Asset managers appear disconnected from what financial advisers see as value-added support, a reason why their thought leadership seems out of touch.
TL;DR: focus on client-facing content for advisers.
Asset managers have likely held the opinion that they know best when it comes to compelling marketing and sales content. They know their adviser base well, and any track record of engaged investors shows that to be somewhat true.
But opinions change, and the “customer is always right” mantra from the service industry prevails.
In a recent survey of more than 2,000 advisers and distribution leads at over 100 asset managers, more than half believe advisers seek out firms to discover new growth sources. Actually, only 16% of advisers do, and prefer to know about client engagement strategies (37%), support for implementing financial plans (29%) and behavioural finance tools they can use for client meetings (27%).
In the advisers’ eyes, the problem is not how their firms are run so much as their ‘in the room’ capabilities with a client.
The study then goes on to confirm that many advisers still rate thought leadership highly when evaluating managing partners. 76% say that the quality of their digital experiences, whether that be through portals or portfolio tools, matters to their choices.
Where AI is part of the digital experience conversation (as it most certainly is), a whopping 94% of managers aim to invest in the tech for distribution over the next year. Although, this is largely aimed at wholesaler efficiency, with only 15% directing it toward practice management content.
So, what does this mean for fund marketers?
An asset manager’s content is not necessarily wrong in what it is saying; oftentimes, it is just served to the wrong readers. Advisers want to repackage client-facing content with their brand attached to it, and there are three practical ways to achieve this:
- Tag the last twelve months’ content as ‘for the adviser’ and ‘for the adviser’s client use’, where a higher percentage aimed at the latter is recommended going forward.
- Believe the engagement data over a marketing hunch! If a behavioural finance explainer earns more downloads or forwards than anything about growth strategy, it shows the adviser’s intent, which is more reliable than the marketer’s instinct.
- A cheap AI budget win is to use one that produces client-ready (but compliantly cleared) material for the one category advisers say they are short of.
A product can be harder to articulate and differentiate today, where an asset manager’s communications are as important as the product itself.
Knowing what that content should be does not need to be a guessing game, as their own engagement metrics should paint a vivid picture of what to produce in the next year, and see what the new lay of the land is in future.
Sources
Cerulli Associates, U.S. Intermediary Distribution 2026: Supporting Advisor Success
Wealth Solutions Report, Cerulli: What Advisors Want From Asset Managers
Financial Planning, Asset managers misjudge what advisors prioritize: Cerulli
