A Forrester® Analysis For Financial Services Marketers
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Author
Trevor Ausbruch
Finding the balance between Marketing Efficiency and Compliance.
Financial Services Marketers are under increasing pressure to develop compelling, ‘on brand’ content targeting multiple audiences. Digital content and channels are exploding; regulatory compliance is increasing, and marketing teams need to move quickly to stay ahead of challenger Fintech brands and remain competitive.
At IntelligenceBank, we see this first hand every day with our clients, with our solutions built to help financial services marketers overcome these challenges and stay ahead of the game.
We recently hosted a webinar featuring guest Rusty Warner, VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester®, and Euan Ferguson, Marketing Operations Lead at Suncorp. Rusty is a leading authority on the use of enterprise marketing technologies, to help financial institutions develop winning competitive strategies.
Rusty shared his experience and industry insights into how leading financial services marketers are successfully bridging the gap between marketing efficiency and compliance– and the key pitfalls to avoid.
You can view the webinar below – a must-see for all Financial Services Marketers wanting to transform the way they manage marketing compliance. You will learn from a group that has extensive industry and organizational experience, with different insights and perspectives on how financial services marketers can successfully incorporate marketing operations technology into their strategies to drive growth and ROI.
Financial Services Marketers are under increasing pressure to develop compelling, ‘on brand’ content targeting multiple audiences. Digital content and channels are exploding; regulatory compliance is increasing, and marketing teams need to move quickly to stay ahead of challenger Fintech brands and remain competitive.
You can also download the white paper summary for a handy overview of how leading marketers are using enterprise marketing technologies to bridge the gap between marketing efficiency and compliance.
Some of the key challenges facing financial services marketers Rusty has observed include:
Challenge No.1 – The explosion in digital content
With an ever-growing range of digital touchpoints, customers have high expectations of integrated brand experiences. However, financial marketers are increasingly faced with greater demands to manage more projects, agency partners and freelancers, while the size of their teams and budgets may not necessarily keep pace. This creates a ‘perfect storm’ where brand and regulatory compliance become execution risk factors for stressed organizations.
Financial services firms have traditionally been slow to respond to change, they plan and operate in product silos, and they sometimes treat digital channels as add-on requirements. However as both fintech start-ups and global tech giants continually reset customer expectations for financial services, customers are increasingly demanding the same personalized, innovative experiences from more traditional financial companies. Speed to market is becoming more crucial to remain competitive in a rapidly evolving industry.
Challenge No. 3 – The constantly evolving nature of regulatory compliance
This is a global issue, as financial services firms in all regions and countries around the world deal with increasing regulatory compliance requirements. In some countries, even individual states have their own guidelines and restrictions. In addition to consumer protection legislation that applies across industries, financial services marketers must adhere to strict design and distribution obligations, product governance frameworks, legal and operational disclosures, and standards for integrity, fairness, and appropriateness when promoting offers that include a financial obligation.
The Suncorp Solution
Euan Ferguson, Marketing Operations Lead at Suncorp took us through some of the solutions successfully implemented by Suncorp to empower marketing teams and democratize the role of marketing compliance. Marketers need to feel empowered to focus on what they do best – marketing – without having to understand complex, detailed regulations.
Euan’s team has built extensive reporting that provides executive dashboard visibility into what teams are submitting, the status of campaign development, agency commitments, appropriate time and resource requirements for various stages (for process optimization), time-to-market (again, for optimization), plus approval requirements and audit trails. This combined set of insights helps Suncorp align its investments with both customer outcomes and business results – clearly demonstrating ROI.
Forrester Recommendations
Financial services marketers must invest in solutions that facilitate both upstream and downstream compliance.
As IntelligenceBank founder and CEO Tessa Court said on the webinar:
“It’s too late when your agency drops non-compliant copy into a digital ad – upstream brand compliance from a design, legal, and regulatory perspective is critical“
When evaluating Martech solutions, operational efficiency should be prioritized as a critical business driver. According to Forrester®’s “The State Of Digital Banking 2021” research, 150 service decision-makers at banks cited “improve operational efficiency” as the number one objective of their organization’s digital transformation. Focus on automation and efficiency to drive smarter customer-focused decisions, with greater speed and agility.
IntelligenceBank partners with leading brands worldwide to transform how marketing departments operate – to provide better efficiency and compliance.
To step up your marketing with consistent content while keeping everything compliant and efficient, contact us. We’ll share best practices for optimization, creation, distribution and management of all your marketing content.
