Your 2022 Fundraising Plan
Let's start off with some good news: LPs who were recently surveyed indicated the desire to increase the number of GP relationships across 2022.
Q: Are you planning to increase, decrease, or maintain the number of GP relationships you have over the next 12 months?
The first thing you need is for your 2022 Fundraising Plan is a marketing budget. Many of you will not have that, or you might have the reservation of: “We can’t afford to budget money for marketing”.
More often than not, you can afford to spend money on marketing, but you just don’t prioritize it.
Do you really need three more analysts? Instead of allocating $5M of your own capital into the fund, perhaps an allocation of $4.5M is good enough. Do you think you will be more successful with $5M in the fund and limited marketing, or $4.5M into the fund, and a robust marketing program?
The first thing to do is to budget for a marketing budget over the next 6 months. This sets the foundation for a clear fundraising plan. Then, you need to ensure that you have the proverbial “house in order”. Is what you have up to LPs’ expectations for a fund manager in 2022?
Only then, can you plan your marketing investments to support your fundraising goals.
Getting Your House in Order
The basics which earn you the right to communicate to LPs:
A modern-looking website with language and design which encapsulates your passions and convictions
A marketing deck which articulates your investment strategy whilst showcasing your value proposition.
A fully built-out CRM which helps you with all inbound and outbound marketing needs, and that ultimately helps you cut through the noise to profile LP interest.
Having a high-quality profile video won’t hurt either. It's your summarized investment thesis packaged in a different medium that allows you to be in 100s of rooms at a time.
Marketing Investments
Now, we get to our recommended marketing tactics that forms part of your 2022 fundraising plan:
I. Events (in-person) - They’re back, after an extended hiatus. LPs are people too, and they’re excited to engage managers in the flesh... Q1 2022 is already stacked with industry events. Be opportunistic.
II. LinkedIn Campaigns – Having a LinkedIn [company + individual] profile but not doing anything about it is akin to boothing at an event, and leaving it empty. Sponsoring posts + advertising on LinkedIn is a valuable medium for engaging LPs via a different medium (the usual phone, email, and meetings), and we can share some success stories (i.e. allocations!) over the last 1.5 “covid” years.
III. Targeted Gifting – Branded gifting to your most important prospects and investors never gets old. It can go a long way in cementing your relationships when done right.
IV. Thought Leadership – A simple and inexpensive way to position yourself as a leader in your arena on a consistent basis. LPs are clamoring for more consistent communications from GPs... give them your commentary, a quarterly webinar, or partner with a third-party group to deliver exclusive insights within your vertical(s). If you’re using the right technology, your most engaged prospective LPs will present themselves to you.
Lastly, in a recent poll, 87% of LPs said that it was important that fund managers embrace technology and the digital transformation of the industry. Think about what this means as you position yourself for the upcoming year.