By Darren Lassiter, Senior Partner at Arthur
Q4 is a tough quarter. This year’s results to deliver and next year’s budgets to bargain for.
But it also makes it a good time to try something.
I’m reading Great by Choice by Jim Collins and Morten Hansen and there’s an idea in it I really like, fire bullets, then cannonballs.
The principle is simple, before you commit significant resource to something, try something smaller, see what happens, learn from it and then put more behind what works.
So what marketing bullets could you fire in Q4 that might become cannonballs in 2027?
1. Integration
Asset Managers already produce a lot.
Thought leadership. Events. Investment content. Fund manager views. Sales materials. Campaigns.
AI means we can produce even more. But perhaps the more useful question isn't can we do more? It’s what can we do with what we already have?
Take one important commercial objective, theme or investor opportunity and build an integrated campaign around it.
Rather than five separate pieces of activity, create one connected journey that takes an investor from engagement, through education, to a relevant investment solution.
Then test it.
Does connecting thought leadership, content, events, investment expertise and sales create greater engagement and progression than treating each separately? Does it make existing activity work harder? Does it bring marketing, content, investment and sales teams closer together around the same objective?
The bullet is simple, take one priority and test the power of integration around it.
2. Commercial
Start with the business and sales teams.
What actually needs to happen?
Get a fund onto a platform? Build momentum behind a new ETF? Grow an existing client relationship? Open doors with a group of priority firms? Reach an end-investor audience through B2B2C?
Pick one.
Then ask what marketing could do differently to help make it happen.
That might mean targeting a buying situation rather than a product. Or choosing precision over mass reach, concentrating activity around the firms, buying groups or end investors that actually matter.
Then measure marketing against the commercial ambition, not just the campaign metrics.
The bullet, pick one commercial ambition and test whether focused marketing can help move it.
3. Differentiation
Take an investment strategy you consider a flagship.
Or an investor problem or opportunity where you believe you have genuine credibility.
Then put it under some pressure.
How different is it really?
With AI increasingly helping investors find, filter and compare Asset Managers, a lack of differentiation is only going to become more exposed.
Ask the questions an investor might ask. See which managers and strategies are surfaced, how you are described and where competitors appear to have greater authority.
Look at their propositions, content and claims.
Does your value proposition genuinely stand out? Is there something distinctive you could own? Is there a stronger way to express why you matter?
Then take that difference into market and test it.
Because what you want to be famous for and what the market actually sees aren't necessarily the same thing.
The bullet: identify something you believe you have a right to own and test whether it really differentiates you.
Fire some bullets
None of this requires a huge transformation programme.
Pick three experiments.
Integrate something.
Commercialise something.
Differentiate something.
Give each enough focus to learn something useful.
Then take those learnings into your 2027 planning.
Fire the bullets in Q4. Put the cannonballs behind the winners in 2027.
Want to talk about your goal for Q4? Get in touch darrenlassiter@arthurlondon.com
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