Within a crowded and commoditized market, asset managers are eager to find ways to stand out. Results from ISS MI’s recent Advisor Pulse report on digital content emphasizes how educational and thought leadership content can be powerful drivers of advisor action. The report, which surveyed 500 advisors in May 2026, found that 75% of advisors had acknowledged deciding to invest in or recommend an asset manager’s products as a direct result of that kind of content.
The specific touchpoints that appeal to advisors can be as varied as their own business models. For some, content designed for a client’s education might serve as the best way to convince a client to invest; others might require contact and presentations from senior management and portfolio managers to ensure they have a full understanding of the intricacies of a new strategy.
Beyond figuring out the right kind of message and content to deliver to advisors, picking the right medium is crucial. The growth of the RIA channel, with its more spread-out distribution footprint, has enhanced the need for more virtual and digital interactions. Nearly half of advisors (49%) said digital copies of written reports and fact sheets were their preferred medium for consuming prepared content from asset managers, with RIAs demonstrating the strongest preference for digital at 56%.
Related: Learn More About ISS MI’s Advisor Pulse Series
That preference has also filtered out to how advisors prefer to interact with representatives from asset managers. When asked how they prefer to interact with field sales support, a plurality of advisors (37%) ultimately expressed the strongest preference for a balanced mix between in-person and virtual interactions, as seen in the table below. However, that was not only a significant increase from 29% in 2023, but advisors are growing increasingly comfortable with virtual interactions at the expense of in-person ones.
While “mostly in-person” was tied for first in 2023 at 29%, that preference has slid in recent years, with advisors equally split between “mostly in-person” and “mostly virtual.” Advisors remain starkly split in their approaches by distribution channel, emphasizing the need for asset managers to target their content strategies to specific business models.
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Wirehouse and other broker-dealer advisors were most interested in meeting asset manager representatives in-person. RIAs meanwhile broke strongly for virtual interactions, with 34% stating they wanted mostly virtual ones and 24% saying they wanted to meet entirely virtually.
See the full report, now available to subscribers on the MarketSage platform. For more information on the Advisor Pulse series, or any of ISS MI’s research offerings, please contact us.
Author:
Alan Hess, Vice President, U.S. Fund Research, ISS Market Intelligence
