Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of e-marketing in the context
of consumers in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia. The research methodology is of
quantitative type using the simple random sampling. Data were collected through a
questionnaire distributed to a sample of 1,425 social media consumers. The study
variables include consumer buying decision as a dependent variable and social
media advertising as an independent variable. Income, education level, gender, age
and culture were used as moderating variables. The results of the study indicate
that social media advertising significantly influence consumer buying decision.
Gender, age, and culture of consumers have significant moderating effects whereas
income and education have insignificant effects on the relationship between
consumer buying decision and social media advertising. This paper is pioneering in
that it investigates the effects of social media marketing on consumer buying
decision in the context of consumers in Riyadh City.

Keywords
consumer behaviour, social media marketing and advertising, Saudi Arabia, utility
maximisation, cultural differences
An investment proposal should include the following preliminary information:
 

1. Brief description of project.

2. Sponsorship, management & technical assistance: 

o History and business of sponsors, including financial information.

o Proposed management arrangements and names and curricula vitae of managers.
o Description of technical arrangements and other external assistance
(management, production, marketing, finance, etc.).

3. Market & sales:

o Projected production volumes, unit prices, sales objectives, and market share of
proposed venture.
o Potential users of products and distribution channels to be used.
o Present sources of supply for products.
o Future competition and possibility that market may be satisfied by substitute
products.
o Tariff protection or import restrictions affecting products.
o Critical factors that determine market potential.

4. Technical feasibility, manpower, raw material resources & environment:

o Comments on special technical complexities and need for know-how and special
skills.
o Possible suppliers of equipment.
o Availability of manpower and of infrastructure facilities (transport and
communications, power, water, etc.).
o Breakdown of projected operating costs by major categories of expenditures.
o Source, cost, and quality of raw material supply and relations with support
industries.
o Import restrictions on required raw materials.
o Proposed plant location in relation to suppliers, markets, infrastructure, and
manpower.
o Proposed plant size in comparison with other known plants.
o Potential environmental issues and how these issues are addressed. 

5. Investment requirements, project financing, and returns:

o Proposed financial structure of venture, indicating expected sources and terms of

equity and debt financing.

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 o Type of IFC financing (loan, equity, quasi-equity, a combination of financial
products, etc.) and amount.
o Projected financial statement, information on profitability, and return on
investment.
o Critical factors determining profitability.

6. Government support & regulations:

o Specific government incentives and support available to project.

o Expected contribution of project to economic development.
o Outline of government regulations on exchange controls and conditions of capital
entry and repatriation.

7. Timetable envisaged for project preparation and completion.

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How to present a business idea to investors
1. Tell a story.

A common topic among experts was the need to be personable and create a narrative.
While facts and figures go a long way, it’s important to use those numbers to tell a
meaningful story. Framing your business idea as a story also helps you explain your
passion for your business.

Erin Beck, the CEO of Komae, a cooperative childcare app, believes storytelling sets
her presentations apart from those of her peers. She creates an emotional appeal with
an engaging pitch. “Make the story more important than what you’re selling because
once the market numbers speak for themselves, they don’t connect with you for what
you’re doing, but why you’re doing it,” said Beck.

Key Takeaway

Telling a story can be a great way to connect with your audience and to capture and keep their
attention.

2. Define the problem.

You might be head over heels about your business concept. Your prototypes for the
product are all stellar, and you’re thrilled about your business plan. Unfortunately, if your
product doesn’t solve a problem or fill a need for customers, investors aren’t going to
share your excitement.

“Start off with the problem,” said Donna Griffit, a corporate storyteller for startups. “Do
you understand the need that’s in the market today? Do you have the facts to back that
up?”

It is critical that you can answer these questions when heading into a meeting with
investors. Thorough market research, along with customer surveys and interviews, can
show if your product is needed. If you lack the data to prove that your idea addresses a
problem, it’s difficult to engage the audience and even more difficult to get funding from
investors. 

“I’ve seen startups try to take shortcuts on this and end up with glazed-over eyes in their
audience,” Griffit said.

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3. Practice as much as you can.

The weeks and days leading up to your pitch to potential investors is no time to be shy.
Give your pitch to friends, family, neighbors or anyone else willing to listen. Not only
does practicing help take the nerves off, but it also allows you to learn where you can
improve your presentation.

“You’ve likely told your origin story dozens of times and have it down,” said David
Ciccarelli, the founder and CEO of Voices.com. “Now, get ready to tell it possibly
hundreds more. During our capital raise, I told our founding story 200 times. While it’s
old news to you, it’s new for the investor, so keep it upbeat and tell it with enthusiasm.”

Don’t hesitate to pitch to multiple potential investors. Ciccarelli went with his team to
cities across the country and met with a few investors in each city. This gave his group
practice and put his business idea in front of more eyes.

Once you’ve gotten comfortable with your pitch, start focusing on the little details.  

“Use the privacy of your home or office to talk through your pitch and work on making it
flow well,” Ciccarelli said. “Don’t be afraid to record your pitch, both audio and video,
and review it with a critical eye to make sure you nail every sentence.”

Demonstrating proper body language and tightening up speaking mistakes can be the
difference between successful and unsuccessful pitches. When you go over the minor
details, Ciccarelli recommends planning your pauses. By doing this, you can make a
perfectly rehearsed speech sound spontaneous.

Did You Know?

Your body language conveys as much, if not more, as the words you speak. Be attentive to the
signals you may be sending.

“To make your pitch sound more natural, plan your dramatic pauses out,” he said. “The
pause gives the impression that you’re coming up with the material on the fly. Plus,
you’ll have a moment to collect your thoughts for what you’re going to say next.”

4. Be realistic.

While practicing the pitch is a must, very rarely will your pitch go exactly as planned.
Having realistic expectations will help when you’re preparing. It’s important to practice
for a realistic presentation experience, which may include interruptions by investors
asking questions.

In addition to expecting disruptions, it’s important to view the presentation from the
audience’s perspective. Brian Lim, an entrepreneur who owns three e-commerce
businesses (EmazingLights, iHeartRaves and INTO THE AM) that collectively earn

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more than $20 million annually, pitched one of his businesses on Shark Tank in 2015. He
received offers from all five judges on the show and made a deal with Mark Cuban and
Daymond John. Lim credits his success to proof of concept: He entered the show with
$13 million in sales to date, and his ability to view his business from a different vantage
point set him apart.

“I had to imagine myself as an investor and check off boxes that I would want to see if I
were going to invest money into a company,” Lim said. 

Presentation mistakes to avoid

There are also some important things not to do when making a pitch:

 Be late for the meeting.

 Dress inappropriately. What’s appropriate will depend on your audience and your
company/product brand.
 Fail to convey clear benefits for your intended target market.
 Use terminology, lingo or acronyms your audience may not recognize.
 Talk over or interrupt those in your audience.
 Be self-congratulatory; e.g., “This is a great idea/product!”
 Argue with your potential investors.
 Bring up deal details, like pricing, too early.

Move forward with confidence

It takes time and tenacity to make and close a business deal. Following the ideas above
about what to do and what not to do can help you ensure that you’re prepared to make
the pitch.

While immigrants and women entrepreneurs can face additional challenges,

these stories of successful young entrepreneurs can provide inspiration to push onward.

Maintaining your confidence and conveying your belief in your business or product idea,
without being arrogant, is key to making a positive impact and getting the funding you
want.

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How To Convince Investors To
Invest
1. Help your investor like you

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that investors in search of great returns

will invest in people that they like. So, what do you do to become a more
likeable investee? Three behaviours that we coach people to adopt when we
work with them to prepare persuasive investor pitches include:

Listen as much as you speak. If you are good at listening and good at asking
questions then you are part way there. A good investor pitch should be more
like a conversation than a one-way pitch. That means you need to ask good
questions when pitching an investment. Then, listening to your investor
actively will help your investor like you more.

Be curious about your investor. This means showing that you really care what
your investor says and thinks. What your curiosity and questioning will give
you is a better understanding of how your investor sees the world. For
example, you’ll hear what they speak about, what words they use and what’s
top of mind. This will allow you to be better liked by your investor.

Find common ground. We all like people who are like us. Psychological
research if full of findings that we like people with whom we share something
in common. The link could be a school, a hobby, friends, past employers or
even passport or first name. Find that link and you’ll find it easier to convince
people.

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2. Make your investors feel comfortable during your pitch

As well as helping your investors like you, you want to make your investors
feel comfortable. There are many ways of making your investors feel
comfortable, and this will depend who you are talking to. One simple idea is to
avoid Death by PowerPoint when speaking to investors. You have many
presentation techniques that you can use that do not involve flicking the pages
of a PowerPoint presentation. Read more here:

Another way to help your investor feel comfortable is to avoid contradicting

their beliefs. For example, if you start your presentation by stating that the
world is flat, you will alienate most investors. Instead, you want to get your
investor nodding along with you towards the start of your investor
presentation. This will help you convince your investor.

3. Understand that logic alone will not convince investors

“Don’t be a logic bully” is a favourite phrase of one of our leading coaches. But,
as you might realise, logic alone cannot be persuasive. If logic alone was
persuasive, then we would have no need for pitches. We’d all be persuading
investors with spreadsheets.

Two and a half thousand years ago, Aristotle outlined how to create a
persuasive argument. He pointed out that to be persuasive you needed a good
balance of logos, ethos and pathos. You can translate these three Greek words
as Logic, Credibility and Emotion. What this means is that to convince
investors your pitch needs to have a healthy balance of logic, credibility and
emotion. To understand this in more detail, have a look at this article.

Another aspect of convincing beyond logic is to “Show, don’t tell”. What this
means is that it is much more convincing to demonstrate your success rather
than just claim success. You can read more about this here

4. Convince by giving your investor a simple investment story

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One of the most common mistakes people make when pitching to investors is
to make their investor presentations too complex. They assume that because
their investors are smart that they will be most comfortable with complex
ideas and complex presentations. This is wrong. Complexity is off-putting. Our
brains love simplicity. A great investor presentation should be made simple for
your investor.

Having worked on hundreds successful investor presentations, we often

surprise ourselves how simple the best presentations become. But making
complex presentations simple is hard work. Anyone can pack a presentation
with bullet points. It takes real skill to convince investors with just a handful of
words and diagrams on a page.

5. Speak to your investor using their language

We’ve already mentioned how important it is to listen to your investor. But

what should you listen for? One aspect of listening it to hear what your
investor talks about. For example, what do they speak about? Is it growth, is it
profits, or is it market share? If you know what matters to them, you can you
can talk about that. That’s how you convince investors.

What metaphors does your investor use when they speak?  Do they talk about
driving the business? Do they talk about nurturing and growing the company?
Or do they talk about battling the competition and fighting market conditions?
If you can pick up on your investor’s metaphors, you will better understand
how they see the world and then you can respond using their language. In this
way you subtly become more persuasive.

Then, how do they describe successes?

 Does your investor discuss increasing multiples and how they value
the business?
 Do they talk about increasing profits, or cash flows and margins?
 Or does your investor talk about the way they exit businesses with
trade sales, IPOs and secondary private equity sales.

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The more you can get into their heads and speak their investor language, the
more convincing you will become.

6. To convince investors, be a teacher, not a sales person

Generally, investors don’t like being sold to. Investors prefer to feel they are
reaching investment decisions on their own. On the other hand, investors love
learning new things. One of the joys of being an investor is that you are
constantly meeting bright new people with different views of the world. Every
now and then you get real insight that helps you become a better investor.

 How can you help your investor see the world in a different light?
 What can you teach them about your industry or your approach?
 If your investor comes away feeling they have discovered something
new, they are more likely to feel convinced they have a reason for
investing in you.

7. Acknowledge where your investment story has weaknesses

Every investor story has challenges. The weakest investment stories paper
over those cracks and say that everything if fine. If you want to be convincing
when you pitch your investment, then you want to be clear that you
understand your investment case weaknesses and that you have plans to
overcome those weaknesses.

And if you can’t see any weaknesses? Then create some sacrificial lambs.
Identify something that’s a bit more difficult in your business where your
investment case might suffer if you don’t get it right.

By showing that you can see the problems in your business and demonstrating
how you will deal with those problems you make it more apparent that you are
good at running a business and forecasting problems. That is how you become
more convincing when pitching for investment.

8. Use stories, examples and anecdotes to convince investors

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One of my favourite sayings for investor pitches is “Facts get forgotten, but
stories get repeated.” A good story can be more compelling than the most
convincing numbers. Yet, too many investor pitches fail to harness the power
of a compelling story.

A good story in your investor pitch can be like one of those multi-tools. It can
do many jobs at once. A powerful investor pitch story can help bring to life a
complex idea. An investor story can make it easy for someone to understand
what drives your customers and a strong story will help the listener. A good
story can show how you deal with adversity.

We’ve written a few good articles on business storytelling and this is one of my
favourite

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