PE and M&A sites – We do not believe in “cookie cutter,” template websites.

Instead, we champion online branded experiences that achieve your objectives and flawlessly express your content. With our websites form ALWAYS follows function.

A Private Equity/M&A website redesign presents an exciting opportunity for you and your firm. It can also be a bit overwhelming: What content should be considered? What about brand messaging? What are the best practices for PE/M&A websites? What structure should our website adapt? These are common questions we receive from our clients.

While it can be very easy to only focus on the design aspect of your site (the fun part), we cannot stress enough the importance of brand messaging, proper due diligence and user experience (UX).

Below, you will see the way we have handled important components within the homepage, portfolio and team sections of PE websites. Remember these are just examples. We will work with you to express the many unique elements that will make your website stand out from the pack. There is only one way to build the perfect website – Your way!

Homepage

The homepage is most likely where your site visitors will first land, and it has to tell a story that addresses common questions about your company. At MVP, we want to make sure that your different audiences are being presented with what they need to know. Attention-grabbing visuals and clear messaging here should be priorities.

Hero Sections: Take our site for River Associates: The Hero Section tells a lot about who they are and where they are located. Their main tagline “Investments with Management” and a photo of Chattanooga, TN, sets the stage. The animation also adds a little “je ne sais quoi” element to the story to keep users intrigued and engaged in browsing.

Summary Overviews: At MVP, we are fans of “Summary Overviews.” They allow your audience to get a focused understanding of your firm when meeting as a group. See our website for Mason Wells which features a Summary Overview download on the Homepage and also on all secondary pages.

Calls-to-Action (CTAs): A website needs to tell a story and provoke an immediate response; calls-to-action are a great way to do so. The question is: If I were an intermediary, where would I want to go next? What if I were a business owner? By ensuring these questions are asked and accounted for, MVP will position calls-to-action throughout the site strategically, and in a way that fits your overall objectives. View examples of well-thought-out CTAs on our Cortec site.

Portfolio Section

Your website portfolio section needs to be accurate and informational. Your site visitors will want to know 1) how many funds you have had, 2) how long you have held onto the company, 3) which sectors you invest in, and 4) how many companies you are currently managing. Of course, this information will probably be located in the “About” or “Investment Criteria” sections of your site, but our research reveals that most of PE site visitors will go to the Portfolio section to find these answers quickly.

Filters: Filters should be an integral part of a Portfolio section. At MVP, we like to create compound filters which will give your users an opportunity to filter results based on an “AND” logic. For example, “I want to find a company in the ‘consumer sector’ AND ‘from the firm’s last fund’ AND ‘current.’” There are several ways to make filters work:

• Cortec Group uses an “immersive filter” technique, which displays all filter options full-screen
• Dominus Capital uses on-screen filters

Which option to choose? It all depends on how you feel your audience will want to see the information. An immersive filter will ensure that they see all options available to them, while on-screen filters will dynamically display real-time results.

Portco information: How much information do you want to display? Do you want to display an image, a web link, the dates of acquisition/exit, the CEO’s name? There are many approaches to presenting Portco information, here are a few we have done:

• Dominus Capital uses separate pages
• Shoreview Industries displays the content on a single page to reduce “back-and-forth” browsing

Team Section

Like the Portfolio section, there are many ways to display your team’s information. From in-page to a separate page, and from email to social media links, MVP has crafted “Team” sections in a variety of ways:

• Shoreview Industries stays consistent with the way their Portfolio section is displayed; the information just expands on the same page to minimize clicks
• Penfund also expands on-page, but contains emails and phone numbers for each individual team member
• Mason Wells opens separate pages with the ability to print individual team member bios – a really big plus which we highly recommend!

About MVP Marketing + Design, Inc.

MVP Marketing + Design is a Minneapolis-based digital marketing, communications and technology agency that has served Midwest regional, national, and international clients for over 32 years. Our smart, eye-catching work pushes branding, design, and development to propel the brands, stories, and business processes of our most valued partners. We are passionate about creating brand equity and enterprise value for clients in Professional Services (private equity, mezzanine debt, M&A, venture capital, healthcare, law and consulting); Software (EdTech, CAM, and factory automation); Manufacturing (medical device, foodservice, and precision parts); and Consumer Products (food, housewares and office products).

Our combination of integrated digital and traditional marketing and creative services has helped such companies as 3M, Medtronic, Ecolab, Lifetime Brands, Achieve3000, The Erwin Hymer Group (Roadtrek), TSI, NAMSA, Mason Wells, Cortec Group, Shoreview Industries, Harbour Group, River Associates, Penfund, Keystone Capital, Merit Capital, Svoboda Capital Partners, Origami Capital Partners, The Watermill Group, the Chicago Association of Private Equity Executives, JZ Partners, Caliper, Sweet Harvest Foods, PB Crave and others achieve lasting digital marketing success. Award-winning design, innovative functionality, and a “what’s next” mindset have elevated MVP and our clients as we build their brands, promote their products and services, and deliver business growth. We’re pleased to have been recognized for our solution-oriented work by the Communicator Awards, Hermes Awards, MARCOM Awards and others. MVP is a HubSpot inbound marketing agency partner.

If you are interested in learning more about how we help Private Equity and M&A firms develop top-tier websites, branding and marketing communications, click here to contact us.