Editor’s Note: On January 9-12, members of the Financial Communications Society met in Stowe, Vermont for the annual Race for Kids Charity event- a weekend of skiing, networking and fireside forums. Thursday night’s forum, “Investor Sentiment and the Financial Marketer,” was hosted by Investopedia and The Balance. The forum featured results from Investopedia’s survey on the top issues impacting financial marketers as they head into the new year, as well as insights from industry experts. Below are some of the highlights and key takeaways from the event.

It turns out that what scares financial marketers in 2020 is the same thing that scares investors—fear of a recession. With the U.S. economic expansion in its 11th year and equity markets making new records almost daily, investors and marketers alike are gripped by an old-fashioned case of high anxiety. Despite their concerns, however, financial marketers plan to maintain or increase their marketing budgets in 2020, according to a survey of participants at the annual Race for Kids event organized by the Financial Communications Society in Stowe, Vermont in January.

According to Investopedia’s survey of financial marketers, 46% said a recession or a decline in consumer confidence represented the greatest threat to their business this year. Despite that, 51%

expected to maintain or increase their spending levels in 2020, while only 13% expected theirs to shrink. This suggests a positive outlook for the industry, and potentially the economy. (See the full survey results, below.)

Key Trends for 2020: What Financial Marketers Need to Know

By Caleb Silver, Editor in Chief, Investopedia

Thursday Night’s Fireside Forum Panelists (left to right): Caleb Silver, Editor in Chief of Investopedia; Andrew Most, VP Creative and Content Strategy at Columbia Threadneedle Investments/Amer-iprise Financial; Julia Pawling, Senior Manager of Global Brand Marketing at AIG; and Kevin LaPierre, Executive Director, Global Head of Customer and Product Marketing at CME Group.

Highlights from:

Effective Targeting Continues to Be a Challenge

Audience targeting remains one of the biggest challenges facing financial marketers in 2020, picking up from 2019. Google Chrome’s new anti-cookie policy and the California Consumer Privacy Act have made that challenge even steeper this year. However, that challenge dovetails perfectly with advertisers’ desires to reach the right audiences in the right place at the right time. That means that marketers are going to be examining every dollar they spend more scrupulously to make sure it’s generating the ROIs that really drive their business.

Another shift happening in financial marketing is the move away from brands publishing content. Instead, they’re partnering more aggressively with trusted publishers to create smart native campaigns that deliver the right messaging to the right people. It’s not that brands don’t have great content, they do… but they are coming to the realization that the visitors they seek are not frequent visitors to their websites and platforms when they are searching for financial information, education and guidance. The visitors they seek are the same ones they sought in 2018, 2019 and for the past decade: financial advisors and affluent investors. Those cohorts are smart, well-informed and intentional. They come to the best financial publishers to continue learning, either to inform themselves or their clients, and then take action. That action may very well take place on the platforms of asset managers, but the learning and informing takes place on the top financial publishers in the media today.

Consolidation Offers New Opportunities

Consolidation was also a prevalent theme at the 2020 FCS Race for Kids gathering. Schwab’s $26 billion acquisition of TDA in 2019 was only the beginning of what many of the attendants expect to be a wave of M&A across financial services in 2020 and going forward. While there may be fewer players at the end of the year, the challenges remain the same—finding the right audience in the right place at the right time, and delivering the right message to grow their businesses.

As to those fears of a recession, no one knows for sure if or when the next one might come. But financial services companies and money managers have been preparing for that eventuality since 2018 by beefing up their fixed income, money market and classic banking offerings to help investors protect their money. From classic money managers to online brokers and robo-advisors, nearly every financial services company is offering or developing products to protect investors money in case we hit a speed bump.

That speed bump may not come this year, or it could be much bigger than a bump, but that isn’t stopping financial marketers from charging ahead in 2020 with aggressive spending plans and a stronger desire than ever to reach the right people at the right time, on the right platforms.

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Investopedia Outlook SurveyTop Responses

Which 2019 event had the biggest Impact on your business?

Schwab’s acquisition of TD Ameritrade will do what to the industry?

The race to zero commissions Lead to more M&A across

investing platforms

VolatilityLead to further price drips

across offerings

Schwab’s Acquisition of TDALose customers over time given merger complexities

25% 44%

21% 26%

9% 9%

The growth in passive investing is ___ for my business: In 2020, my marketing budget will:

Both positive and negative Stay the same

Negative Grow

No Impact Shrink

37%

16% 22%

29%

16% 13%

In 2019, retail investors were not sellers of stocks despite the 28% rise in the S&P 500. In 2020, retail

investors will:

The single biggest risk to my business in 2020 is:

Sit on their hands given uncertainties like the U.S., China

and the electionA recession

Continue to shift out the equities More money moving out of active management

Continue to pour our money into money market funds and savings

Decline in Consumer Confidence

31%

26% 13%

34%

13% 12%

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