As marketers, we dream of pitching like Don Draper. We’re in a room: We’re smooth and charming. Our bosses and customers are awed by our genius. Someone starts crying. My god, it IS a carousel, they say.
Then we wake up and check keyword rankings.
Somewhere along the way, we traded passion and big ideas for the safety of the spreadsheet. We placated an all-powerful search engine. We learned to sell search volume, competitor gaps, and SERP features to stakeholders. And it all worked and made us money.
Until it didn't.
And, no, we’ll never get back the ad room of yore — the smoking and lunch-scotch are gone (to mixed reception), and TV and print aren’t the center of the ad universe anymore — but somewhere along the way, we gave up the ability to sell a vision. And we really shouldn’t have.
If You Can’t Pitch, You’re an Order Taker
We — content marketers — made ourselves easily replaceable. If we're pitching keywords, we're doing something 99% of content marketers can do. (Executing it well is a different story, but that's not the point right now.)
The point is: When you pitch keywords, you're pitching a commodity. When you pitch a concept, you're selling something only you can deliver.
I talk to content marketers constantly — on customer calls, on our podcast, and in sales conversations. The same frustration comes up again and again: They're stuck in service mode, fulfilling requests from demand gen or product marketing. But they want to do the strategic and creative work that got them into content in the first place.
I hear a lot of "My boss doesn't understand the value of content." But I think that's on us. We're marketers. Sometimes we have to market marketing. It’s a lesson every creative learns the hard way: It's one thing to have a good idea. It's a whole other ball game to sell it.
And, sure, some companies make it easy — especially those with a strong content culture — and some make it hard. But I say your marketing is worth the challenge.
At UiPath, where I previously led content, we sold to enterprise buyers who wanted the straight stuff: PDFs and tech specs. We were largely order takers, servicing the rest of the org. And when we wanted to do anything strategic, we had to pitch it, and the pitch had to be airtight.
How to Execute the Creative Content Pitch
It was at UiPath where I learned how to pitch. My boss was a former Ogilvy creative director who brought agency pitch discipline to an enterprise content team. And I learned that what determines if you’re an "order taker" or "strategist" comes down to your ability to sell a vision in 10 minutes.
Here's the framework. (And here's a checklist you can use yourself.)
Before the Pitch
Keep the room small. Three to five people, max. On your side: you, maybe a strategist, maybe a designer. On theirs: the decision-maker and one or two stakeholders who need to be in the loop.
Big rooms kill pitches. Nobody wants to be wrong in front of a crowd, so nobody says anything useful. You'll get half-attention, competing feedback, or momentum-killing grenade questions lobbed from someone who wasn't really listening. The best creative conversations happen when there's nowhere to hide.
Attach it to a strategic goal. Content for content's sake doesn't get approved. Before you walk in, know what larger company objective this work will serve. It doesn't have to be a hard KPI — brand awareness is fine — but it has to connect to something the room already cares about.
Bring two to three concepts. Someone's going to say no to something. That's fine. You have to frame it as “These are your options. Pick one.” It’s the illusion of choice. They’re picking between your ideas, not all or nothing. If you bring one idea and they reject it, not only do you have to go back to the drawing board, but you have to get all those people back in the room for a second time after already eroding some trust and excitement.
During the Pitch
Set a lively tone. Pitch meetings should be fun, exciting, and creative. Lead with that energy from the start.
Don't lead with the screen share. This is the most common mistake. You get in the room, share your screen, and start walking through slides before anyone knows what they're looking at or why they should care.
Tease the concept first. Give context: Here's what you’ve been thinking of/asking for, here's the challenge we're trying to solve, here's the strategic goal we're working toward. Then show them the idea.
Set the rules up front. Ask people to hold feedback until they've seen all of your concepts. Otherwise, someone reacts to the first idea, the conversation spirals, and you never get to pitches two and three. You want them comparing options, not fixating on the first thing they saw.
Present the concept, not the execution. Lead with a headline or tagline. Let the idea land before you show mockups or get into tactical details. If you start with execution, you'll spend 20 minutes debating font choices instead of whether the concept is right.
Stay high-level. Don't overexplain. The goal is to walk out with a yes on direction, not approval on every detail. If you get into the weeds, you'll lose the room and likely not get what you actually need.
Keep it short. Ten minutes to present. Twenty for feedback. It's a conversation, not a keynote.
After the Pitch
Read the room. It’s a good sign if they start riffing; it helps them feel bought in. When the VP of Brand starts layering on ideas — "...and this could connect to our rebrand messaging" — you've got them. They're already imagining what it could become.
"Yes, and" everything. Put your ego aside. Keep the momentum going. Don't correct or redirect. Build on what they're adding. You can refine later.
Explore objections; don't defend against them. If someone pushes back, resist the urge to justify your idea. Ask questions instead: "What's your concern?" or "What would that look like?" Defending makes you adversarial. Exploring keeps you collaborative.
Be ready to iterate in real time. Sometimes the best version of your concept emerges in the room. If they're pulling toward one direction, go with them. Remember your goal: the green light. Flexibility gets you there faster than rigidity.
Document everything. What excited them? What concerned them? What did they add? You'll need this when you follow up with a refined version, and they forgot what they agreed to.
I know it's a lot to consider in the moment, but if nothing else, show up with an earnest desire to help.
How We Turned a $4K Blog Post Into $20K Scope With a Creative Content Pitch
A customer came to us with a $4K budget for an end-of-year recap. They mentioned Spotify Wrapped as inspiration — they wanted to celebrate what they'd accomplished over the past 12 months.
We could have said yes and written the article. It would have been fine. Forgettable, but fine. But Spotify Wrapped is played out in B2B. Every brand does it now, and most of them do it wrong anyway. (Spotify Wrapped is about the user's year, not Spotify's.) We knew it would get lost in the noise.
So we came back to them with three new concepts, each with a narrative hook that made the story about more than just the company's wins. One idea — "The Power of AND" — explored how they'd managed to do things that usually trade off against each other: speed and governance, innovation and stability. We built tension and a point of view.
Halfway through the pitch, the VP of Brand interrupted to riff. She started connecting the concept to their rebrand messaging, layering on ideas, talking about how it could shape their narrative going into next year.
That's the moment you're looking for. When the room stops evaluating and starts building, you've got the green light.
What started as a single blog post became a campaign asset the whole marketing team rallied around. And we got to do something more exciting than a blog post.
Stop Pitching Keywords. Start Selling Vision.
When content marketers traded the pitch for the spreadsheet, we fell into the easy life: SEO-driven content filled pipelines, justified budgets, and clear metrics we could point to in every quarterly review.
But top-of-funnel SEO content is losing ground. Answer engines are pulling traffic before it ever reaches your blog. The keyword list that got you budget two years ago? Every competitor already has it, and anyone with an AI subscription can replicate it overnight.
The content teams that thrive over the next five years will be the ones that can do both: execute on SEO where it still works and pitch the brand work that builds real affinity. The creative stuff. The stuff that makes a CMO lean in and start riffing.
You got into this industry because you had ideas. The room is still waiting for them.