Asset Managers Need To Embrace Experiential Marketing

Everyone gets fixated on their marketing deck, it’s important, but not the driving force behind an allocation.

What is then? The answer, which is rather obvious, there is no single component of the marketing process that is accountable for an allocation.

Everyone gets so focused on getting the deck right, the website right, the summary right, the data room organized, etc. that they overlook what is probably the most critical contributor to a successful capital raise – the sum of the parts, otherwise the holistic experience a prospective LP has had in communicating and interacting with your organization.

Numbers are easy to interpret, documents are easy to review, but none of these things expose a prospective LP to the authentic “personality” of an organization. Because most of the time, people within the alternative investment industry aren’t thinking about whether or not the manner in which they “engage” mirrors the words in the deck.

Don’t believe me, when was the last time you consciously thought about how your deck was delivered, versus the content in it, and your ability to make the delivery of the information stand out? How do the daily actions of your organization support the story you tell? You talk about leadership, when is the last time you truly “led” people to some place new and were you brave enough to pursue this endeavor without concern for being followed – the true measure of a real leader.

Everyone needs to stop focusing so much on the individual components of the marketing process, and start thinking about the general experience. Tiffany’s is an exceptional example.

When you walk into a store, you feel special. Maybe it’s the guard at the door. How many times does a Tiffany store get held up in Manhattan? Is the guard really necessary? I can’t be the only person on earth who believes that their significant other was more excited about the “blue box” than the contents inside. This is experiential marketing at its finest.

Most importantly recognize that you can’t create a meaningful experience across a single sales process. It takes time. The Tiffany’s “box” didn’t mean anything day one. The really great thing, however, is that the first day you start thinking about this stuff is your first step to becoming a “brand.”