You have worked hard putting your fund or managed futures program together. All of your strategy building, back-testing and hard work looking for an edge in today’s futures markets has culminated in a program that you believe has the potential to deliver value to your investors.
In today’s highly competitive environment, however, simply having a good program is not enough. To cross the initial AUM threshold, and then continue on to the $25 million threshold and the $50 million threshold, you have to give investors a reason to put their hard-earned capital to work in your program.
Here are five simple things you can do right now to appeal to investors:
- Get in front of them: People are not simply going to start showing up at your company’s doorstep offering to make allocations to your program. You have to be proactive about getting your program in front of the right kind of investors. There are many ways to accomplish this, including having the right marketing materials, attending investment seminars, and more.
- Upgrade your marketing materials: Have you ever seen a truly successful fund simply hand out his or her disclosure document when trying to earn business? Probably not. While the disclosure document (D-Doc) is a key element of presenting your program, it may not be effective as an initial “hook” to garner investor interest in your program. Well-written, informative, and compliant marketing materials, such as having a professional pitchbook, is key.
- Don’t just tell-SHOW: There is a big difference between telling and showing. Telling an investor how your program has fared versus a key benchmark is not the same as showing an investor how it has fared with specific numbers, graphs, and research. Visual aids can have enormous benefit. Use them to your advantage to make the investment decision easier for your prospects.
- Distinguish yourself: Investors today are looking for additional ways to gain further portfolio diversification. Show them how your program can help them potentially accomplish this goal. If your program trades grains, be prepared to show them correlation data. If you trade a stock index counter-trend strategy, show them how this may potentially act as a diversification tool. Furthermore, you will want to try to highlight anything you feel makes your program different and gives it an edge.
- Stay in front of them: Simply getting in front of potential investors is not enough, as most investors will not arrive at an investment decision with some serious thought and deliberation. Your job is to stay in front of these investors. This can be accomplished by having a professional looking website and good email marketing. Ongoing marketing through an email marketing drip campaign will allow you to build a funnel of prospects, and to educate them along the way.
As a fund or CTA, your job is to try to provide your clients the best risk-adjusted returns that you possibly can. Your focus should be 100 percent on your clients at all times, and it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to be a professional trader and marketer at the same time.
Contact Gate39 Media to learn how we can help you achieve your marketing goals.
