Good quality content helps establish your authority, and authority is a critical factor in successful persuasion.
If you would like to persuade more:
- Investors to allocate to you
- Talented PMs to join your firm
- Management teams to accept your deal
You should care about content marketing!
That’s not all.
Investment management is a game of trust. When a prospective investor goes to your website and can’t find recent content evidencing claimed expertise, trust is eroded.
Ensuring your salespeople have evidence of your brilliance at hand will support their efforts and increase their conversion rates. Monitoring investor engagement with your content can tell your sales team who to call, when to call, and what to focus on.
For more on this, see last month’s post on the subject, here.
So why aren’t more managers investing in content marketing?
There are several myths around content marketing – but most of them don’t stand up to scrutiny. The challenges that remain often have simple, proven solutions.
Myth 1: “I’ll have to give away my secret recipe”
The fear of revealing proprietary information to competitors is a common one for managers, but most people can’t mimic what you do, and if competitors can do that just from reading an article or blog, then your special sauce probably isn’t as special as you think it is.
You don’t need to give step-by-step instructions on how you execute your strategy, in order to show how it is different from others.
If you do have content that you only want specific individuals to access, place it in your data room, or use a solution like Profilir to distribute this content securely.
Myth 2a: “I don’t have the time”
For the best results, you need to create and distribute content frequently. This requires investment, but it doesn’t need to be all-consuming. A good content strategy housed in a clear plan, with simple guidelines can massively reduce the time it takes to generate high quality content regularly.
And you don’t need to write everything yourself. If you know an agency with the right financial smarts, a short, regular conversation to identify and dive into timely topic areas is usually enough. The right partners can take on the heavy lifting, and it probably costs less than you imagine. A small, consistent investment of some combination of time and money could materially alter your growth trajectory.
Myth 2b: “We need expert input – and they don’t have time”
As per myth 2a, if you work with the right partners, the time commitment from your experts can be minimal. We can work from hastily jotted bullet points and condensed conversations to generate high quality writing. A single, short conversation can cover a LOT of ground if the basic and intermediate knowledge is already assimilated. Once the points are understood, it’s a matter of finding the right structure to present them in the most compelling manner.
Myth 3: “I need to be a thought leader if this is going to be worthwhile”
For many, real thought leadership isn’t a viable option. Their firms’ conservative outlook – or even more conservative compliance team – may not appreciate the bold thinking that is required to lead. To be a thought leader you must take risks and you must accept that, from time to time, you will be proved wrong. In public. This isn’t for everyone.
What differentiates great content from annoying spam? It’s the value it delivers for its readers. That value isn’t reliant on delivering “new thinking”. So, instead of trying to be a thought leader, focus on being a thought teacher. If you produce content that explains, simply, some of the more complex aspects of your craft, or the overall market, you will be delivering a huge amount of value to your readers.
Not only that, but you will also position your firm as great communicators.
Do NOT underestimate the value of this. One of the things that keeps investors up at night is explaining a down month or bad investment from a manager they championed. When things go awry, investors need to know you will have answers that:
- They can understand
- They can get behind
- They can confidently explain to their superiors or beneficiaries
Besides, if your competitors aren’t publishing any content in your field, you are a thought leader already!
Creating and distributing good content doesn’t have to break the bank (or your back). Well-thought-out content could move the needle with investors and other stakeholders. It’s a fundamental part of building your authority.
Reach out to our IR and Marketing team to start experiencing the benefits of content marketing.
For more information about this blog post please contact Jon Greene
