If you haven’t already done so, I thoroughly recommend visiting the new Doceo.tv website.
I mentioned the website in a Money Week article a while back and so impressed was I in this new video-based proposition that I thought I’d do a Viktor Kiam. I’ve decided to back the business and will be helping broaden their reach in a number of ways: for instance, by hosting a regular monthly big picture interview with a top fund manager as well as mentioning the various new videos in this blog.
But first, lets get back to basics – why do we need Doceo.tv?
As someone who’s appeared on many investment trust videos as an interviewer, I more than most realise the importance of visual interviews. Off the page transcripts are helpful but if I were going to invest hard money in a fund, I’d want to either a) actually see the manager in person or b) the next best, watch a video of said manager making what is in effect an elevator pitch for my money. It’s what advisers do, and its also what investors should do.
These videos do exist around the internet and in the past major websites such as Citywire have done a good job of running episodic interviews with fund managers, but what Doceo does is put these fund manager interviews together in one place, alongside very useful background information about the fund and its NAV – crucially those videos are standardised across sectors for ease of comparison
Doceo seems to be doing a great job of reaching critical mass in terms of the sheer number of fund managers – only last week for instance Alliance Trust posted an elevator pitch, Hg Capital ran an excellent update with their chair, Standard Life Property Income fund talked about ESG and property and Triple Point Energy Efficiency published an update.
So, as I have already said, I’ll be helping as much as I can and if you’re a PR reading this, maybe think about using Doceo to run a big picture interview with me over the next year. I’d also suggest getting as many of your funds on the service as possible.
If you are a director of fund, I’d also emphasise the need to intensify your efforts to improve communication with private investors. I know the big institutional managers are what gets a fund up and running but in my experience it’s the private investors who ‘make’ a fund via the secondary market. Ignore private investors at your peril especially when it comes to discounts to NAV.
Talking directly to those private investors is a challenge though and hopefully that’s where Doceo will come in handy for your board communications strategy. The future is video, whether we like it or not. A younger generation in particular is getting used to consuming their content via video, and investment trusts need to adapt !
So, to repeat
- make sure your investment trust is on Doceo
- If you think your fund could fit in our monhtly big picture interview with me, reach out to Doceo
- Last but by no means least I’ll be launching a new bi-monthly (every two weeks) podcast aimed at novice investors very soon, hosted on Doceo. We’ll be looking for erudite interviewees who can enthuse a younger audience !
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