(The following blog post is the third in a series on the need for the Investment Management Industry to embrace sound data management practices. You can access the first and second posts here.)

Earlier today I was on a conference call with one of the largest asset management firms in the world.  The call was with marketing people representing operational groups in London, Hong Kong, Vancouver, and New York. The purpose of the call was to discuss factsheet automation and the need to unify their operations.  Interestingly, we could hardly stay on topic about documents and automation tools because their real problem was source data.

During the call, each group expressed their internal challenges in collecting clean, verifiably accurate and finalized data for reporting use.

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In today’s competitive business environment, marketers must have access to “the right data at the right time” in order to be effective.

At financial services firms, marketers rely heavily upon their data to market their products and report performance on a monthly and quarterly basis.  In addition to producing fact sheets, pitchbooks, and other vital communication materials, investment marketers are also using data to drive key business decisions.

In either case, it is extremely important for investment companies to place a focus on producing quality data. Otherwise, they risk running into problems from both a regulatory and brand reputation standpoint.

But what is the definition of “data quality”? Why is it important for marketing? And what is the magic formula for achieving quality data?

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If you’re like me, you worry about making marketing mistakes that might reflect negatively on your company’s brand.

Marketing blunders cause embarrassment and negative PR, but they usually blow-over in time. For example, you might recall when Shutterfly sent a “congratulations on your new arrival” email to people who hadn’t recently given birth. It was a data quality issue that caused backlash from their customer base and a lot of negative press. But, everyone eventually moved on.

In financial services, however, marketing blunders are much more serious. When they are due to data errors or inconsistencies, there can be regulatory issues, fines, and liabilities in addition to bad PR. There’s even the risk of losing your job or your license.

Because financial services marketing is driven by enormous amounts of data, the risk of making a reporting mistake is extremely high. Mistakes caused by a lack of data quality can be a huge blow to a firm, causing them to lose credibility with investors and advisers. Read More

What role does technology play in your financial marketing strategy?

Changing regulation, customer behavior, and competition are changing the way financial brands conduct marketing, and new technologies have become a vital part of the plan.

From marketing automation and sales enablement to data management and reporting platforms, there is an abundance of financial marketing technology available to help marketers take their brands to the top.Read More