Underpriced: The unexploited marketing opportunity in finance

Financial Services & Institutions

Geoff Director, executive vice president of strategy, Manifest

The financial services clients I have worked with — the individuals themselves — have been some of the most capable, competent, and passionate marketers I’ve met. Whether in wealth management, commercial banking, fintech, or beyond, I have found these clients to be dynamic in a way their organizations are not. At least, not about marketing.

These clients fight the good fight for organizations that are intrinsically skeptical of marketing, because they weren’t built by it, and haven’t needed it to be particularly robust in order to achieve incredible heights.

That’s about to change. Many of these organizations are about to realize they need brand building, advanced content capabilities, strategic marketing discipline, and good old-fashioned advertising to keep the good times rolling. When growth gets harder to find, the board starts wanting to believe in marketing, and the marketing leaders in this industry may find themselves, at long last, with a real opportunity to do some damage. Let’s make the most of it.

Finance’s era of complexity emerges

According to the Institute for Mergers, Acquisitions and Alliances, the financial sector saw the third-highest deal volume and the highest deal value of any sector since 1985. And it’s crescendoing now with deal values up 25% YOY in 2025 according to PwC.

These organizations are trying to M&A their way to new growth, the path to which has become muddled by a bewildering set of regulatory, technological, and cultural changes that shake the very foundation of how they historically make money. It’s causing a massive convergence of business models, as all these funky corporate crossbreeds now descend from the hills to compete for the greatest share of the nation’s diversified financial needs. Wealth managers that are also fintechs. Fintechs that are also banks. Banks that are also brokerages. And so on.

These organizations now find themselves in a bloody free-for-all, most without the protective armor of a differentiated brand to fall back on, having never invested in building one, nor the weaponry of creative marketing muscles or advanced marketing systems in place to outperform the competition.

And where does that leave the marketers inside these organizations? For one thing, in need of better partners who understand any of this.

One kind of agency

Most traditional agencies are not well suited to thrive in the complexity of financial services, nor are they interested. The regulatory concerns, sophisticated products, often nano-sized audiences, and circuitous decision journeys don’t seem like the makings for gratifying creative work. Most agency people tend to be more interested in culture-forward consumer products.

It takes a certain kind of marketing masochist to get your kicks from navigating the arduous mid-funnel intricacies of RIA demand gen, or finding a dynamic way to talk about annuities, or making a message map for explaining embedded finance. And our people are that certain type.

We’re passionate about this space because we love the challenge of it. We like the high stakes. And it’s just frankly fascinating to be a part of as these organizations move to the forefront of our culture. To prove our passion, we’re creating this content series to share our best thinking about the “underpriced” marketing opportunity in three different sectors within financial services, all of which face fascinating new challenges.

In Part 1, we’ll focus on wealth management. Why they’re all vying for the same new consumers and how to be more than a commodity offering to advisers. In Part 2, we’ll move to fintechs. How they can use brand building to play on the big stage, not be a novelty act. And in Part 3, we’ll talk about commercial banks and how they can restore their place in the system and culture with smart, strategic marketing.

Put us through our paces or reach out for our Top 10 Marketing Moves for Financial Services at hello@manifest.com.

This is part one of a four-part series of articles about financial services marketing.