Marketing Materials
In this chapter we will perform an audit of existing marketing materials, review how they are hosted, ensure that downloads can be tracked in the marketing automation system, and make all materials easily accessible to salespeople.
Document audit
If we wanted to use marketing buzzwords (which we don't) we would call these materials our middle-of-funnel (MOFU) or bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) content, which refers to their location in the marketing conversion funnel. This type of content aims to influence investment or recommendation decisions.
We will begin by identifying which standard marketing materials are being produced.
Materials for investment strategies and vehicles
The first step is to identify the main types of documents that are created for each of the firm's individual investment strategies and vehicles, which may include:
- Factsheets. Produced periodically (monthly or quarterly) with information on portfolio holdings and investment performance.
- Pitchbooks/presentations. Detailed documents that cover the investment philosophy, process, people, performance, and the investment case. Some firms have software that allow salespeople to create their own customised documents, usually by choosing slides from a library, but we are only concerned with standardised materials here.
- Flyers. A short narrative document (usually around 1 or 2 pages) with key content taken from a relevant pitchbook/presentation.
- Commentaries. Produced periodically (monthly or quarterly) with performance commentary, attribution, changes to portfolio holdings, and outlook.
Most of these document types will be produced on a one-to-one basis: a single document for each investment strategy or vehicle. For pooled funds, however, some documents — such as the factsheet — are typically published separately for each share class.
Once we have identified the exisiting document types, we then need to check which specific documents are being produced for each individual investment strategy and vehicle. Here, we can use the lists created in the products & services chapter as a handy reference.
In most cases, the full range of documents are not produced for every investment strategy or vehicle, as resource contraints limit how many can be properly maintained.
Other materials
Once product materials for individual investment strategies and vehicles have been audited and documented, we move on to finding any other key materials — a corporate brochure or presentation, firm factsheet, fund range brochures, and so on.
Include everything that you consider relevant and useful for the sales team.
Regulatory documents
Although they can be quite dry, some regulatory materials are used by prospects who are seeking information before making investment decisions, so you may wish to include them in the audit. Examples include a fund range prospectus, annual report, or semi-annual report, and key investor information documents (KIIDs) or key investor documents (KIDs) for UCITS share classes.
Regulatory documents are often produced by a different team outside of marketing, which may make an audit a bit more complicated.
Languages
If appropriate, include marketing materials the firm produces in any additional languages that were documented in the languages chapter.
Document hosting
Marketing materials may be stored and hosted on a variety of document management systems or with digital asset management software.
Regardless of which specific system or software your firm uses for hosting documents, we only have a single — but important — requirement: each document should be available on a static URL, which always links to the latest version, doesn't change when the document is updated, and is publicly available.
It should also be clear who is responsible for updating each document, to ensure they stay up-to-date.