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After 13+ years in asset management marketing, one thing remains surprisingly persistent: the disconnect between how marketing is perceived internally and what it's truly capable of delivering.

In too many firms, marketing is still viewed as a service function. Valuable, yes, but often reactive and disconnected from the firm’s broader growth agenda.

This couldn’t be further from the truth.

With the right digital foundation, marketing can be transformed into a core growth lever. Done well, it fuels online visibility, engagement, and client acquisition through targeted digital channels. Even better, it becomes measurable, strategic, and essential to business outcomes.

Here’s how to leverage digital marketing to achieve this:

Make it measurable (through data & analytics)

Marketing can't gain a seat at the table if it can’t prove its impact. The good news is that marketing’s impact is measurable, especially with robust digital tracking and analytics infrastructure.

Tips for digital marketers:

  • Tie digital metrics to business goals: Go beyond vanity metrics like page views. Link SEO rankings, website traffic, conversion rates (e.g., whitepaper downloads, webinar registrations), and lead generation directly to pipeline influence, revenue contribution, and client retention.
  • Implement a closed-loop reporting model: Utilize CRM and marketing automation integrations to track lead sources, digital touchpoints, conversion paths (from initial ad click to client), and time-to-close.
  • Measure content ROI across digital channels: Track asset usage (e.g., e-books, videos, infographics) across the entire digital funnel, correlate engagement (e.g., time on page, click-through rates) to deal progression, and use performance data to optimize or sunset low-performing digital content.
  • Set digital benchmarks and baselines: Marketing needs year-over-year trend data from your analytics platforms (Google Analytics, social media insights, email platforms) and industry benchmarking tools like Alpha Agency’s Beacon to show growth. Start small with key digital KPIs and stay consistent.

Make it strategic (with an audience-first digital approach)

Marketing shouldn’t be the last stop in a go-to-market plan - it should help shape it, especially in the digital landscape where audience insights are paramount.

Tips for digital marketers:

  • Get digital marketing involved early: Include marketing leadership in product strategy, client experience planning, and distribution discussions to ensure digital channels are integrated from the outset.
  • Build audience-first digital campaigns: Develop detailed digital personas based on online behavior, search intent, and content consumption habits—not just traditional firmographics. This informs your SEO, paid media, and content strategies.
  • Leverage digital data to inform messaging: Client insights from web analytics, social listening, and competitor digital analysis should shape what you say and how you say it across all digital touchpoints.
  • Plan like a digital portfolio: Allocate time and resources across short-term gains (e.g., targeted paid search, demand generation campaigns) and long-term brand equity building (e.g., thought leadership content, SEO authority).

Make it essential (through integrated digital execution)

The firms winning in today’s landscape don’t just have better performance, they communicate it better, faster, and with more resonance, specifically through sophisticated digital execution.

Tips for digital marketers:

  • Structure your team like a digital performance engine: Define roles across brand, content, campaign operations, SEO/SEM, social media marketing, email automation, and digital analytics. Don’t rely on generalists to do it all; specialists drive better digital outcomes.
  • Invest in digital brand visibility: Your best-performing campaign can’t help you if no one knows your name. Build consistent visibility across all digital channels, including organic search, social platforms, and targeted display advertising.
  • Position digital marketing as a partner to sales and client service: Digital marketing should fuel every stage of the client lifecycle, from initial online awareness and lead nurturing through email campaigns, to client loyalty through personalized digital content and service communication.
  • Create internal advocates for digital success: Regularly share marketing results, client insights gathered from digital platforms, and success stories (e.g., successful lead generation campaigns, increased website conversions) with leadership and cross-functional teams.

When you combine strong digital brand visibility with data-driven digital execution, you unlock marketing’s full potential.

  • You stop chasing requests.
  • You start driving measurable outcomes.
  • You become a strategic digital engine for growth.

Let’s stop treating marketing like a cost center and start treating it like the digital growth lever it truly is.

Connect with our team to learn more about how to empower your marketing function.