Whether you are a business owner or an employee, instances of pitching new ideas are abundant.

Perhaps you want to present your idea to fund a new project, pitch to an editor to get commissioned, or to run a crowdfunding project.

Your ability to generate instant interest from your audience will determine whether your pitch is successful or not.

Most pitches are flat and predictable thus fail to grab the reader’s attention. So what is the formula to win a pitch?

1. Explain

Give the background of the subject or story you are looking to develop.

If you are not a pro of the topic, the quickest way is to find experts who will share their knowledge and shed their light on the topic. People get exhausted of hearing the same thing. So bring a new perspective to it.

2. Expose

Go behind the scene. Expose the issue from the inside.

Identify someone you will talk to and who can share his or her experience of the topic you are investigating. The person doesn’t have to be an expert.

Follow him/her around and let him/her talk. Use the 5Ws & H (what, who, when, where, why and how) to ask questions that will elicit insightful answers and give you gut reactions.

3. Explode

How far are you willing to go with your topic or project?

You can push it, dig a little deeper to get behind the issue.  Explode some of the things you might take for granted. Don’t be afraid to break the rules and be provocative.

4. Emergent

Find out if there is anything new coming in the field that is breaking the old rules.

Challenge the assumptions. Look at the stereotypes and burst them – find alternatives. Talk to people from this emerging trend and listen to what is important to them.

5. Enchant

This is the lovely poetic feel whereby something profound happened. Look out for the unusual stuff.

Make your story enchanting. Add surprising elements to enhance the experience of your audience.

Use the insights from the 5 Es and write a 200-word pitch with bite sizes sentences:

• What is your idea? Give a short background.
• Say why you are interested in it and want to make it?
• Where is it happening?
• Describe exactly how are you going to realise it.
• What people are going to experience as a result?

Make it conversational. Read your pitch out loud. It should flow.

Plan to release your story in multimedia formats: text, video, audio, photos, etc.

Tell how you would engage with people on social media and other channels. Run it like a campaign.

Do you have other tips you have used to generate instant interest with your pitch? Like the post and share your experience below.