Is Your Marketing Team Scaring Away Investors? How Freelance Finance and Investment Writers Bridge the Gap
Many marketers don’t “get” finance, but just as many financial experts aren’t familiar with marketing principles. Freelance finance writers can help bridge the gap.
You’re too busy to give a marketing agency a crash course on your niche financial product or enterprise.
Adding a freelance finance and investment writer can bridge the gap between marketing efforts and accurately relaying your value proposition to investors, clients, or customers.
One of the biggest pitfalls fund managers, startups, wealth managers, and financial advisors alike fall into is expecting a marketing consultant or agency to understand the ins and outs of their financial product or service (instead of directly sourcing a competent freelance finance or investment writer).
I’ve been called on as a cleanup crew to fix private credit pitch decks, alternative investment white papers, asset allocation blog posts – you name it. Even the most basic concepts like stock investing or personal finance sometimes push the limits of their knowledge domain. No one wants to admit they’re in over their head, especially after discovery, onboarding, or even invoicing occur.
This isn’t to fault marketers, agencies, or even those hiring them. It’s often tough to convey in plain English what we deeply understand on a granular level, so we default to assuming we’re working from a common operating picture. That works just fine – until it doesn’t, and you’re left with a multi-week project that produced questionable outputs or nothing at all, forced to start from scratch.
That’s why validating that your marketing team understands finance (or sourcing a freelance finance and investment writer who understands finance and marketing principles alike) is key to ensuring your deliverables with your branding truly represent you and what you’re all about.
A Real-Life Example of a Miscommunicated Investment Strategy on Social Media – and How a Freelance Finance Writer Would Tackle the Problem
Yesterday, I got this sponsored message on LinkedIn.
It proves my point better than I ever could.
Let’s take a quick look at the biggest mistakes this marketer made when approaching a potential investor (me) and how a well-rounded financial writer with marketing chops could have locked a deal. Or, at the very least, generated interest rather than immediate revulsion.
1️⃣ “Wanted to follow-up.”
OK, this one isn’t specific to financial writing, but it’s a rough hook. We’ve never connected before, and I’ve never heard of the company or the investment opportunity.
I know that.
They know that.
They know that I know that.
Still, they try to work in a disingenuous hook to build false rapport.
Lesson 1: Build rapport and trust correctly – through authority and genuineness. Not a weird psych trick.
2️⃣ “Our customers agree…”
Your customers have deep insight into your financials and income projections? That’s strange.
In this case, the messenger tried to build authority in the worst way possible this early in the relationship (testimonials) but made a classic marketer mistake. Used to customer feedback and social proof, they fell back on that paradigm to pitch investment stats because they don’t know how to speak to investors.
Lesson 2A: At the top of the funnel, build trust through authority. Not testimonials.
Lesson 2B: Learn what your investors want to know most, and tailor that message to them by speaking their language – not acting like a consumer product ad manager (9 out of 10 customers agree!)
3️⃣ “hiring exception people […] discuss investing.”
This came through LinkedIn. I’m a financial writer. In this case, the messenger mentions a handful of semi-related initiatives the company is undertaking. They end with “hiring exceptional people” before gently pitching an investment discovery call.
I could have easily gotten confused about the messenger’s angle. In fact, I was for a minute. I assumed they needed help with content strategy or investor relations content.
Can you imagine if I had booked a call with the owner and started pitching my services? Embarrassing for all parties, sure, but also a significant waste of time neither of us can afford to lose.
Lesson 3: Be clear and concise. Does a prospective investor care about enhancing digital ad efforts or exceptional hires? Not really. That stuff matters when you’re pitching your value creation plan and glide path, but save it for later. Not your opening move.
How a Freelance Finance and Investment Writer Can Realign Your Communications Strategy
Here’s another gem, though this one came via email.
Instead of targeting investors, this one is (trying to) nurture potential customer leads for a new stock research platform. But, instead of touting its benefits or differentiating factors from the many competitors, the writer took a unique tact – insulting the potential customer.
In this case, the solicitor heavily implies that I (the reader) am an ineffective investor or incapable of managing money independently.
Now, to be fair, authoritative positioning is an effective strategy when done well. But bashing your potential client over the head by saying:
🚩 “You don’t know what you don’t know” 🚩
🚩 “Overcome your nerves around money” 🚩
…isn’t the way to do it.
What would I have done differently? I’m going to assume that the company’s fleshed-out ICP (if they have one) targets retail traders who are sufficiently fluent in finance to know how things work but have limited access to advanced tools—basically, your average active Robinhood trader.
Instead of insulting potential clients, I’d:
Lean into the affordability of the platform compared to legacy options – “Like having a Bloomberg Terminal for $9.99/month”
Push unique access – “Leverage some of the top investment strategies quant firms use to make millions without the upfront costs or technical know-how”
Strike a fearful note without condescension – “Making money during a bull run is easy, but is your current strategy positioned to pivot if (or when) markets begin pulling back?”
True authority exudes leadership, mentorship, and a desire to teach customers—not a marketing strategy that touts your superiority to those you’re trying to reach.
If you want to know more about how adding a freelance finance and investment writer to your marketing bench can help you turn years of experience and financial expertise into plain, compelling language for investors or clients, feel free to contact me. You can also check out my portfolio here.
