CASE STUDY
Merkle Tree Capital
Merkle Tree Capital
Qualified investor leads at ~$100 each.
Qualified investor leads at ~$100 each.
How Market Lead launched a compliant paid-ads funnel for Merkle Tree Capital's digital asset fund, delivering a steady flow of pre-qualified wholesale investor leads in one of the hardest categories to advertise in.
How Market Lead launched a compliant paid-ads funnel for Merkle Tree Capital's digital asset fund, delivering a steady flow of pre-qualified wholesale investor leads in one of the hardest categories to advertise in.
Industry
Industry
Digital Asset (Crypto) Fund Manager · Wholesale Investment
Digital Asset (Crypto) Fund Manager · Wholesale Investment
Services
Services
Landing Page, Google Ads & Meta Ads · Investor Lead Gen
Landing Page, Google Ads & Meta Ads · Investor Lead Gen
Markets
Markets
Australia · Wholesale & Sophisticated Investors
Australia · Wholesale & Sophisticated Investors
The Challenge
Challenge
The Challenge
Challenge
The Challenge
Challenge
A trusted lender with an unreliable pipeline
Merkle Tree Capital is a boutique manager running a digital asset fund for wholesale investors. Raising capital means reaching the right people, but crypto and financial services sit at the intersection of the two hardest things to advertise.
Meta and Google routinely reject the ads, compliance sign-off is strict, and a flood of unqualified enquiries would only waste a small team's time. Merkle Tree was starting with effectively no paid presence and a high bar to clear.
Merkle Tree Capital is a boutique manager running a digital asset fund for wholesale investors. Raising capital means reaching the right people, but crypto and financial services sit at the intersection of the two hardest things to advertise.
Meta and Google routinely reject the ads, compliance sign-off is strict, and a flood of unqualified enquiries would only waste a small team's time. Merkle Tree was starting with effectively no paid presence and a high bar to clear.
Our Approach
Approach
Our Approach
Approach
Our Approach
Approach
Ads that pass review, and a form that filters out the tyre-kickers.
Two things had to be true: the ads needed to survive financial-services review, and every lead that came through needed to be worth a call. Market Lead built a dedicated, on-brand landing page with the right disclaimers, engineered ad creative to clear the platforms' financial rules, and put a qualification step in front of the enquiry, capturing wholesale-investor status, budget and timeframe before anyone hit submit. The goal was fewer, better leads, not just cheaper clicks.
Two things had to be true: the ads needed to survive financial-services review, and every lead that came through needed to be worth a call. Market Lead built a dedicated, on-brand landing page with the right disclaimers, engineered ad creative to clear the platforms' financial rules, and put a qualification step in front of the enquiry, capturing wholesale-investor status, budget and timeframe before anyone hit submit. The goal was fewer, better leads, not just cheaper clicks.
The Key Insight
In a category you can barely advertise in, the edge is compliant creative plus hard qualification. Capturing budget and investor status up front turned cold clicks into a pipeline of real wholesale investors.
The Key Insight
In a category you can barely advertise in, the edge is compliant creative plus hard qualification. Capturing budget and investor status up front turned cold clicks into a pipeline of real wholesale investors.
Execution
Execution
Execution
Execution
Execution
Execution
Four Pillars That Transformed the Pipeline
Compliant Landing Page
• Rebuilt search campaigns around high-intent finance terms
• Cut wasted spend and irrelevant search traffic
• Cost per click reduced from about $11 to $4 to $5
• Reach and impressions grown within a flat budget
Compliant Landing Page
• Rebuilt search campaigns around high-intent finance terms
• Cut wasted spend and irrelevant search traffic
• Cost per click reduced from about $11 to $4 to $5
• Reach and impressions grown within a flat budget
Google & Meta Ads
• Creative engineered to pass financial-services review
• Ad rejections worked through to get campaigns live
• Google and Meta run side by side to widen reach
Google & Meta Ads
• Creative engineered to pass financial-services review
• Ad rejections worked through to get campaigns live
• Google and Meta run side by side to widen reach
Lead Qualification
• Wholesale-investor status captured on every enquiry
• Budget band recorded, from under $50K to $250K plus
• Investment timeframe flagged, from ready now to later
Lead Qualification
• Wholesale-investor status captured on every enquiry
• Budget band recorded, from under $50K to $250K plus
• Investment timeframe flagged, from ready now to later
Lead Dashboard & Alerts
• Real-time lead alerts sent straight to the team
• Live dashboard with lead temperature and status
• Regular reporting and paid-ads reviews with the founders
Lead Dashboard & Alerts
• Real-time lead alerts sent straight to the team
• Live dashboard with lead temperature and status
• Regular reporting and paid-ads reviews with the founders
The Outcome
Outcome
The Outcome
Outcome
The Outcome
Outcome
The funnel worked from launch. Inside the first two weeks, 14 investor leads had come through at around $100 each, and the flow held steady from there, more than 60 enquiries across the campaign. Because qualification happened up front, the team knew who they were calling: a large share were self-identified wholesale investors, with budgets ranging up to $250K and beyond, and many marked ready to invest now. In a category most agencies cannot even get ads approved in, a boutique fund had a measurable, qualified investor pipeline.
The funnel worked from launch. Inside the first two weeks, 14 investor leads had come through at around $100 each, and the flow held steady from there, more than 60 enquiries across the campaign. Because qualification happened up front, the team knew who they were calling: a large share were self-identified wholesale investors, with budgets ranging up to $250K and beyond, and many marked ready to invest now. In a category most agencies cannot even get ads approved in, a boutique fund had a measurable, qualified investor pipeline.
Ready to reach qualified investors?
Market Lead helped Merkle Tree Capital launch a compliant paid-ads funnel that delivered pre-qualified wholesale investor leads at around $100 each. Book a call to see what's possible for your fund.
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