Imagine my surprise when I saw two appointments on my calendar recently for calls with Kimberly Beck, one week after the other. I did a double take and thought I must have accidentally double-booked, but when I clicked on the links, realized I know two women named Kimberly Beck, both in marketing positions at leading wealthtech firms–Kimberly Beck, Head of Wealth Marketing at Envestnet, and Kimberly Beck, Marketing Coordinator at Redtail Technology.  What are the odds?

That led me to think it would be quite interesting to hear two different perspectives on wealthtech–and what it takes to succeed–from these women, who share names but are in different points in their careers within the industry.

Kimberly Beck, Head of Wealth Marketing
Envestnet
 Kimberly Beck of Envestnet  actually started her career in publishing in Philadelphia and went to work for Envestnet co-founder and interim CEO Bill Crager for the first time at an asset management firm where he was responsible for marketing.

She later moved to BlackRock, where she spent nearly 12 years moving upward through marketing roles before she and Crager reconnected, just as he was opening a Philadelphia office for Envestnet.  Four years later that office houses nearly 350 employees as the firm continues its growth, in part through a buying spree of other wealthtech firms including FolioDynamix, PIEtech, Tamarac and Yodlee.

Kimberly Beck, Marketing Coordinator
Redtail Technology
On the other hand, Redtail’s Kimberly Beck is a relative newcomer to the industry, having joined Sacramento-based advisor CRM firm Redtail Technology in June 2018 after marketing stints with consumer-positioned firms in Orange County and Reno. 

Redtail has also encountered substantial growth over the past few years, albeit within its own specific industry niche.

Now let’s hear from the two Kimberlys as they tell us their vision for the future of wealthtech and what it takes to succeed in marketing in 2020.

What does your typical week look like in your current marketing role?

KB/Envestnet:
It is usually non-stop! I try to balance each week and focus on three key areas:

  1. Working with my team to set and execute on our marketing strategy;
  2. Building and enhancing our marketing infrastructure–through talent development, financial discipline, agency adoption, marketing technology integration, data and analytics enhancements and KPI evaluation; and
  3. Keeping a consistent pulse on industry trends and the needs of our clients by working collaboratively across our broader organization–with the leadership team, Sales, Product, etc., as well as with our external partners and clients.

We are an acquisitive firm, so I also spend a lot of time working on each communication strategy. I try to read as much as I can each week, and also try to dedicate time each week to advancing Envestnet’s internal and external women’s initiatives.

KB/Redtail:
When you work in marketing, every week of the year can be completely different. On a weekly basis, I manage our social media accounts, help distribute our email marketing campaigns, work closely with our (RedTail Univesity) and training teams to promote weekly webinars and Redtail University, and coordinate with our integrations department for marketing new partners and integrations.

What changes have you seen in wealthtech marketing in the past year?

KB/Envestnet:
I think Envestnet has been leading one of the biggest changes in wealthtech as we have pulled together all of the pieces that can help our clients offer truly unified advice–access to leading financial planning capabilities through MoneyGuide, investing solutions through PMC, access to protection vehicles through the Envestnet Insurance Exchange, and access to lending through the Envestnet Credit Exchange. Aggregated data through Yodlee underpins this all. 

Now that we have all the pieces, we’re working to seamlessly connect everything through the technology. By bringing this all together, advisors will be able to help clients track their daily financial lives, and optimize that vs. their long-term goals–ultimately helping them achieve financial wellness.

KB/Redtail:
Gifs! Just kidding (kind of). But, as technologies have evolved to allow our marketing efforts to function similarly no matter where the audience views them, i.e., desktop or mobile device, it’s become increasingly important to graduate from screenshots and still images to the use of screen sharing, webinars, and gifs, etc., in the work we produce. That can be more challenging at times–it’s also generally more fun content both to produce and, we hope, to consume.

 

What are some new ways of marketing that you are currently looking at for 2020 and beyond?

KB/Envestnet:
In 2020, we are committed to building out our client experience strategy. While adding new clients will still involve traditional outbound strategies, such as social media, content and digital advertising, deepening our relationships with existing clients requires us to think differently. Having a 360-degree view of our clients is key, so we need to enhance and integrate our systems that gather client data. 

We can use that data to identify their pain points and challenges of our clients and help resolve them; or we can use it to recommend a next-best action, in very much the same way Amazon suggest-sells. We want to make it easier and more efficient for our clients to do business with us, and advances in client data intelligence can help us get there. 

KB/Redtail:
One of our primary goals at Redtail is to create raving fans of our solutions–and, while that is a priority of every team within our organization, my hope is that our Marketing Team can find new ways to connect with our target audience via our efforts in the coming year(s). Much of that will be accomplished through refining our current methods of content delivery, but I’m also interested in exploring how we might incorporate both video and podcasting moving forward to engage in more meaningful ways.

Envestnet recently went through the unimaginable loss of its founder and CEO Jud Bergman. How did your role within the company change during this time and how has Envestnet changed its positioning for the future, if at all, due to this loss?

KB/Envestnet:
Nothing could have ever prepared us for the day we tragically lost Jud and his wife Mary. Devastated and heartbroken were the two words I remember saying over and over. Most of our professional roles did not change. But all of us … we were changed.

There was anger, frustration, sadness, and even some laughs as many of us recounted Jud memories. We grieved together. We shared our pain, but, under Bill’s leadership, we were determined to move forward. The Envestnet family became a little tighter in the weeks following Jud’s death. 

Jud and Bill had spent significant time in 2019 putting together a very clear vision for Envestnet: to help advisors deliver holistic, unified advice that helps their clients achieve financial wellness. They had pulled all the pieces together. I firmly believe we will achieve that vision. Jud’s spirit lives on within each of us, and we have never been more determined.

What advice would you like to offer to your counterpart Kimberly Beck at Redtail as she moves forward with the early part of her career in the wealthtech industry?

KB/Envestnet:
From what I hear, the other Kimberly Beck doesn’t need much career advice because she is a rockstar! However, I have the opportunity to get in front of our interns each summer and offer some career advice, and there are a few things I would tell anyone early in his or her career in this industry:

As a relative newcomer to this industry, what advice would you like to offer KB/Envestnet on trends you see will shape wealthtech marketing for millennials and our younger generation in the future?

KB/Redtail:
Reviews! I think reviews will become increasingly important as a component of marketing moving forward with millennials and younger generations. We (being a millennial I will include myself here) live off of Yelp and Amazon reviews and social media comments. Advertising and other traditional forms of marketing aren’t going away, but we are living in an era where everyone (not just millennials) knows that access to opinions, not those of the producer of a good or service, are only a click or two away. And, depending on what you’re selling, what’s at the end of those clicks can make or break you. With these things in mind, I think it’s important to track what is said about your organization online, attempt to mitigate any of the negatives, and find ways to promote and accentuate the positives.