Art & Science Archive
Investment firms tend to view email marketing the way all lawyers used to view advertising, as somehow degrading and déclassé. Usually, when we suggest an email marketing program to an investment company professional, the response is a turned-up nose and comments about “spam.” Yet these same firms sometimes ask for advice about the script for their cold calling program!
Here’s the thing: Spam is as spam does. If you share ideas in a concise and compelling manner, and if you consistently present useful information, then you are not perpetrating spam. Of course email marketing cannot replace human contact. But it can create and sustain an intellectual presence that paves the way for human contact. Think of how much better your chance of a response will be the next time you make a cold call if the person you are calling recently received useful information from your firm via email.
For a small investment company, email marketing can achieve steady visibility without the time and money associated with extensive travel. For a large, multi-product company, email marketing can create an Internet presence that lends substance to otherwise empty claims of “synergy.”
Alpha Partners started an email marketing program three years ago, and we are ecstatic about the results. Below are some of the lessons we have learned, from the obvious (frequency matters) to the arcane (how to avoid spam filters).
Successful Email Marketing
Establish a Regular Publication Schedule. If you send an email every now and then, it won’t work. Set up a regular publication schedule — i.e., once a month or six times a year — and stick to it.
Provide Engaging Content. Your email marketing communications cannot be boring. Or predictable. Or poorly written. They must be intellectually engaging. They must provide information of genuine interest to your target audience.
Craft Strong Message Lines. Consultants and plan sponsors receive enough emails already with “third quarter report” or “news from XYZ Capital” in the message line. A successful email marketing program is a publishing endeavor — it requires inviting message lines. If you do not have time for such an endeavor, find someone who does — and give that person generous access to your best thinking.
Become a Resource. To protect against the vagaries of performance, the best firms in the investment business have positioned themselves as an educational resource. Such firms are perceived as engines of ideas as opposed to purveyors of product.
Sustain a Dynamic Online Presence. Becoming an engine of ideas in today’s market requires an interactive, dynamic website — a literal place where plan sponsors and consultants can go to look for inspiration, answers and research. A successful email marketing program can work in tandem with the website in positioning a company as an educational resource. Every time you send an email, you invite recipients to visit new content on the website. In this way, the commitment to consistent emails translates into a commitment to fresh website content (many investment firm websites are stagnant pools of dated content — i.e., the “What’s New About XYZ Capital” section that opens with a press release from 1999!)
Customize Everything. Clients should receive regular emails. So should prospects and consultants. Those who know your firm well deserve a different tone than those with whom you have never had a relationship. Work with your database to ensure clear delineation between different target groups and customize your email messages accordingly.
Become Expert in Database Management. A lot of time is required to update the database. Every email generates new database information that needs to be added or changed. Every time you send an email, there will be requests to “unsubscribe.” Respect these requests and if, perchance, you make a mistake, send a note of apology! (A primary characteristic of spam is that the anonymous sender refuses to acknowledge unsubscribe requests, which is one of the reasons why Congress currently is considering three anti-spam bills.) Someone has to be ready to cope with all this work — someone dedicated to this project, not someone for whom the project is an addition to an already heavy workload.
Understand How Spam Filters Work. Your emails can be trapped by spam filters and never reach their intended recipients. Study your own spam filter and learn why certain emails are labeled as spam. The word “remove,” the signoff “XXX” and the word “free,” for example, all trigger certain filters. By becoming aware of these spam filter triggers, you can structure emails that are relatively spam filter-proof.
Measure Everything. Your email tracking reports will show which emails are most successful with whom. This information can be used as the basis for a highly focused calling program that is far more likely to result in appointments than old-fashioned cold calling.
Put Someone Competent (and Motivated) in Charge. Someone from your firm needs to be responsible for the email marketing program. Someone talented who cares and who, ideally, is compensated based on the success of the program.
Believe! It is easy to dismiss email marketing as too time-consuming or too difficult (even though it is far less time-consuming and difficult than snail mail marketing or cold calling). This dismissive attitude explains why many investment firms either do not use the Internet to market at all, or do so with a singular lack of inspiration. To be successful at this — or anything for that matter — you need to believe in the potential for success.
We have emphasized the importance of measuring results. But the positive effects of a successful email program are so various and far-reaching as to be immeasurable. Alpha Partners began an email marketing program in 2001. Since that time, our emails have directly resulted in five new relationships with prestigious investment firms — relationships that we are proud and grateful to have. Our email program also has become a bridge to a more vibrant Internet presence. The commitment to a regular email publication schedule promotes fresh website content and pushes us to think constantly about new information that might be valuable to our clients.
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