Separately Management Accounts (SMAs) are on a roll. Traditionally designed to target the wealthiest individuals and families, defined benefit plans and endowments, they’ve often been treated as a niche product or a way for managers of mutual funds to manage multimillion-dollar portfolios directly.

But that’s changing. According to research from Cerulli, assets held in SMAs grew by 34% year-over-year from the first quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2021 and now command a 16% share of the $9 trillion held in managed accounts. Cerulli’s research also indicated that advisors planned to boost their usage of SMAs by 19% in 2022 while reducing the use of mutual funds by 12%.

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Today’s asset management sales landscape is vastly changed from 18 months ago — and still evolving. While some advisors are starting to venture back to the office, many are still working remotely. That means fewer opportunities to deploy old-school tactics like in-person meetings and large lunch-and-learns. In fact, a 2022 Outlook Report by Marketbridge found that in-person communication all but disappeared during the pandemic. While it will come back, digital is here to stay. So, how do asset managers engage advisors and grow assets in this new world? In our conversations with marketers, we have learned some new ways asset managers are engaging advisors and growing AUM.

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This is a guest post by Dan Sondhelm, CEO of Sondhelm Partners

If you were too busy dealing with the day-to-day minutiae and putting out fires instead of the mid-year distribution review, don’t worry. You still have time to kick start the year with a sound strategic plan to create or improve your growth strategy for the new year. Here’s what you need to focus on to get that done.

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Guest post by Ana Evans, Director of Marketing for Salespage Technologies.

Earlier this year, we held a client roundtable of 28 asset managers who shared insights into how they have adapted over the last year. An underlying theme that surfaced from that discussion was agility. Being able to quickly pivot to adjust and apply resources to fulfill changing needs for digital content and communication, virtual meetings and events, and advertising and media coverage, were essential to reach their audiences.

Marketing professionals are constantly striving to get the most impact with the resources they have available. We went to trusted asset manager marketing partners: Leibowitz Branding & Design, Sondhelm Partners, SunStar Strategic, and Synthesis to understand how they’ve been helping asset managers successfully adapt. This interview-style blog post shares fundamental questions and the marketing partner’s answers. Read on to learn how you can be more agile in your marketing efforts while focusing on and sharing your expertise.

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