Part II: Brand matters. But not for the reason you think it does…
As discussed in Part I, brand refers to the firm’s “DNA” and values. Brand goes to your reputation and the expectations that people have when interacting with you.
Brand matters to you for two big reasons:
People buy things based on what’s important to them (and what’s important to them is defined by their values); and
Client satisfaction – or in our case, “investor satisfaction” – isn’t driven by their experience. It’s driven by their experience relative to their expectations.
Very simply – people want to know what they are getting when they buy a product. No surprises. And you’d be hard-pressed to find any group of people that dislikes surprises more than investors.
When someone makes a purchase or invests in a fund strategy, they are inherently buying a “promise.” That promise could be related to anything. In our world, we think of performance, but it’s also things like access to a specific exposure, portfolio diversification, transparency and manager access, a particular way of thinking, or maybe a certain approach to managing risk.
Where things tend to go wrong can almost always be categorized in one of two ways – a misalignment of expectations, or the failure to deliver on that promise.
The best way to create “fit” with an investor, therefore, is to first understand what promises you can consistently deliver on – and then ensure that the market has a clear understanding of what those are.
That is all that brand is meant to accomplish.
By JD David