You don’t have a marketing problem—you have a fintech marketing problem. Your team understands finance, but they struggle to translate complex offerings into content that drives action.
Generalist agencies don’t get the nuance of regulatory constraints, compliance risks, or how to market sophisticated financial products without oversimplifying them.
Your lead generation is stalling because your messaging doesn’t speak to high-net-worth investors, institutional clients, or enterprise buyers in a way that builds trust.
Your competitors—even if what they offer isn’t great quality—are outpacing you because they’ve nailed how to create content that signals authority. You’re burning budget on campaigns that don’t move the right needles.
And worst of all, you’re busy—(way) too busy to fix it yourself.
In this article, we’re going to show you how to tighten your marketing strategy, sharpen your messaging, and make sure your efforts translate into qualified leads.
The goal of marketing your alternative asset management firm is to let investors know:
1) that you exist;
2) that you can solve their problems, and
3) that you are trustworthy, likable, and capable
The trust element here is huge for alternative asset management firms because investors are considering putting a great deal of their capital into your offer.
Now, let’s look at what’s involved in talking about your offer in marketing ways investors can’t resist.
What’s involved with marketing in an alternative asset management firm?
Firstly, you need to be sure that your firm is legally permitted to do marketing activities.
There’s a detailed section in this article outlining what types of firms and funds can market themselves.
Always check with your regulator and lawyers.
For more information on the UK’s regulatory landscape, this article from The Hedge Fund Journal is worth reading.
For more information about U.S. regulations governing financial services marketing, this article is worth reading.
It’s always important to make it very clear that there are risks involved in investing and you are only offering information, not advice.
As is always the case with financial marketing: Legal boilerplate disclaimers that have been gone over in excruciating detail by your lawyers are your friend in this scenario!
Now, let’s look at what’s involved with marketing an alternative asset management firm.
We are offering insights from our own best practice here based on what we know works for our own clients; companies like The Peachtree Group, Supervest, LifeCents, Docker, and Mastercard.
Why asset management firms need specialists, not generalist marketers
Marketing professionals and agencies tend to go one of two ways: B2B or B2C.
Based on MarketingWeek’s data, more marketers go into B2C (Business to Consumer) marketing instead of B2B (Business to Business).
B2B is seen as too complex, whereas we’re all consumers; therefore, it makes sense that marketers ⏤ especially those just starting their careers ⏤ want to market products on platforms they use themselves (like promoting makeup using tutorial videos on TikTok, etc).
In comparison, very few serve and work with financial services, fintech, or investment firms, and even fewer support alternative asset management firms.
For asset management CMOs and COOs, this can cause several problems. I’m going to expand upon these next and show how a specialist alternative asset management marketing studio can solve these problems.
5 Advantages of Specialists vs. Generalists Marketers
When it comes to alternative assets and financial sector marketing, it makes sense to work with specialists rather than generalist marketers.
- Specialists have a clear understanding of your firm and market
When working with any external marketing support, it’s always useful to do a trial piece of work. Something small, like an article or series of LinkedIn posts based on a tight brief, to ensure they’re a good fit for your firm. This way, you can both see if you work well together before investing in long-term marketing support.
If you hand something like this to a generalist ⏤ even if they’re experienced ⏤ you’d probably find the end result is something that needs a lot of work to make it publish-ready. This is annoying and feels like a big waste of time.
A good fit for long-term marketing support should look like:
- A marketing professional or studio clearly understands what your firm does.
- Based on this, they understand who you’re trying to reach (e.g., HNW, family offices, not consumer investors).
- They demonstrate a deep understanding of investment vehicles, asset classes, and industry terminology.
- Everything they produce is aimed at and speaks at the right level for your audience.
- Working with them is as effortless as possible: You provide information on what’s needed and they deliver.
- They ask smart questions. Even experts won’t know everything you do straight away, so it helps if they show a willingness to learn more and ask for more information during the marketing process.
If you’re trying to work with generalists, there’s a good chance this process won’t be effortless. The learning curve will be steeper, and that means it will take them longer to achieve the kind of results and value your firm needs.
Perhaps a generalist seems like a cheaper option, but the value for money is likely to be less and there is a good chance you will spend much more of your time correcting, editing, teaching, and correcting the work they produce.
We’ve even had clients tell us before that they’ve had to bin articles other marketers have made for them. Huge waste of time and money, not what we want for you at all.
- Specialists understand the terminology and language of alternative assets and finance
Marketing in finance is about showing potential investors that your firm is a smart bet. It’s very much about showcasing your strengths, expertise, and abilities.
Your audience is smart. In most cases, they are experienced investors looking to allocate funds.
Your marketing needs to speak directly to that audience and to achieve this means using the right terminology and language.
For example, anyone marketing in this sector should know the difference between Venture Capital and Private Equity and should know that a “vintage” isn’t referring to wine.
- Specialists understand and appreciate the regulatory environment and its relationship with marketing activities
Unlike B2C, not every alternative asset firm is allowed to do marketing.
If you can do marketing, specialist marketers should already understand:
- You can’t make claims about returns on investment (ROI);
- You’ve got to put boilerplate legal text wherever and whenever required (have lawyers prepare this);
- Marketing is much more fact and data-driven in finance than in other sectors.
Generalists might try and apply the same approach to your firm as they would an early-stage B2B SaaS. This is understandable because when you’ve got limited time and a limited runway, growth at all costs is normal in that sector.
Marketing has to try and achieve the impossible in a short timescale.
In the alternative asset sector, you don’t need the impossible achieved in a short timescale. You need specialist marketers who understand what you’re currently doing and aiming for. Everything they produce needs to align with those goals.
- Specialists already know where and how to find relevant research and insights
As part of these marketing activities, research and insights are usually needed to support statements in articles and reports. In our opinion, almost all marketing is improved with the integration of quality data, statistics, and evidence.
So, you need specialists who already know good sources of information for alternative asset finance research and statistics.
In this sector, having research skills is an advantage. To achieve the kind of outsized results you want, having the ability to research and interpret information with a data science or an academic lens is likely to give you a valuable advantage over your competitors.
- Specialists are more effective at interpreting original research and data
Most alternative asset firms are sitting on data that could be turned into marketing assets:
- Fund performance, vintage (year-on-year) comparisons;
- Asset class performance comparisons;
- Sector-specific performance;
- Location-specific data;
And loads more!
Whether it’s original research and data, technical reports, or content writing, you need specialist marketers who understand, interpret, and analyze the data before turning it into a marketing asset.
When you’ve got the opportunity to create something unique, it’s essential to make the most of original research and data. For that, you need someone skilled at data analysis.
Advantages of outsourcing vs. In-house marketing
Our clients tell us that these are the main reasons they prefer outsourced specialist marketing support:
- More cost-effective: Monthly or project-based fees vs. salary, pension, and other benefits;
- Quicker implementation: No training needed, much less ramp-up time before a project can go ahead.
- More time-efficient: Creating content takes time. If you’re the CMO or COO, it’s really unlikely you have the time to write 4 articles, 20 LinkedIn posts, a newsletter, and an in-depth report every month. Outsourcing helps you make the most of your time.
Key Takeaways: Why it pays to invest in specialist marketing for your alternative asset management firm
If you’re going to invest in marketing, then spend that investment the right way to get the kind of returns you need.
A good specialist marketing firm should have:
- The industry-specific expertise and skills
- Sector-specific knowledge and experience
- A natural focus on quality outputs because they won’t be confused by terminology or the data you provide
- Experience doing similar work for other businesses like yours
- The ability to deliver to the high standards your firm needs
We have partnered with Mastercard to create an in-depth, research-backed report about BIN number lookup providers, and with The Peachtree Group to communicate how EB5 visa investment works in the context of hospitality retail developments.
Take a closer look at our case studies.
Do you have a problem that needs solving?
A detailed report that needs writing?
Get in touch. We can help you.