Attracting Investors: A Marketing Approach to Finding Funds for Your Business [Hardcover]

Philip Kotler (Author), Hermawan Kartajaya (Author), S. David Young (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 13, 2004

Marketing guru Philip Kotler shows entrepreneurs how to market their companies to investors
How can businesses do a better job of attracting capital? The answer: "Marketing!" Marketing expert Philip Kotler teams up with a renowned marketing consultant and an INSEAD professor for this practical, marketing-based approach to raising capital from investors. Based on the premise that entrepreneurs and business owners often don't understand what investors want and how they make their decisions, Attracting Investors offers a larger view of the factors involved, and guides both startup and veteran firms in effectively raising capital.
Philip Kotler (Glencoe, IL) is the S.C. Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, and the author of 35 books. Hermawan Katajaya (Jakarta, Indonesia) runs MarkPlus, the largest marketing consulting firm in Indonesia, and is coauthor with Kotler of several books, including Repositioning Asia and Rethinking Marketing. S. David Young (Fontainebleu, France) is a Professor of Accounting and Control at INSEAD in Fountainebleu, France.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Raising capital has grown from a finance function into, at least in part, a marketing function. It’s never been easier for investors to get in and out of investments, and this forces companies to compete more strategically with each other for limited investment capital. Companies that want to attract capital must now offer investors a compelling value proposition. In effect, they have to market their company to investors in much the same way toothpaste or any other product is marketed to consumers.

It is imperative that executives understand the fundamentals of marketing in order to raise capital. They need marketing strategy and tactics to convince investors that their business offers a superior risk-return profile compared to alternative investment opportunities.

Until now, little has been written about this sea change in capital investment. In Attracting Investors, marketing guru Philip Kotler teams up with Hermawan Kartajaya and S. David Young to offer a practical, marketing-based approach to raising capital. Packed with crucial insight for everyone from CEOs and entrepreneurs to finance students, the book shows readers how to apply the fundamental techniques of modern marketing to the vital task of raising capital. The authors demonstrate how companies can target prospective investors and how best to highlight the strengths of the business as an investment.

The fact is, most businesses trying to raise cash don’t understand the capital market–and approach it far too simplistically. Investors must be approached just like any other consumer. Attracting Investors shows leaders of start-ups and megacorporations alike how to win over the investor–and attract the capital they need to succeed.

From the Back Cover

Make a compelling case to banks and potential investors!

If you are an entrepreneur looking for your first investors, or a business owner or CFO seeking a new source of capital, you need to market your company to investors. Here, renowned marketing expert and bestselling author Philip Kotler, along with marketing consultant Hermawan Kartajaya and INSEAD professor S. David Young, offers essential guidance for capital seekers who understand that capital raising has largely moved from a finance function to a marketing function. Accurately identifying your target investor and effectively highlighting the strengths of your business are now critical to securing the support your business needs. From early-stage financing to borrowing money to issuing stock, Attracting Investors shows you how to market yourself and your business to raise funds, and explains why marketing is the key to successful capital raising. This comprehensive book will be essential for small start-ups, as well as established firms looking for new funding sources. The capital game has changed, and Attracting Investors is your guide to the new rules.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (August 13, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471646563
• ISBN-13: 978-0471646563
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #433,982 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Philip Kotler is the S. C. Johnson Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management. He has been honored as one of the world's leading marketing thinkers. He received his M.A. degree in economics (1953) from the University of Chicago and his Ph.D. degree in economics (1956) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), and has received honorary degrees from twelve foreign universities. He is the author of over 40 books and over one hundred articles. He has been a consultant to IBM, General Electric, Sony, AT&T, Bank of America, Merck, Motorola, Ford, and others. The Financial Times included him in its list of the top 10 business thinkers. They cited his Marketing Management as one of the 50 best business books of all times.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How to get to the money, January 23, 2006

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Attracting Investors: A Marketing Approach to Finding Funds for Your Business (Hardcover)

This book is a little like a football play that looks great on the blackboard in the locker room but doesn't quite deliver once the players take the field. The concept is excellent: adapting marketing theory and techniques to the business of acquiring investment capital for your firm. Unfortunately, authors Philip Kotler, Hermawan Kartajaya and S. David Young spend too much time reviewing basics, such as potential sources of capital, and not enough on the marketing techniques themselves - which they don't begin discussing until about two-thirds of the way into the book. This shortcoming (and the lack of case histories) is balanced, however, by the authors' keen, market-oriented analysis of the characteristics that appeal most strongly to the various types of investors. This book outlines a smart, methodical approach to finding investors. We recommend this book despite its problems, believing that even an incomplete marketing approach to financing is better than chaos in the huddle.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Attracting innocent Buyers, September 26, 2009

By 

A. Adrian (Bucharest, Romania) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Attracting Investors: A Marketing Approach to Finding Funds for Your Business (Hardcover)

This book is a mix between a light marketing text patched with dated web articles. It might do some good to people thinking about entrepreneurship; it will not be useful to people looking for funding.
I ordered the book ($30 !!) in August 2009 and hoped to find strategies and tactics on how to approach European vs East Coast vs West Coast VC. Instead I've found about the history of VC and about FFF sources of money. Cover to cover: less than 15 minutes. I felt the authors took $30 from my wallet.

Kotler's name on the cover is the main marketing piece of this book.

Buy "Raising Venture Capital for the Serious Entrepreneur" instead.