Peregrine Communications and Sadis & Goldberg, sponsors of the 2015 Alternative Asset Summit, presented a manager education panel on October 28, 2015 in Las Vegas at the Wynn Hotel. The panel was titled: “Hedge Fund Marketing 2.0: Managing PR and Capital Raising in Today’s Challenging Regulatory Environment.”
The panel, for which 150 people were present, discussed branding and marketing opportunities for hedge funds in light of the ever-changing regulatory landscape, namely the SEC’s interpretations under the JOBS Act, CFTC rulings and marketing into Europe.
Victor Park, Co-Founder of the Salt Conference and Founder of the Alternative Asset Summit commented: “The hedge fund industry is finally beginning to embrace the concept of marketing/branding and increased investor education as industry participants begin to pursue new sources of capital.”
“Like a trade, if a communications strategy is not structured and the downside is not seriously taken into consideration, it can be risky.”
“Investors demand transparency and increasingly knowledge share and insight from managers today. A large part of that transparency involves communicating to existing and prospective investors as to how you manage money, and how you do so differently,” said Max Hilton, a Director of Peregrine Communications, who was also the communications ambassador on the panel.
The panel also discussed the risks of solely relying on reverse solicitation. “Reverse solicitation is not a marketing strategy on its own. There are many communication tactics that can be deployed within the current regulatory environment,” said Daniel G. Viola, Partner and the Head of the Regulatory Compliance Group of Sadis & Goldberg. Viola also served as the moderator of the panel.
Strategic communications can provide an answer to the obstacles surrounding reverse solicitation, but control is key. “Like a trade, if a communications strategy is not structured and the downside is not seriously taken into consideration, it can be risky,” said Hilton. “This is why a systematic, controlled content strategy, leveraging your investment story and distributed via target media and key information channels is an approach to consider as a possible solution.”
Don’t hesitate to contact Peregrine for a free consultancy as you begin to consider your 2016 marketing and communications requirements.