Are you an asset manager that’s new to offering your products through financial advisors and the broker-dealer network?
In this article, we’ll talk about the various audiences you’ll be targeting, so you can get a good understanding of who’s who as you enter a new distribution channel.
Due Diligence Officers and Home Office Personnel
Let’s start with due diligence officers and home office personnel at broker-dealers and RIA firms. This group is at the top of the hierarchy. If we think about it flowing from the very top, where more information is allowed, down to the bottom, where less is.
Think about this group as the gatekeepers, with your goal of getting a selling agreement. You are sharing more information on the offering with them than you would with advisors or investors. This could be your track record, detailed financials, and pieces of information that you typically wouldn’t push down beyond them to advisors and investors.
Once you have the selling agreement in place, don’t forget the nurture. A mistake we often see asset managers make is to get the selling agreement and have established a relationship with a due diligence officer, but then they let communication taper off.
It’s important to continue to give updates on your offering. If you are a commercial real estate firm, for example, give updates on properties that you’re buying, or distributions you’re making to investors. It becomes a public relations effort in some ways, to keep due diligence officers/home office personnel updated. When they understand what you’re doing, they can continue to support your offering and positively influence future selling agreements with your firm.
Financial Advisors & RIAs
The next audience is financial advisors and RIAs. With this group, your goal is to always make it simple. We are in a world of complicated financial investment products. Make sure financial advisors and RIAs easily understand what you do.
An example we like to use is industrial real estate equals Amazon packages. Boil down what you do to reflect a lifestyle trend or an everyday topic so advisors will understand easily and feel confident about presenting your investment product to their investors.
Like with due diligence officers, continue to update advisors on your offerings, progress, changes, distributions and activity. They appreciate staying informed – especially when it comes to answering client questions. No one like to be caught off guard.
Investors
The third audience is investors – prospective investors as well as investors that end up investing in your fund. With prospective investors, your conduit to them is going to be through financial advisors and RIAs for the most part. You will produce materials that can be used with the end investor, but you’re going to rely on financial advisors to communicate that information to them.
Again, simplicity is so important because we all know we have really short attention spans. Even though we might be analytical people and some investors could be accredited investors or high net worth individuals, keeping it simple is key so they understand your offering quickly and easily.
Once investors are in your fund, make sure you’re communicating regularly with them, so again, they understand what’s happening. Build trust by keeping them updated.
We’ve covered the key audiences you’ll be communicating with as you work with broker-dealers and RIAs:
- Due diligence/home office personnel
- Financial advisors
- Prospective investors, and the investors in your fund
Need Help Communicating with Your Audiences?
If you need help understanding your audiences or better communicating with them, contact Marketing Intent. We’re happy to help.
