The right messaging for your firm.

A private equity website redesign impacts your whole site. From brand messaging to imagery, shifts in page layout mean you have to make content updates.

This is especially true for private equity and investment banking firms, which often have little messaging on their current sites.

In this post we’ll tackle the challenge of updating your messaging to maintain a professional, engaging tone while being cohesive with your new private equity or investment banking firm design.

Getting started.

You need some new or revised messaging and your team is up for the challenge of writing it. Your agency has requested your finalized copy back in two weeks. Where do you start?

Step 1: Speak to the right audience.

It may seem simple, but if you are talking to the wrong group of people, your messaging won’t get much traction. Speak with current clients, send out questionnaires or analyze site data to obtain an accurate picture of your online audience. An agency can help you in this discovery process.

When you have a good idea of who is coming to your firm for help, work with an agency to create different client personas. As a private equity or investment banking firm, your personas might include investors, business owners, trusted advisors, or intermediaries. Assign names and characteristics to each persona. By marketing directly to a “person” that fits your demographic, you are more likely to fulfill the needs of each prospect.

Each time you write new messaging ask yourself questions like, “Where are my visitors landing? What information are they hoping to find?”

Their needs and searches should form the backbone of your content.

Step 2: How will your visitors best understand what you have to say?

The best practices for online copy change often. If you don’t update your content for six months to a year, or more, it probably is not working for you anymore. Take a look at some of the successful private equity or investment banking firms in your space. If their site is updated, it’s likely they are using short, personable, direct copy.

Websites that use long sentences and paragraphs don’t capture audience’s attention, and it shows when people leave the site quickly. Use simple descriptions that minimize unnecessary buzzwords and keep your paragraphs short.

Make your messaging genuine and in synch with your brand personality. It’s easy for your visitors to spot exaggerations. Be accurate in your descriptions of your company culture, goals, and company-client relationships. It will pay off in the end.

Step 3: Include effective calls-to-action.

Often private equity companies forget to use calls-to-action. Unfortunately, you could have all the compelling and well-focused copy in the world, but without a call-to-action your audience can’t let you know they loved it! Speak with your agency about calls-to-action: where to put them, what action they should inspire, etc.

The right call-to-action makes all the difference in leading your audience to take the steps needed to get in touch with you.

Step 4: Make sure your audience knows what content is yours.

Frequently our clients link to websites outside of their own. There are many good reasons to do this—in fact we do it too—but your audience needs to know that the link they just clicked is taking them to content beyond your control. It wouldn’t look very good if they got to the site and the content you had linked to had changed, would it?

Well, you can eliminate some of the frustration they might feel if this happens by alerting them that they are going to a page managed by someone else.

A simple way to do this is a bumper warning. This is a little pop-up that says something like, “Hey! Just wanted you to know you’re leaving our site!” Then give them an option to click to stay with you and another that takes them to the new site. This two-step process ensures you are both on the same page.

A little help.

Updating your copy is a big job, but there are ways to make it easier. From following the four steps above, to working with an experienced copywriter, your content updates can be simple and painless.

Here at MVP, we have been helping private equity companies rework their brand messaging and copy for almost two decades. From providing a thorough needs assessment and creative brief to creating detailed personas for your audiences, we’ll help you focus on the right people.

Our experienced team knows and understands the private equity and investment banking industry and can help your company land on the messaging that works best for you.

If you want to view more of our suggestions for private equity and investment banking website design, check out our new checklist here.