letter)
portrait orientation
free fonts

12. Organizer Square Sponsorship Deck Example

Looking for a sponsorship proposal example? Here's a trendy event sponsorship proposal template for fans of unique designs. This sponsorship deck example features a square page layout with plenty of white space. You can edit this sponsorship proposal with InDesign.

The event sponsorship proposal sample comes with:

24 pages
square 8x8 inch dimensions
well-organized layers
help file

13. Event Proposal Template

Edit this modern event sponsorship proposal template for Keynote. The sponsorship template has a minimalistic color scheme scheme that you can edit to your liking.

The template proposal sponsorship design comes with premium features like:

5 pre-made color themes
16:9 aspect ratio
placement scheme visual
clean layout

14. Project Pro Proposal - Event Sponsorship Deck Template

Do you have a killer idea you can't wait to share? Spread the word with this uncomplicated, clean proposal template. You won't even have to work hard to create the perfect proposal.

The features in this sponsorship deck template will do everything for you:

12 fully customizable pages
A4 size format
organized layers for easy editing
free fonts included

15. Music Event Sponsor Proposal Format

This music event sponsorship proposal template is perfect for event managers and organizers. Send a proposal to a sponsor that really catches their attention. Get the right sponsors by providing a clear sponsorship level template page.

This sponsorship template includes:

16 pages
US Letter paper size
easily customizable elements
well-organized layers

This sponsor proposal format is highly recommended for music events and other celebrations because of its themed visuals.

16. Creative Event Sponsorship Deck Template

Have an upcoming event for creatives? This event proposal format is modern and eye-catching so you can showcase more photographs of your workspaces and collaborations rooms.

This could be the perfect event sponsorship template for your project:

20 pages
A4 page size
300 dpi resolution
free fonts

17. Web Design Sponsorship Business Proposal Template

Secure a big-time sponsor with this event proposal template made for digital and web design events.

Download this event sponsorship proposal template and customize it to your design needs. It's clean design makes it the perfect blank canvass for your sponsorship business proposal.

Check out the features on this sponsorship package template:

InDesign and Word files
A4 and US Letter paper sizes
portrait orientation
8x11 in dimension

18. Marketing Event Sponsorship Proposal

This premium proposal template is ideal for your sponsorship proposal. Change the colors, the dimensions, and the content in this event sponsorship package template. This is a great sponsorship template to fund a content marketing campaign.

Start working with this event sponsorship agreement template:

14 custom pages
A4 and US Letter paper sizes
vector illustrations
free fonts

19. Yoga Flyer Template for Proposal for Sponsorship

This template is for any event where health and wellness are promoted like yoga and other related activities. The sponsorship proposal template uses a minimal and striking design. This stylish event sponsorship proposal template is a great fit for many industries.

Its features speak for themselves:

INDD, IDML, PDF files
three size options (A4, US Letter + bleeds)
portrait format
free fonts

It's one flexible template for proposal for sponsorship you don't want to miss.

20. Clean Bifold Sponsorship Proposal Example

Planning an automobile show or a car dealership event? This event sponsorship example is perfect for events where cars are the stars of the show.

It's a complete event sponsorship proposal template, filled with:

2 side-bifold brochure template
US Letter paper size
300 dpi resolution
well-organized, grouped layers

It also got the versatility to work for as a sponsorship deck template for other industries, too.

21. The New Creative Idea Sponsorship Business Proposal

This is a premium template great for sponsorship package examples in creative industries. This sponsorship proposal template showcases essential information and combined with modern illustrations.

Use its features to get your sponsorship business proposal out there:

A4 and US Letter paper sizes
fully and easily editable
print-ready design
free fonts

22. Business Corporate Sponsorship Deck Example

Get that project secured with this proposal sponsorship deck example for any kind of event or project. Easily change colors and dimensions in this template sponsorship proposal. This stylish sponsorship proposal design has so much potential.

Here are some of its highlights:

20 easily customizable pages
A4 paper size
free fonts
help file

23. Graphic Sponsorship Package Template

If you need visually striking graphics, this event sponsorship template will do the job. This event sponsorship package template comes with:

12 custom pages
A4 paper size
ready-to-print design
CMYK color space

Use this sponsorship proposal design to jump start your projects. This is a great sponsorship proposal example.

24. Sponsorship Proposal Template

This sponsorship proposal template balances the modern and professional looks. This is one of those sponsorship package examples that should be in every entrepreneur's tool kit.

This event sponsorship template has:

INDD and IDML files
12 custom pages
smart layers for easy editing
free fonts

The premium layout is hard to find in free sponsorship proposal examples.

25. IT Services Event Sponsorship Deck Example

Looking for IT sponsorship proposal examples? Anyone in the IT business will want this event proposal template.

This event sponsorship proposal template showcases detailed information on an IT business. There's plenty of room for showing off eye catching graphs and data on the project.

Take a look at its highlights:

16 total pages
3 universal colors per layout (blue, green, red)
automatic page numbering
free fonts and icons

26. Graphic Template for Proposal for Sponsorship

If you're looking for a bolder look, this event sponsorship proposal template is the perfect cut. It’s unique, sleek, and a visual breath taker.

Change up the key colors here to make this event sponsorship proposal match your professional brand. Edit this sponsorship proposal template for your event.

As for its specs, with this template for proposal for sponsorship, you'll get:

12 custom pages
CMYK color
neatly-organized layers
fully and easily editable

27. Sponsorship Proposal Template

This sponsorship proposal template has a versatile look. From business, to sports events, it has everything you need to wow sponsors. It's got a bold, dark color scheme, but you can easily customize it to your liking. Edit it in InDesign.

The template proposal sponsorship design includes:

24 pages
A4 paper size format
ready-to-print design
free fonts

28. Graphic Sponsorship Package Template

This is one of the most interesting sponsorship proposal templates in this round up. It comes with master pages that make it easier to edit. And yes, it's all editable in InDesign.

Use the features in this sponsorship package template. Put together something amazing with:

26 pages
A4 and US Letter size + 5mm bleed
300 dpi resolution
free fonts

It's one of the best sponsorship proposal examples to check out.

29. Elegant Brochure Event Proposal Template

Looking for elegant and modern sponsorship proposal examples? We're wrapping up this list of sponsorship proposal templates with this option.

This event sponsorship proposal comes with:

PPT and PPTX files
40 pages with cool layouts
16:9 widescreen aspect ratio
ten color schemes

Use this event sponsorship proposal template. It's great if you're looking for great graphics and use of white space.

Use any of these templates as a sponsorship proposal example. They all have great design ideas for you to get inspired!

How to Customize a Sponsorship Proposal Template in Adobe InDesign

Have you found the perfect sponsorship proposal design? Not quite sure how to edit it in Adobe InDesign?

Here's some quick tips to help you jump right in and get started.

We'll use this event sponsorship proposal example in this walk through.

Download it today on Envato Elements if you'd like to work along with this demonstration. Or use an Adobe InDesign sponsorship proposal template of your own.

Download this premium sponsorship proposal template today on Envato Elements.

Let's get started:

1. Looking at Rectangular Frames in Adobe InDesign

Open an event sponsorship proposal template doc in Adobe InDesign. You might see all the content in colored boxes.

These boxes are called Rectangular Frames and they're a big part of how InDesign works. All your content is "held" within different frames. You can then resize and move around your layout.

These boxes won't print in your final product. They're visual cues to guide you.

To create a new rectangular frame, use the Rectangular Frame tool, as highlighted in the Tools panel on the left. Simply click and drag to create a new frame.

This is a good idea if you want to add something entirely new to your event sponsorship proposal template.

Want to temporarily hide these boxes? Go to View > Overprint Preview to toggle them off. To turn them back on, go back to View > Overprint Preview.

2. Pages in Adobe InDesign

Most event sponsorship proposal designs are a multi-page document. That's why it's important to understand how pages work in Adobe InDesign. You'll need to be able to navigate through the pages to edit and customize them.

To open up your Pages Panel, go to Window > Pages. You can see what it looks like in the screenshot below.

Here, we can see all our pages at a glance. Double click on a page to jump to it in your work space.

Right click on a page, and you'll see a variety of options. We can move pages, duplicate pages, and delete them from this menu.

Most event sponsorship proposal designs are a multi-page document.

3. Layers in Adobe InDesign

Most InDesign sponsorship deck template files are sorted into layers, for your convenience. Let's look at our Layers Panel by going to Window > Layers.

In this event sponsorship proposal example, the content has been organized into layers.

We can click on the lock icon beside each layer to unlock this content so we can edit it. If we don't, this content will stay locked or protected from edits. Toggle this on and off as often as you'd like.

In this example, let's unlock the layer titled "Page 1 Intro & 2 About Us". It's highlighted in the example screenshot, below. We're going to make some edits on this layer.

In this event sponsorship proposal example, content is organized into layers.

4. Editing Text in Adobe InDesign

Next, let's edit some text in our event sponsorship template. We'll work on the layer that we unlocked in the last step.

Start by selecting the Type Tool in your Tools panel. It's highlighted in the screenshot below.

Then, let's click on some of the existing text on the page. This will activate the text box containing the text.

We can then freely edit this text just as we would in most word processing environments.

Edit text in your event sponsorship proposal template.

5. Changing Colors in Adobe InDesign

Let's also change some colors on this page. There's a large, orange circle on this page, in this sponsorship proposal template. Let's change that.

First, take a look at your Tools panel. At the bottom you'll see the Stroke Color and Fill Color. The Stroke Color looks like an outline, while the Fill Color looks like a solid color.

Strokes are just that—they act like a visual outline around a frame.

Fills are the opposite—this is the color that fills the frame.

So, let's select our Selection tool in our Tools panel. Then select the large, orange circle (frames are typically rectangular, by default, but can also be polygons or ellipses, like this one here).

You'll notice that the Stroke and Fill Color match this circle when it's selected. Click on the Fill Color. This opens the color picker. Choose a new color and click Okay. There you've got it. Our circle is a new color. In this example, the circle has been changed to blue.

Change the colors of your event sponsorship proposal template.

How to Write a Proposal for an Event

You may be wondering how to write a proposal for an event. To save you time, we’ve outlined the right ways to write, design, and format your event proposal.

1. Briefly Introduce Your Organization, Event, & Goals

The first step is to let your potential sponsors know about your organization. No matter if you're a well-known organization. It’s good to start with a bit of introduction about who and what you are as a company.

Tell about the event you’re going to launch. Answer these must-know questions:

What's the event all about?
Why are you doing the event?
What are the goals you want to achieve?
How does this event correlate with your company?

Your potential sponsors must be able to understand why you’re creating an event. This shouldn’t be too long. The more concise and brief you are, the better.

This Project Proposal Contract & Invoice Template has sections to present the company.

2. Explain How Your Potential Sponsors Will Benefit

This part is very crucial. What’s in it for them?

The idea is sponsorship is a two-way relationship. You benefit from their financial or non-financial support. In return, your sponsors get something too. It’s good to note what benefits they can get before, during, and after the event.

What are you offering to them? What makes the event sponsorship so tempting? There are many ways you can present the benefits of sponsoring your event. Here are a few well-rounded justifications:

Get potential leads. They’ll get the opportunity to generate potential customers.
Network with other businesses. Aside from exposure to new audiences and customers, sponsors can also find new business partnerships.
Add to their corporate social responsibility. If your event benefits a charity or for a good cause, potential sponsors will get a positive brand image.

25+ Best Free Construction Proposal Templates to Download Now for 2025

Brenda Barron

10 Mar 2023

3. Offer Sponsorship Levels

In event sponsorship, it’s common that sponsors are offered different sponsorship levels. This leveling often comes with a package where price has already been set. Also promotes the inclusive benefits attached to it.

Use tiering to divide the sponsorship levels. Some use package names such as platinum, gold, silver, or bronze package. You can get creative at this point. Make sure that you clearly define the inclusions and the distinctions for each sponsorship level.

This premium template offers sponsorship leves and media coverage packages.

4. Lay Out Your Terms & Conditions

Every event sponsorship proposal must include the terms and conditions of the partnerships. Ensure that sponsors won't take advantage of you. Define the limitations of the sponsorship clearly.

Also, this section should also include your negotiation terms. Of course, there'll be sponsors who will ask for discounts or extra perks on top of the inclusive benefits. You want to appear as open as possible so that potential sponsors won’t be put off easily.

This example of an event proposal template DOC has terms and conditions of event sponsorship.

5. Close With a Persuasive Call-To-Action

Finally, your event sponsorship proposal must include an action step from your sponsors.

Don’t let them get away easily. Make sure that you’re closing your event proposal with an urgent call-to-action.

One way to do this is to add a deadline to your event proposal. This way, your potential sponsors know when they must decide. But, to make it more effective add a time-sensitive offer to your call to action.

For example, add a huge early bird discount or savings to the first five sponsors.

5 Quick Event Sponsorship Proposal Design Tips for 2024

You may be wondering how to write a proposal for an event.

We’ve outlined the right ways to write, design, and format your event proposal:

1. Follow Your Branding Style

The first tip is to follow your branding style guidelines. This will ensure that your proposal is easily recognizable. It'll also reinforce your brand.

Use your brand colors and fonts and a consistent image and photo style throughout your proposal.

Temply Proposal Template would work well as an event sponsorship proposal example.

2. Keep It Easy to Read

The second tip is to keep your proposal easy to read. Aside from using a legible font, use proper text formatting.

Stick to short paragraphs and use headings and bullet points. This will make the copy easy to skim through.

This premium Project Proposal offers a clean layout and great contrast to showcase your project.

3. Pay Attention to the Cover

Put as much thought into your proposal cover as you do in the rest of the proposal. Use a high-quality photo and make sure to include your company’s logo.

Consider using your main brand color with a shape overlay. Also, add your website address to the bottom of the page.

Event Brief Proposal has an attractive event proposal design.

4. Mind the White Space

White space refers to the space around each individual element.

Leave enough space between your text, images, and other elements. Avoid your proposal looking cluttered.

Use Event Organizer A5 for robust sponsorship proposals that require more detail.

5. Style The Call To Action

Lastly, make sure to include a call to action at the end of the proposal. This should clearly outline what the next step should be. Whether that’s filling out a form, calling you, or emailing you.

Use a contrasting color to make it stand out from the rest of the proposal.

This template proposal would work will for an event sponsorship.

5 Top Event Sponsorship Proposal Design Trends for 2024

Let's look at some of the top trends in sponsorship proposal design. We'll discuss what makes them so appealing.

We'll also look at some noteworthy event sponsorship proposal examples:

1. Keep It Simple

Like so many things in life, less is often more. Avoid cluttering your layouts with too much content.

Find a balance between eye catching elements and supplemental elements.

Check out this event sponsorship proposal example, below. A lot of the space here, in each spread, is "empty."

Use negative space to experiment with balance in your compositions for a sleek look.

Business Corporate Proposal is a premium template with a professional look.

2. Command Attention

Contrast can be a really eye catching in your event sponsorship proposal template.

Take a look at the sponsorship proposal template below. Notice how the white title "Project Proposal" really stands out against the dark navy background.

This concept is pushed much further, in this event proposal design. We see contrasting shapes too. Think about where the focal points are here—where your eyes go first—and the role contrast plays in that emphasis.

Check out this high contrast angular theme in this event proposal design.

3. Memorable Variety

Mix up your pages with color. We can do so in so many ways. In this event sponsorship proposal example, the entire page color varies.

Experiment with color. Notice that the pages here still follow a continuous color scheme and theme. This is how we can use variety within boundaries to keep things consistent but interesting.

Full color is employed on these beautifully designed event proposal design spreads.

4. Visual Consistency

That said, consistency is timeless. A strong event sponsorship template is going to look visually similar from page to page. There should be document wide similarities that act as a visual anchor.

Check out this sponsorship proposal design. Many pages vary, but they still have elements in common. For example, we see block themed elements throughout. We also see consistent use of color—yellow is definitely the theme here.

Key colors and a unified block aesthetic give this event sponsorship template a stylish, professional look.

5. Stand Out

Again, consistency is important. But it doesn't necessarily mean that our sponsorship proposal design has to be boring. Find a balance between variety and consistency.

This event sponsorship proposal is designed in a square format. It works well and makes this template stand out from the crowd.

This stylish sponsorship proposal template utilizes a square layout design.

Find More Consulting Proposal Templates

Aside from event sponsorship proposals, you'll be dealing with other business negotiations.

From making project proposals to closing any type of business deals. You've got to always plan accordingly.

To help you with your business proposal needs, here are some great roundup posts that you can read and win your business proposal any time of the year:

Common Proposal Questions Answered (FAQ)

Are you still wondering what to include in your proposal?

We’ve gathered the most common questions about proposals and our answers to them:

1. What's the Recommended Structure of a Proposal?

A proposal usually consists of the following sections:

an introduction
the main problem outline
proposed solution
qualifications
and an overview of costs and benefits

After that, wrap up the proposal with a conclusion and next steps.

Learn more looking at some of the best business proposal templates:

35 Professional Business Project Proposal Templates 2025

Laura Spencer

03 Apr 2023

2. What Programs Should I Use to Design My Proposal?

Use a professional page layout and publishing program. Some examples include InDesign and Microsoft Word.

Learn more about publishing programs in these tutorials:

3. What Types of Proposals Are There?

There are several different proposal types. The main three types are:

unsolicited
formally solicited
informally solicited

Other types of proposals include:

continuation
renewal
supplemental proposals

Get some ideas on how your proposal can look with this useful roundup:

40+ Best Business Proposal Templates: Ideas For New Client Projects in 2025

Marc Schenker

16 Feb 2024

4. What's a Request for a Proposal?

A Request for a Proposal (RFP) is sent out to possible suppliers or vendors of a desired product or service. The document includes the specific requirements needed.

If interested, potential suppliers or vendors respond with a proposal that addresses the points listed in the RFP. Pricing and timelines are usually also included.

This premium event proposal template is perfect for responding to an RFP.

5. How Long Should My Proposal Be?

The length of the proposal depends on the nature and scope of the project. You need to cover everything the client needs to know. All without overwhelming them with too much information.

Typically, it takes between 10-15 pages to cover everything important, but more complex proposals may need to be longer.

20 Best Free Proposal Templates for Google Docs and Microsoft Word (2025)

Sharon Hurley Hall

23 Nov 2023

Learn More About Making Awesome Proposals in 2024

Creating a great and engaging proposal that wins clients is no small feat. Luckily, we've got plenty of tutorials to help you make an awesome proposal in 2024 and beyond.

Start with these tutorials:

Best Event Proposal Templates on Envato Elements (With Unlimited Use)

Envato Elements curates some of the most effective event proposal templates today. You’ll only need one subscription.

With Elements you won’t just get access to event sponsorship proposal templates.

You’ll also enjoy thousands of digital assets that are included with your subscription.

Get unlimited access to thousands of high quality design assets on Envato Elements.

You may be tempted to download a free sponsorship package template. But a free event sponsorship proposal template might have licensing conditions (especially commercial).

Premium sponsorship proposal examples from Envato Elements offer more advantages. There are more choices and design options. Find more than just sponsorship proposal templates for free.

Envato Elements offers unlimited sponsorship proposal examples with your subscription.

Not yet convinced? Envato Elements understands the importance of branding to winning an event sponsorship proposal. These sponsorship templates are customizable so you can easily make each event proposal unique.

Plus, now Envato Elements has introduced an AI-powered search feature!

Add a description of your project to find the finest human-crafted resources.

Start experimenting with this enhanced search tool! Discover the ideal event sponsorship proposal templates for your yearly reports.

Download the Best Event Sponsorship Proposal Templates Today

As you write your event sponsorship proposal, remember to keep your sponsors in mind. Write your content according to your potential sponsors’ point of view.

This way, they can easily understand what you’re trying to relay. At the end of the day, sponsors want to know what’s in it for them.

Remember: the key to designing a successful event proposal is making sure you’re captivating and benefits-driven.

To design and format your event proposal, get inspired by the best event proposal templates from Envato Elements.

Why not download your favorite event sponsorship proposal template now and get started?

Editorial Note: This post has been updated with contributions from Lex Soto, Daisy Ein, Maria Villanueva, Nathan Umoh and Dacia Egurrola. Lex and Dacia are staff writers with Envato Tuts+. Daisy is a freelance instructor for Envato Tuts+. Maria is an Associate Editor with Envato Tuts+ Design & Illustration. Nathan is a freelance writer for Envato Tuts+.

What you need to know to get a creative job in AI

2024-02-10T16:00:27+00:00

People worry about Artificial Intelligence (AI) taking away jobs. But while AI may be doing some work previously done by humans, it also creates new and exciting opportunities for careers in AI—including for creative professionals.

There are careers in AI beyond the technical fields. (Image source: Envato)

According to an estimate from the World Economic Forum, 170 million new jobs will emerge in the AI industry by 2030. Keep reading if you want to learn about jobs in AI and how to get a job in AI.

In this article, you'll learn more about how AI affects creative opportunities. We'll outline some creative AI roles. Then, we'll explain what you need to know to prepare for AI Jobs.

Jump to content in this section:

Breaking into jobs in artificial intelligence: A guide for creative professionals
Overview of creative jobs in AI
Learn more about AI
Get your job search going with Envato

Breaking into jobs in artificial intelligence: A guide for creative professionals

To break into a creative job in the AI industry, there are a few things you can do to give yourself an edge over other candidates:

1. Practice using AI tools

The best way to get an AI job is to work with the tools that are revolutionizing the field. Envato's AI tools make this possible. You can generate images using ImageGen, and then modify them using ImageEdit to remove objects, alter backgrounds, or rearrange layouts. VoiceGen makes it possible to create realistic voiceovers, which is helpful in trying out ideas in content and advertising.

These are hands-on tools, flexible and intuitive. They're especially worth it if you're figuring out how to get a job in AI without a degree. You'll build real-world skills and a portfolio showing what you can do. Whether you're studying AI marketing tools or preparing for AI careers, Envato gives you space to create, learn, and grow with confidence.

2. Develop the right skills

As you may have noticed, AI jobs for creatives require a unique blend of the artistic and the technical. And since AI is changing and growing fast, you've got to make an effort to stay on top of industry trends and developments. Both free and paid courses are plentiful, so no matter what your budget is, you can pick up the necessary skills.

Invest in continuous growth in your creative field. Use AI tools so you’re familiar with them. And if you've got the interest and aptitude, try to learn one or more AI programming languages. The top ones are:

Python
Java
JavaScript
Prolog
Lisp
Julia
Haskell
C++
R
Scala

Although learning programming isn't always a requirement of creative AI jobs, it's something that can give you an advantage over other creative professionals. It'll also open up more opportunities for you.

3. Create a robust creative portfolio

As a creative professional, you know the drill: You need a stellar portfolio to show off what you’re capable of doing. But to break into an AI job, your portfolio must integrate AI-related projects to show both your creativity and technical skills.

4. Keep updated on emerging AI technologies

You don’t have to be a computer engineer or programmer to keep abreast of AI developments. You can follow any of the tech-oriented websites, podcasts, newsletters, and social media accounts that discuss AI in layperson’s terms. Some podcasts are even dedicated to AI topics for the general audience. Books on AI are also a good reference. If you want to learn how to get a job in AI without a degree, especially in a creative or marketing field, learning tools such as AI marketing tools can give you a practical edge and insight into how the industry is evolving.

5. Network with AI communities

Networking plays an important role in your search for AI careers. (Image Source: Envato)

Networking has always been one of the key elements of finding your ideal job, and it remains true for getting a job in AI. Attend in-person or virtual meetups focused on AI discussions for non-technical people.

Not only will you increase your knowledge and understanding of AI trends, but you’ll also meet AI professionals who tell you what it’s like to work in the AI industry. They may even have job leads for you.

6. Leverage online learning

Because the AI field is always changing and evolving rapidly, you've got to commit to always be learning. Fortunately, there are many opportunities for learning. Many colleges and universities are offering AI-related courses.

If you prefer to learn virtually, you can do so through:

YouTube videos
online courses
virtual events

Even if you've got little—or no—budget for learning, you can find lots of ways to develop and enhance your skills in AI.

Overview of creative jobs in AI

Contrary to popular belief, the AI industry doesn’t only offer opportunities for engineers and computer techies. It opens up an array of opportunities for creatives.

“AI won't replace creative jobs just as the invention of the camera didn't make paintings obsolete,” says Ashley Still, senior vice president of digital media at Adobe.

And while digital cameras have enabled more people to take their own photos, professional photographers continue to be in high demand.

That’s because AI, even generative AI, can't create anything from scratch. It augments human intelligence rather than replacing it. With that in mind, here’s a list of creative AI jobs, also known as “AI creatives”:

1. AI artist

Even artists can find careers in AI. (Image source: Envato)

An AI artist creates AI-generated art. This job requires expertise in creative design as well as computer vision and machine learning. The goal is to create visually stunning artwork and photos generated by AI.

As an AI artist, you’ll be involved in every stage of the creative process:

ideation and brainstorming
experimentation and development
production and exhibition

The key is to create art that would be hard or impossible for humans to make. To succeed as an AI artist, you must be passionate about pushing the boundaries in AI-generated art.

2. AI content writer or trainer

An AI content writer or trainer helps train Generative AI by writing novel conversations. These will be used to train GenAI on how to respond to queries and prompts. You’ll have conversations with GenAI, fact-check its responses, and track its progress.

You’ll need to have strong skills in writing dialogue and conversational text for this AI job. Creatives with experience in screenplay writing would have an edge.

Read: 10 Best AI copywriting tools for business

3. AI copywriter, editor

An AI copywriter or AI editor creates informative content about AI. This may be for various platforms such as:

blogs
newspapers
magazines
news agencies

The job of an AI copywriter or editor usually encompasses keyword research, SEO writing, and market research. That is, you should know how to write engaging articles about AI that will rank highly in search engines.

Aside from good writing skills, you will also require experience in AI technologies as well as passion for its development and application in industries. Familiarity with AI marketing tools can prove to be an extra advantage, especially if you're exploring how to get a job in AI without a degree.

4. AI designer

Not to be confused with techies who design user interfaces for AI, an AI designer is someone who creates designs using AI’s machine learning algorithms. It’s an exciting new field for graphic designers.

This job requires strong graphic design skills. At the same time, you must know how to use GenAI and how to use it in design projects.

Learn more: AI graphic design tools and techniques—how to harness AI for design

5. AI film editor and director

An AI film editor and director uses AI to create videos and films. With the help of AI, you’ll analyze audience preferences to optimize your films and videos for specific audiences, markets, and demographics.

You may also use AI for everything, including:

casting
scriptwriting
visual effects
animation
editing

Aside from knowing the basics of film production, editing, and directing, you must know the latest AI technologies in film and video.

6. AI game developer

The AI game developer role is a combination of creativity and programming know-how. The goal of this job is to create exciting games using AI.

Your role may be more on the creative side of things (designing game worlds and characters), or it may be more technical (writing algorithms and programming the game to bring the designers’ vision to life). Either way, you’ll need to know how to apply AI techniques in all phases of game development to optimize the gameplay experience for users.

7. AI musician

AI can be used to help produce music. (Image source: Envato)

Like the AI artist, an AI musician creates music using AI. With AI streamlining your workflow, you’re expected to produce music for specific genres and themes, which would be almost impossible for humans to create.

The ability to play one or more musical instruments or sing would be an asset, along with knowledge of AI technologies. You’ll also need to be creative and give appropriate prompts to GenAI to produce unique and enthralling pieces of music.

What is a brand ambassador? (Tips + real-life examples)

2016-02-24T00:55:46+00:00

You can never discount the importance of a good brand. After all, branding is what makes your business identifiable to the general public. It separates your design studio from every other design studio.

Branding is a lot like window dressing, but substantive aspects of your company factor into what makes up your brand, too. Like a good product. Or a reputation for delivering awesome customer service.

But how can you get the word out about your company's brand in such a way that actually resonates with your target audience? The answer is by using brand ambassadors.

But what is a brand ambassador? This tutorial will give you all the information and resources you need to start a brand ambassador program in your company.

Now, let's begin!

What is a brand ambassador?

A brand ambassador is, basically, the ultimate form of "word of mouth" advertising. It's a person who represents your company in public and talks about your products or services in such a way that it makes other people want to be customers.

Those in this role are product experts and act as the go-to resource within companies for information and outreach. When executed well, a brand ambassador program can dramatically increase brand awareness and help increase your customer base.

Brand ambassadors often take on a variety of tasks. These will vary depending on if they are officially on staff or members of your enthusiastic fan base.

Typically, you can find brand ambassadors:

actively promoting your products or services to their friends and family
building a relatable "face" for your company
serving as an extension of customer service
developing creative ways to expand company outreach
engaging and boosting your social media profiles

Are these programs effective?

On the whole? Yes. Brand ambassadors are definitely effective at building interest in your company.

And sure, a standard marketing campaign could do this as well, but having real-life humans advocating on your company's behalf yields a unique set of benefits. A brand ambassador program is effective because:

1. It comes across as more genuine than traditional marketing

It all comes down to the human face element. The best marketing plan in the world can fall flat if it doesn't appeal to people and doesn't feel genuine.

According to Matter Communications' research, 69% of consumers are likely to trust recommendations from friends, family, or influencers over the information coming directly from a brand.

Authenticity is everything, so using brand ambassadors gives your company a definite edge in that regard.

2. Your target market doesn't feel talked at (or down to)

Brand ambassadors humanize your company. Giving a literal human face to your brand means prospective customers can relate with you on a more personal level and that can drive sales.

3. Younger generations know when they're being marketed to

Millennials and Gen-Z customers have a keen eye for marketing tactics. After all, they either grew up in the mid-80s to early 90s or in the booming era of digitalization. They can rattle off advertising jingles like it's nothing.

That familiarity with marketing means the old tricks don't work anymore. Companies have to get very creative to stay competitive. That's why brand ambassadors can help your business talk to a public that finds them appealing.

4. It expands your company's reach

Social media is a major player in the modern online marketing strategy. In fact, according to the 5WPR 2024 Consumer Culture Report, 67% of Gen-Z shoppers say that being informed by user-generated content on social media is what they most associate with word-of-mouth marketing.

Having dedicated advocates consistently engaging in these networks means your brand gets a wider audience and you stand to expand reach.

Brand ambassador programs in action

One of the best ways to understand the role brand ambassadors play in marketing strategy is by example. So before we talk about strategy integration specifics, let's look at a brand ambassadorship program in the wild.

A great example is Sony, specifically the Sony Alpha camera brand. The photography giant embraces social media, its customers, and photography professionals to create an environment that promotes building of community through the love for the craft.

These efforts turn customers and seasoned photographers into brand ambassadors at the same time.

Most of Sony Alpha's Instagram profile consists of posts in collaboration with their brand ambassadors.

Both beginners and experienced photographers are encouraged to be creative and show off exactly what role their Sony Alpha cameras play in their creative processes. Sony Alpha fosters an environment that creates advocates who in turn create customers, who then become advocates, and so on.

The brand ambassador's role in a marketing strategy

Brand ambassadors can play a major role in marketing strategy. And when a program works well, it can just about take over the strategy as a whole. Here's a brief summary of brand ambassadors' primary responsibilities:

1. Acts as a spokesperson (but not really)

Some companies hire professional brand ambassadors, which are really just glorified spokespeople. And while part of the ambassador's job is to act as spokesperson, there is more to it than that.

Like in the Sony Alpha example, good brand ambassadors get the word out about a product or service while still being members of the target audience.

2. Offers a chance to connect directly with potential customers

Brand advocates are down on the ground with customers and can engage with them one-on-one. And while some adherence to a set of brand guidelines is essential, the majority of the conversations can be informal and authentic.

Brand Guidelines

Brand Guidelines Template

Brand Guidelines

Some brand ambassadors spread the word about a company face-to-face at events. However, more often than not, the day-to-day hustle of brand ambassador programs happens online.

Advocates must be well-versed in all the major social networks if they're going to be effective at promoting your business.

How to create a brand ambassador program

Should you decide using brand ambassadors is a good idea for your brand, you can implement a program fairly simply. Here's how:

1. Ask for customer feedback

Ambassadors are all about the customer, so why leave this to guesswork? Ask your current customers what they want to see more of in terms of content and interaction.

With this information in mind, you can custom-build a brand ambassador program that suits the needs of your customers while boosting your reputation at the same time.

2. Develop a must-have list

If you're aiming to use professional ambassadors, make sure you put together a list of attributes all potential candidates must possess before you begin the hiring process.

This list will vary by brand, of course, but it can include things like the number of social media followers each candidate has, previous experience managing brand identities, and reputation.

3. Tap into your staff first

Do you have a larger business with hired employees? More often than not, the best brand ambassador programs are born out of a company's existing employees and collaborators.

Think of your employee brand ambassadors as employee influencers.

If you have a great company culture and encourage creativity, you can get a lot out of a staff-based ambassador program. Your employees have a vested interest in your brand doing well, first of all. And second, they are going to be the most familiar with your products or services.

But it's not enough to just expect your staff to start posting about how awesome your company is and to expect results. You need to offer structure.

The process of creating this structure for employee brand ambassadors is twofold:

Step 1. Build a set of brand guidelines

I've already touched on this above, but it bears repeating. Creating guidelines for how you expect your employee brand ambassadors to act online is essential for maintaining consistency across all platforms in voice, style, and content.

Brand Guidelines

Blue Abstract Shape Business Instagram Carousel

Digital Marketing Brand Instagram Post Templates

Before your start recruiting employee brand ambassadors, learn more about the basics of branding.

Step 2. Incentivize your employees' efforts

Even though many enthusiastic employees will likely advocate on your behalf for free, it's always a good idea to offer some kind of incentive for their hard work. Think of them as potential employee influencers.

They can benefit in many forms from assuming this role: from free products and discounts to unique perks.

Keep in mind, though, that while employee brand ambassadors are great, not all of your advocates work for your business. In fact, it's a good idea to tap into your fanbase as well to round out your representation.

4. Create brand advocates from fans

Now it's time to tap into your fan base. This customer advocacy will naturally occur to an extent.

Think about how when you use a product in your own life. When you like it, it's only natural for you to share your love for it with your friends and family, right? You might snap a photo of a product you like to share it on your story or text it to your friends.

The key to harnessing the power of your biggest fans and leveling up the results of your brand ambassador program is to incentivize their efforts through free products, perks, and other benefits.

Finding advocates isn't all that difficult. You just need to know where to look, so try adding a section on your website where your customers can register. Spread the word in your marketing newsletters, or post about it on social media.

Then, it's time to put an actual plan in place.

Give them incentives and, again, guidelines

Brand advocates who are fans should be provided with a set of guidelines, too, since how they conduct themselves online will be a direct representation of your brand.

For instance, you might not want an ambassador to throw expletives around when referring to your company—even if what they're saying is positive. Set some ground rules upfront so everyone knows what to expect and you don't do any accidental damage to your company's reputation.

You also need to show you value them. Offer your product for free and include perks whenever possible. Treat them as good as—and in some cases, even better than—your very best customers.

Another great way to ensure brand ambassador programs gain traction quickly is to ask fans to contribute to your blog and social feeds. Real voices resonate.

You can see examples of our very own featured Envato Authors on our Author Stories Archive. One of them is Kait Kenobi, a brand strategist and designer who has built a passive income stream and owned her creative freedom by becoming an Author on Envato.

If you have active, involved participants in your community, feature them.

Giving fans a place to share their stories with your products or services lends authenticity to your website and helps prospects put themselves in the ambassador's shoes. And that, in turn, increases sales.

Start your brand ambassador program

After reading this tutorial, you now have a clear idea of what brand ambassadors are. You know how you can utilize them as an integral part of your marketing strategy, and you're armed with a path to getting started.

Begin with small steps and incrementally improve your program over time. Though setup might appear daunting, just remember: ambassadors are really just your most loyal employees and customers. They want to get the word out about you, so isn't it time you empower them?

Brand voice: how the right tone of voice can boost your business

2016-04-18T17:24:08+00:00

An accuser wags a finger in your face and says, “Don’t take that tone of voice with me!”

Ever heard that plea from someone you've upset? Unless you’re some kind of communication super-specialist, you probably have—just like the rest of us.

And although you may never have connected that phrase with anything relating to your business (because hopefully you haven’t heard it from an upset client), the advice is one that all of us freelancers and small-business owners need to heed.

The right message communicated in the wrong way can leave your audience indifferent to your brand and giving you a cold shoulder. On the contrary, discovering the right tone of voice to communicate your brand message will help your audience warm up to your brand and welcome your products or services into their lives. Does your brand use the right tone of voice? Find out!

More than something testy teenage boys frequently get wrong, tone of voice can make the difference between your brand being “ignored” or “adored” by your ideal audience. Let’s see how...

Tone of voice: because how you say it matters

As we’ve discussed in other tutorials here on Envato Tuts+, every good small business or freelancer needs to develop a unique brand voice to resonate with their ideal audience and find success. We've reviewed the importance of branding:

What Is Branding? (Creating Your Brand's Visual Identity)

Julia Melymbrose

04 Mar 2021

Today, we’re drilling down a level beyond that so you can kick ass as you're building your brand.

But what is a brand voice? It consists of two things:

The message: What you communicate with your audience.
The tone: How you communicate with your audience.

Your brand message tells people what you do.

Ultimately, this message should also be connected to the reasons why you do what you do, which we’ve discussed in our article on the importance of finding your brand values.

Given that you’ve done the work to find the what and the why of your brand already, we now need to tackle the how.

How can you communicate your message to successfully reflect your deeper purpose?

If you communicate the right message in the wrong way, your audience will react:

"Don’t take that tone of voice with me!"

Except in the business world, you won’t so much get a scolding (which at least lets you know something’s wrong). You’ll just get indifference and a cold shoulder towards your brand.

The right tone of voice, on the contrary, will help your target audience warm up to your brand and open their arms (and wallets) to welcome your products or services into their lives. Plus, it's part of your brand promise strategy.

The common business tone and why it’s problematic

Despite the importance of tone of voice, a lot of businesses (from one-person small businesses all the way up to large-scale organizations) seem to stop their branding process right after determining their message to the world.

“This is what we want to say to people, and we’ll paste it all over our website and products!” (Or at least that’s how I imagine a voice branding meeting to end in most cases.)

The result? A flat, uninteresting, and uninspiring tone of voice that most businesses seem to share and that can only be characterized by one adjective: boring.

And boring is the worst thing you can ever do to your business. From all the adjectives in the English dictionary, boring is the one you never want to go for.

Choose to be innovative, controversial, loud, friendly, funny, whimsical, reliable, traditional even… but never boring!

A boring tone of voice is the number-one business killer on the planet! (Well, okay, no official study was ever done to prove this, but I’m confident that “boring tone of voice” would be the case if anyone thoroughly researched what kills a business the fastest.)

No one wants to hang out with, or buy from, “boring.”

Why you want a branded tone of voice

So if I’m arguing that a boring tone of voice can ruin your business, how is it that an interesting tone of voice can save your business or even make it thrive?

Glad you asked!

Your tone of voice adds another dimension to the personality of your brand. The tone of voice your brand takes helps deliver your message through a certain emotion to your audience, rather than hard, cold logic. And as many a research has shown, emotions play a primary role to our buying decisions.

Think of it this way

Let’s say you were shopping at your local grocery store when a personality-devoid stranger approached you and began to bore you about the great features of a product in his hands. Would you try it? No. You’d just wave the boring person out of your way like you would a pesky fly and keep on going.

But let’s say as soon as you turn the isle you run into your favorite person in the whole world who’s holding the same exact product and upon seeing you says: “This is great! You should try it!” And you’d immediately take the product, your face lighting up, and add it to your basket.

Same product, same message; different presentation, different result.

Why develop your tone of voice?

Developing a tone of voice that enhances your brand’s personality will help you:

Connect with your audience on a deeper, emotional level.
Make a positive impression of your brand in your ideal audience’s mind.
Express the values you represent as a brand to your audience.
Promote a long-lasting relationship with your audience that will ultimately drive their buying behavior.

Remember, people don’t just buy products or services they like or need. They choose to buy these products or services from brands they like and trust. And the right tone of voice can help your brand score high on the likeability scale.

The right tone of voice

So, if “boring” is the wrong tone of voice for any business, what’s the right tone of voice for your business?

There is none!

And by that I mean, there isn’t a specific one. Your brand’s tone of voice has nothing to do (in most cases) with the industry you’re in. Nothing says that a photographer must have this tone, a web designer another tone, and a video editor another.

Granted, if you’re a lawyer, for example, you might want to stay away from an uber-cool street-hip tone of voice. (Unless, of course, you’re working for the rights of troubled youth, and then you might want to blend that tone into your message to attract your ideal audience…)

Every brand has a nearly endless array of choices regarding which tone of voice to use.

So how do you choose the right one to define your brand voice guidelines? Download your free worksheet and let’s find out!

1. Go back to your roots, a.k.a. your brand values

Because your brand’s tone of voice needs to be in accordance with those values and needs to feel authentic to your brand.

If your business is driven by the value of innovation and cutting-edge design, you can’t communicate your brand messages (whether that’s your mission statement or emails you send to customers) in a traditional or uptight tone of voice.

The two distinct values and representation of your brand will create a disconnect and leave your audience baffled and untrusting of your brand.

Authenticity is important because people simply won’t connect to what feels fake.

If humor doesn’t come naturally to you, don’t try to make your brand voice humorous. Who’ll think up all the jokes? Plus, poor attempts at humor that make people feel awkward rather than relaxed can have worse effects on your brand than even a boring tone of voice.

If you’re a natural introvert, for example, you’ll want to avoid a bubbly and energetic tone of voice that makes you squirm in your chair every time you attempt to write something. Your audience will pick up on the squirming in your message and simply walk away. No one’s comfortable squirming.

Just like your core values must be authentic to your brand and purpose, so does your brand’s tone of voice need to be authentic to your overall brand and its purpose.

2. Eavesdrop on your core audience

Who are the people you’re trying to reach with your message and how do they communicate?

Ultimately, your purpose is to create deep connections with your audience. And speaking their language (down to the tone and expressions) is important for achieving that.

A hip tone of voice, for example, will sound different when addressing young moms between the ages of 25 and 35 than when addressing teenage girls who are into fashion and makeup.

That’s when you can use a secondary adjective to help you better define your tone of voice.

Hip but not juvenile, for the young moms.
Hip and excitable, for teenage girls.

You may already have an inclination on how to generally address your audience and what sort of tone is generally appropriate. But the devil, as they say is in the details—never the generalities.

Find the places where your ideal audience hangs out online such as forums, Facebook groups, TikTok, etc., and “eavesdrop” on them to see how they speak to one another. What sort of tone would help you get through to them and get your message across?

3. Consider your competition

There may be a natural tendency to think that the “louder” you say your message, the more you will be heard. But that’s not true. The person who yells the most is almost never the one to be taken the most seriously in a room.

Branding isn’t a screaming match. And especially if you’re in an industry where “loud” seems to be the default tone for most brands, you’re better off developing a different tone, more composed tone of voice.

Not only will that allow you to stand out from your competition, but you’ll also be able to attract the people who don’t particularly like all the loudmouths around.

Once you complete the exercises on your free worksheet, you’ll be able to drill down to the tone of voice that will help you successfully deliver your message to your ideal audience.

Do you need to speak in that tone of voice all the time?

Your brand is not a performance act, and it should never feel that way—to you or your audience.

Defining your brand voice guidelines and speaking your core messages in that tone is important. But you don’t need to be “in character” all the time.

Not every single line of text you ever write needs to be “funny” or “sophisticated” or “energetic” or “bold.” This isn’t to say that you can allow your messages to become boring. It simply means that it’s important to make the distinction between sticking to your tone and being clear in your message.

Not that you can’t do both at once. But you should never sacrifice the clarity of your message (or the sincerity of your apology, for example) for the sake of keeping your “branded” tone of voice.

(Or you may actually get an upset customer telling you not to take that tone of voice with them!)

Different brands stick to tonal messages to different extents, but as a rule of thumb the following messages should always be spoken in your brand voice and with your crafted tone of voice.

Messages to craft into your distinct tone of voice

headlines
subheadings
product names and service packages
standard greetings and responses

These pieces of text will help add flavor and personality to your entire brand. So once you’ve defined your desired tone of voice, spend some time crafting those messages according to that tone.

The main body of text on your website, in your blog posts, in your emails, etc., should have at least some punches of your specific tone, but doesn’t need to be “tonal” from start to finish. Settle that in your brand voice guidelines to keep your messaging consistent!

Brand tone of voice examples in the real world

So what does a brand with a well-defined tone of voice sound like? Depends on the brand, right?

But here are some nice brand tone of voice examples from around the web that illustrate how defining your tone of voice and applying it to your brand’s messages can help you stand out and create emotional connections with your audience. Let's hear some brand stories to figure this out.

1. Mailchimp, the fun email marketing software

Mailchimp is an email marketing software company that started back in 2001 when most of us weren’t even sure how to spell the word “software.”

And despite having a core clientele of other businesses that need to send “business communications” to their audience, Mailchimp has adopted a tone that’s anything but serious. This is why it's an awesome brand tone of voice example.

In fact, Mailchimp quickly became known for its fun and slightly quirky tone of voice. And not by accident! The company has openly stated that “one way we write empowering content is by being aware of our voice and our tone.”

But that’s not all! They even went a step further and created brand voice guidelines: Content Style Guide. They clearly explain how employees are to respond in different situations, and they don’t keep it a secret either. Their guide is readily available online for anyone to read, which is fantastic for anyone trying to understand how voice and tone come into branding.

Mailchimp brand voice guidelines

2. Poo-Pourri, the whimsical and tongue-in-cheek Toilet Queen

You read it right: Toilet Queen!

This next brand tone of voice example is Poo-Pourri. It's a before-you-go toilet spray that eliminates bad odors and all proofs that a girl is anything but a non-poohing princess.

The interesting part is that Poo-Pourri was developed by a woman who couldn’t stand the odors that her boyfriend left floating about the bathroom. But understanding that men would never make the core audience of this business, the company has rightly geared its message towards young women.

Bathroom odor, however, is not a subject anyone wants to discuss openly at any time. And taking the usual “serious” and hush-hush tone that companies selling preventative measures to unpleasant conditions (think every hair loss and eery adult incontinence product ever made) would only have made the brand… well, bomb!

Instead, Poo-Pourri chose to deliver its messages in a whimsical tone of voice full of tongue-in-cheek jokes that leave you no choice but to love the brand.

Forget about hiding embarrassing odors; Poo-Pourri makes you want to advertise to anyone and everyone that you’re part of this cool and funny gang.

Poo-Pourri: Nothing embarrassing about stinkin' here!

Just take a look at their homepage, and you’ll see their tongue-in-cheek and punny tone of voice written large everywhere (like coming up with "Smellebrate" instead of "Celebrate" to promote their weekend savings event).

Poo-Pourri even takes its tone into its FAQ’s. Notice, however, that although it puts a fun spin on the FAQs, they get straight to the point. The answer below begins: "Don't you worry—your beloved loo is safe with us." Admittedly, saying "beloved loo" is quite funny, but the cheekiness doesn't muddle the clarity of the answer.

3. Woot!, the smarty-pants deals site

Most of us haven’t gotten excited over a deal site since 2006, when we first subscribed to one daily-deal site or another.

After a month of deals, it all began sounding like old news and we deleted the emails, unopened, even if they offered us a palace for a penny.

But there’s one deal site that’s been around for years and has managed to maintain its enthusiasm and fan base through a smarty-pants tone of voice that’s slightly sarcastic (often self-sarcastic): Woot!

They get creative with their sales and banners:

Woot! knows how to blast a deal

They get creative with their descriptions:

Your tree won't have to fear anymore

How’s that for putting a new spin on a product?

For the right audience, this type of messaging can be powerfully entertaining. Although not everyone would be inclined to buy, the Woot! clientele (who are accustomed to their biting sense of humor) certainly would!

What tone of voice do you take?

How do you communicate with your audience, and what’s your brand voice? What sort of tone of voice have you seen from others that resonated with you as a customer? You just need to take a long hard look at yourself, your values, and your target audience, and let that personality shine through! Before you know it, you'll see your people shining right back at you.

And, while we're on the subject of branding, remember that Envato can be your branding pal. In need of banners, fonts, logos, and graphics? Drop by and get a brand identity for a low monthly fee! You'll get unlimited downloads of premium assets so you can lock your brand voice down.

How to create your own brand guidelines

2015-09-22T10:08:30+00:00

Creating a brand is hard work. That's why you probably don't want to see your brand personality and identity diluted at every step! This is where brand guidelines come in. They set down the rules for using a business's ‘brand assets’ (logos, colors, and fonts) and inject life into your brand.

The good thing is, creating brand guidelines doesn't need to be complicated. Here, we'll tell you all the ins and outs of putting together the best brand guidelines around. We'll even give you some inspiring brand guidelines examples, from comprehensive style bibles to clear and concise guides.

©Barbican Centre/North

Looking for adaptable InDesign presentation templates that you can turn into digital brand guidelines? Discover a wide selection of stylish InDesign templates from Envato.

1. What are brand guidelines?

Freelance illustrators, photographers, and designers. Small businesses. Multinational corporations.

What do the above have in common? They would all benefit equally from having brand guidelines, also known as a style guide or brand manual. But what are brand guidelines? They're a document that sets down the rules for applying ‘brand assets’, which include useful brand building blocks such as logos, colors, and fonts.

Foursquare Brand Guide

The primary purpose of a brand guidelines document is to give guidance to others as to how they can use the company’s branding when they create anything new, such as business cards, advertising, websites, packaging, etc.

In short, they offer assistance when designing basically anything that visually represents the business in any way.

easyGroup Brand Manual

Even if your company has just one employee, a style guide will help you tie together all the different ways you present yourself visually, and help to create your ‘brand identity’ in the process.

Whatever the scale of the business, creating a style guide serves a practical purpose, and it's fun to do too!

2. Why do I need a brand manual?

Or, as that question should really be phrased:

"I like creating and designing things, it’s really fun! So why would I need a document that's going to put restraints on how creative I can be?"

Designers usually fall into two groups. The first group—freelancers or agency designers—often work across different brands, following various style guides but enjoying more creative freedom. Clients often hire them for a fresh take, which can mean looser brand restrictions.

The second group are in-house designers, focused on a single brand. While some might think this limits creativity, that’s not always true. A strong brand guide doesn't (or shouldn't) mean restriction.

Which leads us to this grand statement, and essential motto for any style guide creator:

"A style guide should do just that—guide, but never restrain, creativity"

Barbican branding in action on the London Underground.

Below are some brand guidelines examples which adhere faithfully to this motto and give some guidance on the essential building blocks of a successful style guide.

3. The building blocks of a style guide

By now, you may be left wondering what to include in brand guidelines.

As the saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day. And brand guidelines are just the same. Every style guide takes a bit of work. The following will guide you through the essential elements of any good style guide, but it’s completely your choice if you want to expand the guide to NASA or British Rail proportions (see below).

British Rail’s exhaustive (literally exhaustive; the original British Rail Corporate Identity Manual runs to four volumes) brand identity manual is a classic.

NASA doesn’t want anyone to get the colors of its logo wrong.

Back to the basics of what to include in brand guidelines... every style guide worth its salt will have the following elements:

A cover
A contents page
A brand ethos/motto (optional)
A logo guide
A color guide
A typeface guide
A guide to graphics and/or photography
A guide to best practice, with helpful examples
A note of thanks to everyone who has read the guidelines through to the end (they deserve it!)

Let’s take a look at some successful brand guidelines examples of these in action:

1. The cover

The Front Cover of a style guide is the first port of call for a reader. As a result, it's a great place to make a statement about your brand identity. On it, you can summarise the main elements of your brand (logo, colors and principal typefaces) and show off your branding style in a creative, attention-grabbing way.

In its digital brand guidelines, hip app company Foursquare combines the three main elements of its brand identity—logo, colors and typefaces—to create a simple yet striking cover design that has a vaguely hypnotic effect on the reader.

Foursquare Brand Guide

Just like the name states, easyGroup's brand manual cover is simple and minimalistic. No unnecessary fuss here. Still, it conveys the brand's style and identity with the color and font.

easyGroup Brand Manual

2. The contents page

Whether your document is a few pages or a few volumes, it’s always a good idea to include a Contents page as part of your style guide. This helps readers orientate themselves, and transforms the document into a brand manual that readers can actually use.

What makes a good contents page? Keep it simple, free of clutter, easy to read (no tiny font sizes here, please), and divide the contents list up into sections if it’s looking a little lengthy.

The telecommunications and electronics company Motorola presents its content pages in a neat way with brand colors and subtle background patterns. This provides certain appeal, without compromising on reading comprehension.

Motorola Brand Guidelines

3. Your brand ethos

Most big companies these days love to include a brand ethos or motto at the beginning of their style guides.

If you’re a one-person freelancing business this may seem a bit much, but for bigger businesses this can be a nice way of letting your employees know how the company’s branding relates to the bigger picture, and how it will develop the company’s progress and success in the future.

Foursquare sets it out in simple terms (and large type).

Foursquare Brand Guide

easyGroup sets its ‘brand values’ in readable, brand-friendly orange frames.

easyGroup Brand Manual

4. The logo guide

Whether you’re the CEO of Apple or a freelancer in need of effective brand guidelines, your business’s visual identity will be rooted in its logo.

Designing a logo is a huge deal. Your logo is the most instantly recognisable component of your brand identity. It might be type-based (perhaps a signature or simple typeset design), symbolic (just a graphic) or a combination of the two. In any case, you’re definitely going to want to lay down the rules and brand guidelines for your design and how to use it.

Some things to consider and spell out about logo design in your digital brand guidelines:

Do you have different versions of the logo for different uses (e.g. one version for letterheads, another for the website homepage)?
Does the logo appear in one colorway, or several different colorways? Would you allow people to use a black-and-white version?
Should the logo have size restrictions, i.e. should it never be placed at a size smaller or larger than x?
Does the logo need adequate margins around its perimeter, to set it apart from other content?
How should the logo not be used? Can you demonstrate some incorrect examples (see NASA's slightly over-the-top example below)?

The Olympics demonstrates the recommended minimum size of its iconic logo, and shares guidance for construction.

Olympics Logo Guidelines

Don’t mess with the NASA branding team. They’ll be really angry if you apply the logo in one of the many incorrect ways demonstrated in their ‘identity system’.

NASA Identity System

5. The color guidance system

Unless your printer is out of toner, it seems very likely that you will be looking to use color on your branded materials. After all, the right logo color scheme can make your brand stand out.

Color can breathe life into a brand. It can make it exciting, approachable, luxurious, serious or light-hearted, amongst so many other emotive qualities that we associate with particular colors and color combinations.

Color can also be sadly and unjustifiably abused. To avoid anyone applying a neon ‘glow’ to your brand typeface or reworking your beloved logo in shades of pastel, devote a page of your style guide to the correct application of color.

Things to think about and include in the guide:

Do you have a principal brand color(s) which should be used in the first instance? Do you have supporting brand colors that can be used on a website, advertising materials, etc.?
Define the Pantone swatch of each brand color, and include CMYK, RGB and HEX code versions of each as well, so the color can be applied across print and online media.

easyGroup has one of the best brand guidelines examples to illustrate this. It gives readers the full range of options for applying its instantly recognisable brand orange.

easyGroup Brand Manual

Marin Transit, a public bus agency in California, provides its brand colors in CMYK and HEX code format. Perhaps not as traditional, but it makes for straightforward application of the brand colors online.

Marin Transit Brand Assets

6. The typeface guide

Stop your colleague from defacing your business cards with a novelty font by laying down the law for how your brand typefaces should be used.

It’s important to define the fonts you’d like to use for branded materials, as well as define rules for how the fonts should be used. Consider including guidance on:

The typefaces and weights of each (e.g. Regular, Bold, Light) that make up your typeface portfolio.
Do you have one font for headings, and another for body text? If so, make it clear!
Do you have size specs for your text, i.e. this font should never be larger or smaller than x.
Do you have preferences for typography (e.g. drop caps, paragraph alignment, tracking, etc.)? Remember, if you don’t say it, no one will know what your ideal brand typography should look like.
You might have a typeface that you use exclusively on your logo. Spell it out if you don’t want it to be used anywhere else.

You can find some great examples of fonts designed for use in logos here:

27 Best Fonts for Making Monograms & Logo Designs in 2025

Melody Nieves

19 Nov 2023

The Barbican Theatre’s brand guidelines are a highly effective example of how to present information about typefaces in a design-forward way. Blowing up ‘Futura’ and setting it in a contrasting color gives the font more significance and memorability.

Guidance on type sizing and alignment is presented in a playful, colorful style that makes the rules seem inspiring, not irritating.

Barbican Brand Guidelines

7. The guide to graphics and photography

No brand exists in a bubble. Successful brand design responds flexibly—most good logos will be just as effective teamed with graphics and/or photography as they would be on their own.

But (you guessed it) you do need to specify in your style guide how images should be used alongside other elements of your branding.

Be sure to think about the following, and provide some images to demonstrate good (and bad) examples:

Can your logo and/or brand type be set over the top of graphics or photography? Advising others to avoid setting your logo over busy backgrounds is usually a good standard tip that will apply to any brand design.
Do you have graphic elements that can be lifted from your logo design, and can be used in a flexible way across materials?
Should the photos and graphics that are chosen to run alongside the logo have particular subjects or emotive qualities?
Are there photos and graphics that should be avoided?

The clear, concise style guide used by National Geographic features easy-to-understand examples of the selection of images.

National Geographic Image Guidelines

8. Best practice guidance

You may have included a couple of examples of your brand in action here and there, but it’s also a great idea to devote a page or two of your style guide to showcasing examples of best practice.

These can be real-life examples of posters, exhibition materials, flyers etc. Or you could include some simple mock-ups of business cards and other items, showing how your brand assets (logos, type, color, etc.) should be positioned and printed.

The London Underground Signs guide shows this world-renowned brand in action, pulling together examples from a myriad different situations to depict how to communicate the brand effectively.

London Underground Signs Brand Guidelines

Why not show off the flexibility and creative potential of the branding by featuring examples of branded packaging? Here, the digital brand guidelines for Villandry Café, expand to stylish carrier bags.

Villandry Café Visual Identity

9. Say thanks!

While it is certainly not an essential component of a style guide, it’s a nice touch to give a brief note of thanks at the end of your guide. If the reader made it through to the end of your document, this means they’re much more likely to care about the brand and how it is presented.

Don’t assume everyone else at your studio/business/company is going to care as much as you do about your brand. Most will receive a hefty PDF in their inbox or in-tray and promptly forget about it. This is why so many companies now provide an online brand ‘portal’ for their employees, which is a more concise version of a style guide that exists solely online. And it’s instantly more accessible and useful, providing instantly downloadable logos, fonts and graphics for employees to use.

If you’re sharing brand assets with a number of other people, consider hosting your brand online.

The Swarm brand (owned by Foursquare) provides a range of logos and icons on its website for users to download with no hassle.

Swarm Online Resources

Create brand guidelines for your design and identity!

A well-designed brand manual should help you or your employees feel confident when creating branded materials. It should help them stick to your brand rules, but also give them the guidance and freedom to be creative with the brand. After all, designing, even within the constraints of a brand ‘look’, should be fun!

Take inspiration from the best brand guidelines examples above. Then, try creating your own style guide using an InDesign template and by following this simple structure in your document:

A cover
A contents page
A brand ethos/motto (optional)
A logo guide
A color guide
A typeface guide
A guide to graphics and/or photography
A guide to best practice, with helpful examples
A note of thanks

Where to find InDesign brand guidelines templates

Take your brand to the next level with an adaptable InDesign brand guidelines template. You can find a wide range of InDesign templates on Envato. Subscribe for a low monthly fee and get access to a bunch of top-tier digital assets, including the best brand guidelines templates!

Here are some of the most awesome InDesign brand guidelines examples:

Black Brand Guidelines InDesign Template

Lay out the important details of your brand in style. This awesome sample brand guidelines InDesign template features a sleek and sophisticated design inspired by trendy low-poly forms. Get access to two convenient sizes with parent pages, editable text, and so much more!

Brand Guidelines Template for InDesign

This simple and stylish InDesign brochure template features a simple pop of color throughout—simply swap in your own brand color and you're good to go! It's a fun and effective way to set brand guidelines for your designs.

Berry InDesign Sample Brand Guidelines

This InDesign sample brand guidelines template has a minimalist, on-trend style. It provides you with a fantastic blank canvas for creating an amazing style guide.

Want more? We have more!

Continue learning with more InDesign tips and brand design tutorials:

How to design a new brand visual identity for your business

2016-08-09T14:57:46+00:00

Designing a brand visual identity for your business is a fun and creative process, but the pressure to create something that both represents the values of your business and has commercial appeal can feel like a tall order.

Following a structured plan of action will help you keep your ideas moving forward. Here I share my essential nine-step guide to approaching a brand design project and making it unique, developed, and super-professional.

When designing a brand, the number of tasks to be done (Logo! Website! Stationery!) can feel overwhelming. Breaking the process down into manageable chunks will allow you to achieve real progress.

Let's dive into these nine steps to build a brand identity design for your business.

1. Do your research

Cosmetic brand identity package samples

No business exists in a vacuum. We all know this, but it’s amazing how many business owners completely forget it when they embark on a brand design project. Many will dive into design ideas straight away, neglecting the fact that their brand will inevitably exist in a competitive market.

To avoid looking like your brand was designed by an alien or, worse, to avoid mistakenly mimicking an existing design (see the unfortunate Tokyo 2020 logo debate as an extreme example), you need to do some research into your competitors’ brands.

If you’re starting a freelance business, take a look at the way local design firms and ad agencies present themselves online and at their offices.

Designing a brand for a product? Research the sector and search for images to get a sense of what’s considered appropriate (read: sellable) for brands in the industry. Pinterest is a brilliant resource for researching which brands in a particular sector are considered to be at the top of their design game.

10 Essential Characteristics of the Best Small Business Brands

Julia Melymbrose

17 Aug 2022

Take a notepad and jot down some of the most common traits shared by the brands you’re researching. Here are a couple of examples:

Researching cosmetics? Look out for common colors or font styles used across a number of skincare and makeup brands. Clue: you'll soon find yourself in a sea of pastel colors and Vogue-esque serifs.
Coffee? Keep your eyes peeled for the sorts of graphics used. Hint: rarely photography, and almost always vintage.

Coffee brand identity package samples

This rough list will be your anchor to the wider commercial market as you delve into designing your own brand. When you’ve completed the design process, return to this list.

Does your design have any of the features listed? If not, it might be a sign that your brand will be too unconventional to do well in a competitive market.

2. Know your niche

You’ve looked up the competition and dissected how they approach their own brand designs. Now you need to file this knowledge to the back of your brain and focus on the goal for your brand.

The tricky part: to ensure that your brand fits into the right market sector—and in some ways looks relevant against competitor brands—while making sure your brand is not only unique but also superior to the rest.

Chocolate bar brand identity mockup

Imagine staring at a Van Gogh painting for hours, and then being told to paint something like it but different and even better. Not an easy feat, right?

Now that you’ve made a list of competitors, you can put it to one side for now. Don’t worry—you won’t forget what the competitor brands looked like now that you’ve spent the time researching them.

What's important is that you feel in a position to create a brand design that feels fresh and unique—something that references your positioning against these competitor brands without copying them.

Chocolate packaging brand identity mockup

You need to focus now on your USP (Unique Selling Point). What makes your business’s offering completely different to that of your competitors?

Say you’re designing a brand for a small photo agency. You’ve looked up local photographers and seen what they offer. You wouldn’t start a business without knowing you can exploit the market in some way that’s different to others.

Perhaps you offer unique portrait photography or superior post-editing services. This is your USP, and you need to refer to it in your brand design.

Struggling to define your USP? Knowing the values of your brand can help you feel more confident about what your business is actually offering to customers.

3. Put pencil to paper

When a consumer comes into contact with a brand for a first time, the first visual they are likely to encounter is the brand’s logo.

What’s the first thing you see on a store’s sign? Yup, the logo. What’s plastered on the side of your morning coffee cup? You guessed it.

Unless you’re encountering a product blindly—for example, if you try out a product a friend has already bought without first knowing its brand—it’s nearly impossible to interact with a product without first seeing the logo of the company behind it.

For most brands, their logo is a condensed interpretation of everything the brand stands for. You can interpret a lot of information about a business from their logo alone.

They might have opted for a serif font to look more formal or posh, whereas a script font might make a brand feel more casual and crafts-oriented. Color psychology might be at play too—orange feels optimistic and good-value, blue calming and technological. Bringing in a metallic tone like gold or copper can up the luxury factor and make a brand feel more aspirational.

Outdoor 3D signboard brand identity mockup

Because a logo is not only the first port of call for customers to your brand but also a visual summary of everything you want your brand to be, the logo is a natural starting point for designing a brand identity.

Pick up a pen or pencil, whether digital or physical. Aim for some ideas that have a symbolic emphasis (more image-based) and others that play around with the type-style of the business’s name.

Don’t dwell on any single idea for long—a couple of minutes for each will be sufficient. Annotate each idea with quick text notes to remind yourself later of any ideas you have about color, style, or possible ways to improve the concept.

Don’t worry if you feel some ideas are weaker than others—you never know which sketch will be a springboard for an amazing idea.

When you’re done, take a little break, either for a coffee or overnight. When you come back to your work, you’ll be able to see your ideas in a new light with a fresh mind.

4. Narrow it down to three logo concepts

Refine, then seek outside opinions. Value the brainstorming process, and avoid committing emotionally to one idea too early.

When you come back to your logo sketches feeling refreshed, take a critical look at your designs. Which sketches appear immediately stronger than others? Are any of your concepts too complex for an outsider to understand instantly?

Identify the three designs with the most potential—perhaps they have a stronger thematic idea or simply a stronger visual style—and refine them further in different sketches.

At this stage, avoid committing to one idea. Even if you feel that it is the strongest, it's better to keep your options open.

Once you have your refined sketches, seek outside opinion. Grab a few friends, family members, or colleagues and ask them to take a look the three designs.

30 Marketing and SEO Logos - Brand identity template

You may find that they prefer a design that’s not your personal favorite, but don’t be disheartened. This will ensure that your brand has commercial appeal and isn’t based on your personal taste alone.

Narrow down the sketches to your strongest design, based on others’ as well as your own opinions.

All logos need to work equally well in simple black and white as they do in full color.

5. Think about color

If you created your sketch on paper, it’s time to vectorize it! You can use your scanned design as a template for creating the final vector logo in your program of choice (such as Adobe Illustrator or CorelDRAW).

Now’s the time to start experimenting with color too. Think back to your market research—were there any colors that cropped up frequently in your brand’s sector?

You can also tap into color trend forecasts and the principles of color psychology. Try switching up the color of your logo and judge how this changes the overall effect.

Fitness logo - Brand identity template

How does a particular color make you feel? Does this emotional pull fit with what you're trying to achieve with your brand?

If, for example, a gold color makes this gym logo feel luxurious it might be sending out the wrong message if your gym’s USP is to offer cheap joining fees to customers. In that case, a more calming, efficient-looking blue would be a better choice.

You should also take into account the effects of long-term color associations with particular brands and products.

6. Expand your brand: Type

Once you’ve vectorized your logo and decided on a suitable color you’re ready to start expanding your brand. One of the key ways of defining the personality of your brand is to choose typefaces that have some of the characteristics you’d like to give your brand visual identity.

Most brands adopt two ‘brand typefaces’:

one for headers and slogans
another for body text

Some larger brands might commission a custom font which is completely unique to them, but most businesses will simply adopt fonts they feel suit their brand.

Browse a broad range of fonts to get suitable ideas when designing a brand identity. Uppercase sans serifs feel confident and modern. Replacing a rounded style for a sharper, more graphic look can make a brand feel more assertive.

FALCO

Script typefaces are popular with brands looking to appear more informal. The vintage-inspired look of scripts taps into the market trend for craft styles. This makes it a great match for brands looking to appear less corporate and more independent.

Try teaming your logo with a sample piece of text set in different fonts. Make print-outs of a few options and compare them. Can you identify a best fit, which both complements your logo design and has the right personality for it?

7. Expand your brand: Photography and graphics

A brand visual identity isn’t made up of a logo and type alone. Continue to expand your brand by thinking about other visual elements, like photography and graphics.

While your logo, colors and typefaces might remain constant on your stationery, marketing and website, the images you use to communicate particular messages, like special deals, ads or product-specific packaging design, will inevitably vary.

Variation, however, is the enemy of a strong brand identity design. Especially for a digital brand identity, as it's easier and cheaper to change.

When you’re using different images you need to ensure that there remains an element of consistency among them. Let’s say you’re designing a brand visual identity for a food business. One of your brand rules could be that you will only use overhead shots.

When designing a brand identity, you can be simple or complex with your rules.

Imagine you’re designing a brand to be used by a lifestyle company with multiple offices. You might want to make a few more rules regarding images so that all the marketing output looks consistent and in tune with your overall vision for the brand.

You could say that all images have to be photos of people, but not only that, they also have to be black-and-white portraits and have the person looking face-on to the camera. So these three photos will tick the box:

However, the one below breaks your rules as the subject isn’t facing the camera. It looks like the odd one out, which breaks the consistency of your branding.

8. Apply your brand

You’ve got a logo and fonts sorted out, and set down your rules for using images. Now it’s time to start applying both your print and digital brand identity.

Corporate stationery set - Brand identity package samples

Prioritise the media that your business uses on a daily basis to communicate with customers—if you work remotely this might mean it’s best to prioritise your website, and don’t forget to add your logo to your email signature too. If you attend a lot of networking events or conferences, a branded business card will put you in good stead.

Even though snail mail might be unfashionable these days, it’s important to extend your brand to print stationery as well. The digital world can be (and often is) overwhelming, so it's nice to offer a physical alternative for potential clients to remember you. This approach can help you to stand out from your competitors!

Orgband Stationary - Brand identity package samples

To get you started, here’s our selection of stationery template packs, which do all the hard work for you, and are quick and easy to customize:

18+ Corporate Brand Identity Packages With Creative Designs for 2025

Sean Hodge

18 Mar 2024

Making sure to extend your branding across invoices and receipts too will leave a business-like impression. It might even mean you get paid on time more often!

If your brand has a number of employees, you should also look into creating a brand guidelines manual. This will be a document showing the correct way to apply your branding: from smaller-scale items, like marketing materials, to larger-scale interpretations of how the company is publicly represented, such as advertising and website design.

9. Review your brand

You’ve finished designing a brand identity—congratulations! Now what?

It may seem like the last thing you want to do, but you need to keep your mind open to reviewing your brand now that it’s in use.

The first part of this is research-based. Take notice of how customers respond to the brand. You might want to use email lists to conduct surveys (use discounts and offers as an incentive for giving feedback) or analyse sales performance in the weeks and months after launching your new brand look.

Brand Manual - Digital brand identity template

If your sales are improving, that’s a strong sign your brand is performing well. If your sales are the same as before, this might be a sign that your brand isn’t being well received.

When designing a brand identity, don't feel disheartened if something isn't working. This is really common as businesses try to find their unique place in the market. What’s more important is how you react.

Now is the time to consider reviewing your brand, and either tweaking elements of the existing identity or creating a new one from scratch. Return to the market research stage and see if there’s anything you could have missed.

Could you be more thorough with your industry research? Could you seek more outside advice about your logo designs?

Designing a brand visual identity isn’t a precise science, but with a methodical approach, you can create something that connects with people on an emotional and commercial level.

Your essential brand visual identity checklist

Designing a brand identity for your business can be a challenge, but it’s a rewarding and creative challenge if you have the right steps in place.

This is your ‘cut-out and keep’ checklist for creating any new brand visual identity. This nine-step process will put you in good stead for tackling the branding fundamentals of any project:

Do your research. Look into the brand identities of competitors in your sector.
Know your niche. Understand your USP (‘unique selling point’) within the sector.
Put pen to paper. Start with the logo and draft a range of symbolic and type-based ideas.
Narrow down to three logo concepts. Do this before selecting a final design to refine.
Think about color. Look into the psychology of color to choose the best color fit for your logo.
Expand your brand with type. Choose two brand typefaces for headers and body text.
Expand your brand with images. Define the rules for using photos and graphics in your marketing materials.
Apply your brand. Focus on designing a brand identity across print and digital media, such as websites or business cards.
Review your brand. Assess whether your brand works, and consider reviewing it if it doesn’t perform well.

Make sure to check out the range of branded stationery templates over on Envato to help develop your brand further.

10 Best Bootstrap Landing Page Templates—With Responsive Designs

2016-02-19T14:15:34+00:00

Are you working on a new marketing campaign? Or is your product launching soon? Do you need a landing page ready to publish as soon as possible? One that’s made to convert?

It takes work to design an effective landing page from scratch though. You’d have to fire up Photoshop or Sketch to craft your layout, pull together your design elements (get all your colors, fonts, icons, and graphics just right), and then jump into your favorite editor to code it up to modern responsive standards. Test, and then test some more, to make sure it’s functioning properly in all modern browsers, oh yah and on mobile devices as well. And finally, wipe the sweat off your forehead, whew!

There is another option to consider. You can save a whole lot of time, and still get quality results, with a landing page template. It’s already custom designed, coded, tested, and ready to be put to use!

Bootstrap Compatible, Responsive Designs

There are a number of responsive Landing Page Templates featured here from GraphicRiver—which are available for purchase and download.

They are crafted for any business purpose you may need. Whether you want to drive signups through to your email newsletter, push click-throughs, generate leads, promote your event, or convert sales of your new product, these landing page templates have all the features you’d want.

Best Landing Page Templates, available for sale and download on ThemeForest.

Built with well-tested coding standards, these templates are versatile, high-performance landing page solutions for entrepreneurs, marketers, or web professionals. They have a number of the quality features you’d expect, such as:

Bootstrap 3 Compatible
Fully Responsive
Multiple Page Styles
Valid HTML5/CSS3 Markup
Clean and Well Commented Code
Email Software Integration

Each of these landing page templates have a unique feature set as well. They come with a number of creative, customizable options, such as: page builders, image galleries, video backgrounds, creative layouts, pricing tables, working contact forms, Mailchimp integration, included icons, and web font support. This way you get everything you need in a landing page package that you can customize easily.

You can quickly set them up, add your unique graphics, tailor your marketing message, and get your landing page launched fast, so you can start driving those conversions!

Bootstrap Landing Page Templates

Here are ten of the best Bootstrap compatible landing page templates with responsive designs:

1. Urip - Professional Bootstrap Landing Page

Urip is a landing page HTML template that is built with Bootstrap 3. It has a modern professional design, with a number of creative layout options, for lead lead generation, app promotion, event announcement, hero form, and more. Each of these options has different features that you can use to customize your design from. It has Mailchimp integration and a number of easy to use features. Get a professional landing page up quickly with this template.

2. Select - Landing Page Template Set With Page Builder

With 30 multi-purpose landing page options inside this page builder, you have a lot of choices to work with. It also includes a number of mockups, layout options, and unique sections tow work with. It’s coded in valid Valid HTML5 & CSS3, is compatible with Bootstrap v3, and comes with google fonts. Its has powerful functionality for editing text, modifying elements, and integrating video. It’s loaded with options and ready to put to use!

3. R.Gen - Landing Page Template with Page Builder

This responsive landing page template has a clean modern design, It’s built with Bootstrap 3 and has cleanly commented code that is easy to work with and modify as needed. It’s made to integrate with Aweber, MailChimp, GetResponse, Constant Contact, Campaign Monitor, and more.

It includes over 35 landing page designs that are easy to load into the included drag and drop builder for quick customization. With over 260 design sections, it’s bursting with page options!

4. Multipurpose Landing Page Template - All in One

If you need a landing page designed with conversion principles first, then look no further. This All in One landing page template is structured to convert leads and push sales. The unique selling proposition is well positioned, as well as the hero shot, and there are sections to showcase your product benefits, demonstrate social proof, and highlight your call to action. With an included HTML Page Builder, and coding based on the popular Bootstrap 3.x Framework, this responsive landing page template is a great choice!

5. Launch - Responsive Startup Landing Page Template

With hero image and full screen video options, Launch is a simple, on trend landing page template design. It has a number of sections you’d need to showcase where your company has been featured, your products main benefits, key features, and price points.

It’s quick to setup and easy to work with. This responsive template is built to be compatible with Bootstrap v3 and made with HTML5 & CSS3, Font Awesome Icons, and Google Web Fonts. It’s Multilingual supported and SEO friendly.

6. Getleads - Landing Page Template Pack with Page Builder

Built with HTML5 & CSS3, and the Bootstrap 3 Framework, this is a flexible, powerful landing page solution. There are more than 215 sections in Getleads. It comes with a Page Builder to make use of all the easy to edit design elements. The text, image and source code options are easy to edit and work with. Get your landing page setup now!

7. Wava App - Responsive Landing Page Template

Present your app to the world! The Wava template is coded with HTML5 and CSS3 markup that is built with Bootstrap V3 and tested for cross browser support. It features a clean design, responsive layout, engaging graphics, and is made to promote startup mobile apps. It’s well documented and easy to customize. If you’ve got a new mobile app to feature and push sales to, this is the landing page template for you.

8. Multipurpose Landing Page Template - Flat Vault

FlatVault is a landing page template with a modern flat design style. It’s fully responsive and built with Bootstrap. Easy to customize and setup, you can add your product or service details quickly. It includes a lead-capture and a click-through variant designs, as well as video integration, working form, text rotator animation, pricing tables, and more. Purchase this theme to get an attractive landing page design.

9. KeySoft - Software Landing Page Template

If you need a beautiful responsive landing page for your new software, mobile app, or Sass startup, then this template is built for you. There are multiple layout styles for dashboards, mobile, or subscribe, as well as numerous color schemes, video and image backgrounds, header variants, and more. With KeySoft you get an organized, well documented, easy to setup template!

10. Zollo - Bootstrap Multipurpose Landing Page for Apps

Zollo is a flexible, fully responsive landing page template for applications based on iOS and Android. It has stylish features with a clean design, as well as an eye-catching interface. It’s fast to load, setup with smooth navigation, and subtle animated scrolling. This is an effective landing page template that you can customize to your brand style. If you need a modern landing page template, then grab this one today!

5 Basic Landing Page Tips

Here are a few helpful tips, which covers how to design your landing page, customize your messaging, and optimize for conversions. This way you can put together your landing page quickly, customized to your business goals and brand, and begin converting right away.

Before we jump into these tips, if you need to take a step back and review more carefully what a landing page is and get a primer on how it works, then read through this article first:

What Is a Landing Page?

Brad Smith

28 Apr 2025

1. Start With a Quality Landing Page Template

With so many professional landing page templates to choose from, it can be hard to finalize on the one to use. Here are a couple points to consider:

First, think about what visual style you want for your landing page. You should choose one that fits your brand and product well. Are you more interested in a modern design with trendy hero video header as in the Launch Startup Landing Page? Or are you leaning more towards a landing page that’s made for showcasing your software like the Wava App Landing Page? In either case, you want a landing page that is attractive and has the design style that fits your goals.
In addition to style, you should also consider what functionality you need. Do you want a resume builder included, which will walk you through customization options? Do you need integration with your email marketing software, like MailChimp? Is a built-in video field important? Before you purchase, review what a template includes to make sure it fits your needs.

Choose a landing page template that has both the look and features you need.

2. Keep Your Landing Page Design Simple

A landing page should have an uncluttered design. It needs to be streamlined, with all excess elements removed. Your landing page should be designed with a single goal. That’s why landing pages convert at such high rates. It’s because they’re focused.

Your landing page template will give you a layout that is organized, with sections for your messaging, showcasing your product features, adding testimonials, and more. Take care to work with the design and not add unnecessary elements—as that can confuse your visitors.

People are visiting this page for a reason, so keep it simple and move visitors towards your signup form or purchase button, without addition options that pull them away from your clear call to action (CTA). It should be obvious to everyone the actions they should take on your landing page, what they should fill out, or where they should click.

Don’t add extra menu links or navigation that may push visitors away from your goal. Every elements, every photo, every message, should fit your strategy and flow together towards a single purpose.

Learn more about the principles of landing page design in our course on the subject, or get started with this article that covers the basics:

Fundamentals of Effective Landing Page Design

David Masters

24 Jul 2013

3. Add Your Graphics and Brand Assets

The graphics and visuals you use on your landing page can have a dramatic impact on your conversions.

You want to make sure all the colors and assets you use fit your brand well. They should compliment the colors of the product you’re selling and align with your brand guidelines.

Take care not to use stock photos that look like generic stock photography that everyone else uses. You want your photography to showcase your product in action, feel genuine, and make an emotional connection with the visitor.

Browse through Envato Unstock for authentic photos or jump over to GraphicRiver to grab custom illustrations or unique graphics. You can also grab video project files from VideoHive, such as product promotions, application showcases, motion graphics, and opener footage.

4. Customize Your Messaging

To nail your landing page messaging you need to first figure out who you’re talking to. Clearly identify your target audience, then more narrowly identify what problem your product solves for them.

Now you can work on crafting your headline, to grab attention. Also, work on short paragraphs and compelling bullet points about the benefits of your solution framed from your potential customer's perspective.

When writing your landing pages, keep your copy short and to the point. Use language that fits your brand but grabs attention. Write directly using the “you” voice, so that you’re speaking directly with a visitor and not just droning on about features of your product.

Inspire them and lead them through why your product is the best choice, or what they’ll get out of filling out your form. Really paint them a picture—but make it punchy. And make sure all your points clearly lead to your call to action.

Learn more about writing effective landing pages:

How to Write Landing Page Copy That Converts

David Masters

28 Aug 2013

Keep in mind, your messaging is rarely ever finalized. It’s something you’ll want to test and refine.

5. Optimize for Conversions

It will take time to nail your landing page. A key component of improving your conversion rates and the effectiveness of your page is to approach it as an iterative process.

After you’ve added your visual assets, inserted your headlines and messaging, and keyed in your call to action, then you need to start testing. Run through comparative options and test to see which one performs better.

You can A/B test to see which elements work the best on your landing pages. Here are just a few key components you can begin testing:

Headlines
Copy
Testimonials
Call To Action
Images or Videos

That’s just a starting point, you can test a whole lot more. Learn more about the process of optimizing landing pages and A/B testing:

Have a narrow purpose for your landing page with a clear call to action, and include only as much information that helps you hit your conversion goals, then test until you get it right.

Grab a Premium Landing Page Template!

Bottom line results are what make landing pages so unique from any other page on your site or in your marketing campaign. They’re highly focused on specific topics and on the goal of converting more visitors to leads and sales. They are a key component of effective online marketing.

We have hundreds of professional design options, any one of which will save you time, and give you a professional well-coded solution. Take a look through the Landing Page Templates on ThemeForest to find just the right one for your next campaign.

A Brief Introduction to Bootstrapping Your Marketing

2014-11-26T15:30:28+00:00

All businesses need to market their products or services. Without marketing, you'll never sell anything. In other words: no marketing, no business.

Meeting with a potential client to pitch your services is marketing. (Image source: Envato Elements)

But you might be thinking, "I've never done any marketing, and I'm doing very well."

If so, you've probably got the wrong idea of what marketing is about. Marketing isn't just TV commercials and internet pop-ups. Marketing is anything you do to help sell a service or product.

This could be:

having a Twitter account for your business
setting the price for your products (price is one of the four Ps of marketing)
pitching your services to a potential client
attending networking events and handing out your business card
speaking with a reporter about your latest product launch

All businesses need marketing. But not all businesses are good at marketing. This is especially the case for small businesses. Why? Three reasons:

Not all marketing strategies are equally effective. Some approaches to marketing are better than others.
Marketing is part art and part science. There's no perfect solution to marketing.
Many small businesses—especially start-ups, solopreneurs and freelancers—don't have a lot of time or money to invest in marketing.

The aim of this article is to help small business owners solve these three problems and become better marketers. We'll do this by showing you how to bootstrap your marketing.

First, we'll look at what it means to be a bootstrapper and to adopt the bootstrapping mindset. Then we'll cover some basic bootstrapping strategies.

Sound good? Let's get started.

By the way, if you're looking for useful resources to help you get going, check out this article on how marketers can use Envato Elements to create incredible campaigns.

What is Bootstrapping

Bootstrapping is all about taking a small amount of resources, and making them stretch as far as possible.

The idea of bootstrapping dates back to the 1920s. Back then, the phrase "pull oneself up by one's bootstraps" had been around for close to 100 years, and was used to refer to an impossible task. In the optimistic environment of the 1920s, the meaning of this phrase changed. It came to refer to the idea of bettering yourself by your own efforts.

Bootstrapping, then, is about taking a DIY approach to running your business. You make your business better through your own efforts.

Thanks to the internet and social media, bootstrapping a business is easier than it's ever been—especially when it comes to marketing. Websites and social media accounts are so easy to set up that you can create a solid online marketing platform in just a day or two. Add to that the power of email marketing, and you can quickly create a marketing platform that sends a constant stream of customers your way.

If you run a start-up, you're a solopreneur, or you offer services as a freelancer, you probably already operate as a bootstrapper. The question is, are you doing it in the most effective way possible?

The Bootstrapping Mindset

Bootstrapping is primarily a mindset. It's about recognizing that you're capable of far more than you imagine—as long as you approach marketing in the right way.

To get yourself into the bootstrapping mindset, ask yourself the following questions:

What marketing skills do I already have?
What marketing skills could I quickly develop, through reading, watching videos, or a low-cost training event?
With these marketing skills, what types of marketing could I do myself?
Out of these, which are the most likely to be effective at connecting with my target audience?
Which would have the lowest financial cost?
Which would take the least time?

By applying these questions to yourself and your marketing, you'll discover effective ways to market your products or services for the least amount of time or money.

Bootstrapping is primarily about doing things yourself at low cost. But it can also involve asking for help from others—especially people in your network who are willing to help you for free.

Questions that can help with finding people to help include:

Who do I know that can give me good marketing advice without charging for it?
Which of my contacts have good connections with my target audience? These could be face-to-face connections, or online followers.

Now you're armed with these questions, let's take a look at some marketing techniques that are ideal for bootstrappers. Chances are, not all of them will be right for your business. But some of them will be. Take what looks good to you, and add it to your marketing toolbox.

Manage Your Own Public Relations

If you've never pitched a story to a journalist or written a press release, managing your own PR can sound like an intimidating prospect. Don't be daunted!

Running your own business, you've got a huge advantage over PR professionals who represent bigger companies: authenticity. You're the one who's running the show, so journalists will love hearing from you.

Here are our top tips for doing your own PR:

Start with easy wins. PR is partly a numbers game: the more you pitch (and the more rejections you notch up), the more you'll be featured in media outlets. But there's no point in chasing rejection for the sake of it. Start by reaching out to your local media—such as newspapers and radio stations—as this is easier to break into. You can also share stories will small and medium sized blogs who'd be interested in your company. By doing it this way, you grow in confidence. You also develop a track record as a good storyteller, which helps when you start to pitch bigger media outlets. And you never know, being featured in a small local newspaper could lead to a national publication getting in touch.
Connect with reporters on social media. This does two things. First, it establishes trust and mutual respect. If you interact with reporters on social media, they're more likely to pay attention when you send them a story. Second, it will open the lid on opportunities, as many reporters will share requests for sources on social media.
Sign up for HARO. Help a Reporter Out is the key place where journalists go to seek out sources. Getting yourself on HARO is likely to be one of the most effective things you can do to improve your PR.

Take the Plunge on Social Media

According to research by LinkedIn, four in five small business now use social media. And of those with social media accounts, 94% use it for marketing (If you're not yet on social media, what are you waiting for?).

The fact that so many small businesses are using social media makes sense. It's the ideal bootstrapping tool. Signing up is free, and it gives you the potential to connect with thousands (or even millions) of potential customers.

Yet when it comes to social media, there's an elephant in the room. A 2013 survey by Manta found that 60% of small business have seen zero return on investment from social media. In other words, social media has failed to bring in any new customers for these businesses.

What went wrong for these businesses? Chances are, many of them failed to understand the basics of social media. You can't just sign up for an account and expect followers to just roll in. Nor can you treat social media as a promotional tool. Social media is about engaging with your customers, and sharing lots of useful content. To do that effectively, you need to create a system for your online marketing efforts.

Other ways you can use social media as an effective marketing tool include:

Connecting with potential customers on LinkedIn. This strategy is ideal for businesses selling products or services to other businesses (B2B). It's also helpful for freelancers who are looking for new clients.
Finding out what your customers want or need. Social media is a ready-made, free-to-access focus group for your market research. Twitter is especially powerful for this.
Growing a tribe of loyal fans. A tribe of customers who love what you do will amplify your business's reach—because they'll talk about your products or services with their friends. Facebook is a great tool for finding your tribe.

Grow Your Own Email List

If you choose just one technique from this list to use in your marketing, growing your email list should be the one you opt for. That's for three reasons:

Email is here to stay.
When you create a list, it's yours, forever.
Email establishes strong relationships with your subscribers.

Setting up an email list is a lot of work up front. You'll need to prepare an email marketing plan, put together a buzz piece to encourage people to subscribe to your list, and create an autoresponder sequence that engages your subscribers.

You'll also need to learn the art of composing effective sales emails and writing subject lines that grab attention.

After this initial investment, you'll only need to do a small amount of work to keep subscribers engaged. A weekly or monthly email is more than sufficient. In exchange, you'll be growing a marketing asset that will stay with you for life.

Connect with Influencers

As we previously mentioned, bootstrapping isn't only about doing everything yourself. It's about putting the resources you have to their best use—and other people are a great resource. That means you need to know how to strategically ask for help when you need it.

Influencers can help you:

Amplify your message. If they've got a big audience, they can quickly boost the visibility of your business.
Network with power players. Perhaps there's an investor or potential customer who you'd love to connect with. Being put in touch with them through your network means they're more likely to respond, compared to getting in touch with a cold call.
Make sure you're taken seriously. Influencers are people whose words carry weight—and when they talk about you, they transfer the trust people have in them to your business.

How can you connect with influencers?

Follow them on Twitter. Then respond to their tweets. You'll find some people are more willing to talk to you than others. That's okay—you don't need everyone to talk to you.
Join a LinkedIn group they're part of. And engage them in discussion. LinkedIn groups are a good way to build all kinds of connections—influencer or otherwise.
Write about them on your blog. Writing about someone is a big compliment, and a good way of getting their attention. A simple way of doing this is to take something they've said, then explain why you agree or disagree.

Learn from What Works

It's unlikely that you're the best small business in your niche. Even if you are, there are still things you can do to improve.

Instead of discovering marketing strategies by trial and error—which is a rapid path to burnout—look at what your competitors are doing. What do they do to engage with their customers? Sign up to their email list. Follow them on social media. Create a Google Alert to track their media appearances.

You'll quickly learn what works, and you can use what you find as inspiration for your own marketing strategies.

Now, Over to You

If you're a small business owner, have you ever thought of yourself as a bootstrapper? What bootstrapping marketing strategies do you use?

Resources

Graphic Credit: Boot designed by Yorlmar Campos from the Noun Project.

Editorial Note: This content was originally published in December of 2014. We're sharing it again because our editors have determined that this information is still accurate and relevant.

How to Start an Online Business: Driven by Your Customers' Needs

2016-05-15T20:15:22+00:00

It happens so fast. An initial idea that germinates and grows. Or a sudden epiphany that strikes like a bolt of lightning.

How to start an online business and put your customers first. (Image source: GraphicRiver)

Your new product or service idea begins to have legs, showing future promise after some basic research and counseling.

The problem is, there’s no clear path to getting over the startup hump. How do you take your online business concept from that nascent idea-stage to fully fledged, revenue-generating website?

Here’s a detailed guide to getting your new venture up and running online in no time (while avoiding potential pitfalls along the way). Let's look at the process of how to start an online business—one backed by a vetted idea and driven by customer need.

Identifying, Vetting, and Crystallizing a Customer Need

You’ve got an idea.

But does it solve a real problem?

Many times, first-time entrepreneurs see the lack of competition as a good thing. But counterintuitively, it’s not.

Here’s how you can go through a quick vetting process to see if your idea has the legs to make it to the starting line.

The first step is to jot down a few notes about your initial concept, which will begin to give it shape and context. For example:

Purpose: Why do you want to do what you do (beyond money)?
Principles: How are you going to do it (based on standards, values, etc.)?
Vision: What’s the long-term outlook or plan for success?
Areas of Focus: What specific things or categories are you going to be responsible for?

This exercise, if completed thoughtfully, can help give you some direction or bring up additional questions that will need to be sorted through before firing up a new website (which we’ll get to in a little bit).

Another resource that might help in this initial brainstorming period is the Lean Canvas, which is a tech startup oriented resource that shortcuts a traditional business plan and keeps you more focused on action than writing. Another popular variation you can work with is The Business Model Canvas.

If you’re still in need of additional business planning resources, look no further than our Online Microbusiness Learning Guides, and our flexible business plan tutorial:

A Fluid Business Plan Template for Your Microbusiness

Skellie

19 Sep 2013

Develop Your Customer Personas

A new business won’t succeed if people won’t purchase your new product or service.

That is the most obvious statement in the world. And yet, many first-time entrepreneurs set out naively thinking, “Of course people will want this new widget. Why wouldn’t they?!”

Only to go forward, investing tons of time, money and energy into something that they haven’t properly tested with the market, and unfortunately they fail miserably.

If you’re going to fail, or at least struggle initially, you should (ideally) find that out before investing too much, too soon.

To find this out, you’ll need to get clear on (a) exactly who your ideal customers might be, and (b) why they’d buy from you (instead of all the other options out there).

The most basic part of this is simply understanding basic demographic information. In other words, identify who your ideal customers are and what they look like. This information includes basic background info, gender, age range, household income (if appropriate) and personality characteristics of your target customer.

Plot this information in a spreadsheet, as you’re going to want to come back, revisit, and revise it frequently in the future. Here are some details to make note of as you build your customer persona(s):

Who are they?
What key information is important about their company or organization?
What is their gender?
What is their age range?
What is their household income?
What personality and characteristics are important about them?

For more relevant questions and a template to use to build your customer personas with, jump over to our comprehensive guide on the subject:

The Definitive Guide to Buyer Personas for Beginners

Lauren Holliday

13 May 2023

Once you’ve got some of the basics down, you need to drill further to uncover the challenges they’re facing, if your new product or service can help, and if there’s a good match.

What do you do next? Get outside of the office, as serial entrepreneur Steve Blank likes to say about doing customer development. The goal here is customer discovery, not sales. So you’re trying to uncover the big goals your customers are trying to reach in their day-to-day life. The obstacles they might hit along the way. And how they might like something to help them overcome these issues.

If you rush straight into your pitch at this step, it’ll likely fall on deaf ears because they might not know if they even need something similar to what you’re offering at this point, and you won’t know them well enough to communicate it effectively.

Get on the phone, LinkedIn, Facebook, or simply send cold emails at this point to people who might be a good potential customer one day, with the simple goal of getting to understand what they’re facing better.

Again, you’ll want to jot these notes down as you speak with more people, noticing the trends and patterns that keep popping up from your interviews. As you're speaking with potential customers and probing, here are a few of the types of questions to find answers to:

What are their goals?
What main challenges do they face?
What are their pain points (the symptoms of the obstacle)
What are their common objections?
How can you help them (outcomes provided to relieve their pain points)?
What marketing messaging should you emphasize to them?
What is a pitch that would possibly resonate with them?

For each consideration point, also make note of the strategy that you could use to solve their issues and how you could reach these potential customers effectively.

After you’ve started working on customer development, next you'll want to get a lay of the land. Specifically, it's time to go out and find all of your direct competitors (or companies offering exactly the same thing more or less) and indirect alternatives (not the same, but similar enough that your future potential customers could go to them instead of you).

Craft Your Market Positioning

The first mistake many make is believing that no competition for your new business is a good sign. It’s not. It means you probably won’t have customers, either.

Realistically, your new fledgling business (which probably doesn’t even have a name yet) will have many, many competitors. That’s OK!

The trick is to understand what the majority of them are doing, and then figure out how you’re going to fill a void or gap in the marketplace that they can’t (or won’t).

A brilliant (theoretical) model to follow comes from the book, the Blue Ocean Strategy. Instead of competing in oversaturated ‘red oceans’, the goal is to find open ‘blue ones’ where you can compete on different levels from the competition. For example:

Instead of competing in an existing marketplace, build an uncontested marketplace.
Rather than exploiting an existing demand being filled by your competitors, create and capture a new demand.
Instead of trying to beat the competition, make them irrelevant.

So how, exactly, do you make your competition irrelevant?

You raise, create, reduce or eliminate certain parts of your idea to find a unique angle and spin on delivering a better, faster, or cheaper alternative to the customer.

Positioning factors

Raise: Which factors should be raised well above the industry standard?
Create: Which factors should be created that the industry has never offered?
Reduce: Which factors should be reduced well below industry standards?
Eliminate: Which factors that the industry takes for granted should be eliminated?

Going through this exercise is kind of a theoretical experiment. But it forces you to think through all of the interactions and compare them to the new-found knowledge of your customers' problems that they’re struggling with.

One easy, concrete way to get this process started is to go through the competition’s websites, noting what features or unique selling proposition (USP) they’re emphasizing, and to which customer segments they are marketing.

After some basic research, turn your attention to your new product or service idea. Jot down the different compelling characteristics or features of it, and how to ‘frame’ those in the mind of the customer with concrete examples or outcomes they should expect.

In a spreadsheet, answer these questions to discover your competitors' market positioning:

What is their company name and website address?
What is their USP, and what features do they emphasize?
What customer segments are they targeting?

Once you have this information in hand, you can craft your USP to stand out competitively.

Consider what features you'll offer, what is unique about them, and what benefit they offer to your target customers. Also, clarify the outcome you're aiming to accomplish for your potential customers, giving concrete examples of the results you'll deliver.

Here is an example of the types of fields you'll want to add to your spreadsheet, so you can track competitor positioning and craft your USP competitively against them:

Market positioning sheet

Going through this research phase doesn’t sound very fun. It's a bit of work. But it does help you hopefully avoid any painful marketing mistakes that could hurt you down the road.

If you want to go the extra mile, consider even doing a basic financial model now that you have some detailed industry information.

And the good news is that we’ve now arrived at the fun part: putting your website together.

Creating Your New Website

Putting together a website for your new fledgling enterprise isn’t just a simple, thoughtless task. It's a critical step in starting an online business.

The first step for customers today, upon hearing anything remotely related to your business, will be to go to your website.

You need to plan, design, and then launch your website.

Sure, information gathering is a huge piece. But your site needs to go way beyond an ‘online brochure’ if you’re expecting to start making any money from this new online venture.

Instead, your site needs to instantly deliver credibility, have an aesthetically striking design, and be simple to use, if you want customers to come back and visit again. It also needs to provide essential methods to capture new lead information and process basic transactions.

The good news is that there’s a plethora of simple, affordable options to choose from. WordPress is the most popular and powerful of the three top Content Management Systems, while Shopify is ideal for eCommerce ventures.

Design Your Website

Many equate design with visual aesthetic. They’re not wrong, but it does go a bit deeper.

Steve Jobs put it best, once saying, “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”

With that in mind, consider how the layout of your new website might help (or hinder) people from finding what they’re looking for. That could mean everything from the general layout of the homepage to how you’re structuring the main navigation and pages underneath each major section.

Our ThemeForest marketplace also has a bunch of high quality WordPress themes and Shopify themes to choose from. A professional theme gives you not only the features and built-in options your new website needs, but also a great design to start with.

For example, Savoy is a minimal, elegant option with a beautiful design for WordPress and WooCommerce sites:

Savoy - WooCommerce WordPress Theme

While HandMade is a more contemporary, full-width site design:

HandMade - WooCommerce WordPress Theme

On the Shopify front, Material includes a host of special features specifically to help eCommerce sites sell more:

Material - Shopify Theme

Your design should also take into account elements of your site which will assist sales. Trust is a key component in sales, and building it can be a high hurdle when nobody yet knows who you are.

Credibility indicators can help, though, which include everything from your address and phone number to interesting statistics that bolster your claims, press mentions or customer testimonials.

For example, the Primally Pure website uses testimonials from other notable bloggers in their niche to highlight the quality (and credibility) of their natural skincare products:

Primally Pure - website

Marketing Your New Website

Yes, SEO can be extremely valuable for businesses, as search is one of the top drivers of new customers. However, it’s nearly useless for brand new websites as algorithms are designed to reward sites that are popular and authoritative on relevant topics (which your site isn’t yet).

In time you’ll want to focus more on it, but for now, you should put your limited time and money into more proactive forms of traffic (instead of just sitting around, hoping the SEO gods will smile upon your site one day).

First and foremost, start with your personal network. Beyond the obvious friends and family, LinkedIn’s prospecting features make it easy to reconnect with past colleagues. You can also use it to find which of your connections are connected to influential people who might be able to help you with exposure.

Other forms of referrals include top bloggers and journalists in your new niche. Try to partner with them in a variety of ways, including:

product/service reviews
contests
guest posts (and other forms of content marketing)
cross-promotions
affiliates or revenue sharing agreements

The aforementioned Primally Pure does a great job working with bloggers on product reviews, as a quick Google search shows:

Product review search results

Advertising, if done correctly, is also a wise investment. For example, if you pay $100 and you make back $150, then you can take that profit and keep reinvesting into your online business marketing.

Direct response-style advertising, like Google Ads and Bing Ads, can be great for reaching people expressing intent in your product or service (i.e. typing in exactly what they’re looking for).

Google Shopping Campaigns and Facebook’s Dynamic Product Ads are perfect for eCommerce companies.

And of course, social advertising through Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn is a great way to increase brand awareness and distribute content.

Which brings us to social media.

The best social marketing strategies blend content publishing, community management and customer service (which isn’t always easy to pull off). And it's getting easier to sell directly on social media, e.g. through Instagram shops.

Before diving head first into the deep end, take a look at brands you like and reverse-engineer what they’re doing. Contrary to popular belief, the big brands with the most fans are not always the best examples to learn from.

Instead, look at small, independent online business examples (because that’s what you are, after all) who have a unique sensibility with a caring, engaged community supporting them.

Little Baberham is one such example, where their Instagram successfully highlights and promotes their products through interesting and engaging content (without being overtly pushy or too 'salesy').

You might even want to combine techniques for best success. For example, increase the reach of content by using Instagram’s new advertising options. Check out these 53 Instagram ad examples for more.

Starting an Online Business: Your Journey Forward

There’s no map to successfully getting your online business off the ground. But the journey is part of the process; learning, growing, and iterating along the way.

Start by researching who your potential customers are, and getting an overview of the new potential marketplace to understand where you’ll fit in.

Choose a flexible but professional website platform like WordPress or Shopify to make your life simple, and focus on what’s most important. And explore a variety of marketing or promotional methods to figure out which ones work best for you.

Here are showcases of popular WordPress themes and Shopify templates to find the best one for your online business:

Starting a new business online is never easy. But that doesn’t mean it has to be risky or impossible either.

Editorial Note: This content was originally published in 2016. We're sharing it again because our editors have determined that this information is still accurate and relevant.

7-step content marketing plan: A quick-start guide

2016-04-08T20:36:48+00:00

Want to transform your content marketing from scattershot to strategic? You're not alone. While 88% of B2B marketers use content marketing, only 29% say their content strategy is very effective, according to the Content Marketing Institute.

But here's the good news: creating a solid content marketing plan doesn't have to be complicated. Whether you're just starting out or looking to level up your existing strategy, this guide will walk you through building a content marketing plan that actually works.

Let's cut through the complexity and create a plan that turns your content efforts into real business results. Ready to get started?

7 steps to create your content marketing plan

A successful content marketing plan isn't just a document. It's your roadmap to reaching and engaging your target audience. Whether you're creating your first content marketing strategy plan or refreshing an existing one, these seven steps will guide you through the process.

What is content marketing?

Andrew Blackman

19 Feb 2025

We'll walk through each step with practical examples, plus real-world case studies that show these principles in action. By the end, you'll have all the tools you need to create a content marketing plan template that drives real results.

1. Set your content marketing strategy

The foundation of effective content marketing isn't just creating content—it's creating content with a clear purpose. Without defined goals, you risk wasting resources on content that doesn't serve your business objectives.

Start by identifying your primary content marketing goal. While you may have multiple objectives, focusing on one core goal helps ensure your strategy stays focused and measurable. Here are the five most impactful goals to consider:

Brand awareness and reinforcement

This is the most popular reason people advertise. They’re trying to get more eyeballs and broader awareness. Brand awareness can be difficult to measure, but is a crucial part of growing your business.

Brand awareness starts with a blank canvas. While traditional advertising focuses on interruption, content marketing builds lasting awareness. (Image: Envato.)

Content marketing through blogging and social strategies is the best route for this because it’s organic and authentic, meaning people will trust your brand more and feel more loyal to you. However, it's not an overnight investment.

Lead conversion and nurturing

Once someone subscribes to your emails, they’ve given you “permission” to market to them (of course, not in a spammy, salesy way).

Depending on what their conversion goal is, businesses may want to convert visitors into signing up for a webinar or downloading an ebook. You can keep using content to move them through the buying cycle on their customer journey.

Customer conversion

In this stage, the goal is to convert a subscriber into a customer. At this point, the subscriber is now a marketing qualified lead (MQL) so you start to send them content about your product or service.

10 different types of the most effective marketing emails

Celine (CX) Roque

10 Feb 2025

You could send them case studies of how your product or service worked for other clients. They need to know, in this stage, why your offering is best for their needs.

Customer service

Good customer service content helps your customers succeed with your products. Make how-to guides and tips that teach them to use what they bought. When you help customers learn early, you'll get fewer support tickets and build better relationships.

How to Deal With Angry Difficult Customers Effectively

Sarah Joy

12 Oct 2022

Pay attention to what your customers ask about most often. If many people have the same question, create content that answers it. You can make videos, guides, or updates that help new customers become comfortable using your product.

Customer loyalty and retention

You have customers—now, it’s time to keep those customers. You could do something like create a customer newsletter or host an event or create a webinar series.

The more engaging, high-quality content you create, the better you drive customer loyalty and retention.

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2. Research and define your audience

It's all about sending the right message to the right person at the right time.

But here's the thing: you need to know exactly who that "right person" is before you can create content they'll care about. Many content marketing plan templates fail because teams skip the research and rely on guesses about their audience.

Finding your ideal audience is like spotting the orange hard hat—it's about quality over quantity. (Image: Envato.)

Don't fall into the trap of chasing bigger numbers. More email subscribers or social media followers won't help if they're not the right fit for your business. Focus on understanding and reaching the people who really need what you offer. Quality always beats quantity when it comes to building an audience.

Action item 1: Gather information

Start by learning everything you can about your target audience. Talk to current customers, watch what people say online, and study your competition. This research helps you create better content marketing plan templates that really connect with readers.

Ask yourself key questions about your audience:

What other products or services do they use now?
Which websites, social media, or online groups do they visit most?
Who's already serving these customers well?
What common traits do your best customers share?

Look for patterns in the answers. These insights will help shape your content marketing strategy. The better you understand your audience, the more likely they'll pay attention to what you create.

Action item 2: Make lists

Once you understand who your audience is, it's time to find where they spend their time online. Your future customers are already out there—you just need to know where to look.

Professional networks like LinkedIn and industry-specific forums are often goldmines for B2B audiences. For consumer brands, focus on social platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook groups. Don't forget about specialty marketplaces either—places like Etsy for crafters or Product Hunt for tech enthusiasts.

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Industry events and conferences can also point you toward active online communities. Whether they're posting on LinkedIn or sharing on Discord, most professional groups now have a strong digital presence. Look for places where your audience already talks about problems you can solve.

Pro tip: Start with 2-3 platforms where your audience is most active rather than trying to be everywhere at once. This helps you build real connections instead of spreading yourself too thin.

Action item 3: Target

Now that you've gathered information and found where your audience spends time online, it's time to get strategic about reaching them. This is where your content marketing plan starts taking shape.

Different platforms need different approaches. LinkedIn users might want industry insights and professional tips, while Instagram followers often connect better with behind-the-scenes content and quick how-to guides. Match your content style to how people use each platform.

Start by focusing on one main channel where most of your potential customers hang out. Test different types of content to see what they like best. Once you know what works, you can adapt those winning ideas for other platforms.

Want to dig deeper into understanding your customers? Check out our complete guide to crafting customer personas that actually work.

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3. Do keyword research

Think about the last time you needed an answer to something. You probably went straight to Google, right? That's exactly what your potential customers do too. They type in questions and look for helpful answers.

This is where keyword research becomes a crucial part of your content marketing plan. It helps you understand exactly what your audience is searching for online. When you know their search terms, you can create content that answers their questions.

Good sample content marketing plans aren't just about writing what you think is important—they're about matching your content to what people actually want to know. Start by listing questions your customers often ask. Then use tools like Google's Keyword Planner to find related terms that lots of people search for.

Google's Keyword Planner is a powerful tool to calibrate your content marketing efforts.

Focus on topics where you can offer real help. If you sell garden tools, for example, you might write guides about "how to start a vegetable garden" or "best tools for new gardeners." Your content marketing strategy should connect what you know with what people want to learn.

Look at the questions that show up in Google's "People also ask" section when you search for topics in your field. These questions often make great topics for your content.

4. Plan your content map

Every strong content marketing plan needs main topics that anchor your strategy. These big topics, called content pillars, are like the foundation of a building—everything else connects back to them.

Like planning a journey, creating your content map means plotting the best routes to reach your audience. (Image: Envato.)

Think of content pillars as your core topics. If you sell camping gear, your pillars might be "Beginner's Guide to Camping," "Camping Safety," and "Family Camping Tips." These big topics give you plenty of room to create related content. From each pillar, you can create many smaller pieces of content:

blog posts that dig into specific details
quick social media tips
how-to videos
helpful email newsletters

Start by choosing three or four main topics that matter most to your customers. Make sure each topic:

connects to your business goals
answers important customer questions
gives you room to create lots of related content
helps establish you as an expert

This approach helps organize your content marketing strategy and makes it easier to plan what to create next. Plus, when you link related content together, you help readers find more of what they need—and keep them coming back to your site.

5. Create your content calendar

Planning beats winging it every time. A content calendar helps you stay organized, maintain a steady publishing schedule, and keep your content marketing plan on track. Here's how to build one that works for you.

Pick your planning tool

Tools help bring sanity to the creative process. While you can use a content management system like WordPress to draft and publish content, a separate tool for planning is highly recommended.

Many creatives choose Notion for this because of its flexibility. In my own workspace, I can pivot between a spreadsheet-style view, Kanban board, and individual cards with notes and briefs. I tag each piece I'm producing with due date, content intent, and focused keywords.

Choose a tool that fits how you work. You can view your calendar as a list, board, or timeline. Trello and Asana are also popular choices, especially when working with teams. Even a simple Google Sheet can work well if you prefer spreadsheets!

Set your schedule

Decide how often you'll publish new content. It's better to post less often but consistently than to start strong and fade out. Look at your resources and be realistic about what you can maintain:

Weekly blog posts?
Monthly in-depth guides?
Daily social media updates?

Whatever schedule you choose, stick to it. Your audience will come to expect and look forward to your content.

Plan your content pieces

For each piece of content, outline these key details:

Main topic and angle
Target audience
Key points to cover
SEO keywords to include
Type of content (blog post, video, etc.)
Call to action

Pro tip: Use your content pillars from the previous step to guide what you create. Each piece should connect back to one of your main topics while helping reach your overall content marketing goals.

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6. Design your content distribution strategy

Creating great content is only half the battle. Your content marketing plan needs a solid strategy for getting your work in front of the right people. Think about distribution as building bridges between your content and your audience.

Social media continues to lead content distribution, but with a twist. While platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn remain strong, TikTok and YouTube Shorts now drive significant engagement. Choose platforms where your target audience spends their time. Community engagement also matters more than ever. Look for:

industry-specific Discord servers
professional Slack communities
Reddit communities in your field
niche forums where your audience gathers

The key is to share your content where it adds value to existing conversations. Don't just drop links—instead, join discussions, answer questions, and become a trusted voice in these spaces. Your content marketing strategy should focus on building relationships, not just driving traffic.

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Start with two or three distribution channels and do them well. It's better to have a strong presence on a few platforms than to spread yourself too thin across many.

7. Measure your results

Every good content marketing plan needs clear ways to track success. Instead of just hoping your content works, set up specific goals you can measure. This helps you know what's working and what needs to change.

Pick numbers that matter

Focus on measurements that connect to your business goals. For example:

If you want more website visitors, track your monthly traffic.
If you're building an email list, watch your subscription rate.
If you're after sales, monitor how many readers become customers.

Make your goals SMART

The best goals are:

Specific: "Grow our email list" becomes "Add 100 new subscribers."
Measurable: Use real numbers you can track.
Attainable: Set goals you can actually reach.
Relevant: Choose goals that help your business grow.
Time-bound: Set clear deadlines for each goal.

Check and adjust

Look at your numbers at least once a month. Ask yourself:

Which content pieces performed best?
Where did most of your visitors come from?
What made some content work better than others?

Use what you learn to make your content marketing strategy better. Sometimes you'll need to change your goals, and that's okay. The point is to keep improving based on real results.

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You're ready to launch your content marketing plan

Creating a winning content marketing strategy is a marathon, not a sprint. Look for early wins, but remember that the real impact comes from consistent execution.

Even the most successful content marketers regularly evaluate and adjust their strategies. Approach content marketing with the scientific method in mind: hypothesize, test, measure, and iterate. Use the metrics you defined earlier to track progress, identify what's working, and optimize your plan as you grow.

Ready to bring your content marketing plan to life? Explore Envato's collection of professional assets. From website templates to social media graphics, you can create great posts with less effort than ever.

Launch Day: Generating Initial Buzz for Your Startup

2014-06-30T14:17:48+00:00

Start the countdown.

We’ve come a long way now in our series on launching a startup, starting from an idea and going through the steps of refining the idea, recruiting a team and developing your first product.

Now it’s time to launch.

Learn how to get ready for a successful business launch. Image source: Envato Elements

Generating buzz is vital for the success of a startup. With more than half a million new businesses launched every year, you need to stand out from the crowd. A successful launch can help you build a user base rapidly, giving you strong social proof and improving your chances of long-term growth.

In this tutorial, you’ll see some examples of successful launch strategies, and also get an insight into the steps you need to take before launch. How can you build up an email list, generate buzz on social media, and get press coverage? You’ll learn all of that here, so that by the end, you’re ready to embark on day one of your new startup.

Step 1: Build Your Email List

Well before your official launch, you need to begin getting people signed up to your email list.

Why email? Well, social media is great for sparking conversations, and we’ll cover that in Step 2, but we’re starting with email because it’s by far the best way to keep people engaged and convert them into customers.

Consider this research, which found that the conversion rate for email marketing was more than 3%, while search came in under 2% and social media less than 1%.

In terms of your launch, it’s so much more powerful to be able to email people directly with the announcement than to post it on social media, where many of your followers will miss it among all the other noise.

We covered some of the basics of gathering email addresses in an earlier tutorial in this startup series, and we have plenty more tips in our series on email marketing.

For now, a couple of key things to do as you prepare for your launch are:

Optimize Your Website for Signups

Even if all you have is a basic “Coming Soon” page, you can use it to generate interest in your launch and entice people to sign up. It’s about giving just the right amount of information to grab people’s attention, but leaving an element of mystery to pique their curiosity.

Also consider offering a special bonus for early subscribers. Have a look through the some ideas on how to set up a popular launch page. Don’t forget to test your page using A/B split testing, to find out which configuration gets the most signups.

Start to Communicate Regularly

Many people focus on getting signups, and forget about engaging their audience immediately. You don’t want your first email to be about your launch; the danger is that if it’s been weeks or months since they signed up, people will have forgotten who you are and why they were interested. They may even have forgotten that they signed up at all, and treat your email as spam—not a good way to start a relationship.

So send out emails regularly, and keep offering people something useful with each message. That way, they’ll stay signed up, and will be primed to respond positively to your official launch. Email programs like AWeber and Mailchimp let you set up “autoresponder” sequences so that you can automatically send people a particular set of messages after they sign up.

The iterative product development strategy that we talked about in the previous tutorial can tie in perfectly with this. If you’re gradually releasing small parts of your eventual product on a regular basis, that’s the perfect way to stay in touch. You’re giving people something they can use and see the value in right away, and building up their curiosity for the main launch.

Step 2: Use Social Media

Although we started with email, social media also offers great options for generating buzz around your startup.

The first step, obviously, is to set up profiles on the major sites like Twitter and Facebook, and begin engaging in conversations both with potential customers and with influencers.

But also think more broadly. Personal blogs were the original social media, and many of them still have large and devoted followings. Mint.com grew an email waiting list of 20,000, in part by finding small blogs with passionate readers and sponsoring them. This approach allowed Mint to build relationships with influential writers, while also reaching a broad audience.

Think about integrating social media with your email marketing too. If you want to get attention, giving away something valuable like an iPad often works well. If you can run popular contests, or create fun and shareable video content, then you’ve got a great chance of garnering followers before launch. Even people who don’t sign up will at least have been exposed to your company, giving you some level of name recognition.

Step 3: Don’t Forget About Traditional Media

If you think print is dead and it’s all about social media now, think again. Eyeglass company Warby Parker achieved explosive growth in its early days, despite spending absolutely nothing on marketing and advertising when it launched in 2010. Its strategy instead was heavily based on traditional media.

The company managed to get two well-placed editorials in Vogue and GQ around its launch date, generating so much interest that its site crashed. Within two weeks, the firm had sold out of 15 styles of eyeglasses, and had a wait list of 20,000 customers.

An article in a popular publication, or a spot on the TV news, can have a huge impact on a startup’s growth, as Warby Parker’s example shows. Not only does it get you instant attention from thousands of people, but also it gives you that precious commodity in the world of startups: credibility. Long after the article has come out, you’ll be able to impress potential customers by saying “As seen in The New York Times,” or wherever you were mentioned. Even with smaller publications, media mentions count for a lot.

So how do you go about getting them? Well, you could start with the steps we went through in our tutorial on getting journalists to write about your company.

For startups specifically, it’s good to return to the kernel of your original idea, the compelling problem that you’re solving, and learn to state it as clearly and simply as possible. If you’re truly offering a new solution to a problem that plagues a publication’s readers, you’ll have instant news value.

Make sure you have some kind of demo to show, or that you can provide beta access to the product you’re developing. Journalists will want to take your product for a full test drive, so that they can feel confident in recommending it.

Also make it easy for journalists to find what they need—a simple press page with high-resolution images, videos, contact information and basic details about the company is a must.

Step 4: Plan the Launch Event

Of course, a great way to get attention is with your actual launch event. This gives journalists a news hook, provides people on social media with images and videos to share, and if you’re creative or have a great story to tell, it can create a big splash.

There are two basic schools of thought around launch events.

1. Launch at a Major Conference

Launching at a prestigious industry conference makes a lot of sense. You get a large, ready-made audience, including plenty of journalists, investors and influencers. The conference organizers also handle all of the details of the event to make sure everything looks professional.

For tech startups, some of the big events are:

Some major companies have launched at conferences, such as Foursquare at SXSW 2009. Twitter also got a major boost from being featured at SXSW 2007, although it officially launched slightly earlier.

2. Avoid the Major Conferences

There is a school of thought, however, that says it’s better to avoid the major conferences and arrange your own event.

The advantage of this approach is that you can target people more effectively, inviting a select group of key journalists and industry insiders. Your audience may be smaller, but it will be more engaged. You can offer exclusivity, which will make people more likely to write about or talk about your event. You’re in control of it, so can set your own tone. And unlike the conferences, you don’t have to compete with dozens of other hopeful startups. The microphone is yours.

Bug Labs, for example, launched with a deliberately small event—dinner with four carefully-selected people. Robert Scoble, one of the people invited, called it “the best product launch I’ve seen in recent memory.” He added: “It made us feel emotionally connected with the product in a way I don’t feel for many other products.”

Either strategy can be successful—it depends on what you want to achieve, and what effect you’re going for. If you do decide to plan your own party, here are some tips on doing it right.

Step 5: Launch!

If you’ve prepared well, then the launch itself should be a success. You’ve got a base of eager users on your email list and on social media, and have already been communicating with them and feeding them sneak previews of your product. And a well-organized event, either at a major conference or on your own turf, has given you some extra buzz.

So when you flip the switch over from “beta” version to live, officially launched software, you should have good traffic and usage from the start. You can use those customers’ feedback to refine your product and continue developing it, as we covered in the previous tutorial.

It’s important to be hyper-connected right around launch date. An influx of traffic is a wonderful thing, but it may also uncover problems or glitches that you hadn’t noticed in the earlier stages. So you need to stay on top of everything, tuning in to social media and listening carefully to what people are saying to you—and saying about you. Then you can try to fix any bugs, or tweak anything people are finding confusing, as soon as possible.

You can also try to squeeze extra publicity out of your launch after the event itself, in the brief window you have before it becomes old news. If you’ve got some good coverage, try to use that to convince other outlets that they should be writing about you too. Suggest different angles, so that the blogger or journalist has a fresh story to tell.

Where Next?

So you’ve followed all the steps in this series on launching a startup, and you’re now on day one of your new business. Congratulations!

By now, you should have generated a solid idea for a business that solves a real problem and meets a real need. You’ve tested it extensively and refined it as necessary, and you’ve recruited a talented team to run it with you. You’ve developed your first product using the principles of agile product development, and you’ve built buzz and excitement around your launch. You’re off to a flying start, with a growing customer base and plenty of media attention.

The hard work, of course, is only just beginning. A successful launch doesn’t guarantee a sustainable long-term business. There are plenty of companies that generated huge buzz in the early days but then quietly folded a year or two later (read the $41 million cautionary tale of Color Labs, for example).

After launch, your startup enters a new phase. It’s no longer just about developing a product and signing people up to use it. It’s about developing a sustainable business plan, managing your staff, pricing your products effectively, giving good customer service, financing your growth, and a whole lot more.

Gradually you’ll leave the “startup” label behind, and become a regular company. So read more of the business tutorials and courses on Envato Tuts+ to learn about the strategies you’ll need as you run a fully functioning, profitable business.

Resources

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Graphic Credit: Lightning designed by Madebyelvis from the Noun Project.

Editorial Note: This content was originally published in 2014. We're sharing it again because our editors have determined that this information is still accurate and relevant.