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Jen Prosek

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79

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2024-07-15

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2024-07-15

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1. “Yes, I think it was a perfect storm of things, but one certainly is, we've talked a lot about brand building, but there's also brand protection reputation management. So the financial crisis created this real wake-up call that your reputation matters and that especially like in the hedge fund community, you are now on the radar screen. And it's not just on the radar screen with your investors, all publics. Now people get what a hedge fund is and it has a sort of negative connotation. So what do we do about that? I think waking up to that reputation matters, that started in the financial crisis. I think increased competition is another thing. I think all of a sudden people looked at firms like BlackRock and said, oh my gosh, BlackRock, they're amazing. Everyone wants to go to BlackRock. Everyone's talking about Black. Well, why? BlackRock was probably one of the pioneers in sophisticated marketing in the asset management space. They didn't become BlackRock overnight. They've been marketing.”

   2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

2. “The investor community, and of course, that's important, but it's equally important to think about what is that emerging talent think of you? Are they going to come work for you? Are you going to get the best talent? So every single public doing an audit of where you are and how do we improve the perception of the firm and the brand of the firm.”

   2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

3. “For instance, third parties, who are the third parties who would say great things about you if something went wrong? What is your employee base feel about you? Your employees are usually the leagues, but I look at a client or potential client's glass door page. I don't know if you've heard of that. And I can tell you what's going to happen based on the entries in that glass door page. People like to poo-poo it and everybody hates it, but it can be an indicator. So I think there's a lot of brand protection things we would put in place. Relationships are brand protection. Having the right relationships with the right people so that when things go bad, you actually have a chance at talking your side of the story. And then I would say, and prosecut's going to build your brand, but we're going to think about it not just about the investors, but all your publics, right? Your employer brand, your internal communications, everything, because I think everyone thinks only about”

   2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

4. “Oh, okay. Well, I think one is brand protection, that it's just as important to protect your brand as to build it, and all the things that we would do to proactively put things in place to protect it.”

   2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

5. “Capital fundraising moves. The media will love it. You will be a spokesperson. She also happened to be a very dynamic female spokesperson who used to be a journalist. So she understood how this worked. So I gave her some free tips and I figured I'd never see her again. Well, she came in six months later and she said, I did everything you told me to do. I packaged up my data. I put it out to the media. I'm talking to the media about this.”

   2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

6. “It's really interesting. We have a lot of large well-known financial institutions, but my favorite small client story, and I think you know this for him very well. There was a woman who walked in the door one day, a sole proprietor, like very small business in the recruiting space, and her business was all about recruiting in the hedge fund capital fundraising area. And she walked in and I figured, you know, this woman, she's like a tiny little business, right? So I met with her. And, you know, I said, look, I think you're too small for us. You should probably go and hire a freelancer or something. But, you know, here are five or six things I think you should do. And one of those things was the data that you're sitting on about people in capital fundraising is really interesting to reporters. Like you know who's going where at all times. You have mapped the entire universe. That is like candy to reporters. You should put out a reporter, recorder about.”

   2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

7. “engaging with that message so many many ways to measure none are perfect by the way but I would say business impact is the real measurement”

   2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

8. “I think at the end of the day, measurement should be about business impact. So I talked to you about accelerating success, right? So if you're a new client and we're doing our job right and you go to a meeting, instead of you educating the prospect or the investor or whomever it is, the whole time you're showing up with them knowing exactly who you are, what you stand for, and why they should choose you. That makes that whole sales process so much more efficient. So a lot of our job is to make sure that when a manager goes out, for instance, they show up to the meeting and the investor knows who they are, what they stand for, why they're in the room, and they can just get down to business, right? So there's many, many ways to measure, but that would be a business impact way to measure. Am I making the sales cycle, for instance, more efficient? But there's obviously all kinds of ways to measure reach, for instance. How many people are were reaching with our message? How many people are?”

   2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

9. “I think practically speaking because firms tend to be a certain size when they have budget to take it seriously, there is that practical reality. But we're seeing emerging startups take marketing seriously right out the gate. And they have a huge advantage even up against large firms because the large firms are sort of like retooling and getting there. And the startups are starting with a gorgeous website and a beautiful narrative. And like they're starting from scratch, they're coming to the market in a more sophisticated manner than the large firms did when they came to market. So they're actually accelerating their success, I believe, earlier because they actually have this religion now. But there are practical realities around budgets and such. But we're seeing a lot of startups come out of the gate, out of prime brokers, for instance, taking this very seriously and spending money on it.”

   2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

10. “Yeah, I guess we often talk about being a finder minder binder grinder, which people like that too, which I think if you're good at any professional services business, you're probably doing all four of those things. So what are they? So finder is finding commercial opportunity for the business. Minder is being a great manager. Binder is being a great relationship person. And Grinder is, we're all grinders, getting the work done.”

    2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

11. “Right. So there's sort of this natural mechanism to making sure clients are happy. And I would also say when you start gifting a commission for life, people start also understanding what I call the business of the business, right? If they don't get paid one month, they're like, wow, I didn't get my commission. I'm like, let's talk about what collections are. You're going to help me collect from this. And they understand how the business works like naturally. So it's been highly beneficial. That's just one.”

    2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

12. “One that gets a lot of attention in my book is called Commission for Life. So we developed something called Commission for Life. And by the way, we don't need to do this now that we actually have a brand. But back in the day when we were struggling to get clients, it was sort of the decision that you give to receive. So the rule is basically if you bring a relationship to the firm that becomes a client, you get 10% of that client revenue for the life of the client and the life of your employment. So people who have been here long periods of time who've participated in Commission for Life have five or ten companies where they get a piece of the action over long, long periods of time. And that just creates a different culture where people know if I'm going to do something for the company, I'm going to get something out of it. And the people who are obviously receiving that commission are generally likely to keep watch over those clients and make sure they're happy.”

    2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

13. “Yeah, well, the most important thing I believe in running a professional services organization is talent recruiting. That's all we are. I say we're a talent business. We're not a PR firm. So to me company culture is probably the most important thing I obsess about every single day. You probably know we published a book called The Army of Entrepreneurs in 2011. And that book really was a compilation of our culture and how we built the business because I was in my 20s when I ended up owning and running a business, which is really weird. So I knew I couldn't do it by myself. I needed an army of entrepreneurs. I could not just be the only one. So I figured out ways to activate my colleagues entrepreneurially to help me build the business, but also to help give them skin in the game and a more entrepreneurial experience. So I think I would say any success we've had is completely relaxed.”

    2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

14. “Well, we have almost 200 employees, so luckily we can separate our team. So if clients have any discomfort or overlap in products and services, we say, you know what, these five. And I would say depending on how high the discomfort level is, there are other things we can do to really separate those teams, right? So kind of like what you hear Chinese walls, but you can take those Chinese walls today into a pretty sophisticated zone with technology and locking files and all this sort of stuff. But at the end of the day, I think clients choose us because we are specialists and we know their space is so deeply, it's very hard to get a firm that doesn't understand your space really deeply in what we do. So almost any firm you'd hire might have one or two other clients that would overlap.”

    2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

15. “I would say it's a 50-50 between very large financial institutions like Franklin Templeton, Goldman Sachs, Oppenheimer funds, and then the private side, private equity funds, everyone from like Cerberus down to smaller startups in the private equity space. So it's really all over the”

    2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

16. “The thing about the difference between advertising and public relations or earned media is that in advertising, you just create the advertisement, you buy the space and boom, there it goes. And that's pretty consistent because you buy it and place it the way it's done. our world we're very much relying on the expertise of our client. We're bringing the spokesperson to the media or to the podcast or to the whatever to deliver that message. So it's a little bit tougher to be consistent because there's human error involved potentially. But it is actually not difficult if a company takes it seriously to form a narrative or message and to make sure everyone is on that message and to deliver that message. That's what we do.”

    2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

17. “Say a private fund manager, sure. So we represent the largest publicly traded hedge fund in the world, which is Man Group, very well known in Europe, not so well known in the United States, looking to come here, build its institutional investor base, acquire other hedge funds, et cetera. And without a brand that is understood and well regarded and credible, it's harder to do that. So our job really was to build the understanding of man group in the US, build their brand so that in a quicker and more efficient manner do their business, right? So what does that require tactically? That's getting to know reporters in the space and telling your story and starting to show up in the media as an expert or a thought leader on certain topics that are germane to the man group or being speaking at conferences or activating social media channels or sort of looking at all the channels that reach your potential client.”

    2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

18. “Marketers do. And it never really made complete sense to me. So I would say before the last 10 years, it was a slog. We were educating clients as to why they need this. I would say currently, I educate no one. The phone calls come in and it's usually, oh my gosh, we need this and we need it fast.”

    2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

19. “I just looked at consumer companies and what they've done their whole lives to acquire customers, to manage their reputation, to launch products, to activate the sales channels. And I said, oh my gosh, they do all this marketing, right? And I never understood why financial institutions didn't apply what clever consumer companies did to build their businesses. And there are a whole bunch of factors as to why. And there are a lot of factors as to what sort of activated that emerging market, right? One is the financial crisis. I think the financial crisis woke companies up to the first time that, wow, reputation matters and influencers matter. The media matters. Like we have to manage all these communities, not just be on the back foot. So a lot of things catalyzed that emerging market, but originally the simple observation was just like, why does this odd group of companies in financial services not operate the way sophisticated?”

    2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

20. “Those are the sort of financial institutions that are just starting to market in a sophisticated manner for the first time. And that is an emerging market. So we are mining this emerging market while we're also working on the mature market. And luckily, a lot of elite firms in our space never focused on what I would call the brand building side. They always focused on issues and crisis management. So we're one of the only firms that really does the brand building side.”

    2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

21. “The original idea for the business is still the original, like the mission for today. So we thought even way back in the day when we were tiny that one day financial institutions would wake up and smell the marketing, that most financial institutions, especially on the institutional side, were very much on the back foot in terms of reputation, brand, marketing, et cetera. But that one day that would shift. But that idea was a little before its time. So I would say in the last 10 years, especially in the last five, I call financial firms, especially those in private equity hedge funds and asset management, the emerging market of marketing. It's literally an emerging market. So we focus on two types of clients, either a large financial, global institution like a Goldman, which I'm lucky enough to call a client, or a privately held company on the private equity hedge fund asset management side. And on the private side, that's the emerging market.”

    2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

22. “Back then The progression, it started as Jacob's Associates, which was my partner, Dan Jacobs, that it became Jacobs and Prosec when I became an equity partner. And then it became Qubit Jacobs and Prosec because we partnered with a firm in London called Qubit. And then we rebranded Prosec when I bought my partner out and decided to start my own London office.”

    2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

23. “So I thought very hard about not sticking with my business, my little crappy PR business, and I actually did the rounds at Goldman and DLJ at the time and I got job offers and banking and I actually accepted one, but I woke up the next day after I accepted it and I said I could be a really crappy banker or really amazing financial communicator. I'm going to stick with my business. So I kind of went against the tide. I mean, almost all my classmates went into finance at Columbia at the time. And I went back to my silly little PR business and wanted to give it a go.”

    2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

24. “Not much more than my internship and what I was learning from my new mentor. And I would say three or four years into it, I knew I can't really run and build a firm, especially in the financial space unless I really know what I'm doing. So I actually went to Columbia Business School to get my MBA in finance because I figured if I have an MBA in finance, people will take me seriously in communications. And that actually did work.”

    2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

25. “He eventually called me and said, You want to come to work. And that was the beginning of this. I was employee number one. and then was offered partnership and equity in this little tiny nothing firm way before anyone would offer that to a 20-something. So I ended up owning and running a firm at a very early age.”

    2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

26. “It's a very random story. So I was an English literature major knowing in college that no one hires an English literature major, so I needed some internships. And I got lucky to completely happen upon an internship in public relations. And I realized that it was suited for me. But I graduated in a recession and there were no jobs in public relations, no entry-level jobs. So I took a job in a profession that was not of my choosing and I kind of waited around. I did some networking and I ended up meeting a gentleman who was at G Capital running corporate communications and hating it. And he told me that one day he was going to unplug and start a business. This was in Connecticut. He said all these financial institutions are moving to Greenwich and Derry and whatever. And I think if we set up shop in their backyard, we could do something. I like the idea I liked him. I really had no interest in a startup. I really wanted to go work for a big company. But we kept in touch.”

    2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

27. “Great. So ProSec is a financial communications firm. So we work across the financial ecosystem with clients, many of them asset managers, but everyone in the ecosystem from fintech companies and retail banks all the way to institutional investors and hedge funds and everything in between. And the idea behind the business was that we believed 17 years ago that financial institutions would one day wake up and smell the marketing. And that took a while, but they actually have.”

    2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

28. “When I started this podcast, every now and then someone would reach out and have a suggestion of a guest and a disproportionate number of them came from prosec partners. I hadn't heard of ProSec, even though we knew each other. So. Don't you start by saying what ProSec is and then we'll circle back Tell your whole story”

    2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

29. “My guest on today's show is Jennifer Prosek, the founder and CEO of Prosec Partners, a leading international public relations and financial communications consultancy with offices in New York, London, Los Angeles, and Connecticut. Prosec partners ranks among the top 10 independent public relations firms in the U.S. and among the top financial communications consultancies. The firm has been listed as an Inc. 5,000 fastest growing company for nine years running. Jen is also a two-time author. Our conversation covers the foibles of professional marketing and asset management, building a brand, measuring a successful branding effort, managing the story of weak performance, and despite the differences in hedge fund and private equity branding. We then turn to some of Jen's fascinating observations learned from her experience.”

    2024-07-15 · Capital Allocators · [REPLAY] Jen Prosek – Branding an Asset Management Firm (Capital Allocators, EP.81) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source