Are Data Bottlenecks Impacting Your Bottom Line?

Asset management sales and marketing efforts are fueled by data. The faster firms get clean, accurate product performance data in the hands of consultants, advisors and wholesalers, the better their chances of closing deals and increasing inflows. Effective governance for investment data is the foundation for this effort.

A growing number of firms are using marketing content automation solutions to quickly create and update pitchbooks, collateral materials and website product pages. Yet, many are still using inefficient, ad hoc processes for collecting, storing and distributing the source data that populates these communications.

These processes, coupled with a lack of formal governance around data collection and usage, increase product information’s time-to-market. Also, they raise the likelihood of errors that could result in reputational damage and regulatory sanctions.

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Four Common Data Problems Faced by Fund Marketers

A few common phrases we hear from investment marketers are, Our data is a bit of a mess and Our data could use a little housekeeping. In our experience, we have learned that marketers have become the de facto experts on fund data management and automation.

Fund marketers themselves are routinely chasing-down their financial data from many disparate sources, both internal and external. Then, they are trying to extract clean data for use in their customer-facing marketing materials. This process is made more challenging when there are tight time frames. Plus, it has to be done with the highest levels of accuracy and consistency in real-time.Read More

Print is Dead, Long Live Print!

I’ve been in the computer-driven publishing industry my entire working life. For better or worse, that’s going on 30 years and six firms worth of experience building and selling systems to support the print (or print-like) communications needs of large businesses selling or supporting high-value goods and services. I’ve worked with Airlines, Pharmaceuticals, Auto Parts, Reference Publishers, Military, and Financial business. All have significant data-and-rules driven content publishing needs, including well-designed print artifacts. Supporting publishing in the financial services world makes up a majority of this experience, but we gain wisdom by understanding similarities and differences between multiple business sectors and markets.

For 87.3% of my long and illustrious career in supporting print communications, people have taken the position that Print is Dead… or soon will be. While there are specific examples and versions of this narrative that are true, I’m here to talk today about where and why it is not true!

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Thinking Outside the “Sales Box” to Keep Financial Advisors Engaged

Understanding the challenges asset managers and their salespeople face in generating leads and winning new business has always been a key driver of our product development and enhancement efforts.

But the conversations we’ve been having with these firms have radically changed since the COVID-19 crisis began. The volatile market environment, in combination with the embargo on in-person meetings, has pushed typical product-and-performance meetings to the backburner. Sales teams have replaced lunch-and-learns and walk-in visits with digital marketing campaigns and Zoom sessions. As a result, wholesalers have had to find innovative ways to keep financial advisors engaged, many of whom are struggling with similar client acquisition and retention challenges.

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