We can all see the momentum in ETFs, even if (in Europe at least) total sales remain small.

New ranges are being launched seemingly every week as active managers seek to cast their nets beyond their precious existing market share and capture a new digitally native end investor audience via a growing array of share dealing apps.

For product marketing teams, this presents a fresh set of challenges.

Messaging: what does your range offer?

If we wind back the clock, asset managers typically promoted one product for a few months before rolling on to the next. Most marketing teams (but by no means all) have moved beyond that and are focusing their efforts on asset class ranges and categories.

But ETFs take this to a new level.

Buyers of ETFs (or the curators of the investment toolkit in an app) are not swayed by “product” – they buy an entire range primarily because it offers something different to the other ranges in their selection.

They wouldn’t think of it this way, but they’re buying a brand.

The key question product marketing teams need to answer is: what is the true value proposition of your ETF platform?

**Let’s face it, launching active ETFs to halt declining sales amid the shift to passive won’t cut it as a story, however true it might be!**

What is needed is a coherent story that implies there is a distinctive and consistent feature that characterises your entire range.

This is a massive challenge, not least because the story is most often formed during the product design stage meaning some retroactive continuity is required to craft a strong narrative.

Audience: which channels are you selling into?

Consistency is always key, but the choice of target audience has an exaggerated effect on marketing and messaging - especially with ETFs.

Take institutional investors. They view ETFs as just another vehicle, convenience is less of a factor. They may consider active ETFs in fixed income (given the challenges of full index replication for effective passive portfolios), but some believe they are less likely to lean in on active equity ETFs.

That said, they are using passives for tactical asset allocation across equity sectors, themes etc.

For example, energy ETFs saw record inflows in January and February this year in response to the Iran conflict, with State Street's Energy Select SPDR ETF XLE US taking in over $2bn each month. At the same time, investors were pulling money from emerging market and airline ETFs.

What this means is, for those with a full range of active capabilities, some parts of your offering in ETF form will be more relevant than others in institutional channels.

But the true “sell” to institutional investors is your range as a toolkit for their asset allocation (and how that complements other ETF ranges they may be using, from passive, through index-plus to fully active).

A different picture

For end investors on share dealing platforms, ETFs offer a gateway to the entire asset management industry with active or passive portfolios in every asset class and theme you’ve ever heard of (and some you haven’t), plus low-cost multi-asset solutions.

Successful providers in this arena are achieving strong inflows, transforming the net position in their retail book.

But the marketing mix here is very different.

Marketing as a service plays a big part in securing partnerships with investment platforms (the quality of your investment offering is only a small part of the sell).

This means you need messaging and content (often educational) to suit end investors, which requires the ability to communicate at a level that is alien to many asset managers. Length, tone, simplicity, format and timeliness – not our strengths as an industry!

And the provision of that content needs to be slick – automated content flows, content portals, white labelling and so on.

Investment content teams, martech and operations, design and production, compliance – all divisions need to be working in perfect harmony to make this happen.

Fixing something already in motion

I make no apologies for primarily focusing on the issues here. The solutions for all these things are not complicated – they fall squarely in the simple but not easy box.

Unfortunately, they are not all in our control as marketers, and in many cases the ranges are out there and the wheels are turning.

Perhaps not for the first time, we as marketers have got to fix the car while it’s already moving. If it appears daunting, I think it’s exciting too. There is a lot to do, much of which will drive big improvements in the quality and effectiveness of investment marketing.

If you are interested in finding out more about how your team can more effectively market ETFs, please don't hesitate to get in touch.