“Thought leadership should be an entry point to a relationship. Thought leadership should intrigue, challenge, and inspire even people already familiar with a company. It should help start a relationship where none exists, and it should enhance existing relationships.”
– Daniel Rasmus
As someone who has spent a significant amount of time building private equity websites and interviewing portfolio companies on behalf of PE firms over the years, there’s one common misconception that I see people buy into time and again.
When we talk to PE firms about website design – or even redesign – they often are worried about giving away too much information. Some PE firms have even told me they don’t want their portfolio of companies to be listed at all. “We want to keep who we work with totally guarded,” they say to us. “We don’t want people to know what we do and we especially don’t want them to know how we do it.”
But the problem with being unwilling to give out “too much information” – or, in a lot of cases, ANY information – is that you’re failing to see the forest for the trees.
This was especially evident in terms of one recent client I was working with, who insisted that his firm’s “secret sauce” – that is to say, their proprietary information – needed to remain under total lock and key. Because of this, their website had little to offer the target audience they were going after. Because they weren’t publishing or sharing any content, the site contained no insights and certainly no news.
Over time, this created a negative ripple effect that the client just didn’t anticipate. They weren’t attracting very many (if any) new portfolio companies via their website because it literally wasn’t designed to do that. Deal flow was also negatively impacted due to that lack of content and a point-of-view.
But luckily, we were able to course correct on behalf of that client and things are now operating much more smoothly than ever before. We did it via an emphasis on something that, while straightforward, could also not be more important in the modern era:
Private equity thought leadership.
Private Equity Content Marketing: Staying at the Top of People’s Minds
As a PE firm that spends a lot of time talking with prospective portfolio companies, you probably find yourself answering a lot of the same questions again and again. The key to your long-term success – and your ability to create stronger private equity branding – is that you need to codify that knowledge as soon as possible.
This is what thought leadership is all about.
Not only does it make a lot of these early stage conversations easier to support as a part of your larger process, but it also gives your prospects something to think about from a new perspective. You could write a blog post about measuring key sales metrics in their business, for example, and give them the five key metrics that they could be tracking that would help generate the investments they’re looking for.
That’s not “giving away your secret sauce” or conceding your competitive advantage. That’s proving that you can talk the talk AND walk the walk at the exact same time.
If you don’t share and publish the answers to their questions or provide the guidance they need on some of these hot issues, it’s very likely that another PE firm will. At that point they’ll get the benefit, not you, and it will all be because you protected that “proprietary information” a little more fervently than you should have.
Thought Leadership is All in the Execution
PE firm thought leadership may sound like a lofty term, but at its core it’s incredibly straightforward: you need to be providing as much solid, actionable advice that CEOs and other key management at prospective portfolio companies care about as you can.
Keep in mind that CEOs are forever being bombarded with calls and emails from various PR firms, banks, investors – you name it. The competition is incredibly fierce, which means that you need to be smart about nurturing those relationships. Placing a bigger emphasis on thought leadership by way of private equity content marketing can be a great way to help with this.
In the best case scenario, your website should be a hub filled with podcasts, blog articles, white papers and more. You should be sending out email newsletters and writing guest articles whenever you can. All of this gives you a reason to reach out to your prospective portfolio companies, giving you a chance to nurture those relationships and stay at the front of people’s minds.
To implement a great thought leadership plan, you need to:
- Identify the personas you’re speaking to.
- Identify your influencers and other market champions.
- Identify the topics they care about or the problems they’re trying to solve.
- Organize your website in a way that lets you publish content easily.
- Create that content consistently, then market and elevate it wherever you can.
Share that helpful content you’re writing on social media. Get it into the hands of other influencers in your industry. Email it to your list whenever it’s possible. Don’t keep it too close to the vest – get it out there for the entire world to see.
THIS is the secret to maintaining a competitive advantage in the modern era. Portfolio companies that want investment want more than just a check. They want the right partners in the first place. Becoming a thought leader in your market is a great way to do that and it’s why you need to start trying as soon as you possibly can.
You’re Already a Thought Leader. Now, It’s Time to Prove It
If you’re still trying to decide whether thought leadership and/or private equity content marketing is the right growth strategy for your business, feel free to reach out. We’re more than happy to discuss if this is the right strategy for you based on your specific goals. We’ll also gladly make any recommendations you need based on our experience with the PE firms we’ve been successful with in the past.