Last week I participated on a panel at a start up Hedge Fund Conference in London and also fielded a number of questions elsewhere on establishing a Fund Brand.

It is never too early as a start-up Fund Management Group to start establishing your brand!

Firstly this means all the key partners need to believe in what the corporate vehicle is being started for. It is worth getting key people interviewed individually and then putting them all together to agree. I know of one group who spent their first half hour when put together agreeing how to pronounce the name of the company.

Secondly all the new recruits need to be told this in the pitch to them to join the group. So they know from before Day 1 what they are getting involved with. As I have said in an earlier blog in a small group everyone is a marketer and how everyone reacts and behaves to promote the group.

Therefore you are looking for the one line explanation of what the company and Fund are setting out to do. That one line message is as long as you get to start to get people’s attention before they start to switch off.

Many groups by nature of the people involved are analytic in nature. Therefore they tend to analyse and think down about what they do rather than think up and explain simply what they are looking to do.

In many cases the explanation can be technical. This may be good to talk to a research analyst reviewing your fund and company but very few people are research analysts. So make it simple so the research analyst can explain it to a lay trustee for instance.

So by Keeping It Simple Stupid its easy to tell on to others. Word of mouth is the most powerful marketing tool to build your brand.

It may be very easy to establish your brand with initial guidance.