Marketing During a Quiet Summer
The months of July and August are known by many in the industry as a time when vacations and holidays are common—a time when it takes more calls and creative efforts to get in touch with investors. But it certainly can be worth it. BHA analysts compiled 137 investor mandates this past week. Although it is important to maintain a constant dialogue with new and existing investors, it is also critical to do the leg work required to maintain an organized marketing campaign. The slower months provide such an opportunity. They are the perfect time for marketers to do the “behind the scenes” work that will help them hit the ground running when September rolls around.
Updating investor contacts is a good use of time over the next few weeks. In an industry where individuals move frequently from firm to firm, it becomes easy to lose track of existing contacts within the span of just a few months. September is also a popular month for people to begin new jobs. By culling existing contact lists and finding fresh sources of data to supplement them, marketers will increase their hit rate when it comes time to reach out to prospects.
Fund marketers should also use this month to build a pipeline for the fall. They can identify those in their existing network that they need to reconnect with and mine their new sources of leads to find those that should be added to their prospect lists. At the same time, marketers should refine their investor introduction e-mails and fund documents, so everything is ready to begin targeting investors in their pipeline.
Depending on what their pipeline looks like and who they want to connect with, marketers can identify a few cities or regions that make the most sense to visit in the next few months. The sooner a travel schedule is compiled, the sooner they can begin to schedule meetings and look for additional prospects in the same areas.
Summer can mean a few weeks out of the office for one person and a head start on an action-packed autumn marketing campaign for another. It is important for marketers to use their time as efficiently as possible from September until early December. Some hard work over the remaining weeks will go a long way towards creating new investor relationships this fall.