How to Attract Investors with Smarter Marketing: Social Media, Podcasts & AEO
- Stanley Igboanugo
- 5 days ago
- 16 min read
In this episode of the Harvest Growth Podcast, Jon LaClare sits down with Chris Salerno, founder and CEO of QC Capital Group, to explore how strategic marketing can help businesses attract investors, raise capital, and build stronger portfolio companies.
Chris shares how his fascination with business growth and consumer psychology led him from the real estate industry to founding a private equity company focused on businesses that support people’s essential daily needs. He explains why branding, storytelling, customer acquisition, and a compelling pitch are just as important in the investment world as they are when marketing a consumer product.
The conversation breaks down how QC Capital reaches accredited investors through social media, educational content, newsletters, targeted podcast appearances, professional referral networks, and memorable in-person experiences. Chris also explains why understanding your ideal investor’s needs—including diversification, cash flow, and potential tax advantages—is critical when developing an effective marketing message.
Jon and Chris also discuss the growing importance of Answer Engine Optimization, or AEO. As more consumers and investors use tools like ChatGPT and other AI platforms instead of traditional search engines, businesses must create credible, useful content that helps both people and AI systems understand their expertise.
In today’s episode of the Harvest Growth Podcast, we’ll cover:
Why raising capital requires a strong brand, story, and marketing strategy
How to understand and communicate directly to your ideal investor
Why educational content builds trust with high-value prospects
How social media and newsletters can support investor acquisition
Why targeted podcast appearances can reach the right audience
How professional referral partners can become powerful growth channels
Why memorable experiences can outperform traditional networking events
What Answer Engine Optimization means for the future of marketing
How third-party content helps businesses establish authority online
Why businesses must adapt as customers move from Google to AI-powered search
You can listen to the full interview wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Or, click to watch the full video interview here!
Whether you’re preparing to raise capital, looking for investors, or simply trying to reach a highly specific audience, this episode offers practical lessons for building authority, strengthening your message, and getting your business in front of the right people.
Want to connect with Chris?
Visit qccapitalgroup.com to learn more about QC Capital Group and its current investment opportunities.
Do you have a brand you’d like to launch or scale?
Visit HarvestGrowth.com to book a free consultation and learn how our team has helped generate over $2 billion in product sales.
Prefer reading instead of listening? Read the full transcript here!
[00:00:00]
Announcer
Harvest the growth potential of your product or service as we share stories and strategies that'll make your competitors nervous. Now, here's the host of the Harvest Growth podcast, Jon LaClare
[00:00:13]
Jon LaClare
Over the past 20 years, our team has helped launch and grow hundreds of consumer products, generating more than $2 billion in revenue for our clients.
[00:00:21]
Jon LaClare
On this show, we break down what actually works in product marketing, real strategies, real stories, and lessons that you can put to work in your business right away. Whether you're getting ready to launch or you're looking to scale what's already working, you're in the right place. All right. Let's jump into today's interview.
[00:00:37]
Jon LaClare
I wanna welcome Chris Salerno to our show today. He is the founder and CEO of QC Capital. You can find more information on them at qccapital.com. Uh, we'll dive into what the business is, et cetera, but first, a warm welcome to the show, Chris.
[00:00:53]
Chris Salerno
Jon, thanks so much for having me. Excited to add value to all of your listeners, especially when it comes to marketing, 'cause that's everything these days.
[00:01:00]
Chris Salerno
Uh, so thanks so much for having me.
[00:01:02]
Jon LaClare
Yeah, no, absolutely. And as my audience knows, most of our interviews are with product marketers or product companies like they are. I got really excited when you and I were connected 'cause you've done a lot in the investment space. Your business is different. You're not a product marketer.
[00:01:16]
Jon LaClare
But I wanna point out why our listeners should pay attention and listen to this interview. So your day job is raising money with investors. You have an investment fund. I'll let you describe it a little bit more. But there are some nuggets we're gonna bring out in marketing, as you mentioned, that you do with your business and how you've grown it very successfully.
[00:01:34]
Jon LaClare
But also things to think about if our listeners might be raising money either now or potentially in the future. So we'll get into those in the story. Uh, first of all, let's dive in to talk about your specific business just to frame it. So tell us about QC Capital. You know, what do you do?
[00:01:49]
Chris Salerno
Yeah. QC Capital Group is a private equity company.
[00:01:52]
Chris Salerno
We're headquarters here in Charlotte, North Carolina. We primarily focus on the essential-- We invest in the essential daily life of e- humans in, in what we do. Uh, you may not even know it or realize it. Uh, we have multiple portfolio companies spanning from healthcare, where we'll put a doctor within 15 minutes on your cell phone at the comfort of your own home.
[00:02:14]
Chris Salerno
Uh, we're rolling out delivery, where you get your prescription within one hour from when y- the doctor puts in, uh, your prescription at the local pharmacy. All the way from your, your car care, uh, which we focus on express car wash tunnels, express oil changes, to flex industrial, your physical assets, where the middle market small businesses need a space so they can thrive and America can run.
[00:02:38]
Chris Salerno
Uh, that is w- what we are focused on right now. We are expanding our portfolio companies, uh, into other different type of asset classes, but we like to make sure that it's around the essential daily life of humans when we invest. Something that AI can make efficient but can't replace, and that's what we really like to invest in.
[00:02:59]
Jon LaClare
And you've got a unique perspective 'cause you are an investor. You invest in businesses, but you also raise funds from investors, right, to be able to do these sorts of funds. How'd you get into this world?
[00:03:09]
Chris Salerno
Yeah. Well, I've been in the real estate industry for over 12 years. Uh, first started out in the brokerage industry.
[00:03:15]
Chris Salerno
Uh, prior to that, I, I was always fascinated with business, always fascinated with growing and scaling. Uh, and something to these days, which I have a son, he's six going on 25, uh, when he was younger, I did let him watch Cocomelon and Blippi, but the reason I let him watch it, not for the reason where most parents watch it, where it's basically a babysitter.
[00:03:39]
Chris Salerno
I let him watch it because I wanted to see how they marketed to that generation, what they were doing, how they were saying, uh, the colors they used, because that is marketing today. And so after scaling a real estate company, selling out my last one, uh, we were producing around 147 million in annual sales.
[00:03:59]
Chris Salerno
I sold that out, uh, at the end of 2018 to then create QC Capital Group, our private equity company. I've always wanted to own a private equity company, uh, always wanted to manage capital, scale capital, because that is how you build ultimate, uh, uh, large amount of wealth is, is, is in investing. I mean, look, SpaceX is coming, coming IPO.
[00:04:22]
Chris Salerno
Uh, by the time this airs, it will have already been IPO. And I've said this for years and years, especially on my podcast, that Elon Musk will be the first trillionaire. Uh, and he does that very well through creating a brand, through creating marketing, uh, something that is very attractive. And so I knew when I created QC Capital that each of our portfolio companies had, had to have the right brand, the right marketing, the right story, the right pitch, um, and from there, the right customers are gonna come to those portfolio companies, which is only gonna increase revenue, where then investors are gonna want to invest in the underlying, uh, business, uh, and also real estate as a whole.
[00:05:02]
Chris Salerno
Uh, so that's essentially how, uh, I got into it, but always fascinated with business, always fascinated with growing businesses, uh, and, and get- getting them out to the masses, getting new clients, understanding, you know, how we are attaining customers. Where are they coming from? Where in their mindset or, or allowing them to make decisions on buying our services or not?
[00:05:25]
Chris Salerno
Uh, that is where, uh, we are now currently and in how I built it over the past seven and a half to eight years, uh, of really trial and error. But understanding the consumer from an investment standpoint, and then understanding the consumer from our portfolio companies to increase revenue on those portfolio companies
[00:05:45]
Jon LaClare
I love how you explain the connection to the consumer, 'cause at the end of the day, a lot of-- We think about investing as just pure numbers, but at the end of the day, you've gotta have a story, a connection.
[00:05:54]
Jon LaClare
What's gonna make these businesses be successful? I imagine that's part of your pitch that you share with investors. Can you share... You know, obv-obviously, depending on what fund you're raising for or timing, the pitch might change a little bit. But at a high level, what-- you know, how do you pitch investors?
[00:06:10]
Jon LaClare
And you work, I believe, with primarily high net worth individuals. We may have many of those listening to the show today. What's, what's the general pitch to bring them in to then, you know, invest in your fund so you can invest in others?
[00:06:21]
Chris Salerno
Most definitely. And, and just for a nice disclaimer for everyone, all of our opportunities are Reg D 506(c)'s.
[00:06:28]
Chris Salerno
Uh, so we're able to market, we're able to discuss it. We only accept accredited investors through third-party verification. Um, so we do not accept non-accredited investors. We won't even allow them into our system. They don't-- Uh, if you say you're non-accredited, you actually get kicked out of our system, uh, and, and it-- you will be blocked from submitting your all, um, uh, your form.
[00:06:49]
Chris Salerno
So we only work with non-accredit- or, or excuse me, accredited, which are ultra high net worth and/or high net worth, someone who makes over two hundred thousand, uh, in the given year or has a net worth of over a million. Well, our, our big pitch is, is having understanding what they're going through. Most high achievers and most high income earners have o- uh, one thing for sure in common, and that's they don't wanna pay too much in taxes.
[00:07:16]
Chris Salerno
And I say this, Jon, because I know a lot of people say, "Oh, high income earners should pay taxes." Well, from my inner circle, we would love to pay taxes if we know that it went to the right place. And I mean, look at Dubai, very safe. Uh, you can... Y-the roads are clean. Everything is there is nice, and you have zero taxes there.
[00:07:37]
Chris Salerno
So i-if, if we knew it went to good causes, I think everyone would love to pay taxes. But I think a lot of people don't think it's going to good causes, so they wanna preserve all of that. And, and the biggest avenue to preserve that for investors or high income earners is investing into real estate because we're able to do something that's called cost segregation, also bonus depreciation.
[00:08:00]
Chris Salerno
We can depreciate these assets. And why wouldn't you, as an high income earner, want to put your capital into an asset that you can depreciate on paper, yet it appreciates as an investment? Whereas if you go buying a car, a Range Rover, a big truck, it's only gonna depreciate. Whereas if you're investing into real estate, it's going to appreciate over time and it's gonna earn you cash flow, but on paper you can depreciate it.
[00:08:26]
Chris Salerno
So I would say that is the biggest, uh, interest from investors that are coming into our organization wanting to understand what type of investments that we offer in the alternative, uh, investment world where they can be a part of, is really trying to limit their tax liability. On top of that, then it comes high cash flow.
[00:08:45]
Chris Salerno
We offer one of the highest cash flows in the alternative space because we own the operating business and the underlying real estate, which is very unique in the industries that, uh, we have invested in. A lot of them will not own the underlying real estate. Another big thing on why investors love to invest with us is that we are listed all of our funds on Charles Schwab's alternative platform.
[00:09:07]
Chris Salerno
So we went through a very rigorous, uh, due diligence process to be listed onto Charles Schwab's alternative platform. So any investor who has a, a RIA, uh, that, uh, that has a custodian with Charles Schwab, they can in- invest directly through their Charles Schwab account. And the lovely part, which really separates us from a lot of other alternative investment firms out there, is that all of our funds are third party audited.
[00:09:32]
Chris Salerno
So it's third party audited where they review the financials, bank statements, and then get us an audited report. We have to do that to be on Charles Schwab, but we're also doing that for that peace of mind for those investors. So I know that was a long answer to your question, uh, but hopefully that sums it up.
[00:09:46]
Jon LaClare
Yeah, no, and I like how you talked about the tax strategy. You know, most of our listeners probably understand this, you know, if they're business owners especially. But it's, you know, we hear so much in the news about taxes in general, and people don't... They'll think about, "Hey, you're already taxed." So let's say you're making 200,000, you're with somebody at the bottom end of the accredited investor side.
[00:10:03]
Jon LaClare
You know, you've probably already paid, depending on where you live in the country, you might have paid half of that to the, to the government. So you're left with 100, 120, whatever. Call it 100K. It's that fund's, right? You've made this money, you've paid taxes on already. Now you're putting that into an investment to basically prepare for retirement or for inheritance for your kids, et cetera.
[00:10:21]
Jon LaClare
It's very different than income. So you're clearly taxed on income, and there are differences. We won't get into the nuances of that, but I'm a-- I've got a lot, lot of passion for it too. I'm a former CPA. That was my first career 20-odd years ago, and, and, uh, understand it better than, you know, my neighbor maybe, right?
[00:10:37]
Jon LaClare
But, um, not, probably not as well as you anymore. It's been a long time. So let's talk about, uh, investor acquisition. So you've got to f-find and bring in these investors. What are some of the strategies from a marketing perspective you use to find investors that might be the right fit for your funds?
[00:10:52]
Chris Salerno
Yeah.
[00:10:53]
Chris Salerno
I remember when I, uh, I really pioneered this space. Uh, pioneered it by in, uh, having marketing on social media. Uh, back in 2018, 2019, a lot of individuals or companies, uh, that are in the alternative space didn't even think of that. Um, so really that is a, a, a great avenue that, that we d- uh, are able to utilize is marketing throughout social media platforms and then news articles.
[00:11:20]
Chris Salerno
Marketing on podcast, uh, has been, uh, really good sources. And funny enough, right before here, I was talking to my, uh, head marketing, uh, officer about, uh, some strategies we're doing here in June. Uh, I love marketing. I spent some time at Wharton Business School for marketing. I love it because it's a psychological play, but it, it's what you are filling in a gap for, and that is if someone needs tax benefits, if someone wants high, uh, high income or, uh, another avenue of, of building what they've already built, uh, but diversifying their portfolio and understanding your avatar.
[00:11:53]
Chris Salerno
So social media has been a great tool. Uh, um, advertisement onto newsletters have been a phenomenal tool. We are now exploring advertisement on podcasts, but strategic podcasts, CPAs, wealth advisory podcasts, because at the end of the day, everyone has to file their taxes. And we've had so many CPA groups that have sent clients to us that we said, "Okay, now is the time to go ahead and bring in more CPA groups."
[00:12:21]
Chris Salerno
How can we educate these CPAs on having them educate their clients and separating themselves from other CPA groups in their, their cities, uh, on giving their clients the opportunity to take a look at an investment opportunity that will limit their tax liability? So really thinking outside the box. We are now, because we're on Charles Schwab, uh, focused on RIAs and broker-dealer channel, hosting experiences, not events, not dinners, but e- experiences that they're not going to forget.
[00:12:53]
Chris Salerno
That goes very well with the portfolio companies that we invest in to get them excited on bringing their clients' capital into our funds, uh, which will then go into our portfolio companies. So those are just some of the ways that we are advertising and really seeing success.
[00:13:10]
Jon LaClare
So I, you know, you talked a lot about content marketing, educating your audience.
[00:13:14]
Jon LaClare
Social media, of course, is, are great channels to be on. I love that you mentioned podcasts. That's why we're here today. It's a way to get the, the word out on your business. And I-- you know, our listeners, again, may be thinking, "Hey, how do I raise money or raise funds for my own business to grow my product or prepare for my product launch, et cetera?"
[00:13:31]
Jon LaClare
And if that's the case, it might be a little bit nuanced from yours, right? Where you're-- they may not appear on a CPA podcast, for example. But I do highly recommend find targeted podcasts to appear on. And maybe, you know, if you've got a story that might be fun for a CPA's audience, you know, ones that have high net worth individuals like ours that are listening to the show, absolutely appear on those.
[00:13:53]
Jon LaClare
Get your word out, your, your name out, your face out. It's one of the easy ways that I always say, you know, plug in. If you wanna reach out to me to be on the Harvest Growth podcast, just go to harvestgrowthpodcast.com, reach out to us directly. But find others as well, and other means, be it social media, but get content about your business and get in the right place.
[00:14:14]
Jon LaClare
So if your mind is in not just getting customers, but if you need investors, you know, what places are your investors at? So you mentioned several examples that you go search or, or you appear on, and that's-- those are very effective. Just wanna point that out to our audience.
[00:14:27]
Chris Salerno
Yeah, a couple things to touch on too, Jon.
[00:14:29]
Chris Salerno
Um, the world is evolving substantially with marketing. I mean, you have ChatGPT now just releasing ad, advertisement opportunities. Uh, a lot of people, instead of Googling it now, where, you know, the Google pay-per-click, which would be a big thing, especially if you're a physical location in a city, uh, a lot of people are just going to ChatGPT or they're going to Gemini or, or, or Claude and asking them, "Uh, hey, what is, you know, this type of business or this type of service near me?
[00:14:56]
Chris Salerno
'Cause I, I need to hire them." And so we are also exploring that. But I think AEO is bi- a big thing that has just recently jumped once, uh, AI has came to make sure your website is not only scraping SEO, uh, but also AEO. I can tell you, Jon, in the past three months, we've had around seven investors ChatGPT our investment type of opportunities in a broad, but ChatGPT put us number one saying, "You need to reach out to QC Capital Group with their investments into the car washes.
[00:15:28]
Chris Salerno
We've already analyzed them. This is what we feel is best for you." And keep in mind, when you put something in ChatGPT, it is always learning. And if Jon types something in very similar, it is taking from what I put in and, and spitting out to Jon as well. So if we've had investors take our, uh, legal documents, our OMs, and put it in ChatGPT, and Jon decides to go ahead and ask about investing into car washes to limit his tax liability, it's going to take some of that information that investors have put in there and put it in front of Jon as well So it's, uh, it's another great thing to put your own stuff in there so it stays in their algorithm.
[00:16:08]
Chris Salerno
But that's another huge, uh, avenue which we are all exploring because it's new. It's, it's fresh, you know, AEO and, and how AI is, is taking from your website and, and what will it take, all of that.
[00:16:21]
Jon LaClare
Love it. And I think, you know, the other avenues you talked about, getting content out there, especially on third-party sites or being on podcasts or elsewhere, the more you're out there, the more you're perceived by these engines, uh, AI engines, as being an expert.
[00:16:34]
Jon LaClare
'Cause you are, right? It gets the tr- they, they-- they're good at getting down to the truth, and content is a way to do that. You may be the best in the world if it's-- you're listening,
you've got a product or a service, whatever it might be, but if, if the internet doesn't know about it, then AI is not gonna know about it.
[00:16:48]
Jon LaClare:
So making sure you've got good content to communicate that. Well, Chris, this has been super helpful, enlightening for me, I'm sure for our audience as well. If anybody listening or watching wants to get in touch with you, a potential investment or has
[00:17:00]
questions, what's the best way?
[00:17:01]
Chris Salerno:
The best way is just go directly to our website.
[00:17:03]
Chris Salerno:
You'll be able to see all of our offerings there. You'll be able to get in touch with our investment, uh, relations team. Uh, if you wanna talk to me directly, I am all open, uh, seven days a week. You could just let them know, and they'll do the introduction. But just go to our website, qccapitalgroup.com.
[00:17:20]
Chris Salerno:
You'll be able to submit the form right there on the homepage, and someone will reach out to you right away to build a relationship with you.
[00:17:27]
Jon LaClare:
Awesome. And as always, if you're, again, listening or watching,
[00:17:30]
driving, then this is in the show notes.
So go anywhere where your podcast or this podcast episode can be found, and you'll have that URL to go back to, whether it's YouTube or any podcast channel, or of course, harvestgrowthpodcast.com.
[00:17:42]
Jon LaClare:
Well, for our listeners, if you want to take the next step in growing your own business, at Harvest Growth, we've developed a process called the Perfect Launch Blueprint. It helps uncover the right audience, messaging, offer, and marketing strategy before you spend heavily on media. We've already seen this process
[00:18:00]
help many clients double and even triple their ROAS, or return on ad spend, by getting clearer on what their customers actually care about and how to communicate it more effectively.
[00:18:10]
Jon LaClare:
If you'd like to see how this could apply to your product or your brand or your business, visit harvestgrowth.com. You can book a free phone call with our team. We'll take a look at where you are now, where you want to go, and whether the Perfect Launch Blueprint could help you get there faster. Thanks for listening today.
[00:18:26]
Jon LaClare:
We'll see you in the next
[00:18:30]
episode
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