Catalytic conversion: jumpstart your marketing tactics

By Diane Harrison

2016 will not offer an easy path to follow on the way to asset gathering. Effective marketing can lead to new prospects, which in turn can lead to new assets, so it is vital to focus on the impact marketing can make. If you rely solely on your pitch book and monthly or quarterly investor letters to do the yeoman's work of marketing, then you're not alone. The majority of managers remain inside this 'marketing box' while bemoaning the fact that attracting new prospects is getting harder and harder. Incorporating some of the suggestions below can help managers move out of their 'box' and jumpstart stronger marketing programs in 2016.

1 - OUTREACH WITH SOMETHING TO TEACH

Besides the elevator pitch and the fund presentation pitch most managers have learned to deliver reasonably well, consider creating a brief - 15 minutes or so - presentation on some aspect of the market approach embodied by your style. For instance, if your strategy is event-driven, frame this short summary with an outline that follows these points: Why Event-driven? Why Now? How does this Work?Describing an investment example thatidentifies a company with an imminent catalyst that will impact its valuation significantly helps bring the approach to life for investors in ways a dry definition of the strategy never can.

There are two major advantages of having such a carve-out presentation in the marketing toolkit. One, if it focuses on the strategy approach and its value to an investor but does not reference a specific offering, it is an educational piece and can be used more broadly in marketing tactics. Two, such a ready-made deck provides a manager with the ability to be included in external industry events (more on this tactic later) as an expert, and allows either the portfolio manager or a designated executive in the firm to deliver the presentation effectively at such v......................

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This article was published in Opalesque's New Managers a top-down monthly analysis, news and research publication on the global emerging manager space.