Lead generation and conversion of the ultra-wealthy – often classified as the Accredited Investor –  has significant differences than traditional business-to-business or general consumer lead generation marketing.
That’s because the “Accredited Investor” requires some important and unique marketing advertising tactics and strategies.
An Accredited Investor is defined as any of the following:
1. “An individual (or married couple) whose (joint) net worth exceeds $1 million, excluding the value of the primary residence;
2. “An individual with income exceeding $200,000 in each of the two most recent years, or a married couple with joint income exceeding $300,000 for those years, and a reasonable expectation of the same income level in the current year.
More and more marketers are targeting this unique demographic for a variety of products and services.
For example, one of the newest group of marketers is because of the new JOBS Act. The JOBS Act is a new federal law that allows private and public companies to directly advertise and market to generate capital – as much as $50 million, from as many as 2,000 shareholders. It’s already raised some $14 Billion. Let me give you a couple of examples:

• For an income property, they received a 5% close rate of all the leads with a $83,000 average investment. So far it has produced over $10 million in funding.

• Another company had a campaign that had a 2% close rate of leads to new investors with a $61,000 average investment and $4,942,600.00 was funded.

By law, they can only market to the “Accredited Investor” or superwealthy.
Here are 9 critical steps for successful lead generation and conversion for the ultra wealthy.
Step 1.  Data is King
Lead generation for the wealthy is difficult to do unless it is an integrated campaign, utilizing as its base the postal names of the wealthy.
Paid search, TV, radio, traditional banner ads, general email and other media all create waste and inefficiency and do not result in a cost per lead and cost per sale that will sustain a profitable campaign.
However, direct mail will target only your wealthy investor audience.
The postal names are targeted and highly selectable with direct mail – some 9,237,954 prospects, officially identified as “Accredited Investors.”
Step 2.  Integrated Marketing
From that direct mail postal list of the wealthy, we identify their email addresses and Facebook newsfeeds, and we do banner ads. And it’s only to those who we are mailing to –  the wealthy – a truly integrated multimedia campaign without waste.
Step 3. Direct Mail
There are several powerful options to generate a lead from direct mail:

• Option A – The Direct Mail Envelope

The lead generation campaign starting point of a traditional campaign is the direct mail envelope. In any direct mail campaign, the purpose of the envelope is to get it open. When dealing with the wealthy, different envelope strategies are needed. Let me give you some ways to approach the affluent.
a. Teaser – Heavy
Here is an envelope used for a client that immediately defines the unique selling proposition of high return, using the traditional teaser copy.

b. Teaser – Light
Here is another envelope for expensive, second homes overseas. Notice the 9×12 format.

c. Oversize
Here is an odd-sized envelope, done by Ken Fisher for his investment money management.

d. Personalized
And here is a high-quality personalized letter. Note, the personalization is not only on the outside of the envelope, but also the inside and does not look machine printed at all.

Letter and contents.
Within the mailing package is a strong direct response copy letter. Following the proper direct response strategies and techniques, this letter powerfully conveys the benefits to the prospect. Other components would be a response device, lift note and added value piece.

• Option B – Magalog

The magalog is a powerful alternative to the envelope mailing. It needs to look like and feel like a magazine, but it is not. It’s an infomercial in print to the wealthy. See video brief here.

• Option C – Videolog

This is a combination of a direct mail piece that plays a video. See video brief here.
Step 4. Email
The email should only be going to the direct mail names used.
And it should feel personal, have valuable content and mention the mail being sent to their home.
Step 5. Facebook
Using the same names as the postal, the Facebook newsfeed ads magnify your effectiveness. They see the direct mail. They see the email. They see the Facebook newsfeed.
Step 6. Banner Ads/Retargeting
Here is an example of a banner ad that is used for our target audience, once they’ve gotten the direct mail piece….
See Retargeting/Remarketing video brief here.
Step 7. Direct Response Offer
Your audience may be wealthy, but to motivate them to respond, a powerful direct response offer is critical. Your offer should be a powerful enticement – often a kit like this:

Step 8. Costs
Know your cost per lead and cost per sale. Everything you do needs to be measured and accountable. Your response can be analyzed for effectiveness…and testing.
As you can see from this chart, how many leads can be generated from a 100,000 mailing.
Leads—100,000 mailing

Once you have the leads, then your staff or a professional sales team needs to convert them to clients. This is a combination of a conversion series and inbound and outbound calls.
Conversion rate of 1,000 leads

Note:  If you can increase your closure rate from 2% to 5%, it’s highly significant. If from 5% to 10%, it is powerful.
Step 9. A Powerful Conversion Series
Then you’ll need a conversion series of 6-12 emails, postal, retargeting banner and Facebook ads to the new leads.
Now you have a powerful campaign to a special group of prospects. Follow these steps with powerful direct response copy, art and offer and you’ll have a winning campaign.
If you’re interested in learning more about marketing to the wealthy, contact me at [email protected] or 310-212-5727. If you are interested in hearing a webinar on the JOBS Act, you can do so by clicking here.