Category Archives: Leadership
Put Clients at the Center of Your Business — and Your Tech Stack
The pandemic ushered in a new age of technology in the investment management industry. Even firms that had been resistant to digitalization became suddenly, and acutely, aware of existential business risks that could be managed only through digital means. Investment management marketing teams began taking a hard look at their tech stack. A surge of quick pivots followed as firms scrambled to adopt new tools, change processes, and streamline operations to ensure business continuity.
These adaptations are particularly crucial for preserving relationships between advisors and wholesalers. According to research from Broadridge, 22% of advisors found wholesalers to be less helpful during the pandemic, and 32% have decreased their reliance on wholesalers over the past two years.
3 Ways Investment Marketers Have Adapted in 2020
The status quo is no longer good enough for intermediaries and investors. Investment marketing strategies have and will continue to shift since the COVID-19 pandemic. Then again, if you’re a forward-thinking marketer, I didn’t need to tell you that.
Synthesis and Evalueserve recently kicked off our quarterly private marketing roundtable series. We met with senior marketers from top investment management firms. Marketers shared their experiences, challenges, and ideas for success in our post-Covid environment. Since the pandemic, managers are figuring out how to step up their game to deliver customized and timely information to investors. So, marketers are reevaluating sales and marketing initiatives to remain competitive in a digital world. What does digitization mean for asset management marketers, and how can they efficiently achieve this? Marketing departments need the strategies, tools, and resources necessary to enable sales teams for success.
What is the Highest and Best Use of Your Marketing Staff Right Now?
The global pandemic and the move to working from home caused asset managers to think differently about how to retain assets and drive new business. Sales travel saw major cuts and client meetings went virtual. In response, marketers have had to pivot their plans and re-evaluate everything from messaging and go-to-market strategy to their martech stack.
For Asset Managers, The Profit Is In The Relationship
The economic pressure that has weighed down asset managers recently will continue to mount in 2019. We will especially see this as the tide of market-induced asset growth subsides. The established industry trends are rising passive inflows, fee compression, increased regulation, continuing platform rationalization. These are inescapable, threatening profit margins of the least prepared asset managers. In response, firms are intensifying their efforts to streamline distribution costs, improve their offerings, and invest in relationships. However, many still fall short of differentiating themselves among financial advisors. This could be the ultimate key to sustainable profits in this shifting landscape.