Marketing Essentials: A checklist for challenging times

The marketing challenges faced by most financial services organizations have never been more difficult. For many years, the accumulation of wealth in an environment of unbridled growth has provided the baseline from which to operate. A slowdown caused unexpected interruption, the meltdown was overwhelming, and the current volatile climate is both confusing and frustrating. Client trust is at an all-time low. Budgets are tight. Staff is stretched and dispirited.

Yet for marketing leaders with foresight, now is a good time to reflect and make improvements on your current strategy. Here’s a checklist of Marketing Essentials that, if properly executed, can yield significant results as whatever constitutes the “new normal” emerges:

1. Stay on the radar screen Unless they hear from you, clients will fill-in-the-blanks with their own assumptions and concerns, and not necessarily in ways you may expect. Communicate on the big issues, regularly and through a variety of vehicles. Provide candid, objective information that clients need to gain perspective or take action. Take a leadership role on distributing clear and focused messages that resonate with empathy and realism.
2. Grow market share Now is the time to leverage competitor weaknesses. A brand can pick up market share by picking off marginal players. Be present where competitors are absent. Be strong where they are tentative. Be distinguished where they are undifferentiated. Marketing can play a key role in redefining strategic focus by developing appropriate messaging across all elements of the marketing mix.
3. Look in the mirror Conduct a hard audit of past marketing efforts – process, design, editorial, usage rates and more. Take no prisoners. Has your marketing been too formulaic? Is your strategy flexible and responsive enough? Have your communication vehicles been developed as part of a well-defined strategy? Now is the time to back away from reactive, one-off approaches that are not as effective and to kill any remaining sacred cows.
4. Revisit client experience Take the time to revisit (or visit for the first time!) what it’s like to be the client, whether investor or intermediary. Consider the end-to-end experience, from point of first contact through on-boarding, to resolution of service issues and ongoing communications. Companies often lose a holistic perspective on what it means to be a client that is experiencing the totality of the organization. In many cases, marketers can be the most effective proxy to represent the client perspective with a degree of objectivity.
5. Make it simple(r) The vast majority of clients receiving financial services communications find the content unappealing because it can be difficult to comprehend, a problem that often reinforces a lack of trust and confidence. Now is a very appropriate time to revise the language in communication vehicles - from brochures to websites, applications, agreements and even compliance-related material.
6. Dial it up Renew or initiate new research. Sanitize the database. Investigate enterprise or cross-business solutions that may be useful, such as improved CRM, online response tracking, virtual meeting software, and more. Finally, given the talent currently available in the marketplace, enhance capabilities and build bench strength.
7. Learn new skills With the significant development of social media, but limited shared experience and objective indicators of value, it is a good time to begin to experiment and try new tools. In the short-term, the focus may be more on learning, rather than hard outcomes, while understanding and compliant-comfortable approaches evolve.
8. (Re)Engage with internal stakeholders Encourage internal stakeholders to think long-term about how marketing helps drive business. Define and measure activity. Disseminate useful market research. Take a leadership role in organizing cross-functional discussions around shared challenges and opportunities. Make sure that sales, product management, compliance and marketing are following the same playbook and agree on the same priorities.

If your reaction to this checklist is that these actions are appropriate during any market environment, you’re absolutely right. However, many marketers get caught up in a cycle of reactive behavior and fail to focus on how the basics are relevant in an ever-changing market place and in helping to promote the overall health of the business. Have you made these Marketing Essentials a priority?

For more than three decades, Carpenter Group has helped financial services organizations grow their businesses and improve profitability through objective business advice, branding and marketing solutions, and creative services. Carpenter Group brings together seasoned professionals from the financial services, branding and creative industries to develop and implement solutions that drive business goals forward.

Our clients include many of the most prominent firms in the asset management, investment banking, insurance, brokerage and commercial banking sectors.

Carpenter Group
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New York, NY 10012
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212.334.9723 fax