It’s no secret that in 2023, marketing budgets were cut due to numerous factors, including the economy, M&A, and so on. Despite the New Year, Marketing teams are still being stretched, often asked to do more with less human capital, fewer resources, and limited budgets for marketing technology.
The DWN Team recently sat down with Teresa Leno, CEO and Founder of Fresh Finance, regarding the state of marketing spend for wealth industry marketers in 2024. Her take: With the New Year underway, it’s time for wealth organizations to rethink their marketing strategy and technology.
“Many organizations realize that traditional marketing channels, such as broadcast and print, are less effective than they used to be. People spend less time in front of the TV and more time in front of their phone screens. Social media and Google searches are where investors turn for news, financial information, or to search for a new advisor. This is where advisors must be actively posting content to grab the attention of investors.
Fresh Finance’s marketing technology tools can help marketing professionals deliver digital content to their advisors for website, blog, social media, and digital newsletter use. Our technology enables them to do more with less human capital and at less cost,” says Teresa Leno, CEO and Founder of Fresh Finance.
These observable trends are often visible through the strategic shifts in the industry and the adoption of new marketing technologies. Often, the marketing budget cut is something other than running out of cash; it is more about allocating resources toward other areas of the organization. Here’s how 2023 fared for many wealth industry marketing teams:
- Marketing budgets fell to 9.1% of company revenue in 2023.
- 75% of CMOs reported being asked to do more with less in 2023.
- 75% of CMOs face pressure to cut martech spend.
- 28% of CMOs budgets were spent on awareness in 2023.
(Source- The State of Marketing Budget and Strategy in 2023, Gartner)
Today’s consumers are savvy, informed, and looking for engaging content – and luckily, thanks to advancing marketing technology, this can be achieved without breaking the bank. Just because fewer dollars are spent on marketing overall doesn’t mean the importance of marketing has diminished. On the contrary, marketing is becoming more innovative, leaner, and personalized, thanks to the digital revolution and shifting consumer habits.
“Marketers must seek solutions that make their lives easier while saving money. Our solution enables marketers to deliver investor-friendly content that is compliance-approved, accessible, and ready for use by their advisors.
With ‘awareness’ being among the top KPIs for 2024, marketers have a real opportunity to showcase how their advisors solve problems using content,” adds Leno.
Leno says that industry CMOs should allocate most of their 2024 dollars toward technology and talent and decrease spending on outside solutions they don’t control since measuring KPIs is often tricky. More and more organizations are forming internal marketing agencies to benefit their advisors’ marketing versus relying on an outside vendor to ‘do it for them’ because they must justify spending and compliance oversight. There is more pressure on CMOs and their teams, leaving little room for mistakes.
She also identifies critical areas CMOs must address in 2024: technology optimization, growth (advisor adoption), yield and return on investment, and KPIs. It’s important to understand that marketing initiatives must benefit the organization and the advisors who bring in assets. Providing advisors with digital marketing tools to help grow their business is the easiest way to measure KPIs, justify spend, and ensure marketing budgets and positions remain intact.
Teresa Leno worked as a financial advisor and experienced firsthand the importance of financial education to help clients make more informed decisions before a crisis. Through her experience, Fresh Finance was started as a financial content marketing solution to help advisors validate their expertise through sharing content.
