Matching Mindsets

Over the last 6 years, I’ve been working as a Digital Marketeer in Banking and Financial Services. More recently, over the last 4 months of working at DSP Mutual Fund, I felt that there are several similarities between a marketeer and investor. This blog is on my perspective on the similarity in mindsets.

On the surface, it might seem like Digital Marketeers and Mutual Fund Investors have lives that are a world apart. On some level, that is true. While a Digital Marketeer devises effective strategies to advertise products and services, Investors invest capital to make the most out of economic conditions & opportunities. However, if you dive deeper, you might find various commonalities.

What is the Overlap between Digital Marketeers and Investors?

• Objective Driven
  For both Digital Marketeers and Mutual Fund Investors, a clear end goal or outcome is necessary. Having a clear target in sight allows them to chart a path towards success, and find the means to get there. For a Digital Marketeer, getting a return on investment involves spending funds judiciously to achieve a marketing objective. For the investor, a goal such as saving for travel, the future education of a loved one, or purchasing a home may all be relevant objectives.

For instance, I maintain spreadsheets for my marketing activities as well as for my investing plan. I have to keep track of the funds spent on a marketing campaign and check if the investment is yielding results. Similarly, I also invest in Mutual Funds with an end-goal in mind and having an excel sheet mapping out the projected timelines and objectives helps me stay on track.

• Performance-Oriented
  Digital Marketeers look for ways to market a product or service to a target demographic. They keep a vigilant eye on how their strategies are performing, trending news and updates to mediums used to reach their audiences. My team and I use multiple resources to keep track of our campaign performance. From social media analytics to click-rates & conversions, we constantly keep a tab on how our strategies are performing.

Similarly, a Mutual Fund investor’s primary effort is to identify the right funds so they can grow their investment over time. I have set up Google alerts for news about mutual funds and related topics. Staying informed about fund performance has also helped me become aware of opportunities, make decisions and possibly avoid pitfalls. I also review the performance of the funds I have invested in regularly.

The philosophy for both is the same; tread carefully but act decisively to succeed!

• Researchers do better
  Marketing to a target audience requires an immense amount of research. Identifying the audience demographics, understanding their wants and interests, figuring out blind spots, and then creating a strategy to advertise to a specific group, helps. Recently I was spearheading a marketing campaign and spent almost 90% of my time on research. I think my results were better, and I always felt like I was in control.

The same goes for mutual fund investors. If you conduct in-depth research about the funds you are investing in (or not), while keeping track of market conditions, fund performance, inherent risks etc, you are likely to do better & take better decisions.

• Timing the markets, but smartly
  A Digital Marketeer has to have a strong degree of familiarity with the market he or she is operating in. They have to know how to present a product or service suitable to that specific environment. To that end, timing becomes crucial, especially to recognize the audience’s frame of mind, as it can make or break a campaign. Even when I design marketing campaigns, solid ideas are put on hold, till the time feels right.

Timing the market can be equally important for mutual fund investors. But here’s the catch- no one can get it right, every single time. In fact, Experts say don’t try to time the market. I also think so, except that I look for a few triggers- when the market has fallen, when a consistent fund seems to be suddenly underperforming, when a cyclical sector is not doing well. It doesn’t guarantee anything, but it tells me there are opportunities available here. An investment’s success largely depends on the market conditions and its position therein. So, if an investor is able to read the market conditions to enter the market, the opportunity and the potential for reward could be very high. And if you can’t- don’t worry about ‘timing’, simply increase your ‘time in’ the market. Time is of the essence, and how!

• Being systematic helps
  Discipline is the key to success for both marketeers and investors. Those that plan their investments and invest over a sustained period (maybe via SIP) can gain from rupee cost averaging & compounding.

Similarly, marketeers who invest systematically over the long-term also get the benefit of constant feedback and actionable data across different time horizons and position campaigns better. This data helps inform the strategy for the future and can allow one to benchmark performance against different periods of time. I avoid hasty decisions, whether while marketing or investing, as it has always led to poor results for me. Being systematic in marketing and Mutual Funds has proven to be quite successful over the years, at least for me.

• Sharpen your skills to do well
  Lastly, both Digital Marketeers and Mutual Fund Investors have somewhat of a similar skill set. Both have to practice their craft, upskill constantly and require a significant amount of patience. They have to be observant and strategic to successfully do their job. They must be open-minded and accepting of changes. Adaptability and the ability to remain cool under pressure are almost second nature to capable Digital Marketeers and Investors. I have focused on developing this skill set over the years with practice & consistency and will continue to do so.

It is said that you must consistently practice an action for 21 days for it to become a habit. The same goes for ensuring that these skills become second-nature to you.

• Evaluate and re-evaluate
  Digital Marketeers like me will evaluate & obsess over metrics such as response times, click-through rates, time spent on page by the audience, engagement rates, traffic, bounce rates etc., to see how well campaigns have performed over time. The knowledge and intelligence gained over this time is invaluable, as it helps build a benchmark and also understand what the possibilities are for the future. It also allows for course correction and fixing of issues.

Tracking Mutual Fund performance over time in this manner is a similar endeavour. It helps you identify what worked, what did not, and what can potentially work. It can therefore help you get a more holistic understanding of investing.

• Reset your goals
  Adopting a growth mindset is critical for a Digital Marketeers success, but it is also equally critical for Mutual Fund investors. Measuring performance of actions taken over time and checking the return on investment is key towards understanding what could have been done better, because there is always scope for improvement.

Once you’ve hit success, it is time to hit the reset button, and look for the next challenge, that next big goal to chase, and focus yourself on the path to success.

The Final Word

While many parallels exist between Digital Marketeers and Investors, the will to keep learning and applying new techniques and new methods is critical for success. By harnessing the traits of one, the goals for the other can be achieved. Adopting these traits is also more a necessity than an option, and for anyone looking to find ways to succeed here, the secret to doing so lies blatantly in front of you.

So if you’re a digital marketeer too and haven’t started investing yet, start right away. You already have what it takes!