Stop relying on marketing to raise capital – here’s the step you’re missing.
Many fall for the dream sold to them by agencies and seminar gurus of fully automated marketing campaigns that bring in investors like conspiracy theorists to a blurry YouTube video.
They fantasize about lounging at home, sipping coffee, and watching as the capital commitments flood their inbox with the perfect capital funnel.
Raising capital is a high-stakes game.
It’s not about flashy Meta ads, fancy email sequences, the perfect script, quick-funnels, or automated systems that do everything.
You need two things to maximize your capital raising efforts: marketing and sales.
The problem today… Many forget the roles of each.
They use marketing to sell and forget the selling process. Marketing has a very specific purpose and when you try to use marketing to close investors, your efforts are well below their potential. This leaves a gap for your competition to come in and close many more investors.
Marketing and sales move investors from strangers to committed partners. If you ignore this, you’ll stay stuck: frustrated, and wondering why very few are closing ‘themselves.’
Marketing warms up your investors but it doesn’t sell.
Never give a new lead enough information to make a decision without you. No matter how slick, cool, or on-point your deck or investment docs are, you can close more investors than your marketing and automation.
Let’s break it down
Marketing: Building the Bridge
Marketing’s job is to bring investors to the edge of the bridge. It generates attention, earns interest, and builds trust. It positions you as the solution to their biggest fears, frustrations, and desires.
What Marketing Can Do
Generate Leads: Marketing acts as a magnet, attracting potential investors and getting them into your pipeline. This is where the journey begins.
Qualify Leads: Not all leads are created equal. Marketing should sort out the serious prospects from the tire-kickers. However, I rarely see this implemented. It ensures you’re not wasting time on those who won’t or can’t convert.
Initiating a Response: Marketing gets prospects to take that crucial initial action. Whether it’s scheduling an appointment or requesting more info, it’s all about moving them closer to you. Even getting a prospect to reply via text or email is a good start.
Nurture Prospects: Here’s the big one. Not everyone’s ready to invest right away. Marketing keeps the conversation going, helping prospects mature over time—whether it’s three months or three years down the road. In the capital raising process, too many fail at establishing a nurture process that is not promotional. When strategically implemented, a nurturing process can validate your status, authority, and expertise for the next round or offering.
Build Trust: Effective marketing can build a relationship. It positions you not as a vendor—you become a trusted advisor. This trust makes the selling process smoother when the time comes. Having a content strategy that is not simply educational but opinionated and putting the interest of the investor’s future above the company’s is key to building trust.
Pre-Sell: Even before you begin the capital raising process, marketing should “seed” the investor’s mind with a position that your sector, asset class, returns, or benefits. This shortens the sales cycle and boosts efficiency. Yet, many just dive in to promotions and interrupt the potential investor. Pre-sells converts those on the sidelines and prepares your existing investors for the next round.
Boost Closing Investors: By handling the initial stages, marketing frees up you to do what you do best—close deals. It takes over the early grunt work so you can focus on converting leads into investors.
Go to Facebook Ad Library and review the companies raising capital. 98% of ads I reviewed on Meta are trying to manage the sales process. Most of the ads break the rule: do not disclose everything someone needs to know to make the decision without you.
When you run ads like this, you have no control or power to control the sales process, narrative, or address any questions.
Think of this way.
Imagine going the luxury car deal of your choice. As you walk the lot or view the top-shelf models within the showroom, there are no salesmen… no one is walking toward you at a fast pace. The cars are open and the keys are in the ignition. Beside every model there’s display that read “Take One.” It is the owner’s manual with the specifications of the automobile. You’re given all the information you need to make a decision.
How successful would this dealer be without salesmen?
Look at the seminars that sell high-ticket coaching or masterminds.
Do they simply direct you to a website? No! Live calls are mandatory.
High-ticket SaaS companies do not disclose pricing on their website, the only route to pricing is a live demo with a salesperson. Why? Because they know the importance of the sales process.
So, think about this.
How much information are you including in your marketing, landing process or outreach campaign?
Are you directing the potential investor to a meeting to get all the information? Are you controlling the narrative?
If not, you’re converting much fewer leads than the top capital raisers. And unfortunately for you, many of the same prospects are on their list and yours. Who’s going to close more investors – you or them?
Raising capital is a high-stakes game. Are you leaving yourself out of the process?
