http://profundcom.net/news/ ProFundCom News en info@profundcom.net Copyright 2012 2012-02-02T22:48:01+00:00 http://profundcom.net/news/article/4-lessons-in-marketing-financial-products-and-hedge-fund-marketing/ http://profundcom.net/news/article/4-lessons-in-marketing-financial-products-and-hedge-fund-marketing/#When:22:48:01Z I was recently that in the last 8 years of developing the ProFundCom platform what nuggets of information I had about hedge fund marketing and asset management marketing. What shocked me was that someone was actually interested in what I had to say. So here they are the 4 lessons in marketing financial products according to Paul Das. To follow the blog click here. Blog, US, Asset Managers, Boutique Managers, Larger Fund Managers, Prime Brokers & Cap Intro, Wealth Managers, 2012-02-02T22:48:01+00:00 http://profundcom.net/news/article/profundcom-secures-exclusive-deal-with-equipos-and-integrate/ http://profundcom.net/news/article/profundcom-secures-exclusive-deal-with-equipos-and-integrate/#When:22:14:31Z ProFundCom has secured an exclusive deal with Equipos and Integrate to provide detailed client and prospect engagement to the documents generated by these market leading system. Equipos are specialists in the asset management sector experience, insight and expertise to deliver best-in-class client communications and reporting solutions in a remarkably short timescale. ProFundCom enhances the Equipos solution by tracking the depth of engagement. For the first time marketing teams will know the effectiveness of their campaigns and the sales teams will know whom to target with cross-selling as we as new propositions. Integrate provide integrated publishing solutions have brought their customers the ability to create highly finished publications and reports, which appear to have been designed manually, automatically. ProFundCom helps Integrates customers to demonstrate their communication, marketing and sales ROI based on the engagement statistics generated from ProFundCom. Both companies use the ProFundcom platform so that their clients can automatically generate detailed engagement reports that can be filtered by salesperson, emails opened, emails read, emails printed, emails forwarded, website accessed and attachments opened - providing market leading communication analytics, lead scoring and marketing automation. ProFundCom gives you the ability to track deeper levels of prospects and investors in your funds by tracking prospect engagement and investor engagement. ProFundCom provides sales intelligence identifies which prospects are interested in which products, recognises cross-selling opportunities and  qualifies leads to help create a targeted sales approach. Marketing Intelligence is provided and establishes what communications will work best in your campaign, determines how contacts are engaging with your communications and analyses what factors contribute to a successful marketing campaign.   Business, Company, Product, US, 2012-02-02T22:14:31+00:00 http://profundcom.net/news/article/Are-Tablets-Taking-Over-in-Hedge-Fund-Marketing/ http://profundcom.net/news/article/Are-Tablets-Taking-Over-in-Hedge-Fund-Marketing/#When:08:12:57Z More and more funds are looking to see should they invest in providing a better tablet experience for investors and prospects viewing their marketing material and related communications. In 2011, nearly 5% of all Internet traffic from global markets came from non-computer mobile devices. Mobile phones are responsible for two-thirds of that traffic, but the remainder is attributed to tablets. While mobile may still be in the lead, tablets are gaining notable steam. This is information that we have tracked in ProFundCom using our technology for hedge fund marketing and from Litmus. To follow the blog click here. Blog, US, Asset Managers, Boutique Managers, Larger Fund Managers, Prime Brokers & Cap Intro, Wealth Managers, 2012-01-25T08:12:57+00:00 http://profundcom.net/news/article/ProFundCom-delivers-detailed-engagement-analytics-to-Hedge-Fund-Marketing/ http://profundcom.net/news/article/ProFundCom-delivers-detailed-engagement-analytics-to-Hedge-Fund-Marketing/#When:08:21:13Z ProFundCom, the hedge fund and asset management marketing platform has been selected to deliver detailed enagement analtics to the Hedge Fund Marketing Index service. "Hedge Fund Marketing Index will be using anonymous data from over a billion data points from ProFundCom to track month by month analysis of industry-wde investor and prospect engagement", said Paul Das managing director and founder of ProFundCom. "For the first time hedge fund managers and asset manager will be able to get an industry-wide view of how engaging their commnications are with their investor and prospect-base." "The Hedge Fund Marketing Index provides marketing metrics for hedge fund and hedge fund of funds. The Hedge Fund Marketing Index provides details on email open and read rates, fact sheet access statistics and much more. Our hope is that these analytics will be a measure to compare your own funds marketing. The data is anonymously collected from over a billion data points held by ProFundCom. The Hedge Fund Marketing Index also summaries and aggregates hedge fund marketing news and information from Albourne Village , The Hedge Fund Journal, The Hedge Fund Marketing Blog (headlines) and WealthBriefing as well as other providers like CNN, Reuters, Dow Jones and Bloomberg," said the owners of Hedge Fund Marketing, Lisa Perry and Annette Baker. Company, Press, US, Asset Managers, Boutique Managers, Larger Fund Managers, Prime Brokers & Cap Intro, 2012-01-16T08:21:13+00:00 http://profundcom.net/news/article/Upgrade-to-ProFundCom-console-view-of-campaigns-for-hedge-fund-marketing/ http://profundcom.net/news/article/Upgrade-to-ProFundCom-console-view-of-campaigns-for-hedge-fund-marketing/#When:07:35:03Z The ProFundCom console, the company's platform for hedge fund and asset management marketing, got an upgrade designed to simplify its user interface, improve its display of detailed engagement analytics, optimize munti-media access and open it for third party app developers. The analytics that are made available are Content Enagement Attachments opened Web links opened Email Engagement Emails opened Emails read Emails scanned Emails printed Emails forwarded Social Media Engagement Re-posts Re-tweets Comments and Likes "The last version of the ProFundCom platform has so many new features, in many ways new advances in the product never seemed to quite make it into the ProFundCom console but launching it gave us the opportunity to learn," wrote ProFundCom's Adam Wisebery, in an industry blog post on Friday. With the new release of the console ProFundCom hope that the depth and width of the analytics that are available are easier to access. Product, US, 2012-01-16T07:35:03+00:00 http://profundcom.net/news/article/the-use-of-social-media-by-hedge-fund-managers/ http://profundcom.net/news/article/the-use-of-social-media-by-hedge-fund-managers/#When:11:42:36Z The MHP Hedge Funds and Social Media Survey 2011 (the survey used Bloomberg’s The World’s 100 Richest Hedge Funds survey of February 2011 as its base and focused on the 77 hedge fund managers for whom hedge funds are a core part of their business) carried out by U.K. PR firm MHP Communications, has discovered exactly what one would expect – hedge funds are largely ignoring social media. Indeed, it found that 8% of the 77 hedge funds surveyed – all of which had at least $1bn in assets under management – were still without a corporate website, let alone a Twitter feed or a Facebook wall. Facebook was the most shunned. None of those surveyed had a Facebook profile and only one had an active Twitter account . However, 23 % had an active presence on LinkedIn. To read more follow the blog here. Blog, US, Wealth Managers, 2011-12-07T11:42:36+00:00 http://profundcom.net/news/article/profundcom-engages-the-right-investors-with-the-right-message-hedge-fund/ http://profundcom.net/news/article/profundcom-engages-the-right-investors-with-the-right-message-hedge-fund/#When:17:29:50Z Bryan Johnson, the Managing Partner of Johnson & Company recently commented that ProFundCom was essential for managers to raise in-flows in the current economic climate. Bryan said, "ProFundCom optimises a fund’s ability to meet the most important aspects of marketing and fundraising: appropriately, efficiently and intelligently engaging the RIGHT investors with the RIGHT message. Intelligent marketing and efficient fundraising are now mandatory for hedge funds to succeed, which means being better informed and more strategic in engaging investors. ProFundCom delivers critical quantitative and qualitative information that can compress the allocation process and deliver AUM more expediently. ProFundCom’s products and services are vital components to successfully meet the challenges of demanding investors and a hyper-competitive, capricious marketing and fundraising climate." "ProFundCom has been built for hedge fund managers by the team at ProFundCom that are all from an alternative or asset management background. As a result the ProFundCom platform meets all the reporting and compliance requirements of our industry. ProFundCom reports back how your communications are being received, offering insight into its effectiveness. Reports are filtered by salesperson, emails opened, read, printed, forwarded, website accessed and attachments opened - providing market leading communication analytics, lead scoring and marketing automation. ProFundCom gives you the ability to track deeper levels of prospects and investors in your funds by tracking prospect engagement and investor engagement.", said Paul Das. Founder and Managing Director of ProFundCom, "and we are delighted these features have been recognised by Bryan Johnson and his team". About Bryan K. Johnson • A MARKETING ADVISOR FOR SMALL HEDGE FUNDS. • We fill a distinct void in the marketing and fundraising needs of small hedge funds. • We have 20+ years experience, specialized skills and the resources to help small hedge funds achieve success in marketing and fundraising. • We combine rigorous analysis of high integrity data, research, consultative candor, passion, experience, strategic thinking and talent with qualitative and quantitative marketing methods to help small hedge funds GROW AUM. • We know "WHAT IT TAKES" for a small hedge fund to not only survive but thrive and succeed as a business. • We are the ONLY independent firm solely dedicated to delivering experienced, professional, intelligent, objective, conflict-free, client-focused marketing, fundraising and operational advisory services to small hedge funds.   The basic truth of hedge fund marketing and sales: It's ALL about quantitative and qualitative relationship communication. As a fund marketer you heard this before “it’s a numbers game and a contact sport". Games and sports are ruled by numbers. Ask anyone that belongs to a fantasy sports league how important NUMBERS are! But running a hedge fund is business not fantasy and the numbers have real-world, serious implications. Getting behind the numbers is critical. It’s necessary to get HIGH integrity data (i.e. “believable” numbers) to develop and execute strategies that intelligently and efficiently attract, retain and expand AUM. Bad numbers lead to the use of inappropriate resources and ineffective approaches, which result in frustration, disappointment and discouragement. If RIGHT things don’t get measure, the RIGHT things don’t get done. By tracking all sales and marketing activity, from introduction to allocation and measuring the results of each discrete step of the selling process, a fund can constantly refine its sales and marketing intelligence. This enables marketers to know with confidence: • which prospects are interested. • where are the immediate selling-opportunities. • which contacts are best placed to target sales effort. • what type of communication is working. • how are contacts engaging with your communications. • what affects the success of a marketing campaign. Top fund marketers can answer ALL of the above questions, ACCURATELY, at any given moment. Can you? 99% of the small funds we've dealt with over the years don’t monitor and measure their marketing and fundraising efforts. It’s not surprising that those funds don't GROW AUM and don't survive. Without knowing exactly WHO they are contacting, how MUCH they are contacting them and the efficacy of WHAT they’re doing, the probability of growing AUM is extremely low. As a caveat: If you do not know who you are contacting and the depth of your relationships as a result of your marketing, don’t begin fundraising. Gathering and analyzing data of your email campaigns is efficient and easy with ProFundCom. Their tools and resources expediently and efficiently bring discipline and structure to your email marketing by yielding, reports that can be filtered by salesperson, emails opened, read, printed, forwarded, website accessed and attachments opened, which provides market leading communication analytics, lead scoring and marketing automation. ProFundCom gives a fund the ability to create deeper relationships by tracking prospect and investor engagement, which is why we endorse ProFundCom as the best-of-breed in email communication and marketing. Bryan K. Johnson Managing Partner Johnson & Company One Congress Plaza 111 Congress Street Suite 400 Austin, Texas 78701 Office: 512-681-4463 Cell: 512-786-1569 Fax: 512-233-5943 Email: bkj@johnsn.com www.johnsn.com   Business, Company, US, Asset Managers, Boutique Managers, Larger Fund Managers, Prime Brokers & Cap Intro, Wealth Managers, 2011-12-04T17:29:50+00:00 http://profundcom.net/news/article/blogsec-legal-requirements-and-compliance-requirements-for-hedge-fund-marke/ http://profundcom.net/news/article/blogsec-legal-requirements-and-compliance-requirements-for-hedge-fund-marke/#When:16:01:29Z As managers look to explorer new methods to market their funds, a number of email and marketing products and platforms are being used that have not been scrutinised for compliance relating to the finance sector - specifically for hedge funds and asset managers. As more and more products become available to send marketing material, performance details and fact sheets for hedge funds and asset managers, a study conducted by newly created Hedge Fund Marketing Index, looked at a number of vendors to see how these products fulfilled the legal and compliance requirements for hedge fund marketing and asset management marketing. Specifically, the study looked at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 17a-4 which describes stringent rules that govern the storage of all electronic messages including e-mail and instant messages for its members. Whilst most suppliers  continually speak about CAN-SPAM regulations the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 17a-4 is the most important one. Under the rule, electronic records must be preserved exclusively in a non-rewriteable and non-erasable format. This interpretation clarifies that managers must employ a storage system that prevents alteration or erasure of the records for their required retention period. This also pertains to archiving of the emails and related data. According to the rule, records of numerous types of transactions (including emails and social media) must be retained and indexed on indelible media with immediate accessibility for a period of six months, and with non-immediate access for a period of at least seven years. Duplicate records must also be kept within the same time frame at an off-site location. With the exception of ProFundCom, all email marketing systems failed to fulfil this legal requirement. ProFundCom complies with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 17a-4 which describes stringent rules that govern the storage of all electronic messages including e-mail and instant messages for its members. This was a shocking conclusion to the study that all other products that were reviewed failed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 17a-4. The products that were looked at were Vertical Reponse www.verticalresponse.com Contant Contact www.constantcontact.com Campaign Master www.campaignmaster.com Benchmark Email www.benchmarkemail.com Dot Mailer www.dotmailer.com CampaignMonitor www.campaignmonitor.com The details on ProFundCom's compliance are listed below in relation to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 17a-4 ProFundCom stores all emails that have been sent out from the system in a special write-once table, where it remains locked for the SEC regulatory period of seven years. These transaction can be queried directly via the ProFundCom Interface to provide immediate regulatory bodies access. To comply with the regulation the index can be searched and used to retrieve records and all activity in the message store is monitored. This data can also be be made available to other corporate email archiving applications via our XML interface. Products we have integrated with are InterWoven, PlumbTree, Legato and FileNet using the PFC XML interface. If an email archiving system is already in place or if tight integration is not required all emails generated by ProFundCom can be bcc'ed to that account. Disclaimer from Hedge Fund Marketing Index: The researcher for this study used client interviews and provider websites to collate the information for this report. The Hedge Fund Marketing Index. While Hedge Fund Marketing Index strives to make the information on its website as timely and accurate as possible, the company makes no claims, promises, or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the contents of this report, and expressly disclaims liability for errors and omissions in the contents of this site. No warranty of any kind, implied, expressed, or statutory, including but not limited to the warranties of non-infringement of third party rights, title, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or freedom from computer virus, is given with respect to the contents of this website or its links to other Internet resources. Reference in this report to any specific commercial product, process, or service, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the public, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the Hedge Fund Marketing Index. To read more follow the blog here Blog, US, Asset Managers, Boutique Managers, Larger Fund Managers, Prime Brokers & Cap Intro, 2011-11-19T16:01:29+00:00 http://profundcom.net/news/article/hedge-fund-marketing-index-report-only-profundcom-email-compliance/ http://profundcom.net/news/article/hedge-fund-marketing-index-report-only-profundcom-email-compliance/#When:11:26:34Z As managers look to explorer new methods to market their funds a number of email and marketing products and platforms are being used that have not been scrutinised for compliance relating to the finance sector - specifically for hedge funds and asset managers. As more and more products become available to send marketing material, performance details and fact sheets for hedge funds and asset managers, a study conducted by newly created Hedge Fund Marketing Index, looked at a number of vendors to see how these products fulfilled the legal and compliance requirements for hedge fund marketing and asset management marketing. Specifically, the study looked at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 17a-4 which describes stringent rules that govern the storage of all electronic messages including e-mail and instant messages for its members. Whilst most suppliers  continually speak about CAN-SPAM regulations the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 17a-4 is the most important one. Under the rule, electronic records must be preserved exclusively in a non-rewriteable and non-erasable format. This interpretation clarifies that managers must employ a storage system that prevents alteration or erasure of the records for their required retention period.  This also pertains to archiving of the emails and related data. According to the rule, records of numerous types of transactions (including emails and social media) must be retained and indexed on indelible media with immediate accessibility for a period of six months, and with non-immediate access for a period of at least seven years. Duplicate records must also be kept within the same time frame at an off-site location. With the exception of ProFundCom, all email marketing systems failed to fulfil this legal requirement. ProFundCom complies with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 17a-4 which describes stringent rules that govern the storage of all electronic messages including e-mail and instant messages for its members. This was a shocking conclusion to the study that all other products that were reviewed failed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 17a-4. The products that were looked at were Vertical Reponse www.verticalresponse.com  Contant Contact www.constantcontact.com  Campaign Master www.campaignmaster.com  Benchmark Email www.benchmarkemail.com  Dot Mailer www.dotmailer.com  CampaignMonitor www.campaignmonitor.com The details on ProFundCom's compliance are listed below in relation to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 17a-4 ProFundCom stores all emails that have been sent out from the system in a special write-once table, where it remains locked for the SEC regulatory period of seven years. These transaction can be queried directly via the ProFundCom Interface to provide immediate regulatory bodies access.  To comply with the regulation the index can be searched and used to retrieve records and all activity in the message store is monitored. This data can also be be made available to other corporate email archiving applications via our XML interface. Products we have integrated with are InterWoven, PlumbTree, Legato and FileNet using the PFC XML interface. If an email archiving system is already in place or if tight integration is not required all emails generated by ProFundCom can be bcc'ed to that account.  Disclaimer from Hedge Fund Marketing Index: The researcher for this study used client interviews and provider websites to collate the information for this report. The Hedge Fund Marketing Index. While Hedge Fund Marketing Index strives to make the information on its website as timely and accurate as possible, the company makes no claims, promises, or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the contents of this report, and expressly disclaims liability for errors and omissions in the contents of this site. No warranty of any kind, implied, expressed, or statutory, including but not limited to the warranties of non-infringement of third party rights, title, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or freedom from computer virus, is given with respect to the contents of this website or its links to other Internet resources. Reference in this report to any specific commercial product, process, or service, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the public, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favouring by the Hedge Fund Marketing Index.   Business, Product, US, Asset Managers, Larger Fund Managers, 2011-11-03T11:26:34+00:00 http://profundcom.net/news/article/blogthe-inconvenient-truth-of-hedge-fund-marketing-engagement-metrics-you-s/ http://profundcom.net/news/article/blogthe-inconvenient-truth-of-hedge-fund-marketing-engagement-metrics-you-s/#When:21:04:26Z Once the quote was "I don't know which half of my hedge fund marketing budget is effective, but I do know that one half is". Then came along ProFundCom in the hedge fund marketing space and identified who was interested in your funds and products. However, according to Forrester Research there are four main components to your customers’ and prospects' engagement with your fund and your brand. To read more follow the blog here. Blog, 2011-11-02T21:04:26+00:00