Marketing to Hedge Funds
As of 2017, hedge funds had nearly 3.3 trillion in assets and had net inflows of $75 billion in new assets. There is also a lot of optimism, with
69% of hedge fund managers expressing optimism for industry returns.
With the optimism and massive amount of capital at stake, it's no surprise that everyone from third party service providers to purveyors of luxury goods are looking for a way to market to hedge funds. Of course, the major hurdle is that hedge funds are notoriously difficult to contact.
Though it's beginning to change, a large number of hedge funds do not even maintain websites (or simply operate a secure login terminal for clients). Others provide little information on their fund, executives, strategy, assets under management, and the other key criteria necessary for marketers to effectively communicate their value proposition.
So how exactly can one effectively market their product or service to hedge funds?
1) Understand the hedge fund industry and need for your product or service
If you are selling, for example, private jet sharing, you may be looking to market to the entire industry. If, on the other hand, you are providing a data analytics service, you may be only marketing to funds utilizing a specific strategy. Understanding the various types of hedge funds and what their product and service needs may be is absolutely essential.
Some resources you might like:
2017 Preqin Hedge Fund Report
Free Hedge Fund Database
Hedge Fund Marketing Association
HedgeCo Service Provider Directory
The Secret Hedge Fund Database
2) Reach out to hedge funds directly
Let's face it, you're not going to be able to effectively run ads using Google AdWords to target hedge fund managers and decision makers. Facebook ads can you a bit closer, but still won't allow you to target them directly. In our experience, the best method for marketing to hedge funds is reaching out to them directly - in person, by mail, or by email.
There are close to a dozen reputable hedge fund database/directories that can be immensely helpful in this regard. The good ones will be updated frequently. Our favorite is The Blue Heron Group's
secret hedge fund database. Other well known databases, though they are rather expensive and more aimed at investors, are
Preqin and
EurekaHedge, and
Morningstar.
HedgeLists offers an inexpensive alternative, particularly if you are looking to market to a specific country or fund strategy.
3) Differentiate yourself
Due to the large amount of capital and relative concentration of funds, it can be difficult to get the time of day from the larger and more well known funds. Your value proposition, along with a unique approach, is critical to your ability to effectively market yourself and your product to hedge funds.
