The financial industry faces a number of challenges when it comes to marketing to consumers. In a nutshell, financial services are often more complex than other businesses, with strict guidelines and subject matter that can make an amateur’s head swirl. Consumers who are just starting out on their financial journey can feel overwhelmed by decisions pertaining to mortgages, investments, and loans, and feel lost on who to turn to for information.

Most financial marketers today understand that content is the cornerstone of a high-performing marketing and customer experience. Unfortunately, much of that content falls into the oft-bland categories of cookie-cutter financial literacy or trite yarns about a desire to be a part of every customer or member’s journey through life. Where did our content go wrong? Why do we settle for synonymized versions of the same article that appear on hundreds of financial websites?

Let’s start with an easy one: Only 11% of respondents clocked in at the “Sophisticated” level of content marketing maturity. Even among the most successful, the number is shocking low: 33%. Just a third of the people who are really rocking it with content marketing are sophisticated.