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ThinkAdvisor
 
June 2021

ThinkAdvisor Marketing Blog:
Post-pandemic Marketing Mix: Branding + Performance Marketing

Many financial industry marketers dramatically accelerated their use of digital marketing during the pandemic, focusing on lead-generation and other performance marketing tactics.

But as a recent article in the Harvard Business Review points out (Ten Truths About Marketing After The Pandemic), as we move forward, there is a strong need to balance brand/product awareness and performance marketing to achieve the best results.

“Many companies are bringing their customer relationship (CRM) team closer than ever to their media teams to see the full continuum more easily and realize efficiencies,” writes the author, Janet Balis who heads consultant E&Y’s CMO practice.

“It will be important for companies to leave space for both brand and performance marketing given that bottom funnel strategies drive top funnel goals and vice versa. Simply put, they work better together,” she says.

I couldn’t agree more. ThinkAdvisor has a number of ways to combine branding and awareness solutions such as high-impact display units and interactive content hubs with performance marketing programs like our lead-gen and webcasts.

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via email at [email protected]. Lastly, as usual, please read on to find the latest finance industry developments that are most important for marketers to know about.
Adam Dunn,
Vice President, Financial Markets Leader

Trends Financial Marketers Need To Know

  • Government policies. With a Democratic administration and its allies in Congress, Labor Department policies enacted under Trump are being revisited. One such move causing alarm in the financial services industry is the DOL’s recent move to withdraw the independent contractor rule, which is perceived by the largest indie advisor trade group and some broker-dealers (and advisors) as a threat to their business model. Currently, about 130,000 advisors work and run their practices as independent contractors; they are served by large broker-dealers like LPL Financial and numerous smaller firms.

  • Inflation and impact on retirees. There are growing concerns about inflation and its impact on retirees, as well as on their retirement income. In early May, the Senior Citizens League estimated that the annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for Social Security benefits in 2022 could be 4.7%, the highest since 2009. As retirees, pre-retirees and financial advisors watch rising prices and possible COLA adjustments, they also are reviewing a new Social Security Administration statement, which is simplified and shows what the estimated monthly benefits would be for each year, between ages 62 to 70, depending on when individuals start taking benefits.

  • Tax changes. Possible tax changes continue to dominate headlines and could lead to big financial/tax planning headaches for advisors. The latest moves would raise the top marginal income tax rate to 39.6% (from 37%). For those with income above $1 million, the long-term capital gains rate would increase to 39.6%, too; this rate jumps to 43.4% when the National Investment Income Tax is included.

  • Required minimum distributions. Moves in Congress to change the starting age for required minimum distributions in retirement has advisors and experts continuing to debate the benefits of such a change and how it could impact retirement planning. One advisor says that while “allowing individuals to save more for retirement is clearly a good thing … the way the bill has proposed accommodating that is likely to confuse many investors.”
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