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-gen marketing.
Why?
Because the accredited investor requires important and unique marketing and advertising tactics.
An “accredited investor” is defined as one of the following:
- “An individual (or married company) whose (joint) net worth exceeds $1 million, excluding the value of the primary residence.”
- “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 for several reasons …
- During the pandemic and economic uncertainty, they are still great prospects.
- They are great buyers of all products and services … especially expensive items like boats, cars, and more.
- And they are top investors.
For example, take equity crowdfunding under the JOBS Act. This relatively new federal law allows private companies to raise capital directly from accredited and regular investors before launching an IPO.
So, with more marketers trying to reach a receptive, but distinctive audience, here are 11 secrets to generate leads and convert the super wealthy to buyers …
Secret #1: Data Is King
The wealthy respond well to digital and direct mail marketing. But the starting point is data. You must precisely identify and then target your audience.
For successful lead generation in the wealthy segment, you must use advanced Data Transactional Modeling (DTM) in combination with an integrated campaign.
Paid searches, TV, radio, traditional banner ads, general email, and other media are wasteful and inefficient formats to connect with this audience.
However, an integrated marketing campaign with advanced data transaction modeling at its core can produce powerful results.
Note: You can contact Jeremiah Dart on 615.814.6633 for more about identifying data to target the wealthy market.
The current list of prospects identified as “accredited investors” is 9,237,954 people strong. This creates the base data for doing an …
Secret #2: Integrated Marketing Campaign
From the advanced data transaction modeled list of accredited investors, identify email addresses to run the campaign to, as well as data for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, banner ads, and pre-roll commercials.
This creates a truly integrated multimedia campaign without waste, going to your core, selected audience.
Secret #3: Direct Mail
There are several powerful options to generate a lead from postal and 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 opened. But you need different envelope strategies when dealing with the wealthy.
Some ways to approach the affluent include:
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TEASER COPY
Envelopes with teaser copy on the outside usually out-poll just plain old envelopes.
Here’s an envelope with teaser copy that immediately defines the unique selling proposition (USP) of high return …
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USE A DIFFERENT ENVELOPE SIZE
Here is an example of a 9 x 12 envelope we used as part of a campaign targeted at wealthy prospects who owned homes overseas …
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UNUSUAL SIZES
Using an odd-sized envelope also attracts the attention of your wealthier prospects. Here’s an example of one sent by Ken Fisher for his investment money management …
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HIGHLY PERSONALIZED PIECE
Another strategy is to use a highly personalized direct mail piece. However, don’t limit this personalization to the outside of the envelope only. Use it across all of the components inside the envelope as well.
This example uses no machine print at all …
Option B: Magalog
The magalog is a powerful alternative to envelope mailings. It looks like and feels like a magazine, but is actually an infomercial in print. You can watch a quick video brief for more detail about the magalog here.
Here’s an example of magalog for an equity crowdfunding campaign …
Option C: Videolog
This is a combination of a direct mail piece that plays a video. For more details, watch this video brief.
Here’s an example …
Secret #4: Email
Only send emails to the prospects who you’re sending a direct mail piece.
Make sure it feels personal, contains valuable information, and mention the direct mail being sent to their home.
Here’s an example …
Secret #5: Facebook
Target the same names on your postal list with Facebook ads. This part of the integrated campaign magnifies your effectiveness. Your prospects see your direct mail piece. They see the emails. And then they see the ads on Facebook.
Here’s an example …
Secret #6: Banner Ads and Native Ads
Again, your prospect will …
- Get the direct mail piece.
- Get the emails.
- See the Facebook ads.
And then they’ll see the banner ads and native ads on websites they frequent often.
Here are a few examples …
Secret #7: Pre-Roll Commercial
To the same names you selected via advanced transactional data modeling … who get the direct mail and emails, see the Facebook ads and the banner/native ads … you should also get in front of them a pre-roll commercial where possible (like before videos on YouTube).
Secret #8: Direct Response Offer
Your audience may be wealthy, but you must still motivate them with a powerful direct response offer. Your offer should be enticing … maybe like a kit such as this example …
Secret #9: Measurability and Accountability
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.
This chart shows you how many leads you could generate from a 100,000 piece mailing.
Leads—100,000 mailing
Once you have the leads, you can convert them into clients. This process requires a combination of a conversion series with inbound and outbound calls.
Conversion rate of 1,000 leads
Note: An increased closure rate from 2% to 5% is highly significant. An increase from 5% to 10% is powerful!
That leads me to …
Secret #10: A Convincing Conversion Series
You’ll need to send a conversion series that consists of six to 12 emails and one or two postal letters to your leads.
It can look like this …
Secret #11: Retargeting the Leads – Digitally and in the Mail
Once you have generated a lead, a special retargeting campaign to Facebook and Google … and even via direct mail again … should begin to increase your conversion rates.
There you have it: the secrets to creating a powerful campaign designed to catch the attention of a special group of prospects.
If you’re interested in learning more about marketing to the wealthy, contact me at [email protected] or call me on 615.814.6633.
