What Investors Really Look for in Your Marketing Strategy — And the Critical Pitch Deck Content Founders and Scale-Ups Often Miss

Many pitch decks fail not because the idea is weak, but because the marketing strategy is unclear, incomplete or unrealistic. Here’s what investors really want to see and what founders often miss when creating their pitch decks.

Creating a pitch deck for external investment — whether for angels, VCs, private equity, accelerators or a Dragon’s Den–style pitch — requires far more than an innovative idea. Investors want clarity, credibility and evidence. Yet many founders and scale-ups overlook one of the most important sections of any deck: the marketing strategy.

From reviewing many real-world pitch decks, the same gaps appear repeatedly unclear positioning, confused market sizing, missing customer acquisition plans, unrealistic financial assumptions and weak or absent CAC/ROAS data. These omissions significantly weaken the case for investment and demonstrate a lack of understanding of what marketing information investors expect.

Below, we outline what investors expect the marketing content most founders forget and how to present a compelling, investment-ready marketing strategy.

1. Start with Market Clarity: Size, Sector & Share

Investors need to understand not just who your customers are, but how to present market size in a pitch deck, how many exist and why they buy.

What to include:

• AM / SAM / SOM analysis

  Total Addressable Market, Serviceable Addressable Market, Serviceable Obtainable Market

• Clear market sector definition

• Segmentation and vertical focus

• Realistic market penetration assumptions

Too many pitch decks rely on generic or inflated “hockey-stick growth” projections without demonstrating a credible route to capturing share.

Including clear and structured data helps investors understand how to calculate market size for investors and assess real opportunity.

2. Demonstrate Customer Insight (Personas, Intent & Pain Points)

One of the most common issues in pitch decks is weak or superficial customer insight.

Investors expect:

• Data-driven, value-based personas

• Intent-based behaviours (what drives demand)

• Clear articulation of the problem you solve

• Evidence of demand, even at pre-revenue stage:

  • LOIs

  • Pilot agreements

  • Demo bookings

  • User testing data

  • Testimonials

Many founders struggle with how to demonstrate customer insight in a pitch deck, defaulting to generic demographic personas that fail to show meaningful understanding of the buying journey.

3. Your Go-to-Market Strategy & Market Channels

Almost every weak pitch deck lacks a solid Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy. Investors want to see how you acquire customers and what it costs.

A go to market plan should include:

• Direct vs agency vs partner sales model

• Channel strategy:

  
  

  PPC / Paid Social / Partnerships / ABM / Events / Outreach

• Funnel structure and conversion assumptions

• Sales cycle length

• CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) modelling

Investors increasingly look for go-to-market strategy examples for funding that show not only the channels used, but the cost, conversion rates and scalability of acquisition.

This is one of the biggest credibility indicators for an investor.

4. Positioning & Messaging: Your Competitive Edge

A pitch deck is not a brochure — but it must clearly communicate your value proposition, USP, and competitive advantage.

How to show your USP in a pitch deck:

• A clear, defensible USP

• Why customers will switch

• Pricing differentiation

• Evidence of defensibility:

  • IP

  • Proprietary data

  • Algorithms

  • Speed to market

Investors want to understand how your startup differentiates itself in a pitch deck and why your solution wins over alternatives.

Competitor comparisons must go beyond feature tables. Investors want to know why you win.

5. Your 12–24 Month Marketing Activation Plan

Founders regularly underestimate the marketing required to win early customers.

Your activation plan should include:

• 12–24 month marketing roadmap

• Paid media budget and ROAS targets

• Content and brand plan

• Sales/marketing resource requirements

• Retention and re-marketing strategy

This is essential for SaaS and subscription businesses where ongoing retention drives LTV. Many founders don’t know how to build a marketing activation plan for investors, but it’s a core requirement for funding.

6. Show the Cost of Marketing: CAC, LTV, ROAS & Churn

A strong pitch must quantify the cost and return of marketing investment.

Include:

• CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)

• ROAS (Return on Advertising Spend)

• LTV (Customer Lifetime Value)

• Churn rate (and justification)

Churn must be consistent across your forecast, narrative and pitch deck. Investors spot discrepancies instantly — and they damage credibility.

Founders often ask how to calculate CAC and LTV for investors, yet fail to present the data consistently.

7. Tie Your Marketing Strategy to Revenue

A credible pitch deck links marketing activity to revenue generation.

Investors want to understand:

• Marketing cost breakdown

• CAC to revenue projections

• Revenue milestone assumptions

• Burn rate and runway

• Payback period

They must be able to see how much marketing spend is required to reach £1m ARR and whether this is feasible.

Showing clear links between acquisition, retention, and revenue answers a critical long-tail query:“how to link CAC to revenue for investors”

8. Common Marketing Mistakes in Pitch Decks

Across pitch decks reviewed, the same issues appear time and again:

·       Unclear product development stage

·       No timeline from build → launch → revenue

·       No traction or demand validation

·       Vague competitive landscape

·       Conflicting funding asks

·       Underestimated marketing costs

·       inconsistent CAC/churn metrics

These undermine confidence, even when the product vision is strong, and impact how investors assess pitch deck marketing content.

Checklist: What an Investor-Ready Marketing Section Should Include

• Market size & segmentation

  TAM/SAM/SOM, sector focus

• Customer insight

  Personas, behaviours, pain points

• Acquisition strategy

  Channels, funnel, CAC

• Positioning

  USP, competitor analysis

• Activation plan

  12–24 month roadmap

• Financial link

  CAC, ROAS, LTV, churn, revenue alignment

This structure aligns closely with what investors expect when searching for “pitch deck marketing content investors look for”.

Need Help Creating an Investor-Ready Pitch Deck or Marketing Plan?

We help founders and scale-ups build investor-ready pitch decks, go-to-market strategies, and credible marketing and CAC/LTV models that withstand scrutiny from sophisticated investors, Dragons’ Den panels, and PE/VC teams.

If you're raising investment, we can support you with:

• Market analysis & TAM/SAM/SOM modelling

• Go-to-market strategy & customer acquisition planning

• Marketing activation and budget modelling

• CAC / LTV / churn forecasting

• Pitch deck narrative & structure

• Investor material and financial review

  
  

→ Get in touch to strengthen your pitch and increase your chances of securing investment.