Living in unprecedented times has boosted digital marketing from a light speed trajectory to a warp factor ten over the past couple of years. Yet, the latest Digital Skills Benchmark report in partnership with the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) suggests that while consumer digital channels, (and in my opinion business too), have further increased over the past year, digital marketing skills have not been a focus within the profession. The report noted that skills are stagnating or even declining.
While digital marketing tools were added to the profession’s toolkit a couple of decades ago, it’s been less than a decade where the financial services industry really adopted some of the available tools outside of email. Is it a concern that the key findings of the report suggests that financial services; “is also the industry that has seen one of the most comprehensive drop in skills since the last benchmark, with all disciplines falling back with the exception of General Marketing”?
As in any industry or profession, the medium to long-term consequences of not investing into professional development will be significant. Financial Services is not immune and considering their clients in both retail and institutional are digital natives, communication, interaction, and relationship management are all rapidly moving online.
Financial Services possibly covers the widest demographic of all of the industries and has a plethora of products and services. There are industries within the industry. Banks, Asset/Wealth Management, Fintechs, fiduciaries,to name a few. The number of organisations providing these services is huge, and the individual products being marketed are much bigger than many people assume. For instance, there are over thirty thousand collective investment schemes being marketed by fund managers across Europe alone. The industry interacts with billions of individuals and quite possibly every single organisation on the planet at one time or other. So when respected studies such as the Digital Skills Benchmark report indicates a drop in an industry that already has a legacy of being behind the curve in marketing adoption, this should be viewed as concerning.
I wrote some articles a couple of years ago around the future millennial investor generation. While no definitive conclusions were drawn, the articles explored (among other thing) the future expected experience. While I still believe there will always be a place for human face to face interaction when discussing financial affairs, I additionally understand and practice myself, the demand for that online relationship which has accelerated due to full or partial lockdowns.
From a customer experience perspective, comparisons with Google and Amazon are all too freely made, but with good reason. How many investors would switch their investment products or even general banking to these tech giants if they could? The switch could not be made based on past financial performance, and while future performance is subjective, the conclusion could be that the decision to switch would be based upon the existing experience these organisations deliver.
The digital skills benchmark looks at the more tactical aspects though. Analytics, PPC, online advertising, etc. But these are all intrinsically linked with the overall client experience. Something that I feel may have been lost in some institutions. The “Marketing department” has in some of the larger organisations become a centralised utility that has the potential of (or already has) becoming disconnected from the business by not truly understanding client needs and what solutions are available. While the product development and IT areas/vendors set about building enhanced experiences and products, (with sales usually having a say into the institutional marketing direction), “Marketing” are brought in very close to its completion to “help” prepare for its launch. They have in effect become an in-house agency, specialised in tactical disciplines (though latest results of the study give concern here), but lacking any true understanding of purpose.
Thankfully there are other financial organisations who are marketing driven. These tend to be originating within the fintech sector who understand that effective marketing disciplines including focussed brand activation to deliver client satisfaction in turn leads to both advocation as well as upselling opportunities.
So why the drop in digital marketing skills? Is this just a blip given these unprecedented times that training and development is not a priority? Arguably while being forced to work from home for months on end, which many are pushing for to become the new normal, more time is apparently freed up. My hypothesis is that while working from home, people are spending more time working and not leveraging the once different setting to set aside appropriate time for personal development. Additionally the value of networking will never again be under appreciated by me.
Another possible reason is that many of the indicators in the report are tactical and depending on what industry within the financial services industry the respondent was from and who they are targeting, they are just not viewed as a priority. A large corporate and/or investment bank will not use PPC in their marketing toolkit. They just don’t need to. They know who they want to do business with (and who they don’t).
Is that a reason why less investment into these types of skills has decreased? Is the sponsored training by organisations being directed for their benefit only. Are junior marketers being pushed onto a narrow path to meet the short-term needs of the business they work for?
Whatever the reasons are for the decline in skills is a concern and hopefully temporary. For any marketer not understanding what all the available tools and how they work is like hiring an electrician that only has a screwdriver as they didn’t know the value that a wire stripper and multimeter can give them.
“General Marketing” is up by 3 points to a dizzying 58% though. This is encouraging (depending on what constitutes “general”). Marketers within financial services have been accused in years gone by of not being strategic enough. Some of these accusations have been unfair given how the business operates and views of the department as a support group. Yet, if the business and/or CMO has recognised a need for their marketing people to improve their understanding of marketing strategy, then this is a step in the right direction.
The financial services industry needs good marketing. It just has the unfortunate habit of forgetting that sometimes. For those marketers in the industry, it is important to constantly demonstrate the value that marketing generates. This can only be achieved in understanding what all the tools do and how they are constantly evolving. Do not fall into the trap in developing your skills just for the role you are in now but ensure that you are employable when it’s time to move on.
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