4 Best Practices for Private Equity Websites

More than 8,000 companies are already backed by private equity, while $1.7 trillion sits on the sidelines—creating fierce competition for quality deals among private equity firms. To emerge as one of the winners in this battle, you must first look to those who are implementing strategic marketing initiatives, such as these four website best practices for private equity firms:

1. Winners Differentiate

In the private equity industry, it’s critical that you find a way to differentiate your business. Here’s an example of a more generic position statement: “ABC Capital is a private equity firm that partners with management to accelerate growth at middle-market manufacturing and distribution companies.” Sound familiar? That’s because too many websites describe their firms in this way. Winning private equity firms, however, relay their value proposition with a clearly defined, differentiated position. They do this by tightening their target market focus or branding their growth methodologies.

2. It Ain’t Bragging If It’s True

All too often, private equity firms simply issue a news release announcing an exit and then deposit any reference to it in their website’s “former portfolio company” section. Winners do much more than this. Their websites celebrate stories on how capital infusions changed company trajectories, and they complement these with examples of how their expertise accelerated the benefits of the capital. Champions go even further—providing video testimonials from management.

3. Capitalize on Marketing Automation

Winners in private equity rely on tools like Hubspot, SharpSpring and Marketo to automate their marketing tasks—such as distributing emails and social media content—enabling them to stay top of mind with prospects and deal sources. These tools also centralize digital analytics so firms can determine which online campaigns are most effective.

4. Optimize for Search

The above tactics are great, but they only matter if prospects actually find a firm’s website. Private equity winners leverage key search terms, such as “growth equity,” into backend coding and frontend content to boost their search engine rankings. One litmus test for judging which private equity firms will generate quality deal flow is their website, as winners demonstrate a command for strategy. For a free website assessment, complete our web analysis test.

This article was originally published in Crain’s Cleveland Business on January 20, 2020.