The ETF Marketing Memo: January 2026 A New Year, A Smarter Marketing Plan

January is a natural reset for ETF marketers. It’s a moment to reflect on what worked, recalibrate what didn’t, and build a more intentional plan for the year ahead. In the January edition of The ETF Marketing Memo, we focus on how ETF marketers can approach 2026 with greater clarity, alignment, and discipline—turning strategy into measurable impact. This issue also features insights from Cboe Global Markets on the evolving European ETF landscape, and a case study on how Tidal Financial Group translated its 2026 ETF outlook into high-impact media coverage. Together, these perspectives highlight how strong positioning, thoughtful planning, and proactive storytelling can set ETF brands apart in a competitive market.

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A New Year, A Smarter Marketing Plan: How ETF Marketers Should Prepare for 2026

By Caitlyn Kardish, Executive Vice President

January represents new beginnings. It’s a natural moment to pause, reflect on the past 365 days, and look ahead with renewed focus—both personally and professionally. For marketers, it’s also one of the most important strategic moments of the year, often aligning with budgeting season and long-term planning.

 As you develop your 2026 marketing plan, this is the time to ensure your program is active and intentional, designed to support asset growth, strengthen distribution efforts, and move your firm forward. Below are four foundational steps every ETF marketer should take as they plan for the year ahead.

1. Review What Worked—and What Didn’t—in 2025

Before setting new goals, take an honest look at the initiatives you launched or maintained over the past year and whether they delivered the return you expected.

Ask the hard questions:

• Did our media relations program meaningfully increase awareness of our ETF suite?
• Did our paid LinkedIn campaigns drive engagement from financial advisors—or just impressions?
• Did our lead generation efforts produce qualified leads the sales team could actually work?
  

The answers to these questions form the backbone of your go-forward plan. They help you determine which initiatives to double down on, which need refinement, and which may no longer deserve a place in your 2026 budget.

2. Align Early With Key Stakeholders

The most effective marketing programs don’t operate in isolation. They are built with input—and buy-in—from across the organization. Based on our experience, alignment with the following groups is essential:

• Firm leadership: Marketing momentum starts at the top. When leadership actively supports and participates in marketing and PR initiatives, it reinforces their importance across the organization and helps ensure consistent messaging.
• Sales and distribution teams: Marketing often serves as the engine that fuels sales. Understanding distribution goals—and where marketing can provide the most leverage, whether through refreshed collateral, targeted campaigns, or advisor education—creates meaningful synergy.
• Internal thought leaders: Portfolio managers and other subject-matter experts are often the public face of your brand. Ensure they understand what’s being asked of them, where their expertise fits, and what they’re comfortable contributing. Alignment here leads to more authentic, sustainable thought leadership.

3. Establish Clear KPIs and Review Them Regularly

ETF marketing touches many channels, but stakeholders ultimately care about results. While they may not live in digital dashboards or media reports, they do understand KPIs and ROI.

Establish clear, measurable benchmarks that tie directly back to the firm’s broader objectives, whether that’s advisor engagement, asset flows, brand awareness, or lead quality.

Just as important, commit to reviewing those KPIs on a regular cadence (monthly or quarterly).

Consistent reporting creates transparency, enables smarter adjustments throughout the year, and helps ensure you have the resources needed to build a strong, sustainable marketing program.

4. Stay Creative and Willing to Experiment

The most successful ETF marketers don’t rely solely on what’s always worked. While it’s important to ground your strategy in proven tactics, growth often comes from being agile and forward-thinking.

Take time to understand how your target audiences (financial advisors, institutional allocators, or retail investors) are consuming information today, and meet them where they are. That may mean experimenting with newer channels or formats, such as AI-driven search strategies, emerging social platforms, or even advertising channels outside your firm’s traditional comfort zone.

Not every experiment will be a home run. But without a willingness to test, learn, and iterate, it’s difficult to take your marketing program to the next level.

 As you map out 2026, the goal isn’t just to do more marketing—it’s to do smarter marketing. By evaluating past performance, aligning internally, measuring what matters, and remaining open to new ideas, ETF marketers can build programs that are both strategic and impactful in the year ahead.

Q&A with Hetal Patel, Director, European ETF Sales, Cboe Global Markets

By Amisha Mehta, Director

The European ETF market is maturing fast and Hetal Patel is right at the center of that transformation. As Director, European ETF Sales at Cboe Global Markets, Hetal works closely with issuers to bring innovative products to market across the region, helping them navigate structural complexity, cross-border distribution and heightened competition for listings.

In this conversation, she shares her views on what’s gaining traction in Europe right now, how Cboe is supporting issuers beyond the listing itself, and why thoughtful branding, messaging and sustained engagement are key to scaling in such a fragmented but fast-growing ecosystem.

As Director of ETFs, EMEA at Cboe, you have a unique view of the products coming to market. What trends or themes have stood out to you most in 2025? 

Europe’s ETF and ETP market is undergoing a period of fast innovation, driven by strong investor demand for more targeted exposure and more flexible investment tools. New launches increasingly focus on cutting-edge themes such as artificial intelligence, digital assets and defence, alongside income-generating strategies that combine thematic exposure with options-based overlays. Equity providers are refining access to major indices by offering more granular approaches, such as equal-weight structures or index slices that separate mega-caps from the broader universe – giving investors greater control over concentration and risk. At the same time, the region is seeing rapid growth in active ETFs across both equity and fixed income, reflecting a shift toward products that blend professional selection with the liquidity and transparency of the ETF wrapper. These trends, supported by ongoing improvements to Europe’s trading and settlement infrastructure, signal a maturing market that is becoming both more innovative and more responsive to evolving investor preferences.

Active ETFs and innovative structures continue to attract attention. From your perspective, what types of issuers or strategies are finding the most traction right now?

Right now, the strongest traction is going to issuers that pair differentiated investment insight with structures that solve real portfolio problems – not just offer new themes for the sake of novelty. Active managers with a clear edge in credit, income, or concentrated equity selection are gaining momentum as investors look for flexibility and risk management within the ETF wrapper. At the same time, strategies that package complexity into something usable – such as option-based income, risk-controlled equity exposures, or thematic baskets tied to long-term structural trends – continue to see inflows. There’s also rising interest in providers that bring the discipline of transparent, rules-based approaches to areas traditionally dominated by active funds, including fixed income and alternatives. Adding to this momentum, several well-established U.S. mutual fund managers are expanding into Europe with UCITS ETF offerings, bringing their brand recognition and long track records to a market increasingly open to active ETF formats. Overall, issuers that combine strong research, thoughtful portfolio construction and efficient ETF engineering - regardless of origin - are capturing the most attention in Europe’s evolving landscape.

Competition among exchanges for listings is strong. What differentiates Cboe in this landscape, and how do you work with issuers to support their growth?

Cboe differentiates itself through a combination of scale, liquidity and genuine pan-European reach, supported by a highly collaborative approach with issuers. With around 30% average market share in European equities trading, it is the largest venue for pan-European order flow, meaning most major participants already interact with its markets and rely on them for best pricing and execution. This depth translates directly into ETF benefits: trading in ETFs on Cboe Europe venues has grown more than 70% year-on-year, and many products regularly see 40-50% of their total volume executed on Cboe even when listed elsewhere. The exchange continues to expand its nearly 150-strong roster of UCITS ETPs, supported by a global footprint of more than 1,300 ETFs and harmonized rulebooks and processes across markets. Operational flexibility – including trading in around 20 currencies and strong engagement from leading market makers – makes listing and scaling more efficient. As a growing exchange, Cboe can adapt quickly to issuer needs, and backs this with robust marketing and distribution support, from media partnerships to leveraging its pan-European equities relationships. Combined with competitive fees and streamlined timelines, Cboe offers a platform built not just for listings, but for sustained ETF growth.

From a marketing and branding standpoint, what do successful issuers do well when bringing a fund to market? How can new entrants stand out?

Successful ETF issuers in Europe thrive by pairing clear, compelling product narratives with disciplined, long-term brand building. They articulate precisely what the fund does, why it matters, and which investor need it solves – then reinforce that message through education, research, and consistent storytelling across every channel. Strong branding helps them rise above the noise, but the issuers who truly excel go further by sustaining engagement after launch through media activity, thought leadership, and ongoing communication with platforms and intermediaries. Where the leaders really differentiate themselves is in distribution. Europe’s fragmented landscape means effective reach doesn’t happen by accident: top issuers invest deeply in relationships with local platforms, advisers, private banks, and model-portfolio builders, tailoring their messaging and materials to each audience. They also work closely with exchanges, market makers, and data providers to ensure visibility, liquidity and discoverability from day one. For new entrants, standing out requires the same level of intentionality – choosing strategies where they have genuine authority, building a focused brand identity, and treating distribution as a core competency rather than an afterthought. Those who understand the regional nuances and commit to sustained, targeted outreach tend to scale the fastest.

Looking at the year ahead, what developments in ETF product innovation or investor demand are you most excited about?

Looking at 2026, the most exciting developments in Europe’s ETF space are likely to come from a combination of thematic innovation, structural sophistication, and evolving investor preferences. We expect continued growth in strategies that go beyond traditional market-cap exposure, such as AI, climate transition, frontier technology, and income-oriented or risk-managed approaches. This reflects investors’ desire for targeted, future-facing allocations. On the structural side, innovations in active ETFs, multi-currency trading, and harmonized pan-European listing frameworks will make it easier for issuers to reach multiple markets efficiently while maintaining liquidity and transparency. From a demand perspective, both retail and institutional investors are increasingly looking for products that solve concrete portfolio challenges – whether that’s generating income, managing volatility, or gaining diversified access to emerging trends, rather than simply replicating broad benchmarks. Combined with better distribution support, marketing sophistication, and continued collaboration between issuers, market makers, and exchanges, these developments promise a more dynamic, flexible, and investor-centric ETF ecosystem in Europe.

Our team applied this approach in its work with Tidal Financial Group. During an insight call with Brittany Christensen, SVP and Head of Business Development, we discussed her outlook for the ETF industry in 2026. Brittany shared her thoughts on key topics like ETF share class and 351 conversions, which we then leveraged in our outreach to various media outlets.

Toward the end of each year, reporters typically shift their focus to outlook and recap coverage. With this in mind, we prepared targeted questions for our conversation with Brittany that aligned with the themes reporters prioritize during this period. As publications began planning their 2026 coverage, we were well positioned to provide timely, relevant insights. As a result of this proactive approach, we generated meaningful visibility for Tidal Financial Group, securing opportunities for Brittany to appear in studio on Bloomberg ETF IQ and to record an episode of Nate Geraci’s ETF Prime podcast.

Visibility increased for both Brittany and Tidal Financial Group, while also strengthening her relationships with producers and hosts who now see her as a go-to voice on important industry topics like ETF share class developments. This outcome reflects the core objective of our media strategy: taking what clients are already thinking and saying and aligning it with the issues the media is actively covering, ensuring their expertise appears in the right conversations at the right time.