Settle in for the week ahead, power up your marketing engine and maximize your momentum with a quick review of this company/elevator pitch from a product inventor who identified a need that would save women money on beauty products.
An elevator pitch is an essential weapon for every company. For those who think it is merely for startups and those seeking investors, think again. You’ll find that having and delivering a succinct short summary of what you have to offer in less than two minutes is an effective marketing tool for creating favorable impressions and top of mind awareness. Having a solid elevator pitch can make the difference between an opportunity seized and an opportunity missed. It opens the door to a more formal encounter that could possibly seal the deal.
A good elevator pitch offers the following information:
- The company name, category and a brief description of what the company does and the problem it is attempting to solve
- The service market/target audience
- The proposed solution (product or service)
- The business model
- The key benefit of the solution service or product
- How the company compares to other familiar companies
- Why the company will succeed
- The vision for the company
We dug up this 2010 segment of ABC-TV’s Shark Tank, a reality television series featuring business pitches from aspiring entrepreneurs to a panel of potential investors. You’ll see what is a successful pitch for LipStix Remix, a product designed for women to recycle unused lipstick. However, as we embarked on a little research, we learned reality bites. Despite a six-figure commitment from three investors for a 50 percent stake in the business, as of March 2013, LipStix Remix is no longer in production. We’re eager to learn what happened and believe that this is a great case study. Did the infusion of cash help or hurt? Did LipStix Remix give up too much control? Was the business model and plan updated to meet the increased expectations of consumers, investors and owners? When we find out, we’ll post an update here. In the meantime, we found a good article, particularly for small businesses, on the perils of angel capital from http://www.allbusiness.com.
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LGK Marketing Matters Blog 
Gay, this is such an interesting study. It appears from the LipStix Remix facebook page, that the company is no longer selling their kits, and that they may have sold the patent for the product. It also appears from a couple of the posted comments that the owner of the company may be prohibited from discussing the situation via a gag order.
Agreed. Our hunch is that somewhere between the original business plan and infusion of capital, the company lost its direction and failed to revisit and revise a model for profitability.
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