Lead generation and conversion of ultra-wealthy prospects–often classified as accredited Investors–is a significantly different process from traditional business-to-business marketing or general consumer lead generation marketing.
Why? The accredited investor requires important and unique marketing and advertising tactics.
An accredited investor is defined as one 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 marketers are reaching out to this unique demographic to sell a variety of products and services.
Why?
The JOBS Act.
This new federal law allows private companies to raise capital directly from investors before launching an IPO. With this law, companies have already raised some $50 billion.
With this information now in mind, you should consider all kinds of marketing strategies to accredited investors.

Here are 11 critical steps for successful lead generation and conversion of the super wealthy:
Step 1.  Data is King
Lead generation for the wealthy is difficult to do, unless you use an integrated campaign, utilizing  the postal names of the wealthy as its base.
Paid searches, TV, radio, traditional banner ads, general email, and other media are wasteful and inefficient. They do not result in a cost per lead and cost per sale that will sustain a profitable campaign.
However, an integrated marketing campaign with direct mail as its core that targets the wealthy investor audience can produce powerful results.
The postal names are targeted and diligently selected with direct mail – some 9,237,954 prospects, officially identified as “accredited investors.”
This creates the base data for doing an …
Step 2.  Integrated Marketing Campaign
From that direct mail postal list of accredited investors, we identify the email addresses, Facebook, banner ads, and pre-roll commercials.
And it’s only to those who we are mailing to–the wealthy. We create 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 first option is a traditional direct mail envelope mailing package.
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.
 

1. Teaser copy usually out-polls no-teaser copy.

Here is an envelope with teaser copy that immediately defines the unique selling proposition of high return.

2. Here is another envelope, part of a campaign for wealth prospects who own homes overseas. Notice the 9×12 format.

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

4. Another strategy is a highly personalized direct mail piece.
It contains a high-quality personalized letter. Note, the personalization is not only on the outside of the envelope, but also inside. This piece uses no machine print at all.

 
5. Letter and contents.
Within the mailing package is a strong direct response copy letter, response device, lift note, and added value piece.

• Option B – Magalog

The magalog is a powerful alternative to envelope mailings. It looks like and feels like a magazine, but it’s actually an infomercial in print to the wealthy. See video brief here.
Here is an example of a JOBS Act magalog:

• Option C – Videolog

This is a combination of a direct mail piece that plays a video. See Video Brief Here.
Here is a sample.

Step 4. Email
An email should only be going to the direct mail names used.
And it should feel personal, contain valuable content, and mention the direct mail being sent to their home.
Here is an example:

 
Step 5. Facebook
Target the same names on your postal list with Facebook ads in their newsfeeds. This part of the integrated campaign magnifies your effectiveness. Your prospects receive direct mail. They see the email.
And then they see the ads in their Facebook newsfeed.
Here is a JOBS Act example:

 
Step 6. Banner Ads
Here is an example of a banner ad for our target audience, which they will see once they’ve gotten the direct mail piece….
Step 7. Pre-Roll Commercial
To the same names getting the direct mail, email, Facebook and banner ads, they should get a pre-roll commercial on every video they see on YouTube and other video sources.
See Retargeting/Remarketing video brief here.
 
Step 8. Direct Response Offer
Your audience may be wealthy, but you still need to motivate them with a powerful direct response offer. Your offer should be a powerful enticement – often a kit like this:

 
Step 9: Facebook Look-alike Campaign
While not perfect, we also can reach our target audience outside of the direct mail universe with a special look-alike Facebook campaigns to the wealthy.
 
Step 10. Costs
Know your cost per lead and cost per sale. Everything you do must be measurable and accountable. Your response can be analyzed for effectiveness with good testing.
As you can see from this chart, see how many leads can be generated from a 100,000 mailing.
 
Leads—100,000 mailing
 

Response Rate	Number of Leads	Cost per Lead
		(at a mailing cost of $1.00 per piece mailed)
0.2	200	$500
0.3	300	$333
0.4	400	$250
0.5	500	$200
0.6	600	$167
0.7	700	$143
0.8	800	$125
0.9	900	$111
1.0	1000	$100
1.1	1100	$91
1.2	1200	$83
1.3	1300	$77
1.4	1400	$71
1.5	1500	$67

 
Once you have the leads, then your staff needs to convert them to clients. This process requires a combination of a conversion series with inbound and outbound calls.
Conversion rate of 1,000 leads
 

Conversion Percentage	Number of Investors	Funds raised at $10,000 per investor
0.2	2	$20,000
0.5	5	$50,000
0.8	8	$80,000
1.00	10	$100,000
2.00	20	$200,000
3.00	30	$300,000
4.00	40	$400,000
5.00	50	$500,000
6.00	60	$600,000
7.00	70	$700,000
8.00	80	$800,000
9.00	90	$900,000
10.00	100	$1,000,000

 
Note:  An increased closure rate from 2% to 5% is highly significant. From 5% to 10%, it is powerful.
 
Step 11. A Powerful Conversion Series
Next, you’ll need a conversion series of 6-12 emails, and 1-2 postal letters to the leads. A conversion series can look like this:

 
Step 12: Retargeting the Leads
Once you have the lead, a special retargeting campaign to Facebook and Google should begin to increase the conversion rate.
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.
See Retargeting/Remarketing video brief here.
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 below: