Category: Marketing Management

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Strategic Marketing Planning for Your Next Fund Launch 

Launching a new fund in the alternative investment space is an exciting venture, but it can quickly become overwhelming without a solid marketing strategy in place. Often, firms rush to market without the necessary marketing groundwork, leading to a host of challenges that could have been avoided. Here’s a closer look at why comprehensive marketing planning is crucial and how it can dramatically improve your fund’s launch and ongoing success. 

The Pitfalls of Insufficient Marketing Preparation 

Imagine a scenario where an alternative investment firm is eager to launch a new fund. In their rush, they quickly cobble together basic marketing materials—perhaps a basic website and a brief PowerPoint presentation. As the fund kicks off and the sales team begins to engage with potential investors, it becomes painfully clear that these materials are inadequate. They fail to compellingly tell the story behind the offering or explain the complexities of the fund, which are critical in the alts sector. 

The Consequences of Underprepared Marketing Efforts 

When the foundational marketing materials miss the mark, the repercussions are immediate: 

  • The sales team struggles to use these materials effectively, resulting in poor communication of the fund’s value proposition – and a negative first impression. 
  • Potential advisors and investors remain unclear about the unique benefits of the fund, leading to a lack of interest and commitment. 
  • Ultimately, the firm finds it challenging to raise the necessary capital, forcing them to go back to the drawing board to revamp their marketing approach, losing time and money. 

Why Start Marketing Early? 

The key to a successful fund launch lies in proactive and strategic marketing planning. Starting your marketing efforts six months to a year before the actual launch gives you ample time to: 

  • Develop Comprehensive Materials: Ensure that every piece of marketing content, from your website to investor brochures, is polished, professional, and strategically aligned with your fund’s and firm’s objectives. 
  • Tell a Compelling Story: Focus on crafting a narrative that resonates with potential advisors and investors, clearly articulating the opportunities and advantages of investing in your fund. 
  • Test and Refine: With enough lead time, you can test your marketing messages and refine them based on feedback, ensuring that your launch will have the impact you desire. 

How Marketing Intent Can Help 

At Marketing Intent, we specialize in helping firms like yours prepare for a successful fund launch. We understand the unique challenges and opportunities within the alternative investment sector and provide tailored marketing solutions that make your offerings stand out. Our services include: 

  • Development of High-Quality Marketing Materials: From in-depth offering brochures to interactive websites, we ensure that every touchpoint with potential advisors and investors is engaging and informative. 
  • Strategic Storytelling: We help you articulate your “why”—the reason your fund exists and why it matters to your target investors. 
  • Timeline and Project Management: We assist in planning and executing your marketing activities with precision, ensuring everything is ready well before your launch. 

The lesson is clear: never go to market without a solid marketing plan.

Doing so not only undermines the potential success of your fund but also impacts your firm’s reputation and future growth prospects. If you’re planning to launch a new fund, reach out to us at Marketing Intent, and let’s craft a marketing plan that truly speaks to advisors and investors and maximizes your fund’s capital-raising potential. 

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Marketing Management

Strategy is Nothing Without Implementation 

Marketing strategy frequently commands the spotlight, captivating attention with its promise of forward-thinking innovation and a roadmap for success. It instills hope, suggesting that with a well-defined strategy, the path ahead is clear and achievable. However, the stark reality is that without diligent and meticulous implementation, even the most carefully crafted strategies can fall short. The true power of a marketing strategy lies not just in its creation but in its execution. Precision, expertise, and a commitment to follow-through are essential to transforming strategic plans into tangible results. In the following sections, we’ll delve into practical tips for effectively executing your marketing strategy, ensuring that your visionary plans lead to real-world success. 

The Essence of Strategy and Its Implementation 

At the core, strategy offers a blueprint of what alternative investment firms aspire to achieve, presenting a comprehensive overview of their goals and the pathway to realizing them. Yet, it’s the execution that breathes life into these plans, transforming abstract concepts into tangible results. The difference between aspirations and actual achievements lies in the effective implementation of these strategies. Recognizing this distinction is crucial for any alternative investment firm aiming to not just survive but thrive in today’s dynamic market landscape. 

Laying Out the Blueprint: The Importance of Detail in Your Strategy 

To navigate the complexities of implementation, the first step is to meticulously outline your strategy. This involves breaking down the grand vision into actionable steps, establishing clear procedures, and setting realistic timelines. A structured approach ensures that each small but significant action collectively contributes to the larger goal. 

Capacity and Capability: The Two Pillars of Successful Execution 

As the alternative investments space becomes more crowded, assessing your firm’s capacity to execute its planned marketing strategy is more vital than ever. This assessment should be honest and thorough, considering whether your current resources and bandwidth are sufficient to undertake the necessary steps for implementation. If not, it may be helpful to explore external partnerships or expand your team. This decision should be informed by a critical evaluation of priorities, potentially postponing less critical initiatives to a more opportune time. 

Equally important is the expertise within your team. The knowledge and skills possessed by your team members are indispensable in navigating challenges, conducting research, and ultimately realizing the strategic goals. Expertise is not just about having the right people – it’s about leveraging their skills effectively to overcome obstacles and capitalize on opportunities. 

Overcoming the Expertise Hurdle: The Role of External Partners 

For many alternative investment firms, finding gaps in their expertise or capacity can be a pivotal moment. This is where partnerships with specialized firms, such as Marketing Intent, can be transformative. Our team offers not just assistance but partnership in turning your strategic vision into reality. We bring to the table a wealth of experience in detailing, planning, and executing marketing strategies for alternative investment firms that align with your objectives. 

By collaborating with a third party like us, you gain access to a broader range of expertise and resources, ensuring that your strategy is not just a document but a dynamic, actionable plan leading to measurable success. Whether it’s enhancing your marketing efforts or streamlining your strategic initiatives, our goal is to help you implement your vision efficiently and effectively to help support your sales team’s capital-raising efforts. 

The Path Forward 

For alternative investment firms, the road to success is twofold: devising a robust strategy and, more critically, implementing it successfully. As we continue to navigate a world that is increasingly complex and fast-paced, the ability to execute with precision and expertise has never been more important. If your firm is at the crossroads of strategic planning and execution, consider how a partnership with Marketing Intent can help. Reach out to us today to explore how we can set your firm apart in a competitive landscape.  

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Marketing Management

A Lean Budget Doesn’t Mean No Budget 

In the ever-evolving landscape of marketing, it’s essential to recognize that having a lean budget doesn’t equate to having no budget at all. Instead, it’s about leveraging creativity and resourcefulness to maximize the impact of the resources available to you. As we navigate through 2024, where many of us in the marketing world are facing constraints, let’s explore some cost-effective strategies tailored specifically for alternative investment firms. 

Press Releases: Amplifying Your Voice 

When it comes to gaining visibility for your firm, press releases are a powerful tool in your arsenal. Whether you’re announcing a new product, a partnership, or a significant milestone, ensure that you’re leveraging press releases to share your news. Platforms like Blue Vault Partners, DI Wire, and Real Assets Adviser are hungry for content and offer opportunities to publish your press releases for free. By harnessing these outlets, you can amplify your firm’s voice where advisors are engaged without incurring additional costs. 

Email Marketing: Harnessing the Power of Communication 

Email marketing remains one of the most cost-effective ways to engage with your audience. Since you’ve already invested in your email marketing system, there are no additional costs associated with sending out emails. Develop a strategic plan that aligns with your firm’s objectives and target audience. Whether it’s addressing common objections, sharing educational content, or highlighting key offerings, email marketing enables you to stay top-of-mind with advisors and maximize your marketing dollars effectively. 

Content Repurposing: Making Every Dollar Count 

Another invaluable strategy for maximizing your marketing budget is content repurposing. At Marketing Intent, we understand the importance of creating high-quality content that resonates with your audience. Whether it’s videos, blog posts, or whitepapers, we leverage these assets across various channels. From social media to email campaigns, we repurpose content to ensure maximum reach and impact. By extracting multiple pieces of content from a single asset, you can stretch your budget further and reinforce your messaging across different touchpoints. 

Partner with Marketing Intent: Unlocking Your Potential 

If you’re looking to maximize your marketing budget and elevate your firm’s presence in 2024, consider Marketing Intent. Our team specializes in helping alternative investment firms optimize their marketing strategies within budget constraints. From crafting compelling press releases to developing targeted email campaigns and repurposing content effectively, we’re here to support your growth objectives. 

Ready to Maximize Your Marketing Impact? 

Don’t let budget constraints hold you back. Reach out to Marketing Intent today to explore how we can help you maximize your marketing efforts in 2024 and beyond. Let’s unlock your firm’s full potential and drive tangible results together. 

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Marketing Management

Overcoming the Hesitation to Use an External Marketing Resource  

As an internal marketing professional, you’re well aware that you constantly juggle multiple priorities, are used to re-prioritizing practically daily and are a master of the pivot. From crafting PowerPoint presentations to setting up automated email campaigns, and fielding the ever-pressing inquiries from management, your daily agenda is nothing short of a whirlwind. In the face of such multifaceted responsibilities, the idea of bringing external marketing resources into the equation may naturally spark hesitation and concern. However, in this article, we’ll discuss the benefits of external marketing support, and how they can alleviate your workload and elevate your marketing career. 

External Resources: Filling the Gaps with Expertise 

The dynamic landscape of marketing is characterized by its ever-evolving challenges and the constant emergence of new tools, sales team needs and new initiatives. At times, it can feel overwhelming. When you’re under the weight of numerous high-priority projects, remember this: external marketing resources can step in as an ally and a collaborator, ready to fill the gaps with their specialized expertise. 

It’s crucial to recognize that external resources do not have the goal of overshadowing your role or replacing your unique contributions. Rather, they are your reinforcements, your partners in navigating the complex marketing in the alternative investments industry, and its often aggressive deadlines. At Marketing Intent, our team offers a comprehensive range of services, encompassing everything from managing email campaigns to crafting persuasive PowerPoint presentations, writing report copy, and designing engaging websites. Whether you’re tackling a short-term, one-off project or a more extensive one, we partner with our clients to see it through to the finish line, applying our decades of experience in the alts industry and in managing marketing. 

By entrusting certain responsibilities to external experts, you can free up your valuable time to concentrate on what truly matters to you and your organization. In essence, external resources empower you to channel your energy where it’s needed most.  

Realizing the Limitations of “Doing It All” 

One of the profound revelations we made during our tenures in corporate marketing was the realization that no one person or team can do it all. The scope and complexity of alternative investments marketing are such that it lends itself to a collaborative approach, drawing upon the strengths and expertise of both internal and external resources. 

By embracing external marketing support, you not only set yourself up for greater success and recognition within your firm, but you also harness the power of collaboration. This isn’t a zero-sum game where external resources aim to take over your role. Instead, they serve as your trusted allies, supplementing your efforts and helping you navigate the intricate landscape of marketing alts.  

At Marketing Intent, we take immense pride in our collaborative approach. We understand that your internal knowledge and insights are invaluable assets to your organization. Our role as an external marketing resource is to enhance your capabilities, not replace them. 

Embracing external marketing resources isn’t about relinquishing control or fearing for your position. It’s about recognizing the tremendous power of collaboration and leveraging external expertise to amplify your marketing efforts, and help meet your firm’s marketing goals.  

At Marketing Intent, we’re committed to being an ally in the midst of what can seem like marketing chaos.

Our aim is to make your firm’s marketing more effective using our knowledge of the industry, your target markets, alts products and compliance requirements. If you’re ready to explore an external marketing resource to collaborate with you, reach out to us today. We’d love to hear what you’re working on and brainstorm how we can help. 

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Marketing Management

One Size Fits All Fits No One 

Have you ever tried on a “one size fits all” t-shirt and realized that it doesn’t fit well at all? It’s oversized, awkward, and far from flattering. The truth is, the concept of “one size fits all” rarely works, and this applies to marketing in the world of alternative investments as well. In this article, we’ll delve into the importance of tailoring your marketing strategies to specific advisor audiences and how Marketing Intent can help you achieve effective results. 

When You’re Talking to Everybody, You’re Talking to Nobody 

Marketing to a diverse group of advisors requires a strategic approach. Simply relying on a single marketing message and hoping it will resonate with everyone is a mistake. The saying, “When you’re trying to talk to everybody, you’re talking to nobody,” holds true in the alts industry. To truly engage advisors, you need to identify which content themes advisors are attracted to and create tailored content accordingly. 

Making Small Tweaks to Create Effective Results 

Advisors have various personalities and preferences. Some prefer concise, fact-based information, while others want to dive deep into your asset class with detailed reports or whitepapers. Some may prefer educational content delivered via email. Others may prefer to view short snippets on social media. To reach a wide range of advisors effectively, it’s essential to diversify your content lengths and types. 

Repurpose & Refine Content 

Creating content for different platforms and content types may seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. The key is to refine and repurpose your existing content effectively. Instead of reinventing the wheel for each platform, make small tweaks to adapt your messaging. This approach saves time and resources while ensuring that you engage advisors in the way they prefer. 

Recently, we worked on a campaign for a client that required information about their offering and product structure. After developing the foundational pieces, we quickly translated them into short reports, PowerPoint presentations, and emails. This allowed us to engage advisors across the spectrum of their preferred communication styles and offered variability in messaging. 

If you need help tailoring your messaging and better engaging advisors, contact us today to discuss how we can collaborate to achieve your marketing goals. 

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Due Diligence Marketing Management

Collecting Intent Signals from Financial Advisors 

Collecting Intent Signals from Financial Advisors 

In the dynamic world of alternative investments, understanding financial advisors’ intentions can be the key to success. Are you paying attention to the intent signals advisors are sending you? If you’re not, it’s time to reconsider your approach. In this article, we’ll explore what intent signals are, how to collect them, and how you can harness these signals to drive your marketing efforts. 

Understanding Intent Signals 

Intent signals are any actions or behaviors that indicate an advisor’s potential interest in your offering. These signals can take various forms, such as answering a phone call, clicking on an email link, opening an email, or engaging with you on LinkedIn. These actions are subtle cues that advisors are giving you, signaling their intent to explore your fund further. 

Collecting and Utilizing Intent Signals 

The first step in leveraging intent signals is to actively collect and analyze them – and evaluate how you’re using them. 

  • Assessment: Start by evaluating your current approach to collecting and tracking intent signals. Are you effectively capturing and documenting these signals, or are they slipping through the cracks? 
  • Customization: Customize your tracking methods to align with your goals and target audience. This may involve implementing new tools or systems to capture and organize intent signals effectively. 
  • Data Analysis: Once the intent signals are collected, analyze them to gain insights into the topics and information that advisors are most interested in. This data allows you to tailor your marketing and sales efforts more effectively. 

Engaging with Sales 

One common challenge in marketing is failing to share intent signals with the sales team. However, these signals can be invaluable for sales. By passing on information about what advisors are interested in on the marketing side, you enable your sales team to have more informed and targeted conversations with financial advisors. We’ve witnessed wholesalers unaware of specific advisors’ interest in a product until intent signals were shared with them by marketing. This knowledge allowed them to tailor their meetings, emails, and content to align with what advisors were attracted to. Sharing intent signals is a powerful tool for synchronizing marketing and sales efforts, enabling your sales team to prioritize outreach and engage in warmer conversations. 

We Understand the Importance of Syncing Marketing with Sales 

Marketing Intent understands the importance of intent signals in the alternative investment industry – and using them to sync marketing and sales. We can help you identify, collect, and utilize these signals to enhance your marketing and sales strategies. Here’s how we can assist: 

  • Intent Signal Assessment: We’ll assess your current practices and identify opportunities for collecting and utilizing intent signals effectively. 
  • Customized Solutions: Our team will work closely with you to develop customized strategies and tools for capturing and interpreting intent signals. 
  • Data-Driven Marketing: We’ll help you use intent signals to create data-driven marketing campaigns that resonate with your target audience and drive engagement. 

Intent signals are the hidden gems in your marketing efforts.

Don’t let them go unnoticed or underutilized. By partnering with Marketing Intent, you can maximize the value of these signals, align your marketing and sales efforts, and ultimately increase your success in the competitive world of alternative investments. If you’re ready to understand and leverage intent signals from financial advisors, contact us today. 

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Marketing Management

Streamlining Marketing: The Power of Defined Processes 

In the world of alternative investments, good marketing matters. Success often hinges on having clear and efficient processes. So, how well-structured are your marketing methods? In this article, we dive into optimizing your marketing processes for better results. 

The Disconnect Between Effort and Outcome 

Every alternative investment firm aims to create ripples in the market. Marketing teams invest substantial effort, creating strategies and campaigns. But occasionally, these efforts don’t result in the marketing outcomes you’re looking for. Oftentimes, this stems from the absence of defined marketing processes. 

Our Journey to Systematic Efficiency 

We have navigated the intricate maze of marketing throughout our careers. One key realization has been the pivotal role of outlining and defining processes. Consider the tasks that recur, but are infrequent, like quarterly updates. Recreating the wheel each time these tasks come up isn’t just time-consuming, it’s draining and counterproductive. By documenting these processes, we’ve transformed our approach from reactive to proactive, enhancing efficiency and scalability. 

Prioritizing Your Future Self 

“Be kind to your future self.” This isn’t just a phrase, it’s a philosophy we swear by. In the whirlwind of tasks and projects, relying on memory alone can be challenging. By cementing processes, we gift our future selves clarity and direction. No more trying to remember what we did last time, digging through emails or second-guessing the next step. The roadmap is clear, actionable and efficient. 

Growth, Training, and the Checklist 

As your firm expands and the marketing team grows, the transition of roles and training new members becomes inevitable. Imagine the ease if a new member had a clear, step-by-step guide to every task. That’s what defined processes and training documents offer. 

And then comes the humble checklist. Its power is often underrated. But in ensuring every box is ticked, every step is executed, and every campaign is thorough, the checklist is

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Marketing Management Project Management

The Power of the Pivot

Your fund just closed and you expected it to be open for six more months.

Your marketing plan is out the window.

So what do you do next?

This is where the power of the pivot in business comes into play.

Changing Direction Quickly

In marketing, we love to create project plans, line up our content calendar, schedule campaigns and set everything in motion.

We have this ideal set out on how everything’s going to go. Your fund is launched, it’s live, your sales team is raising capital and your firm is planning on selling it until it reaches $X in capital or as of a certain date. But then your sales team raises capital faster than you expected.

All your marketing plans are out the window. What do you do next? The sales team doesn’t get time off until the next offering. And the next fund launch is likely months away.

This is where strategy comes into play. And your ability to change on demand. Especially in a volatile market. It’s important to prep yourself mentally and with strategy to quickly change direction. 

Develop Your Next Steps

First, bring the entire marketing team into what is happening and the pivot your firm and your team need to make. Sketch out the situation, which marketing programs are now obsolete, what advisors’ information needs will be around the business event that just occurred and what they will need to know going forward as you launch a new fund.

When you have a gap between funds, a great place to focus is on brand awareness. Just because your fund is closed, doesn’t mean your brand’s gone. Your sales team works hard to establish relationships with financial advisors…part of your job is to help them keep those relationships intact even if you don’t have a product in the market. Miss this as a marketer, and capital raising will be slow going at the start of your next offering as you try to make up for lost time in maintaining a presence in the minds of advisors.

For example, advisors are looking for education – on alternative investments, on your asset class, on lifestyle trends affecting commercial real estate. Focus on that between offerings. You can also distribute content from third parties and note how the information relates to your firm. And keep featuring your management team on webinars to provide advisors with updates or insights.

If you would like to discuss how we can help you plan for the pivot, reach out to us today.

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Marketing Management Marketing Team

Hiring the Right Marketing Agency

How is hiring a marketing agency like prom?

I know you’re probably thinking, “I haven’t been to prom in so long, I don’t remember.” For me, I never enjoyed prom. There was the buildup to the event…getting your dress, your shoes, figuring out what you’re going to do with your hair. But then you get there, and it wasn’t what you expected. I know I felt disappointed with my prom experience.

When I was working in corporate marketing, that’s the exact feeling I had anytime we had the need to hire an outside marketing firm.

Few Marketing Firms Truly Understand Alts

You’ve been searching and you finally find a marketing firm that looks like they’re going to be amazing. They have great work on their website, they look like they’re creative and fun to work with, they have experience…but you quickly learn that they don’t have the experience you need.

Financial services marketing – and even more so alternative investments marketing – is truly unique and requires a specific marketing skill set that balances being detailed oriented and analytical with creativity. It requires an understanding of financial products and more importantly, a deep understanding of the target audiences of advisors and investors.

A challenge in the alternative investment industry is that few marketing firms understand the ins and outs of commercial real estate offerings, the compliance requirements and how to explain offerings to advisors.

Marketing Intent Has Decades of Alts Marketing Experience

When we started Marketing Intent in early 2020, we did so with the goal of bringing a firm to the alternative investments industry we wished we’d had in our corporate lives. A firm that understands the industry, the lingo, the requirements. A firm that can balance the analytical with the creative. A firm that helps its clients produce and distribute marketing that generates sales activity.

We have decades of experience, not only financial services, but alternative investments as well. We understand your offerings, we understand the compliance requirements, and we understand how to talk to financial advisors in a way that helps them engage with your sales team. We partner with our clients to help elevate their marketing and stand out among a growing number of alternative investment offerings.

Nothing Happens Until Something is Sold

At Marketing Intent, our mantra is that nothing happens until something is sold. Raising capital is at the heart of your business. That’s why our approach centers around making sure your sales team has what they need to bring capital in the door.

We start by identifying the gaps between marketing and the needs of your sales team. Next, we prioritize where marketing can generate the most activity—and streamline the sales process. Then, we bring marketing in alignment with sales.

Need help avoiding the disappointment of hiring an outside marketing firm? Do you want to work with a firm that understands your industry, the needs of your sales team, your target audience, your product and your compliance requirements? Marketing Intent will help you avoid the “prom disappointment”. Contact us today to set up a meeting.

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Marketing Management

Trends in Marketing

Knowing which trends are popping up in marketing and which trends are outdated is a way to remain relevant and engaged with your audience.

In – Dynamic Personal Voice
Out – Bland, Third Person Voice

First, let’s talk about using your voice. Try to avoid a bland, third-person voice. Use the words “us”, “we” and “our” to make your materials personal. People tend to gravitate toward the human element and will continue wanting to hear more and ask questions or read more.

In – Simplicity
Out – Deciphering What You’re Saying

The second focus is to keep it simple. We tend to compact so much into one piece or into meetings and conversations. And we often use a lot of jargon. Keep it simple – and keep them wanting more by being clear, concise, and making it simple for your target audience. Creating a compelling teaser will keep them interested and wanting to carry the conversation further.

In – White Space
Out – Cramming It All In

The next trend that we are seeing is white space. Don’t fill it up! Maintaining white space on your fact sheets, your white papers, or your website makes it cleaner, professional, and more inviting to the eye. A design that is aired out attracts more attention and conveys a sense of organization.

When you have a jumbled mess of content or its extremely cluttered, people equate that to what you’re doing on the backend – it’s a mental stumbling block. So, utilize white space appropriately to keep your readers engaged.

Thing’s Don’t Have to be Perfect

Marketing doesn’t have to be perfect on the first try. There’s going to be multiple iterations. We see a lot of asset managers hold onto papers, fact sheets or emails because they want to get their wording exactly perfect.

Now, do the facts need to be correct? Of course. But that first iteration doesn’t need to be perfect. The important thing is to get that first draft out there – and iterate over time based on feedback. Having a couple other people chime in on what they think may sound better, or some questions that came up when the first draft was used is what’s going to help drive it to eventually being perfect.

Would you like more insights about what’s working for asset manager marketing and what’s not? Contact us today at info@marketingintent.com.

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