Potential investors come in all shapes and sizes. Some of them are big players, and some of them are small-time. Some of them are tall, and some of them are short. Some of them need to be mollycoddled, and some of them allow more independence. No one investor is the same as another.
A relationship with an investor is just like marriage, which means two things:
- You first have to pick the right investor. This is very important. At the end of the day, you ideally want to have the right number of high net-worth investors rather than an excess of fickle-minded investors, eager to redeem their money when the boat gets rocky.
- You have to show that you are together with them, in the same boat to either success or failure, but more importantly, that you are able to resonate with them and create a personal interest. In doing so, investors will believe in your vision, trust you, and will be more willing to stick with you long-term.
That being said, often (more often than not), you don’t have a choice in an investor like you have in picking a spouse. Sometimes, you just need money. Sometimes investors make redemptions because they have to pay off something else. But, you do have control to some extent.
How do you choose this spouse of yours? “Cold-calling” and the so-called “warm-calling” won’t allow you to do that well. Not on its own. You don’t want to be fishing through a list of hundreds of thousands of people. You want targeted lists.
Make use of a CRM system to filter out “duds” and target your audience more specifically. Find out who’s engaging with your email campaigns. Analyze your opportunity funnel. You’ll be able to get a sense of who’s interested and who’s not in a glance.
Build quality content consistently. Show that you’re a thought leader, and instill name recognition so that you or your company are first thing on their minds when they come across a certain product or service. When readers invest time in perusing your content, trust factor grows too. They feel like they know how you think and hopefully like you too. Consistently good content also establishes your authority on your pertinent subject. And very importantly, it helps with Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Use video. A video shows passion, authenticity, and a personality that a marketing deck simply can’t articulate. Use the analytics that are generated to re-define your ability to profile interest. This is an example. You’re able to track people as they watch your video, and you can start a conversation the very moment they finish watching the video. Believe me, that this will blow their minds.
Streaming the diligence process is an enormous marketing opportunity too. See how it’s done here.
By using email and video analytics effectively, you are better served to pick the right investor. By using a CRM and proactively speaking with your clients that matter, and by making use of video, you’re showing your investors that you are together with them.
And speaking of being “together with them”, the best way to create sticky money is to be very clear about the market situations that you expect to perform both very well and very poorly. That way, when they occur, people will not be surprised. When they are surprised, they redeem.
There certainly are many, many more ways to have a relationship with an investor which is just like marriage. These are just a few examples among many, but let’s just take these for a start, shall we?
By Alan Chu