As an agency specialising within the investment industry, we’ve had the unique experience of both observing and working with our clients to reshape their branding and adapt to the unprecedented changes that have occurred over the past year.
During this time, we’ve learnt a lot about the fragility in relying on just one form of marketing and the power a strong brand can have in a time of such unrest.
With so much happening both internally and externally within the investment industry globally, the way investors are responding to traditional forms of investment marketing, and more specifically investment branding has changed dramatically. Firms have had to remodel their entire marketing strategy to continue reaching their target audience, whilst asserting themselves as a reliable and trusted partner in such uncertain times.
This blog is the first of a mini-series, where we explore four of the key challenges, we see investment firms having to deal with in the aftermath of such a tumultuous year.
The questions a brand needs to answer now is not just how but why.
Gone are the days when good performance over three years was enough to engage institutional investors interest. Now companies are just excluded from mandates at the RFP stage if their ESG policies don’t align. This means companies need to have a full-scale overhaul of practices and values that add a further dimension to the brand.
With the ever growing competition within the investment sector, a race for talent by offering remote working and creating a distinctive employee culture becomes a crucial factor in retaining and growing a business. Employees can make or break investor relations and the more they buy into the positive elements of a brand’s culture the greater the chances of success.
With declining attention spans, clients want intuitive simplification when going online. Investment brands need to be client focused as well as offer a website with convenience, speed and reliability at all stages of the journey.
Now that conferences and meetings have been reduced. The trends are clear, when investors have had these interactions removed, they look for other ways to find a trusted brand and often default to the tried and tested principal they are used to. For the younger brands to cut through the already saturated marketing environment and win trust, they need to present a clear, authentic messaging, as well as being highly supportive to clients and staff. There is also a natural convergence here with brands that pursue purpose as well as profit, as they can often fast track to being a trusted brand.
These are the four challenges we see the investment sector facing in 2021. Our next four blogs will address each of these topics in detail. We will discuss the pros, the cons and the solutions.
