- When pitching your startup or small business to potential partners and customers, appearances matter.
- Most businesses have access to basic software like Google Sheets, PowerPoint, and Apple Keynote, but here are five online services that go even further.
- These services can help design, organize, present, and track your team's presentations with flair, while saving you time and stress over how it will look.
- Visit BI Prime for more stories.
You only get to make one first impression, and a big part of that is how your startup or small business presents itself to potential partners and customers.
Depending on your team's design skills, you may need to turn to one of the many available tools and services to create winning marketing materials and pitch decks.
Most businesses have access to basic software like Google Sheets, PowerPoint, and Apple Keynote, but here are five online services that go even further.
Each offer a free trial, and provide options for design and technical support. Most offer special pricing for students, teachers, and nonprofits.
Whichever option you choose, you'll want to make sure you can easily update your content and run the presentation smoothly, including jumping between slides, without too much fumbling around.
Slidebean
slidebean.com
How much it costs: Starter, $96/year; Premium, $228/year; discounts for ".edu" accounts; special plan available for startup founders.
What it does: Slidebean uses artificial intelligence to automatically populate slides with your content.
Who's it for: Startups, marketing, and sales teams who need to generate presentations.
Canva
canva.com
How much it costs: Pro, $120/year per user; Enterprise, $360/year per user; free and discounted accounts available for nonprofits and educators.
What it does: Canva provides a full suite of tools for creating branding and marketing materials.
Who's it for: Teams that need a full suite of custom design solutions, from presentations and social media content to logos and printed products.
Haiku Deck
haikudeck.com
How much it costs: Pro, $120/year; Premium, $360/year; special pricing for nonprofit and education accounts.
What it does: Haiku Deck has thousands of templates and a platform for presenting on any connected device.
Who's it for: Haiku Deck strives for simplicity in creation and presentation alike, and is one of the easiest to use.
Prezi
prezi.com
How much it costs: Standard, $84/year; Plus, $240/year; Premium, $480/year; Enterprise and education pricing available.
What it does: Prezi is a canvas software that is more like a whiteboard than a slideshow.
Who's it for: Anyone with ideas that are best presented in a nonlinear fashion. The app provides the ability to zoom out and see the connections between different elements.
Pitch Deck
pitchdeck.io
How much it costs: $250/pitch
What it does: Pitch Deck is a platform that lets teams track the performance of individual presentations, which enables the comparison of different messaging strategies.
Who's it for: Startups and sales teams that have outgrown other tools and want better insights and analytics about the effectiveness of their presentations.