3 Reasons Private Equity Firms Need a Content Marketing Strategy

Content marketing involves consistently creating and sharing valuable information with the intention of stimulating interest in a brand and driving profitable customer action. In the past, content had been considered an expense but, in today’s digital age where online consumption is at an all-time high, 92% of organizations view content as a business asset. Content marketing is especially beneficial to private equity firms because it supports fundraising and deal sourcing.

Below are three key reasons your private equity firm should implement a content marketing strategy:

1. Increasing Your Online Presence

An investment in content marketing will continue to drive business long after the content has been published. This is because digital content lives online eternally—it isn’t taken down, thrown away or quickly skipped over. Instead, people actively seek it out. Adding content to your website also makes it easier for users to find your business via search engines. In fact, websites with blog content have 434% more search-engine-indexed pages than those without blog content.

2. Positioning Your Firm as a Thought Leader

Through the creation of a digital content repository, you can position your private equity firm as an expert and industry leader in business growth. Leveraging your thought leadership content with news media and social networks can further build your reputation and increase exposure to your target audience. When an investor, advisor or business owner that meets your investment criteria seeks an opportunity, your private equity firm will already be at the top of their minds.

3. Generating More Quality Leads

Content marketing generates more than 3x as many leads as outbound marketing and costs 62% less. What’s more is that it can help your firm generate high-quality leads that fit within your investment criteria. By regularly providing those leads with useful content tailored to their specific needs, content marketing will help your firm build long-lasting relationships that ultimately result in proprietary deals.

These same content marketing best practices can be applied to your portfolio companies to accelerate their growth by generating quality leads, reducing the cost of customer acquisition and conversion, and enhancing their brand reputations.

This article originally appeared in Crain’s Cleveland Business on January 15, 2019.