One Foolproof Way to Boost Your Money Getting

Investing is a highly personal thing.

People will default to the person more than the product every single time.

Therefore, you must be personable.

How?

Inject some personality into your marketing, start being more you and less the other guy. You’ll start getting better results.

In The Book on Private Money, I write about the resistance I faced in raising private funding for my real estate investments before I realized one simple fact:

Investors bet on the jockey, not on the horse.

Seems strange to say, since you might be conditioned to believe that the most convincing part of investing with you is the collateral for the loan…

Guess what? No real private investor wants to even think about foreclosing on you. In judicial foreclosure states, this is a nightmare and it is an all around ugly end.

Or, maybe the rate of return is the harbinger of your approach…

Guess what? The return only gets paid if you execute on your plan.

Which brings us back to YOU.

Start selling you more than the deal.

Sure, you have to focus a good deal on the opportunity itself, show how it’s a no brainer to get involved. But make sure you spend a good deal of time on you.

In your marketing materials, write in the first person. Don’t say “we,” say “I”. You are the person running the firm. Write a “letter from the Chairman” or (Chairperson”). This has worked wonders for Warren Buffett.

When you write your monthly newsletter (not e-newsletter, real newsletter), include some writing that is written in 3rd person and then include a column written by you.

It’s not a bad idea to volunteer to write a pro-bono investment column for your local mom&pop newspaper. Even if you have to pay to be in the space, write an article once a month or once a week is a great way to get interested investors. The key here is that you are providing value-added insights & comment (read: NOT advice. Never, ever, ever, never, ever say or word in any way that you are providing any type of investment advice whatsoever. This is a sure way to catch the ire of a regulator).

Stop Pretending

When you are not a big multi-national investment company, you cannot pretend like you are. I see a lot of websites and information from real estate investors aimed at prospective lenders. You’d think the site was published by a huge conglomerate.

There’s no personality at all. No profile on the owners. No pictures of the owners with their boots on out in the field checking out deals. There are no testimonials about what good people the owners are.

Puzzling.

Seems like everyone wants to seem like they are a Wall Street investment bank.

Even though the level of public trust in these types of institutions is at an all time low.

Also, remember to keep all of your communication in the form of a “YOU” message instead of a “WE” message.

There’s a big difference between:

“We provide the biggest, best, brightest and shiniest widget ever!”

And

“You’ll enjoy hassle free use of the ABC widget for a lifetime of enjoyment, guaranteed.”

As you move forward in your money raising efforts, consider injecting more personality, providing strong benefit driven messages for the reader and separating yourself from the pack. You will be glad you did.

-Happy Investing

Tags: marketing message