FCS Marketing Community Survey: Response to COVID-19 Impact

Tikka Solutions partnered with the FCS to launch a pulse study to understand how the community of marketers as well as agency and media professionals are responding to the current environment. This first pulse study uncovered what challenges our community faced with the tides of COVID-19 and how they foresee marketing shifting in the near future.

We believe the best way to build, grow or sustain brands is to share best practices from your own peers. 

DOWNLOAD SURVEY RESULTS REPORT

Current Reaction:

The majority of respondents faced three key problems: budget cuts, reimagining events and marketing activities postponed.  Of those respondents that identified these problems, they solved for challenges by exploring the development of new products to generate a new stream of revenue, switched to basic virtual events, and focused on developing new post-pandemic marketing strategies to address the business needs moving forward, respectively.

It is important to note only a small minority of marketers at 6% have truly taken calculated risks to explore more advanced virtual experiences encompassing augmented reality or advanced reality.  These approaches are being taken advantage of by large-scale media and CPG brands, yet it’s fair to assume financial services brands appear to shy away or have not considered exploring them yet.  Financial services brands that figure out how to apply advanced reality experiences versus another WebEx or ZOOM event will be at an advantage for differentiated user experiences as virtual events continue to be utilized.

Future Approach:

While many financial services brands plan for their entire fiscal year with relatively set budgets, the majority of respondents feel they will need to shift their approach to a more agile marketing plan that allows for flexibility.  Marketers will also be looking to permanently incorporate virtual events within their events strategy while reintroducing in-person events starting in Q4. Content has always been important in the financial services sector, but a much larger emphasis will be applied to the development of content and the distribution of it through multiple channels.  Some brands have led this in previous years, however, we will see a more concerted effort in quality content from more companies.  Lastly, brands will focus on technology to enhance their communications.  Brands that were able to pivot this past quarter had technology in place to do so or scrambled last minute.  Technology, advanced communications tools and platforms will be integral to a brand’s success moving forward.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reported by Kirti Naik, CEO, Tikka Solutions; FCS Executive Committee