The only thing harder than running a successful alternatives fund is launching it. Getting noticed in the crowded and naturally skeptical alternatives market can be a Herculean feat without a plan of implementation. It goes without saying that having a great investment strategy, financial backing, and well-crafted infrastructure are all critical components of a successful fund launch. Here are a few additional pointers on how to capitalize on these elements by cribbing from another cutthroat process: that of a successful book tour.

Lay some advance groundwork

Penny Sansevieri wrote an article on HuffingtonPost.com, Planning an Exceptional Book Signing, that reinforces the idea of book signings as more than a singular effort: ...book signings are more than events, there needs to be a strategy behind them and as an author, you should be prepared to get up and talk to people. Don't just sit there and sign-we should all be so lucky that the lines for our book are so long that we barely have time to jot down our signature in our book and move to the next fan.

Maximizing the impact of being a fresh option to the marketplace takes smart planning, whether you are a new author or a new fund manager. The first tip is creating some prior buzz. As in most efforts, timing is everything. Advance planning builds interest, which in turn creates energy and enthusiasm.

Create a media kit to help get the word spread about your fund. This could include a brief bio on each partner and investment professional in the business, a recent and professional headshot photo, a brief summary sheet on the fund offering even if no live performance has been captured yet, key contact information for both the fund and any third party representation for follow up by media personnel, and a sampling of the founder's investment expertise, perhaps some prior published interviews, articles, research, etc. as intellectual groundwork for the new fund. More on the......................

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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.