Welcome to the 2023 edition of Infopro Digital’s Financial Services Marketing Pulse report. In January, we surveyed and interviewed more than 80 senior marketing leaders to dissect some of the biggest challenges and opportunities facing the global capital markets, insurance and financial technology sectors.
It quickly became clear that marketers will have to work hard in 2023. Few respondents anticipate a reduced spend, but increased stakeholder scrutiny is adding pressure at a time when nearly half of participants struggle with unengaging content, disparate data and a lack of effective tools to track campaign performance.
Over the last few years, marketing leaders have been successful in adapting to dramatic change. They have evolved their functions, juggled quick fixes with long-term needs and showcased their value to their boards. And we anticipate more of the same over the next 12 months.
We hope you find the results useful and if you want to learn more about how Infopro Digital and its market-leading brands can help you achieve your 2023 marketing goals, please get
in touch.
Budgets and approvals
Objectives and challenges
Engagement and differentiation
Metrics and measurement
How is your marketing strategy changing in 2023?
Get in touch
Jack Grocott,
Global brand director, Ignite, Infopro Digital
Katie Palisoul
Global head of commercial sales, Infopro Digital
Photo
Marketing spend is on the up
In an uncertain economic environment, marketing budgets can come under pressure. But, indicative of marketing’s growing influence at board level, those surveyed are confident of securing a greater slice of the pie, recognising an opportunity to drive growth, show resilience and stand out from competitors.
About the same
Slightly higher
Significantly higher
Slightly lower
Not sure/don't know
Significantly lower
46.8%
28.6%
10.4%
7.8%
5.2%
1.3%
When I reflect on where we were during the pandemic, we saw a radical shift into more digital marketing. That skill set has really prepared us for more challenging economic times.
How does your marketing budget in 2023 compare to 2022?
Video participants
Decisions are under scrutiny
Marketers are having to work harder to gain approval for their activities in 2023, with more stakeholders involved, a greater C-suite influence and more regular reviews. The process can be gruelling, but it encourages marketers to prioritise robust campaigns with measurable return on investment, and offers a chance to enlist key colleagues to contribute to their success.
How do you expect the marketing approval process to change in 2023?
No change to approval process
More stakeholders involved
More senior stakeholders involved
More regular budget reviews
Greater head-office control
Greater decision-making autonomy
35.1%
28.6%
27.3%
23.4%
13.0%
10.4%
Fewer stakeholders involved
Greater regional/divisional control
Fewer senior stakeholders involved
Fewer regular budget reviews
9.1%
7.8%
2.6%
2.6%
Quick fix or long-term gain?
Customer acquisition and brand awareness top the list of marketing objectives for 2023. Lead generation is a consistent goal of B2B marketing, but demand is growing for shorter-term campaigns with rapid-fire results. As the landgrab for new customers continues, a key challenge remains to create distinctive campaigns with genuine appeal to the audience that will build trust over time and raise your brand above the ordinary.
What do you expect your biggest content challenges to be in 2023?
Capturing attention and keeping it
Reaching and engaging time-poor decision-makers is the holy grail for marketers, but that task is getting harder amid the noise. Social media and shorter articles are deemed the most effective tactics by our respondents, suggesting that B2B buyers retain their appetite for clear, succinct and tailored information, often consumed beyond the 9 to 5. But depth and consistency across channels is equally important if firms want to keep these conversations going.
Standing out from the crowd
In an increasingly digital world, attention spans are short, competitors abound and one thought leader looks much like another. So how do you achieve cut-through? Those surveyed are aiming for "better quality content" and "a new perspective on current topics". Creating bespoke content for your target personas requires careful planning and sufficient investment in time, expertise and creative resource. And, as respondents note, part of the story also relies on better campaign activation to deliver those messages to the right place at the right time.
Producing better-quality content
Providing a new perspective on current topics
Activating/promoting content more effectively
Covering topics not being covered elsewhere
Using new and different formats
Producing more content
64.7%
61.8%
54.4%
51.5%
42.6%
39.7%
Developing content topics through behaviour data
Incorporating client or third-party viewpoints
Other
38.2%
33.8%
1.5%
Marketers keen to protect their budgets find life much easier if their campaigns have clear objectives and key performance indicators established at the outset and aligned to business needs. But, for some, the tech challenges of disparate data, multiple platforms and one-size-fits-all metrics make it difficult to gain insight on campaign impact and ROI.
What are the challenges you face when measuring campaign performance?
Difficulty integrating data across multiple platforms
Difficulty tying performance data back to goals
Lack of quantifiable data
Difficulty extracting insight from data
Lack of goal-oriented KPIs to measure against
Difficulty acquiring data from suppliers/third parties
44.6%
18.5%
36.9%
18.5%
12.3%
4.6%
Other
N/A – we don’t face any challenges
1.5%
7.7%
To what extent do you track campaign metrics?
We track a full range of metrics against defined goals and review in detail to refine campaign strategy
We track a number of metrics but we struggle to assess end-to-end impact and ROI
We track a few metrics but rarely
look at or act on the data
We track a standard set of metrics across all campaigns
We aren't sure which metrics we should be tracking
We don't track metrics currently
18.5%
44.6%
18.5%
12.3%
4.6%
1.5%
Financial Services Marketing Pulse 2023
Video participants
Introduction
How are you tackling your biggest marketing challenge?
What skills do financial marketers need to succeed?
What needs to change in financial services marketing?
Contact
What are the primary marketing objectives for your (part of the) business?
Which of the following have you found most effective in engaging your target audience?
1
2
3
Social media
Short-form articles
Presenting at industry events
How do you aim to differentiate your campaigns from the competition?
How is your marketing strategy changing in 2023?
Strategic marketing shifts in 2023
How are you tackling your biggest marketing challenge?
What skills do financial marketers need to succeed?
What needs to change in financial services marketing?
Publisher, Risk.net
anthony.chambers
@infopro-digital.com
Anthony Chambers
Commercial director, Insurance
chris.finnegan
@infopro-digital.com
Chris Finnegan
Commercial director,
WatersTechnology
ince.saleem
@infopro-digital.com
Ince Saleem
Commercial Director
Central Banking sabina.begum
@infopro-digital.com
Sabina Begum
Head of sales,
Asia-Pacific
perpetua.ngo
@infopro-digital.com
Perpetua Ngo
Head of sales,
Americas
todd.heligman
@infopro-digital.com
Todd Heligman
Head of global sales, Chartis Research
marcel.chambers
@infopro-digital.com
Marcel Chambers
LONDON
Infopro Digital
Fifth Floor, 133 Houndsditch London EC3A 7BX
United Kingdom
+44 (0) 207 316 9000
NEW YORK
Infopro Digital
80 Pine Street
New York, NY 10005
USA
+1 646 736 1888
HONG KONG
Infopro Digital
Unit 1801-05, Shui On Centre
6–8 Harbour Road
Wanchai, Hong Kong
+852 3411 4888
Contact
Helen Andrews, Head of marketing, Open GI
Helen Christopher, Global marketing director, Verisk
Erin Coate, Head of growth marketing, Global, ActiveViam
Laura Craft, Marketing director, Acadia
Karyn Flores-Jones, Director of marketing, APAC, Wolters Kluwer
Paula Fontana, Vice-president, global marketing, Illuminr
James Jockle, Excutive vice-president & chief marketing officer, Numerix
Charisa McNair, Director of marketing, Life Technology Solutions, Milliman
Wendy Tey, Marketing director, ASEAN, SAS
Mark Tredway, Global head of marketing, Enuit
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Creating content that appeals to the target audience
Differentiating our products/services from competitors
Engaging business teams in content ideation/development
Differentiating our products/services from competitors
Measuring content effectiveness
Achieving consistency across campaigns
and messaging
Aligning efforts across sales and marketing
Communicating internally among teams/silos
Overall ranking
Social media
Overall rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Short-form articles (less than 1,500 words)
Presenting at industry events
Hosting our own events
Case studies
Video
Webinars
Overall ranking
Digital advertising
8
9
10
Long-form articles/whitepapers (more than 1,500 words)
Influencer partnerships
Overall ranking
Customer acquisition
Overall rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Brand awareness
Customer retention
Customer experience
Launch new products/services
Competitive differentiation
Raise profile of thought leaders
James Jockle, Numerix
The next generation of decision makers do the bulk of their research on places like Quora, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter etc. The marketing challenge is how best to market complex, detailed risk management solutions on these platforms.
Mark Tredway, Enuit
We hear the word empathy a lot, and so we must put ourselves in the shoes of clients and prospects.
Charisa McNair, Milliman
How we deliver products, onboard clients, the advice we provide and the client service, is as important as the quality of the products that we deploy.
Laura Craft, Acadia
It’s about connecting our product to a bigger story. Connecting our product to a bigger story gives us a better ability to increase our brand recognition.
Erin Coate, ActiveViam
I always respect a well-crafted and personalised message rather than something that is generic and meaningless.
Helen Christopher, Verisk
For the first 20 years of my career I lived in Word, but for the past few years I’ve lived in Excel.
James Jockle, Numerix
Even though it's B2B marketing, we forget that is really about business-to-human marketing. It's about forming those relationships with the clients and really nurturing them.
Karyn Flores-Jones, Wolters Kluwer
Global head of commercial content
philip.harding
@infopro-digital.com
Philip Harding
Budgets and approvals
Objectives and challenges
Engagement
and differentiation
Metrics and measurement
Publisher, Risk.net
antony.chambers
@infopro-digital.com
Antony Chambers
Metrics and measurement
X
43.1%
41.5%
36.9%
35.4%
33.8%
21.5%
9.2%
7.7%
What needs to change in financial services marketing
The devil is in the data
64%
40%
36%
36%
27%
27%
16%
