Your firm gets profiled in a top industry journal. Your CIO appears in financial news. Reporters call for your take on markets. These public relations (PR) wins show investors you matter.

The impact goes beyond just the article. Your sales team brings these pieces to meetings. Investors pick up the phone after seeing your name in print. Media coverage shows what makes you different.

But that’s not what usually happens. Boutique firms watch their PR efforts stall out. Even skilled public relations people struggle to get results. And throwing money at the problem doesn’t fix it.

Few things frustrate asset managers more than watching competitors get featured in the press while they remain invisible, especially when they believe their own story is stronger. This visibility gap directly impacts credibility with investors and prospects.

Let’s look at what’s really going wrong. Here are 12 PR blind spots that kill emerging managers’ chances at good coverage.

Building the Foundation

Public relations needs to connect with what your business is trying to do. Watch out for these problems:

PR that lives alone

When public relations works separately from your sales and marketing, things break down.

One firm created great blog posts about investing strategies, while its PR team got the founder interviewed in a magazine. They worked in separate worlds, so the founder never mentioned those blog posts during the interview, and both teams’ work suffered.

PR and marketing should collaborate on messaging and support each other. Public relations can reference blog content in press materials. Marketing can spotlight media wins on social channels. Marketing should keep PR updated on who the ideal clients are.

Boutique firms need to figure out how public relations fits with their sales approach and get their teams talking regularly.

Standing out

Good performance and a solid process might get you noticed, but everyone has those. Bringing in assets means telling your story with real examples and actual numbers.

Mix big-picture market insights with specific product details. Problems happen when managers only talk about their funds instead of sharing broader views.

The answer? Set separate goals for showing expertise versus promoting products. Use both to build your authority. Thought leadership shapes how people see you. Product PR turns interest into business.

Quality over qualtity

Public relations used to be about counting how many times your name appeared somewhere. Firms would boast about generic quotes reprinted in hundreds of outlets.

Now it’s about real business impact. Does the coverage help your goals? Is it in publications your target investors actually read? Can you use it beyond its original reach?

Keeping PR out of crisis

A scandal hits your firm. The lawyers and executives rush to plan a response. Nobody thinks to include public relations. This seems logical, but misses the reputation angle.

We’re working with a client facing legal troubles who went through this before without PR help. Their lawyer did everything in court, making the company look bad.

This time, they brought us in to balance the legal stuff with good news. We’re keeping them in the conversation with investors, not just about lawsuits, but also showing they’re still smart about markets.

PR people spot problems early, even with limited info. They balance legal concerns with reputation needs. Getting public relations involved from the start makes for better teamwork as situations develop.

Building Media Connections

Good media relationships matter, but emerging managers often wreck their chances. Here’s what to watch for:

Waiting for calls

It feels great when big media calls your firm out of the blue. But these chances rarely happen, and the timing is usually off.

A passive approach means you give up control over your story, media targets, and timing.

A Barron’s writer, for example, calls to interview your portfolio manager about your strategy. Great! But what if another Barron’s writer wants to talk about Tesla when you don’t invest in cars? Bad fit.

With a reactive approach, you can’t control who you talk to or what stories you’re in. A proactive public relations strategy lets you pitch your angles to the right journalists. Like good salespeople, PR shouldn’t wait for the phone to ring.

One-hit wonders

When asked about media relationships, one manager proudly mentioned a CNBC spot from 2014. Real public relations success means building connections over time, not just when you need something.

Find reporters covering your topics in publications you care about. Introduce yourself as a resource for future stories. Become someone they can call for background or to bounce ideas off. Track media moves on LinkedIn to keep in touch as reporters change beats.

Wrong targets

Even great stories fail when pitched to the wrong people. Don’t approach reporters who don’t cover your topics. For a story about why couples need wills, talk to a personal finance writer, not someone covering market trends.

Research your targets carefully to ensure that journalists are actually in the cities where you’re planning media visits.

Jim Pavia, Money Editor at CNBC Digital, regularly calls out PR professionals on LinkedIn for this exact mistake. He once posted about receiving a pitch on America’s scariest haunted houses despite overseeing personal finance coverage. In another post he explained that PR pros need to “make sure it’s relevant to my area/focus of coverage” as their first priority when pitching. This kind of mismatch wastes everyone’s time and damages your credibility.

Press release overload

Some boutique firms pump out press releases every week or more. This “throw everything at the wall” approach annoys busy journalists and rarely works.

Most emerging managers simply don’t have enough real news to justify this. Without actual news, angles get stretched. This damages credibility over time. If your releases don’t get picked up, rethink your approach.

Making It Count

Turning media interest into coverage that matters requires great follow-through. Here’s where firms stumble:

Keeping content to yourself

You spend hours positioning your team as experts with articles or market commentary, then just post it on your website or email it to your list. Why not multiply the value by pitching it to publications your target investors read?

They might run your content with few changes. This gets broader distribution, creates valuable reprints for sales, and might earn backlinks for SEO. Many publications welcome thoughtful pieces from portfolio managers.

Unprepared spokespeople

You finally get your target journalist to schedule a call about rising rates and what that means for portfolios. But instead of clear insights, your expert rambles with no clear message.

Portfolio managers often dive deep into technical weeds because that’s where they’re comfortable. One real estate fund manager loves talking about IRR and jargon but forgets investors care more about income expectations, appreciation potential, and risk management.

Prep your experts on 3-5 key messages, publication details, and reporter angles. Practice mock interviews to sharpen skills. This dramatically improves your chances of getting good coverage.

Wasting good coverage

Don’t just file away media placements. Feature prominent coverage across all channels.

Put stories on your website homepage and “In the News” section. Use excerpts in emails, social posts, and ads. Share reprints at conferences and client meetings. Include pull quotes in RFP responses. Always use the publication’s logo to reinforce third-party validation.

One client took this idea even further. He created a highlight reel of his TV appearances and brought a monitor to display it at his conference booth. A family office executive noticed the video, stopped to watch, then struck up a conversation with the manager. That single creative use of media coverage turned into one of his largest client relationships.

Missing SEO benefits

Media placements in authoritative publications boost your website’s search ranking. Backlinks and mentions improve your domain authority and keyword rankings.

Articles on publisher sites that mention and link to you rank higher and drive referral traffic. Media sites typically have stronger domain authority than corporate websites.

While republishing placements builds credibility, the real SEO benefit comes from influential sites linking to you. With AI-powered search engines now evaluating content quality and relevance more intelligently, these authoritative backlinks from media coverage carry even greater weight for your SEO strategy than ever before.

Beyond Clips to Conversations

Good media coverage doesn’t happen by accident. It takes commitment, strategy, and solid execution. Smart public relations people see their role as amplifying the impact of sales and marketing efforts.

They pitch unique angles to influential reporters and prepare your experts to deliver clear messages about what makes you special. Maximum impact comes from promoting placements across all channels and getting reprints to your sales team. Prominent coverage builds awareness and trust over time, helping you compete against bigger firms.

Remember that feeling when you see competitors quoted in publications your prospects read? A strategic public relations approach ensures you’re the one getting coverage, not watching from the sidelines while less qualified firms build their reputation on your missed opportunities.

Want better news coverage? Frustrated by PR that doesn’t work? Get answers with a free strategy session today.

Dan Sondhelm is the CEO of Sondhelm Partners, a firm that helps boutique asset managers struggling to grow their AUM, feel overlooked in a crowded market, and wants to spark more meaningful conversations with prospects.