Asset Management Communications Blog

I wrote this piece for Jackson Analytics, and I'm reposting it here with their permission

Football coach Bill Parcells famously once said, “You are your record.”

In other words, all the spin, excuses, and rationalization in the world don’t mean much when stacked against your actual performance.

For investment management firms, your performance data is your win-loss record. That’s why we love it.

Data is clean. Data tells a story all on its own. And, importantly, data makes your firm’s broader story much more persuasive and convincing.

As I wrote in my last post, it’s now easier than ever to have a polished, sharp investment management website. Clearly, a strong website is important because in areas of strong competition, such as investment management, looking your best is an important marketing imperative.

But a recent post by Kurtosys, listing their top 50 asset management website designs got me thinking.

One of the great things about what I’ll call the “democratization” of website building technology is that it is now easier than ever to have a really polished, sharp-looking website.

Because in highly competitive areas, such as investment management, looking your best is a paramount marketing imperative.

"How well do I really know my clients?”

I’ve yet to meet a portfolio manager or sales and marketing executive who says they don’t intimately “know” their clients and client types.

I’m not buying it.

In our past few posts, we’ve discussed how investment managers can use their websites as a substitute for content in their digital strategy, as well as how templates can accelerate the redesign process in a cost-effective way.

But when, exactly, is it imperative to revise investment management websites?

In our view, there are three circumstances which make a website redesign project vital.

In an earlier post, we spoke of how templates are an effective hack in the process for redesigning investment management websites.

That post touched on an important question, but left it largely unexplored: when is the appropriate time to undertake a redesign project?

The truth is that it depends on the extent to which investment management websites are integrated into a marketing strategy.

For firms with a highly-integrated digital content strategy, the necessity of redesigning the website is less when compared against those without a strong digital strategy.

So, weak digital strategy = more-frequent revisions? This may seem counterintuitive, but it’s not.

Investment management websites should be revised every 18-24 months. And it’s not just because everyone loves a brand-new website – there are compelling business and competitive reasons for doing so.

The problem is that nobody really wants to invest the time and resources into rebuilding one as often as they should.

That’s why website templates make incredible business sense for most firms.

Our latest publication has been a long time coming.

I am fully aware of the fact that there seems to be so much involved in developing a fully-formed digital marketing strategy.

Investment management firms, in particular, are often at a loss to know where to begin. And really, the first step is to nail down the strategy for conceiving, planning, and executing the actual content creation process, as everything else in digital Inbound Marketing flows from the quality and usefulness of the content itself.

That's why we have been slowly putting together a comprehensive, yet easy-to-follow guide for investment managers of all stripes to use to get their digital efforts off on the right foot.

Today is Part 6  (and the final part) of our series, Developing a Content Strategy for Investment Managers. Earlier entries in the series include:

•  Introduction
• Case Study
• Part 1 - Goal Setting
• Part 2 - How to Create Buyer Personas
• Part 3 - Conducting Content Audits
• Part 4 - Choosing Your Content Management System (CMS)
• Part 5 - Brainstorming Content Ideas

Today is Part 5  of our series, Developing a Content Marketing Strategy for Investment Managers. Earlier entries in the series include:

•  Introduction
• Case Study
• Part 1 - Goal Setting
• Part 2 - How to Create Buyer Personas
• Part 3 - Conducting Content Audits
• Part 4 - Choosing Your Content Management System (CMS)

Today is Part 4  of our developing a content marketing strategy for investment managers. After an  introduction to the topic, as well as a case study,

• Part 1 was goal setting
• Part 2 was how to create buyer personas
• Part 3 was on conducting content audits

Today is part 3  of our developing a strategy for content marketing for investment managers. After an  introduction to the topic, as well as a case study,

• Part 1 was goal setting
• Part 2 was how to create buyer personas

In recent posts, we have provided an introduction to content marketing for investment managers by offering a case study of how it might work in the real world.

I'm away from the office this week, but I wanted to share a really thoughtful post written by Emilie Totten, the Head of Marketing at the sales, marketing, and communications automation firm, Synthesis Technology.

Emilie argues there are inherent trade offs in outsourcing any part of a firm's marketing function. So long as investment managers are aware of the risks and costs, it can be a really effective way to streamline a few specific investment management marketing tasks that can often sap the time and internal resources of investment management firms.

Click through or you can read the whole thing below:

Last week, we provided an introduction to content marketing for investment managers by offering a case study of how it works in practice.

A question that is often asked by investment management professionals unfamiliar with the ins-and-outs of digital marketing is:

How does content marketing for investment management firms actually work?