The Financial Marketer Mindset: Technology’s Impact on Marketing Strategy

May 2019

By Gavin John, CEO of StoneShot

There’s an old parable about a hungry and thirsty donkey that finds itself standing between a bale of hay and a pail of water. Which does it choose? Sadly, neither. Paralyzed with indecision over two equally important needs, the donkey remains frozen in place. Obviously, this is a false paradox, as there’s nothing preventing the donkey from eating the hay and drinking the water. Yet there’s an important lesson in here for financial mar-keters, who today are facing what surely feels like an impossible choice between two competing priorities.

As marketing budgets have been falling as a percentage of revenues, CMOs have been looking to fill the gap with more technology. In a survey by Gartner last year, chief marketing officers were asked how they were earmarking their budgets for 2018. Among the big line items, allocations to technology rose last year to only 29% of overall marketing budgets, up from 22% in 2017. Expect more of the same going forward. Roughly two thirds of senior-level marketers in the U.S. and U.K. expect to boost spending on MarTech in the coming 12 months.

None of this is surprising—until you put it into context with the other things CMOs care about. When senior marketing executives were asked what big goals will drive new strategies over the coming year, “making our interactions more human” was the top response, according to a Forrester survey last year.

So, which is it: more human interactions or more technology?

As the parable of the donkey illustrates, two equally compelling goals need not be mutually exclusive. In fact, one of the key findings of a recent anecdotal study conducted by StoneShot, by surveying our clients, was that technology can actually help companies make more meaningful connections with their customers.

That’s right: Technology, if deployed correctly, can actually amplify personal communications that provide value. Technology certainly makes marketers’ lives easier, by allowing them to communicate more conve-niently and efficiently. But they still need to employ sound marketing principles to make it work. Across the industry, we need efficient marketers to glean the full potential of technology, and marketers need to glean the full potential of how they can reach their audience.

What Financial Marketers Really ThinkInfluential marketers in the U.K. and U.S. who were recently interviewed by StoneShot said the point of spending more on MarTech isn’t simply to be more efficient; it’s to be more effective in differentiating your company from the crowd—by building trust, understanding the customer better, and giving clients exactly what they want, when they want it, and how they want it so as not to waste their time.

Understanding the usefulness and limitations of technology is also key to helping marketers address some of the biggest challenges they face today:

The Biggest Challenges Facing Financial Marketers — and How to Address Them

Key decision-makers share their thoughts on how technology, if used properly, can help marketers confront some of the biggest issues in the industry today

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Use tech to do the basic blocking and tackling“Marketers need to take a client-centric approach and make sure they are getting the basic things right—like making it easy to contact salespeople; ensuring your website content is consistent with the sales team messaging; answering client questions efficiently; and making emails look right and easy to read on all devices,” says Allianz Global Investors’ Hughes. Providing a full array of services via mobile devices has become particularly important. PwC’s 2018 Digital Banking Consumer Survey found that 15% of banking customers now use their mobile device as their main platform for interacting with their account, up from 10% just a year earlier.

Use tech to get to know your clients betterRemember that technology is the means to an end. The end, in this case, is knowing what your cus-tomers want, what their needs are, and how they want to be treated—all of which promotes trust. Last year, Gartner asked CMOs what marketing capabilities they considered to be most vital for the coming 18 months. The top response was customer analytics.

Use tech to customize messages, not to broadcast them“Clients consistently tell us how they expect more targeted, more relevant, more personalized communications,” says Edward Palmer, Head of Marketing at Neptune Investment Management in London. It’s not just Neptune’s clients. Around two thirds of banking customers expect personalized communications on products and services, according to Accenture’s 2017 Global Distribution & Mar-keting Consumer Study. And among investment advisory customers, that figure is even higher—73%.

“We need to use the advances in technology to improve communication and compliance without losing touch with the people we serve,” says Paul Bagley, Director of Distribution for James Hay in London. He notes that his firm still places “huge importance on regular face-to-face and telephone contact with our customers at our events and through our account managers.”

There’s no doubt that technology can be an effective tool to drive communications and sales.

A recent study by Deloitte examined the tech investments made by the asset management industry and found evidence that more spending often leads to more growth. Over the three-year period ending in 2017, asset managers that ranked in the top third of their peers on distribution technology spending saw net new inflows (as a percentage of total assets under management) climb 2.5%. That was more than twice the growth rate for the industry as a whole.

But it isn’t necessarily the innovations that are driving this growth; it’s how marketers are using the technology.

CHALLENGE #1: Staying focused on the client

“A useful analogy is to think of your marketing messages as music and marketing automation as the volume. So market-ing automation software is a bit like a sound system with lots of speakers, but if the music you’re playing isn’t good, then there’s no point in playing it loudly.”

— Tom Hughes, Vice President, Head of Northern European Marketing, Allianz Global Investors

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Think quality, not quantity “What’s the biggest challenge in financial marketing? How to communicate more effectively but not more often,” says Wendy Stevenson, Alliance Bernstein’s Marketing Director for the DACH Region. It’s “how to ensure that the quality of what we send them is better than ever and exactly fits their needs but doesn’t add to the overall volume of communications they receive, gumming up their already overflowing inbox.”

The fact is, less can be so much more when it comes to communicating with customers. “Clients receive so much content that they can’t possibly read it all,” says Erin Elliot, Marketing and Client Reporting Manager for SVM Asset Management Limited in Edinburgh. Oversaturating your cus-tomers with content can also work against your interests too. After all, “content production is a huge drain on resources,” notes Kassie Siwo-Gasa, Head of Digital Marketing at Legal & General Investment Management in London.

Dial up trust, not just data Trust remains a big issue in this industry. After regaining some footing in the aftermath of the financial crisis, trust in financial institutions took a tumble in 2018. Why does this matter? Customers aren’t just loyal to the institutions they have faith in, 31% are likely to recommend those trusted institutions to others. And when it comes to building trust, human interaction is still key, according to Edelman’s 2018 Trust in Financial Services report. For example, nearly a third of respondents in the Edelman sur-vey said it was vital to interact with a real person when receiving advice. Even for modest interactions, such as disputing credit card charges, a surprising number of consumers still demand human contact for a sense of trust and confidence.

Marketers surveyed by StoneShot aren’t surprised that there’s still a need for human connections in financial communications. For instance, “I think we’ll see more content marketing, testimonials, and other tactics that are peer-to-peer,” says Fiona Nicolson, Head of Distribution Communica-tions & Marketing for Intrinsic Financial Services in London. “People don’t necessarily trust finan-cial institutions, but they trust people.”

Focus on the how and the why—not just the what There was a time when clients only wanted to bottom-line things: What’s the return? What’s the risk? And how much will this cost me? In recent years, however, clients have begun caring about purpose and process as much as results. You can thank the growing influence of the millennials.

“Now it’s not just the what, it’s the how as well as the experience you give the client along the way,” says Paul Fletcher.

Given the crowded marketplace, the natural inclination is to use technology like a fire hose— to communicate so much that at least some of your messaging stands a chance of making it through. Yet this strategy of flooding the zone can be counterproductive, as it can antagonize clients and prospective leads while doing little to build trust and differentiate your brand.

CHALLENGE #2: Standing out in a crowded field

“One of the biggest challenges in financial services is differentiation.” — Paul Fletcher, Head of Marketing, Coutts and Adams & Company

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Tailor the data to the goal “Anything that can be measured can be valued,” notes Laura Curtis, Head of Marketing, Europe, for Vanguard Asset Management. The key is knowing what type of data will be most useful to senior leadership to convince them to close the deal. Ultimately, the goal of marketers is to help generate sales, either by building on existing relationships with customers or helping sales find new leads. Therefore, if the goal of the new tech spending is to generate new business, “then obviously leads is the most important metric,” says Erin Elliot of SVM. “However, if the initiative is to improve cus-tomer relationships, then we would focus on engagement metrics,” she says.

Don’t use data as a crutch“The further up the reporting chain you get, the more meaningless marketing metrics can be-come,” says Neptune’s Edward Palmer. What’s more important? Making sure that the outcomes of the technology systems you are proposing are aligned with the company’s larger objectives—and that all the costs of the system can be justified.

Speak the right language When it comes to the C-suite, the right language is the language of revenues, profits, and ROI— and not click-through rates or hard bounces. “At the end of the day, you have to answer the question: ‘Is it going to make me money?’” says Nicolson. “Marketers need to interpret their results in the same language as their company in order to prove themselves and get buy-in.” Tom Hughes of Allianz Global Investors agrees. “If I’m going into a meeting and talking about web traffic or clicks on an email, it’s not relevant,” he says. “What’s relevant is how marketing can drive revenue and make the business more profitable. And that’s the language you need to speak in.”

CHALLENGE #3: Gaining Executive Buy-in For New Marketing Initiatives

“Executive buy-in can be relatively straightforward provided the outcomes are aligned to corporate objectives… and costs can be rationalized and justified.”

— Paul Fletcher, Head of Marketing, Coutts and Adams & Company

On paper, it may not seem that difficult to sell the C-suite on new marketing strategies, especially those that involve tech. After all, surveys show that decision makers are already pre-disposed to spending more on tech to drive greater efficiencies. “Digitalization is the new buzzword,” says Alliance Bernstein’s Stevenson.

Alas, investments in new technology often require significant outlays. Moreover, it can often take huge amounts of time to research which specific systems to invest in. So, what’s the best way to ensure that your specific project gets the green light?

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Get sales involved from the get-go

Experienced marketers understand that sales is not the enemy. In fact, sales can actually help mar-keting do its job better. “Financial marketers should stay close to their sales teams for a better view of what customers actually want,” says Natixis Investment Managers’ Catherine Morat. “By having a clear understanding of what customers are looking for, firms can then tailor their marketing ap-proaches to deliver information that will keep customers coming back.”

And by looping in sales early, it reduces the likelihood for turf wars down the road. That’s why it’s important to “involve all groups from the beginning, communicate often for transparency, and educate wherever possible so all teams can be on the same page throughout initiatives,” says

Christina Signore, Vice President of Digital Engagement for Allianz Global Investors in New York.

Make sure your tech is aligned too

It’s not enough that your sales and marketing leaders are communicating openly with one another. If the technology platforms each team relies on aren’t in sync—or worse still, are incompatible—than this will likely lead to communication problems down the road. For instance, if your sales team is working in a CRM to manage contacts and marketers are working in a separate ESP that doesn’t talk with the CRM, this could cause discrepancies within the data and miscommunication.

Breaking down silos in systems and between marketing and sales is key. Data can get messy, and keeping it organized and making sure that everyone involved in the organization is on the same page is crucial for control.

CHALLENGE #4: Working in Tandem with Sales & Compliance

“A marketing team that works in its own silo will only be in tune with its own agenda.”

— Catherine Morat, Head of International Marketing, Natixis Investment Managers, London

Ultimately, you can’t get buy-in from senior executives above you until you get the support of the wider team around you. The problem is, marketing’s relationship with sales has been challenging, to say the least. A 2013 Harvard Business Review article summed up the tensions between sales and marketing in broad strokes: “Marketers think in terms of aggregate customer segments; sellers think in terms of individual customers. Marketers design strategies; sellers implement tactics. Marketers focus on analysis and process; sellers focus on relationships and results. These diverse perspectives often lead to conflict.”

To be sure, the relationship between your company’s sales and marketing teams is likely to be more nuanced. In any case, the trick is to understand your different points of view and not let existing tensions with one another develop into a full-blown war.

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Think like an entrepreneur“We shouldn’t be afraid to be entrepreneurial in our marketing approach, says Kassie Siwo-Gasa of LGIM. “Test and learn has to be core to what we do.”

Think like the customerThe future of marketing means “being much closer to the client than before,” says Vanguard’s Laura Curtis. So much so, she argues, that marketing may take on roles that have historically been associated with client services or internal sales.

And when it comes to content, financial marketers must give customers only the information they want, when they want it. An example of this would be regionalization. Says Fiona Nicolson of Intrinsic:

“We promote our messages about various events through regional segmentation, making sure that we are sending relevant messages to the right audiences.”

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That’s precisely the point of marketing technology—to make it possible to be one-on-one with your broad audience, even if that audience consists of thousands or millions of customers. Technology is allowing marketers to do more than ever before, so in a sense this is a golden age of marketing. We have so many different tools and digital channels available to reach people, from emails that can incorporate video to social media to automated chat bots, etc.

Still, it’s the technology that we human marketers choose—and how we use that technology to en-hance our personal relationships with clients and leads— that is ultimately going to define the future.

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CHALLENGE #5: Remaining Relevant in an Ever-Changing Marketplace

“The future of financial marketing is data and being able to mine the data to drive relevant and meaningful marketing activity.” — Kassie Siwo-Gasa, Head of Digital Marketing, LGIM

Understanding the changing nature of your customers is only half the battle. The other half involves finding a way to adapt so that you remain relevant. This requires an element of reinvention and disruption that the financial services industry hasn’t exactly been known throughout much of its history. Yet going forward, “understanding your customer’s behavior and where they’re interacting with your brand is going to be a continuous process,” says Paul Fletcher of Coutts.

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About StoneShot

StoneShot is an email marketing, marketing automation, and event management platform provider for financial services marketers. Founded in 2001, we offer technology, insights, and agency services financial marketers need to succeed. Our intuitive platform and in-house team of strategists, designers, developers, and account specialists offer the flexibility to get each client where they need to be in their digital transformation journey and achieve their business goals. We work with leading brands including Barings, HSBC, Invesco, and UBS, and have offices in London, New York, Milan, and Paris.

About Gavin John

Gavin John, founder and CEO of StoneShot, has over 30 years in the industry, serving as a technologist and innovator. He started his career at Kleinwort Benson in London, followed by UBS, Merrill Lynch and Hermes Pensions Management. He co-founded StoneShot in 2001 and the firm now serves investment management, private brank and wealth management clients in over 25 countries.

Special thanks to those who contributed to the paper

Paul Bagley, Director of Distribution, James Hay

Laura Curtis, Head of Marketing – Europe, Vanguard Asset Management

Erin Elliot, Marketing and Client Reporting Manager, SVM Asset Management Limited

Paul Fletcher, Head of Marketing, Coutts and Adam & Company

Vik Heerah, Head of UK Marketing, Artemis Investment Management

Tom Hughes, Vice President, Head of Northern European Marketing, Allianz Global Investors

Catherine Morat, Head of International Marketing, Natixis Investment Managers

Fiona Nicolson, Head of Distribution Communications & Marketing, Intrinsic Financial Services

Ed Palmer, Head of Marketing, Neptune Investment Management

Christina Signore, Vice President of Digital Engagement, Allianz Global Investors

Kassie Siwo-Gassa, Head of Digital Marketing, Legal & General Investment Management

Wendy Stevenson, Marketing Director, Alliance Bernstein7