Qualitative Marketing Research for Tampa Bay and Clearwater

On Target market surveys takes the guesswork out of marketing message strategy for investment hedge fund company

In the rarefied investing universe of hedge funds, finding the right words can sometimes be as important as showing the right performance numbers.  At least that’s how Tom Wright, Director of Client Services and Corporate Affairs for Monitor Fund Advisors, LLC in Clearwater, Florida sees it.

“Since investment hedge funds, such as Monitor Fund Advisors, are prohibited from advertising and are of interest only to a few thousand high net worth individuals across the country, we have to make the most of any communication to our target audience,” says Wright.  “It’s critical to know exactly what’s needed and wanted by our public.  And we’ve got to get it right from the beginning.  Otherwise, we’d turn them off, and that’s dangerous when there’s such a small pool of qualified prospects to start with.”

“I refer to the surveys for every letter I write to investors and potential investors.”

Wright turned to On Target Research for surveying of client needs and wants, as well as branding.  “I refer to the surveys for every letter I write to investors and potential investors,” says Wright.  “They guide content, graphics, presentation, and allow me to address actual concerns they have with words that have been tested to show the most impact.  It takes the guesswork out of marketing.  It’s the difference between having a sharp knife that cuts straight to the heart of the market versus wielding a clumsy sledgehammer than can do unintended, costly damage.”

“If you’ve done your homework, there’s never any question about what you need to say to your customer,” continues Wright.  “You know what they want, and if you’re good at delivering it you can say it in a number of different ways with good results.  Due in large part to accurate surveying, our marketing materials are more memorable than hedge funds with similar returns.  People remember us, know who we are.  We hand them a card and we’re already well past, ‘Who are you and why are you here?’  The precise knowledge gleaned from surveys can make the difference between reaching and persuading your prospects or costly failure.”

A track record of working with hard to reach survey publics, such as CEOs, doctors, and lawyers.

While Wright’s target audience for hedge funds was small and difficult to reach, the same is often true with survey prospects themselves.  In these cases, it’s important to deal with a market research company with a track record of working with hard to reach survey publics, such as CEOs, doctors, and lawyers.  On Target Research, for example, has the distinction of being the first market research company to survey the staff of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs – the Russian Federal Police – soon after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Bruce Wiseman, founder and chairman of On Target Research relates the story.  “In the early 90s, I was asked to help Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) with some public opinion research.  The MIA is the Russian National Police – all the police in Russia are Federal cops – and they had a PR problem. Their communication line to the public for 70 years had been a nightstick.  With the fall of communism, they realized that they had to change both their conduct and their image.”

“While working on this larger project, I was asked to help them do a recruitment survey,” says Wiseman.  “The ministry wasn’t getting anywhere near the number of recruits they needed from the Moscow area.  I surveyed existing members of the police to find out why they had joined the MIA, as well as potential recruits: high school graduates, college students and returning military personnel, to find out what might make them join.”

“Though I’ve been in the market research and survey business for almost 30 years, I wasn’t prepared for the results,” continues Wiseman.  “Instead of answers like “to protect and serve,” “to catch criminals,” “to keep the environment safe,” or “to protect Mother Russia”, the overwhelming answer was “to get free transportation on the metro.”  Riding the metro subway system, it turned out, was a major motivating factor in getting people to join the MIA.  Not difficult to figure in retrospect if you understood the pay scene in Russia at the time and the fact that virtually no one of that stature had a car. If you were a member of the Ministry, you rode to work and home for free and this was a major underlying fact to police recruitment. Go figure. But it gave them critical data for a recruitment campaign.”

“Any well done survey can provide critical information from the minds of the client’s public.”

“Not all results are this surprising.  But any well done survey can provide critical information from the minds of the client’s public that can be used in a communications campaign to improve marketing response.  You ask people who are prospects to buy a new multi-vitamin, ‘What’s the most important factor in choosing a multi-vitamin?’ Seventy percent of them say ‘if it boosts my energy.’  So you build a campaign around the fact that your vitamins boost energy . And this will increase marketing response.  Why?  Because you asked them what they wanted from a vitamin, and they told you.  Assuming you can deliver that, you promote it (like they said it) and watch the calls come in.”