Beyond the Collateral Archives: October 2008
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October 31, 2008
Customer Data, Client Advocacy Functions Generally Reside Outside Marketing
Functions designed to best understand the customer, namely customer data and client advocacy, are typically located outside Marketing, according to the 2007 Beyond The Collateral research. The study found this to be the case in all firms, regardless of firm size.
If not Marketing, who is responsible? The majority of respondents from the largest ($50B+ AUM) firms reported that CRM and client advocacy functions reside in the sales department. Feel free to comment below–and watch for next Friday’s release of more exhibits from the 2007 study.
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October 24, 2008
What Do Financial Marketing Organizations Do?
The second exhibit to be released from the 2007 Beyond The Collateral research answers the question: What Do Financial Marketing Organizations Do?
As shown above, financial marketing today embraces the right and largely ignores the left side of the marketing brain. Respondents overwhelmingly report that their current marketing organizations are responsible for promotions, sales support, value-added programs and advertising—right-brain marketing. On the other hand, many of the business functions including client data management, CRM, client advocacy, product development and product management (left-brain marketing) are typically not part of Marketing.
In fact, as firms become larger and too often de-centralized, less of these functions reside in Marketing.
As announced last week, we’re posting exhibits from the 2007 study to the site every Friday–see you next week.
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October 20, 2008
SwanDog Publishes The World Has Changed (Part 1)
SwanDog Strategic Marketing today published “The World Has Changed (Part 1),” a 12-page whitepaper available to be downloaded from www.swandog.com. It includes recommendations on how mutual fund companies, other investment managers and broker-dealers can reposition themselves.
In the whitepaper, Dave Swanson, SwanDog’s founder and managing principal, is critical of investment management Web site updates and encourages marketers to commit to more timely communicating by adopting a “newsroom mentality.” Investment companies that have deferred investor communications to financial advisors need to use frequency, education and transparency to re-open the dialogue, we believe. Marketing communications, including imagery, need to be reworked to represent the empathy that today’s markets call for. Other recommendations relate to redefining the brand of the financial advisor and the prospects for large and small asset management brands.
The investment management industry is the business we come from and we now serve. Some of what we’re recommending is counterintuitive to legacy marketing, but we believe in marketing organizations’ ability to step it up and lead their firms’ efforts in bolstering investor confidence. There is unprecedented opportunity for those who do.
To download a copy of “The World Has Changed (Part 1),” go to www.swandog.com. The whitepaper is the first in a series of reports.
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October 16, 2008
We’re Baaack…Study to be Refielded; 2007 Exhibits Selectively Released
Little more than one year after the publishing of the SwanDog/FRC Beyond The Collateral research, we’re refielding the study. We’re repeating questions from the 2007 study and asking a handful of new questions. Watch for the results on this site in November.
In the meantime, we’re happy to announce that we will be releasing selective exhibits from the 2007 research. Watch for a new exhibit to be posted to this site every Friday.
What are the most critical business challenges of marketers? Approximately one-quarter of marketers and non-marketers (including respondents in positions such as CEO, Head of Distribution and Head of Product Management), agreed that differentiation and brand awareness would represent their highest hurdles going forward. What a difference a year makes!
