Welcome to SwanDog! The Marketing Practitioner’s Resource
Join Our LinkedIn Group
RSS Feeds
Who's Online
"It's time for Marketing to adopt a 'newsroom' approach to content development and delivery."
Schedule a SwanDog Planning Session Today!
2010 is just around the corner
Have you started your marketing plan?
A written marketing plan is essential to positioning your firm for
success, particularly in today’s environment of challenging markets,
scarce resources and increased competition. Yet nearly 40 percent of
financial firms operate without one (according to our study Beyond The
Collateral). And frankly, most that we’ve seen are little more than
tactical “to-do lists.”
How To Save the Mutual Fund (Before It's Too Late!); Download Our Free Whitepaper Today
These are tough times for the mutual fund—from a pricing model that’s fast giving way to better, cheaper alternatives, uncompetitive taxation that continues to drive business elsewhere and a wobbly value proposition—active management—spurring a quest for more reliable performance outcomes.
Can the mutual fund be saved? SwanDog Strategic Marketing believes it’s not too late--if you act now.
Download How to Save the Mutual Fund (Before It’s Too Late), a free whitepaper that challenges convention and identifies the reasons you should be concerned. The whitepaper also includes steps you should be taking today to mitigate your exposure.
For a fresh and lively perspective on how mutual fund companies, other investment managers and broker-dealers need to address this looming threat, simply complete the form below.
Meet The DailyDog
Introducing: A First-of-Its-Kind Widget
Do you want marketing help but...don't have the time or the money? Perfect. We've launched the DailyDog, a marketing planning widget just for you. Get the widget here and read our rationale here.
Marketers Expect 10%-20% Budget Cuts in 2009...But Will Cutbacks Be Deeper?
Don't miss the updated findings to the 2007 SwanDog Strategic Marketing/FRC Beyond The Collateral research, which we've published in a 10-minute video presentation on the Beyond The Collateral research Web site. Beyond The Collateral was one of the most comprehensive examinations of marketing ever undertaken in the intermediary-distributed financial space.
Among our October 2008 findings: Two-thirds of marketing executives told us that they expect 10%-20% budget cuts while one-third expect cuts to exceed 20%. As deep as even 10%-20% cuts can feel, we suspect that many chief marketing officers (CMOs) are underestimating the crisis' impact.
The survey also asked marketers how priorities were being reset in the current environment and how they were aligning with business goals. For insights into the adoption rate of digital media, see our partner Rock The Boat Marketing 's blog.
The World Has Changed (Part 1): Download Our Whitepaper
The financial markets crisis calls for critical changes to be made in
how investment products are marketed. We believe this environment
offers an unprecedented opportunity for firms to distinguish themselves
from the competition.
On October 20, 2008, we published The World Has Changed (Part 1), a whitepaper detailing five recommendations for how marketing
organizations should respond to today's challenges and lead their firms
onward. In the whitepaper Dave Swanson, SwanDog founder and managing principal, elaborates on the following:
1. The market's seismic volatility and rapid rate of change demands
substantive improvement in marketing communication and response. In
targeting financial advisors, this means adopting a "newsroom" approach
to content development and delivery.
2. Investment managers need to take back the responsibility of
communicating with the people whose money they invest. Having stepped
back to avoid interfering with the financial advisor/client
relationship, investment companies now must use frequency, education
and transparency to re-open the dialogue.
3. Rework print and online messages, including imagery, to represent the empathy that today's markets call for.
4. Among the casualties of the market decline is the traditional
distribution channel approach to marketing investment products. How
financial advisors conduct their business will be emphasized, not the
brand of the brokerage they work for or clear through. Organizing for
this will require planning and infrastructure-led by Marketing-to
enable and support advisor segmentation.
5. Government actions seen as favoring the larger institutions and big
financial brands will likely drive investors to these better known
entities. For the marketer at a large firm, reflecting on the brand
promise and measuring your delivery against that promise is essential
to long-term success. Many smaller firms will prevail, but the ability
to establish a competitive benefit through your brand will determine
your firm's long-term survival.
To read more, please use the form below to download The World Has Changed (Part 1). This is the first in a continuing series we're
planning on how The World Has Changed for investment management
companies.
The Time for Classic Marketing Is Now or Never
If you look hard enough, you can almost imagine the phrase “Jerry McGuire Was Here” scribbled somewhere on this site. Or better yet, how about “Richard Schmalensee Was Here.”
Until I read an “editorial” in Business Week (Outside Shot, Where’s the ‘B’ in B-Schools?, November 27, 2006), I didn’t know who Richard Schmalensee was either. Turns out he’s the John C. Head III Dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management. Impressive!
PIMCO's ETF Launch Moves Doomsday ClockTM to 25 Minutes to Midnight
PIMCO's launch of a short-term treasury ETF and the announcement that they intend to add additional ETFs has moved SwanDog's Mutual Fund doomsday clock to 25 minutes to midnight.
"As retail advisors increase the use of ETFs in client portfolios, we believe they will gravitate to firms they are already working with," say Dave Swanson, Founder & Managing Principal of SwanDog. "It's a brilliant brand play at a time of strength for PIMCO and begs other mutual funds providers with similarly strong asset class brand positioning to follow suit."
The Mutual Fund Doomsday clock was designed in support of mutual funds as a way to call attention to the threats they are facing. As well, we hope it encourages firms to focus on strategies for correcting structural shortcomings and improving their marketing.
If you look hard enough, you can almost imagine the phrase “Jerry McGuire Was Here” scribbled somewhere on this site. Or better yet, how about “Richard Schmalensee Was Here.”