How Mixing Traditional and Digital Marketing Methods Can Nurture Initial Meetings
Many people working in the financial system begrudge the downfall of the face-to-face meeting.
It feels strange to admit, as it can make many of us feel ancient that there was a time before LinkedIn, or even a Blackberry. The brick phone, cafe meetups and in-person conferences were gateways to help managers portray the fund’s philosophy and service to investors in a personal way. They were also the only methods that existed.
That’s not to say these established methods have disappeared completely – many still prefer to meet a friendly face! But it’s certainly waned in popularity since the pandemic and increased global interconnectedness.
We’ve all gotten used to Zoom, Google Meet and more (so much so that we all have our favourite video platform) and investors are just too busy to commute to an office to chat through which funds may or may not be right for them.
With that being said, whether a meeting is over a drink or the internet, not all potential investors will immediately want to invest after the first stage of engagement. More than ever before, nurturing those interests from afar is another route to show that a fund cares for their needs and where data allows marketers to learn granular details about every investor.
Capturing digital marketing data also allows the fund the capability to see how interests in investment themes or marketing channels can change over time. With human-led marketing strategies enhanced by platforms to gather intel, consistent engagement can be maintained beyond first impressions – all tailored to bespoke investment challenges and goals.
The Personal Touch
Investors are trusting managers with their well-earned cash and expect a company to share their ideals. If one fund marketing golden rule has not changed, it’s that people want personality and stories they can latch onto: the narrative outlining the fund’s ethos, the way it does business, and what it can do for them. Investors don’t want a Glengarry Glen Ross ABC hard-sell, but a fund that listens and learns across their buyer journey.
For all the sparkly, yet useful, digital services out there (we’ll get to those later!) some of the most basic marketing dependables showcase a fund’s authenticity and build trust after that first meeting, especially through some well-chosen words straight from the marketer without much technological input, including:
Phone calls: It may sound obvious, but relationship managers are in consistent correspondence with investors. Learning their client-facing language is useful, as well as pain points in the customer experience that can be addressed via marketing content.
Surveys: The investor’s thoughts are more important than what the marketer believes the investor wants. Questionnaires can be fast ways to identify how an investor feels about a fund, where responses can be analysed to determine their investment appetite.
Content: Well researched reports, thought leadership blogs, and market outlook videos all contribute to enlightening, entertaining and educating potential customers straight from the expert’s own viewpoints. This can position a fund well as a leading voice in the industry.
Direct mail: For some investors, nothing can beat the ultra attentive and valuable marketing tool that is the printed and hand-signed letter. Plus, it essentially has a 100% open rate!
Boutique asset managers or family offices can benefit from many of these hyper-personal quick wins to nurture investor interests. Those with infinite budgets could afford elaborate global brand awareness, but not achieve that familiar connection in quite the same way.
The Power of Platforms
Investment between fund marketing platforms can vary according to their specialism, while some existing (even free!) channels only require a few tweaks to make them invaluable to the process of enticing new investors, as follows:
Social media: Connecting with prospects through the professional network signals a level of care, especially when direct messages or suggested content are constructed with initial discovery in mind or guided by their touchpoints stored in a CRM. LinkedIn Sales Navigator is also a great integrated tool for personalising communications to ideal personas across different regions.
Email: 92% of those in asset management and private banking preferred this old faithful method for its non-intrusive nature and ability to cram in various content formats, links, and call to action buttons.
Websites: The ultimate showcase for a fund’s story, product offerings, blogs, webinars and so much more, where future buyers discover everything they need to know before pursuing investments. Implementing SEO makes it easier for a fund to appear on leading search engines and capture leads at the top of the funnel.
Automations: These tools can automatically send out content to inboxes or other marketing channels according to an individuals’ interaction data, nurturing their interests over set periods of time.
CRM: This central hub gathers all intel from all over the web following an initial meeting. It enables marketing and sales teams to develop bespoke communications for future calls , showing that the firm understands the investors’ every need.
AI: Beyond gathering and segmenting digital pathway data in mere seconds, budding investors may also require real-time assistance, available through website live chats. AI can also gauge the sentiment of any emails or content in accordance with the changing investment climate.
Investor portals: While reserved for signed-up investors, the presence of an online hub will be attractive for potential investors to manage future digital fund accounts within a tool that’s simple and integrated.
No matter if marketing is automated or manual, developing a potential investor relationship all comes down to attention to detail and showing care and value. A personal connection works wonders, but so too can data-capturing marketing platforms act as all-seeing eyes when multi-channel vigilance is not possible around the clock.
The marketer and the machine therefore work together to build highly personalised trails for those leads on your AuM-building radar following a great introductory meeting. With that, many friendly meetups could be set into motion, at the cafe or through that technology of choice – maybe even on the old Nokia!
ProFundCom can assist fund marketers consistently nurture interested investors with a range of tools specifically catered to the financial industry:
Targeted Email Campaigns: Reach specific segments of your audience by sending personalised and relevant content to generate leads more effectively.
Lead Scoring and Qualification: Prioritise leads based on engagement levels and interactions through scoring and focus efforts on high-potential prospects.
Automated Lead Nurturing: Set up automated lead nurturing workflows to engage with leads at different stages of the customer journey, delivering targeted content, follow-up emails, and personalised messages to drive conversions.
Personalised Content Recommendations: Using data analytics and user behaviour tracking, ProFundCom can recommend tailored content to website visitors and leads based on their interests and engagement history.
Cross-Selling Opportunities: ProFundCom’s reporting capabilities highlight cross-selling opportunities by identifying when a prospect shows interest in additional products or services.
Data Analytics and Reporting: Track the performance of lead generation campaigns, measure conversion rates, and analyse the effectiveness of their marketing strategies to monitor key metrics and optimise lead generation efforts for reliable results.
