With the UK Budget taking place on 28 October, financial services marketers are facing an important moment as they begin shaping their plans for 2027.
Budgets need to work harder, commercial returns need to be clearer and teams must keep pace with technological change, all while maintaining customer trust and finding new opportunities for growth.
The Budget will offer another indication of the economic direction ahead, with potential implications for consumer confidence, business investment and the wider financial services market. But beyond the headlines, a bigger question remains for marketing leaders: how can they make the strongest case for investment and ensure their budgets deliver meaningful results in the year ahead?
While no single Budget announcement will determine the direction of the entire industry, the weeks ahead provide an opportunity to reassess priorities, challenge assumptions and consider what financial services marketing needs to look like in 2027.
Marketing investment is holding up, but the pressure remains
There are encouraging signs across the wider UK marketing landscape. The IPA Bellwether report for the third quarter of 2026 recorded a net balance of +14.3% for total marketing budgets, its strongest reading since the second quarter of 2024.
This measures the proportion of companies increasing their budgets minus those reducing them, rather than a 14.3% rise in total marketing expenditure.
The report also recorded positive budget balances across several disciplines, including public relations at +15.3%, events at +15.1% and main media at +9.8%.
The figures suggest businesses continue to see value in marketing, communications and customer engagement despite economic uncertainty. However, the findings cover UK businesses across sectors, rather than financial services alone, and do not mean every marketing team is seeing its budget grow.
Within financial services, the picture is more nuanced. Some firms may be investing in customer acquisition and new propositions, while others are cutting discretionary spending or asking smaller teams to deliver more.
Even where budgets remain unchanged, expectations can rise as marketers are tasked with supporting more products, channels and commercial objectives.
This creates a distinction between having a marketing budget and having the flexibility to use it. Money may be allocated, but every campaign, channel and activity still needs to justify its place in the plan.
As teams look towards 2027, the question is not simply whether budgets will rise or fall. It is where investment will make the greatest difference, which activities deserve priority and what evidence will be needed to secure further funding.
Why the Budget matters to financial services marketers
The Budget is only one part of the wider economic picture, but its implications can influence how financial services firms approach growth, customer engagement and investment.
Changes to taxation, public spending and the economic outlook can affect household finances, business confidence and appetite for investment. The impact will vary across banks, insurers, investment managers, wealth firms and fintech businesses, depending on their customers, products and markets.
If households become more cautious with their money, firms may need to work harder to communicate the value of their products and maintain customer confidence. If businesses delay investment decisions, providers serving corporate clients could face longer sales cycles and greater competition for new business.
A stronger outlook, meanwhile, could create opportunities to promote new propositions and pursue growth.
For marketers, these different scenarios call for different responses. Campaign messaging may need to address changing customer concerns, acquisition strategies may need to reflect shifts in demand, and budgets may need to be redirected towards the audiences and propositions with the strongest commercial potential.
The key is not to treat the Budget as a crystal ball. Instead, it should be one of several signals that help marketers test their assumptions and prepare for different outcomes.
This is particularly relevant as firms begin setting their 2027 budgets. Plans built around a single economic forecast can quickly become difficult to defend when circumstances change. A more flexible approach allows teams to identify essential investment, understand where spending could be adjusted and establish what would trigger a change in strategy.
The growing demand to prove marketing’s value
For marketing leaders, one of the biggest challenges is balancing ambitious business objectives with finite resources.
Gartner’s 2026 CMO Spend Survey found that marketing budgets averaged 7.8% of company revenue, compared with 7.7% in 2025. Yet 56% of surveyed chief marketing officers said their organisations lacked the budget required to deliver their 2026 strategies.
The findings highlight a familiar tension: marketing is expected to contribute to growth, customer retention and competitive differentiation, but the resources available do not always match the expectations placed on teams.
In financial services, demonstrating marketing’s contribution can be particularly complex. Paid campaigns may generate measurable leads and conversions, while brand investment, public relations, thought leadership and customer education often build value over a longer period.
These activities can help establish awareness and trust well before a customer is ready to make a decision.
Judge every activity solely on its immediate return, however, and there is a risk of overlooking the longer-term value of these investments. Equally, labelling an activity as brand-building is not enough to justify continued spending.
Marketing teams need to connect their plans to the outcomes the business wants to achieve. That means agreeing objectives before campaigns begin, choosing measures that reflect each activity’s purpose and working more closely with sales, product and leadership teams.
It also means being realistic about attribution. Not every customer decision can be traced to a single interaction, and meaningful results do not always appear within the same reporting period. Strong measurement should recognise these limitations while still providing useful evidence to guide decisions.
As 2027 budgets are agreed, marketers need to be ready to explain not just what they want to spend, but why it matters, what it should deliver and how they will assess progress.
AI: investment is only part of the equation
Artificial intelligence is adding another layer to the budgeting challenge. Financial services marketers are under pressure to understand how AI can improve productivity, strengthen customer insight and help teams respond more quickly to changing market conditions.
Gartner’s 2026 CMO Spend Survey found that respondents allocated an average of 15.3% of their marketing budgets to AI. Yet only 30% reported that their organisations had mature or fully developed AI readiness.
That gap matters. Investment in technology does not automatically translate into better marketing. Organisations also need the skills, processes and governance to use AI effectively.
The opportunities are considerable, from research and content development to audience analysis, campaign optimisation and repetitive administrative tasks. For smaller teams in particular, AI could help increase capacity without requiring a proportional increase in headcount.
But the technology comes with costs of its own. Implementation, integration, training and oversight all require resources. Financial services organisations must also consider data protection, regulatory obligations, accuracy and the risks associated with inappropriate or unverified outputs.
The best starting point is a clear business problem. Where does work take too long? Which processes create unnecessary duplication? Where could better analysis improve campaign decisions? These are more useful questions than adopting AI simply because competitors are doing so.
Marketers should also distinguish between time saved and value created. Producing content more quickly is useful, but the real benefit depends on how that capacity is used and whether quality is maintained. The same applies to automation, personalisation and campaign optimisation.
For 2027, AI investment needs to sit within a broader strategy, with clear objectives and meaningful measures of success. The goal is not to use more technology for its own sake, but to make marketing more effective.
Five priorities for financial services marketing in 2027
As teams move from reviewing the economic outlook to building their plans, five priorities stand out.
1. Build flexibility into budgets.
Rather than betting on a single economic scenario, consider how plans would respond to stronger growth, continued uncertainty or weaker demand. Identify core activities, potential areas for adjustment and the conditions that would trigger a change. This gives teams a more resilient starting point.
2. Balance immediate performance with long-term brand value.
Acquisition and conversion targets matter, but they should not come at the expense of awareness, trust and customer relationships. The right balance will vary by organisation, but marketing plans need to account for both immediate results and future demand.
3. Strengthen the commercial case for investment.
Set clear objectives, agree relevant measures and communicate results in terms that business leaders understand. Reporting activity and engagement is not enough; marketers need to show how their work supports wider commercial priorities while being honest about the limits of attribution.
4. Make AI investment purposeful.
Prioritise applications that solve real problems. Consider the full cost of implementation, provide appropriate training and assess whether the technology improves productivity, decision-making or campaign outcomes. Adoption alone is not a measure of success.
5. Invest in people, expertise and relationships.
Budget and headcount are only part of a team’s capacity. Better collaboration, access to specialist expertise and opportunities to learn from peers can all help marketers make stronger decisions. When expectations continue to rise, building capability matters just as much as choosing the right channels.
What marketing leaders should take from the Budget
The immediate reaction to the Budget will focus on its announcements and their potential economic implications. For marketing leaders, the more important task is working out what those developments mean for their own business, customers and commercial objectives.
There is no universal budget strategy for financial services. The priorities of a retail bank will differ from those of an investment manager, insurer or fintech, and firms within the same subsector will face different pressures.
But the underlying challenge is shared: marketing investment must have a clear purpose, reflect the market and remain adaptable as conditions change.
The wider UK figures suggest marketing investment has not stalled, but positive spending sentiment does not remove the pressure to justify budgets, improve measurement or make difficult choices. Nor does investing in AI guarantee that teams are better equipped to deliver their strategies.
As firms finalise their plans for 2027, the strongest marketing functions will be those that turn economic developments into practical decisions. They will understand which outcomes matter most, where resources can make the greatest difference and how to adapt without losing sight of longer-term growth.
The Budget provides a timely reason to revisit those questions. The real opportunity lies in turning the answers into a strategy.
Your next stop: FP Live! 2027
These are the conversations financial services marketers need to be having now, as they plan budgets, set priorities and prepare for the year ahead.
And because we know how challenging budgets can be, we’ve introduced a special £100 + VAT ticket for eligible in-house financial services marketers, making it easier to access the insights, connections and ideas that can help shape the year ahead.
On 22 March 2027, FP Live! returns to the Leonardo Royal Hotel London Tower Bridge under the theme “Next stop: the future of financial services marketing”, bringing together hundreds of industry professionals to explore what comes next.
With more than 40 sessions across seven programme destinations, the event will tackle the challenges and opportunities shaping the sector, from AI and marketing investment to brand growth and customer trust.
The next stop? Smarter marketing decisions for 2027.
Explore the agenda and book your ticket for FP Live! 2027.