What is your ROI on producing marketing content?

It’s easy to underestimate what it costs to run your marketing operations. For asset managers, producing content is not an easy task. The materials are data-heavy, constantly changing, and usually go through several rounds of review. Creating a streamlined process is critical to realizing a return on investment. But how do you measure it?

There are three steps to building a solid ROI calculation, and the first step is to understand your true organizational production costs. Very few people know how to really measure this. Most of the time, managers simply look at their departmental head-count (FTE) cost and estimate what percentage of their time goes into updating and distributing content and literature. This broad-brush approach would seem to capture the costs well but often results in a gross underestimation of the true costs.  A full accounting should cover direct labor costs, managerial labor costs, opportunity costs, and error and risk-related costs.

We’ve had two clients undertake a full and detailed Six Sigma cost analysis of their baseline costs and risks associated with manual or semi-automated literature production. The results were staggering.
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‘The fast fish eats the slow fish’ and the definition of insanity

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Without a doubt, we’ve all fallen victim to “insanity” at different points in our lives. For example, I’m insane to think I can win a 5K race by training for distance with no regard to speed, strategy, or agility. Or, that I can overcome a weight-loss plateau by sticking to my same daily fitness routine. If I want different results, I’ll have to change my approach.

The same rules apply in the workplace. As modern marketing and business professionals, it’s illogical to think we can keep up with the pace of marketing in a world where “content is king” and data is everywhere – unless we improve our processes. Being agile is what makes or breaks a company in these new and exciting times.Read More

The First Step in Creating an Effective Pitch Book Strategy

In the world of financial product sales, the quality of your pitch books can either make or break you. In order for salespeople to deliver great presentations, it’s important to have an effective pitch book strategy that runs like a well-oiled machine.  If your strategy isn’t refined, you run the risk of sending out sloppy presentations that can damage your brand image, or worse, result in non-compliance.Read More

Client-Centric vs. Investment-Centric Marketing at Asset Management Firms

Times are changing, and the modern consumer’s attention won’t be captured by old-school marketing tactics anymore. This is especially true for asset management firms. Good performance isn’t enough. With thousands of options, investors not only put more emphasis on what they are investing in, but they also want to feel like a priority; that their values, interests and goals are at the top-of-mind to their advisors. Firms that understand their clients do better in the marketplace. As the industry becomes more challenging, firms must move from investment-centric to client-centric messaging.Read More