If you’ve been in a marketing strategy meeting lately, you’ve probably heard some version of these three sentences:

• “We can’t prove what’s working.”
• “Everyone’s using AI but nobody knows how.”
• “The old playbooks don’t work anymore.”

We hear them from financial services and fintech clients every week. And frankly, they’re all true.

Marketing is going through a full-blown identity crisis. But we think that makes right now one of the most exciting times to be in this business. When everything stops working the way it used to, you’re forced to build the future intentionally.

Attribution Is Breaking People

Marketers are drowning in data and starving for clarity.

Sales and marketing teams are often targeting entirely different audiences, but they’re both measured by a single metric: new revenue.

The problem is that attribution was never built for the way modern buyers behave.

The “source” of a customer might technically be a LinkedIn ad, but the real journey probably started months earlier during a conversation with their accountant, via a Reddit thread about alternative investments, or a colleague’s recommendation.

When leadership teams demand perfect attribution, they paralyze their marketing teams:

• They stop taking smart risks.
• They stop experimenting.
• They start optimizing for easy-to-game metrics that look good on paper but don’t grow the business

Alignment is the only solution. Marketing and sales need to agree on who they’re trying to reach, why that audience matters, and how to define success beyond first-touch conversions. The data might not ever tell the full story, but your strategy can.

Everyone’s Using AI (But Hardly Anyone Knows How)

AI has moved from curiosity to chaos.

Every team is using it to draft email campaigns, generate social content, and summarize client feedback. But very few have been trained to use it well.

The result is an ever-widening gap between adoption and competency.

This isn’t just about prompts or tools. It’s about understanding what AI should (and shouldn’t) replace in an industry built on trust and regulatory compliance. Good marketers know AI isn’t a shortcut. It’s an amplifier. It can help you work faster, but it can’t tell you what resonates with a COO evaluating portfolio management software or a millennial comparing robo-advisors.

Without proper training, teams risk automating mediocrity.

Right now, winning firms are investing in upskilling. Rather than just using AI, they’re mastering the ability to build repeatable, on-brand workflows, teaching teams how to blend human insight with machine speed, and redefining modern creative strategy in an AI-driven world.

The Old Playbooks Are Dead

Remember when you could sponsor a conference, run some LinkedIn ads, maybe send a piece of direct mail, and call it a day?

That playbook is over.

Today’s buyers have evolved. They’re skeptical of anything that feels like a sales pitch, researching on platforms you’ve never advertised on, and asking peers for recommendations in Slack channels and private communities.

Paid social is getting more expensive and less effective. Content syndication is dying. Firms are experimenting with everything from founder-led content on Instagram to intimate roundtables for decision-makers.

Credibility and usefulness now form the foundation of marketing effectiveness.

Prospects are looking for knowledge that matters to them from brands they trust. They don’t want paper-thin thought leadership or barely-veiled sales pitches; they want to understand immediately if you actually solve their problem.

In an era defined by AI, the future of marketing is getting infinitely more human.

It’s Time to Rebuild (Intentionally)

Attribution will never be perfect. AI won’t replace strategy. And the old playbooks are gone.

But that’s freedom, not bad news.

You now have permission to stop doing what’s expected and start doing what works for your business, your audience, your growth goals.

This moment belongs to the marketers who are curious enough to test new channels, courageous enough to challenge the status quo, and collaborative enough to align their entire organization around deeply understanding their clients’ needs.

At Intention.ly, we’re helping fintech and financial services clients do exactly that by aligning teams, upskilling talent, experimenting with new approaches, and proving that the future of marketing isn’t about following formulas.

It’s about building a growth engine designed (intentionally) for what’s next.

About the Author

For 20 years, Intention.ly Founder & CEO Kelly Waltrich has been championing the role of marketing in the financial services industry. As former Chief Marketing Officer at eMoney Advisor and Orion Advisor Solutions, she built powerhouse marketing teams from the ground up, developing the engines that would fuel the highest periods of growth for both firms.

Waltrich designed the strategy behind several successful rebrands, acquisitions, and product launches, including spearheading the development of two advisor marketing products, while creating unmatched overall brand visibility and helping to turn company executives into industry thought leaders. Through forward-thinking demand generation, PR, and product marketing, she created a consistent inbound pipeline for both firms, driving CAC down and SOV up. Her exceptional leadership and innovative approach earned her recognition as CMO of the Year by WealthManagement.com.

Today, Intention.ly represents the culmination of every lesson Waltrich has learned in her tenure as a marketing disruptor. Under her leadership, the growth engine design agency has experienced remarkable growth of its own, serving 100+ fintech and financial services firms while establishing itself at the forefront of AI-powered marketing innovation. Waltrich conceptualized and brought to market Intention.ly’s groundbreaking Advisor Brand Builder initiative, a generative AI solution that revolutionizes how financial firms approach brand development and marketing strategy.

As an advisor to several high-growth tech firms, Waltrich continues to shape the industry’s marketing evolution. She’s also a frequently requested contributor to major trade publications and host of the “Don’t Do That” podcast, which has struck a resonant chord across the fintech, financial services, and tech leadership communities by delivering unique “what not to do” lessons from real-world leaders.

Intention.ly is born from Waltrich’s passion and persistent belief that when it’s done right, marketing is the accelerant firms need to transform their growth trajectory. Through cutting-edge AI innovation and proven strategic expertise, she continues to disrupt an industry ready for transformation.

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