Asset Management Marketing Focus #5

Kurtosys expresses their best wishes to all starting in their new positions.

Website Spotlight: Octopus Investments

Octopus Group (a multi-industry investments company) has a spangly website boasting their idiosyncratic (yet not garish) purple colour scheme and a wonderfully professional animated ‘About Us’ video as a header, and their Octopus Investments arm follows in similar suit as a great asset management site.

In keeping with the Octopus branding, this fin-site’s visuals are made up of purples, pinks and blues to make for an eye-catching offering upon entry; the simplicity of such images translates to the tagline: “Investing, the way it should be” and the clearly presented pink calls-to-action.

Sometimes, less is more, and the Octopus Investments homepage sticks to this mantra with buttons to sub-pages for institutional or individual investors, advisers and companies seeking finance, all of which feature subtle-yet-attractive graphics to advertise their services and products. Embedded YouTube videos also highlight the company’s commitment to customer service.

A standout feature for asset managers is the site’s fund document library. It is extremely extensive, but the fully responsive ‘document type’ categories allow users to narrow their search, as well as further type-ahead search functionality and drop-down lists. All documents are downloadable from the page, and open as a simple PDF. No hassle.

This site’s design is admirable, and with the combined ease-of-access to relevant documentation, it’s an asset management site with substance.

Fund(s) in Focus: HSBC

This week, HSBC has served up a bit of a late summer treat with not just one, not two, but FOUR new fund releases, bolstering its income and multi-asset ranges.
All four of these funds are OEICs with a global remit, aimed at UK investors. They are as follows:

• HSBC Global Equity Income
• HSBC Global High Income Bond

These two funds are aimed at investors looking to beat the low-interest environment.

• HSBC Global Strategy Conservative
• HSBC Global Strategy Adventurous

These two bring the bank’s cost-efficient multi-asset range up to five, known as the HSBC Global Strategy Portfolios.

Andy Clark, the CEO of HSBC Global Asset Management in the UK, has claimed that the UK stock market’s yearly success has led to a strength in foreign revenues against a weaker sterling, but domestic bias may penalise concentration risk. These new funds will look to lessen this risk and bring benefits to global markets.

Further information: Funds Europe | Portfolio Adviser | CityWire Wealth Manager

Insightful Industry Reports

Cloudingo: The Salesforce User’s Benchmark Report 2017

A mammoth 897-person survey report for you now, courtesy of Cloudingo.
With Salesforce being the world’s most successful CRM, a staple tool for organisations including those in the financial industry, this acts as an insight into most users’ aims for using the CRM, what they find difficult and useful and how they leverage Salesforce to increase their competitive edge.

The report is packed full of the key findings for each section, statistics (presented as clear figures and in graph form) and bold images to make it an easily digestible document (despite its 50+ pages).

If you wish to understand more about the usability and successes of Salesforce, look no further than here; a link to the full report is offered on one of the most innovative landing pages we’ve seen here at Kurtosys, which makes use of a dazzlingly crazy colour scheme and animated graphics.

Digital Marketing for FinServ: Trends, Tools and Techniques
Coming up towards the end of September is the Digital Marketing for Financial Services Summit Europe, held in London (for information on the event, follow this link).

What is of note to financial services marketers however is this downloadable report, asking two questions to a selection of this year’s guest speakers about what the future is for marketers in the space. The contributors represent such financial institutions as FinServ giant UBS, challenger bank Atom Bank and insurance company Liverpool Victoria (LV=).

These two straight-for-the-jugular questions target these marketers’ opinions on what the industry’s biggest hurdles are in attracting and retaining customers, and which trends, tools and apps will be the most useful in the latter stages of this continually innovative year in financial technology.

A must for all financial services professionals to see if they are engaged with customers to compete in this market, and able to optimise technology more to leverage business.

Theuncomfortable conversation about retirement
In our most recent interview here at Kurtosys, Courtney McQuade tackles the issue of retirement with Mariko Wilcox, an experienced financial adviser at Northwestern Mutual.

Mariko talks at length about developing relationships with investors; it’s clear that a positive interaction between asset manager and client is at the top of her, and her company’s, agenda, particularly with the growing interest from young people to engage in “socially responsible investing”.

There are some invaluable insights into retirement planning that is an issue often left on the back burner, despite its significance.
Connect with Courtney McQuade on LinkedIn

Social Media Spotlight: Northwestern Mutual Twitter

And following on from Mariko’s interview, Northwestern Mutual have been extremely active on their social media channels to highlight their growth as a financial services provider in their home state of Wisconsin.

Offering an insight into the building of its new “iconic” Northwestern Mutual Tower & Commons (the 2nd highest tower in the state) are great examples of video marketing, including this 60-second time lapse video of its construction…

In a 60-second time lapse video, watch the Northwestern Mutual Tower & Commons get built. #NMOpen #MKE pic.twitter.com/6GqBFCJ2kc

— Northwestern Mutual (@NM_News) August 21, 2017

…the view from the top…

See what it’s like at the top of the Northwestern Mutual Tower and Commons. #NMOpen #WorkAtNM #MKE pic.twitter.com/0O0JPT1I4R

— Northwestern Mutual (@NM_News) August 21, 2017

…and opinions of the new build from Northwestern Mutual’s employees, showcasing its other fitness-related functions.

What do employees think about our new Northwestern Mutual Tower fitness center? We asked. #NMOpen #WorkAtNM pic.twitter.com/jq6UGg55Gs

— Northwestern Mutual (@NM_News) August 21, 2017

Similarly, this important company news item was also highlighted via beautiful photography on Instagram…

…as well as a useful and ongoing social media campaign entitled ‘Finance 101’.

Social media is hereby the perfect medium for highlighting financial matters, company news and company culture all in one place – a feat which Northwestern Mutual has accomplished.

And finally…

…as high-tech desirables become – well, more desirable – in this day-and-age, it’s no doubt that some of them will become useful within the financial industry. But Amazon’s Alexa? The automated kitchen-worktop-sitting cloud-based AI system? Apparently so, as this article from Financial Planning details exactly how Amazon’s foray into computer personal assistants will take over the world of wealth management. If the opening sentence of “Alexa, manage my practice.” doesn’t grab you, then I don’t know what will.

That’s all for this week, but be sure to check back soon for more asset management marketing highlights and fintech snippets from Kurtosys.