Being a B2B business traditionally meant that private equity somewhat overlooked digital marketing, broadly perceiving it as surplus to requirements. However, the fundraising opportunities that digital marketing affords by targeting the individual hugely bolstered private equity’s interest in digital platforms. In this article, Loan website Loanable identifies why private equity needs digital marketing more than ever – and how to play to its strengths.
Engaging millennials and standing out from the crowd
Younger people emerging in the private equity field bring with them a natural, experiential affinity towards digital marketing (as consumers and market-players). And quite simply, the high net worth individuals of tomorrow and even today have been reared on the internet and expect to be engaged on its terms. Since we spend an average of 11 hours a day staring at electronic devices according to www.mhtpartners.com, it would be bordering on the remiss not to engage and commercialise the digital space.
What’s more, millennial investors (and employees) are increasingly focused on the ethos of a private equity organisation; or its mission as it were. The digital space is easily the best place to disseminate that message and the importance of getting it right means the message’s articulation is often best placed in the hands of skilled digital marketers.
One of the principal reasons for the further growth of digital marketing in the private equity sphere is that it provides the most obvious means of standing out from one’s competitors in an increasingly competitive market place. The exhibiting of a firm’s insights, expertise and track record are pivotal to winning and retaining business. And one of the best ways of communicating one’s overall strengths is through its website, social media and other digital marketing messages.
How Private Equity firms can harness Digital Marketing to their advantage
Exxon research found that 70% of people view organisations more positively when they watch engaging video content by them. Therefore, it can extremely worthwhile for private equity firms to work with a talented video content producer to generate insightful content – and to engage an SEO specialist to give content more online presence and help promote it across social media. In a relatively short space of time, high quality video content both bolsters a firm’s sense of expertise and helps to meaningfully connect it with a greater pool of potential investors.
It is also prudent for private equity firms to send out monthly or bi-monthly newsletters, engaging with what is topical and apprising recipients of recent internal developments. The effectiveness of this is buttressed by personalisation and bulk mail software such as mailchimp.
Allied to the above methods, in-depth, rigorously researched “how to” manuals that engage with a technical aspect of the private equity industry (both its bigger topics and its minutiae) can grow a private equity firm’s professional standing, expand awareness of their brand and improve their website’s Domain Authority, thereby ranking them more highly on search engines.
Lastly, while it can sometimes require deeper pockets, website display advertising is one of the oldest and most effective forms of marketing. Increasingly, costs can be made more manageable by high-prominence but short-lived campaigns.
Perhaps what’s most important to remember overall is that the above strategies should be deployed in combination rather than an undue or sole reliance being placed on just one area of digital marketing.