hedgefundblogman
Have a product or service you want to market to hedge funds? Hedge funds are a $3.2 trillion industry! Yes TRILLION with a "T". Here are the most proven amazing ways to market yourself, your product, or your service to this highly lucrative field.
Like all marketing, the key to finding buyers is understanding your product and service and how it brings value to your consumer. What problem do you solve? How do you solve it better than anyone else?
Are you just getting started? Make sure you have a detailed business plan.
Have an existing product or service? Great! What's your elevator pitch? Hedge fund managers are always busy (or at least pretend to be). Make sure you can concisely summarize what problem you solve, how you solve, it why you can do so better than anyone else.
Let's face it, the hedge fund industry is not something everyone is familiar with. But for many companies, particularly technology and financial service providers, this knowledge is essential.
To understand how your product solves a problem that hedge fund managers have, you are going to need to to a bit of research on the industry. Here are some good links to give you a good overview:
Hedge Fund Assets
Hedge Fund Facts
11 Little Known Facts About Hedge Funds
250 Largest Hedge Funds
Hedge Fund Service Providers
There are close to 4,000 hedge fund managers and well over 10,000 individual funds. The key to any effective marketing campaign, but particularly one directed at hedge funds, is to narrow down the field of prospective clients.
Hedge funds have a wide range of strategies, and thus a variety of different needs. Selling a service aimed at the very wealthy? Then shooting for a list of the largest hedge funds may be your best bet. Maybe you're service is best provided in a specific country or state. Then a list of hedge funds by state or a list of funds by country may be more appropriate.
The key here is putting the most effort into the most likely buyers. To do this, you are going to need to cut the field of prospects from thousands to maybe hundreds or less.
You're not going to get a second chance. Hedge fund managers are busy, often working 100 hours a week. If you don't have your pitch down the first time, there isn't going to be a second.
You may end up pitching via an email or snail mail. If you're lucky enough to get someone on the phone you will be lucky to get even a few minutes. So you better nail the two minute sales pitch. If you're sending an initial email hoping to get that sales call, make sure know how to convince and convert.
Be the gorilla of guerilla marketing. No one ever said marketing to hedge funds was going to be easy. It's multi-trillion dollar industry and there are a ton of opportunities for selling a service or product. But you have competition. Lots of it.
If you're not having as much success as you hoped, it's time to get creative. What is guerrilla marketing? It's taking an innovative, creative, and often low cost approach to getting your message out there. How you accomplish this is going to depend on what you have to offer, but remember your business was built on creativity. Dig into that spirit that made you successful in the first place.
If you still need some ideas, see these "jaw dropping" guerilla marketing examples.
Still not getting the feedback you hoped? You're probably not alone. While marketing to hedge funds is extremely lucrative, it's not going to be a cake walk. Stay persistent and determined. Follow up. Redefine your pitch, shift your focus to a different category of prospect, and most of all - don't give up.
