Fund managers who use their marketing resources wisely can carve out a successful niche for themselves
Because you have the freedom to do things the largest funds cannot, you can focus on capturing the attention of the investors most likely to invest in your fund. Let the biggest funds market to everyone – you just need to delight your ideal investors.
You may never be the biggest, but you do have advantages that can help you thrive in a fluid fundraising environment.
You are more agile than the industry titans
The biggest managers have the biggest brands. And the guardrails of those brands will be monitored closely. Yes, they have the resources and budgets others can only dream of, but they move slowly.
Picture this. The market changes and the key messages that make up the foundations of all your marketing materials are suddenly rendered obsolete.
If you’re a large, complex firm, a change in key messaging could trigger a major months-long project. There will be numerous levels of sign off, shareholders will need to be consulted and teams across the business will have long lists of must-haves and must-nots. If messaging across marketing decks, the website, external advertising needs to be changed, it cannot happen quickly.
Other managers can be nimbler – they can change their messaging quickly to reflect the current market environment. And they are free to experiment. If something doesn’t work with their target audience, it can be refined. The industry titans cannot change their messaging without a long approval process and a public relaunch.
And when marketing decisions are made, the titans don’t feel they can afford to take risks.
You can take marketing risk
When you've got a lot to lose, you don't want to risk it. The largest fund houses are marketing themselves as the safe choice and they see little benefit in ‘standing out from the pack’.
The rest of the market does not need to take this approach, but too many managers – often with one eye on what the largest managers are doing – are overly cautious when it comes to branding and messaging.
Following the industry titans’ safety-first approach, however, will only lead to a series of dead ends. If you play it safe and mimic their marketing style, your ideal investors will gravitate to them as the safest of two very similar options.
On shop shelves around the world, there are hundreds of different cans of cola. They all essentially contain the same ingredients, but people still reach for Coca-Cola or Pepsi over any of their competitors. Why? Because they know what they are getting. It’s far easier to go with the established brand. Will it be the best can of cola ever? Unlikely. Will it be a major disappointment? You know that it won’t be. That’s what makes it the safe option.
You need to give investors a reason to abandon the perceived safe option.
You can out position the industry titans with bold messaging that makes your ideal investors sit up and take notice. In trading, every manager knows that without risk, there is no reward. Apply this attitude to marketing.
You can be a true thought leader
The industry titans will always push out content, but they are rarely thought leaders. Many don’t want to make waves with potentially controversial opinions. They see risks in leading the conversation.
Other managers can afford to make bold predictions and assessments of what’s happening in their markets.
In fact, we would encourage them to do so.
Each piece of content is an interaction. And the more compelling that interaction, the more impact it is likely to have. Regular, absorbing thought leadership can elevate your marketing campaigns, giving investors a reason to get in touch and start a conversation.
Offering market commentary can be scary. Managers may worry they will look bad if their predictions or analysis turn out to be wrong. It may feel safer to say nothing.
Safer, yes. But this approach will not get you noticed.
Investors read a lot of bland, middle-of-the-road updates that agree with the consensus. You can produce the content that investors talk about, remember and – most importantly – forward to the decision maker.
If you would like to discuss how you can out position the industry titans, contact the Apex Strategic Marketing Partners team.
