How Marketers Are Rethinking the Path to the Customer

Bringing AI into a company with 137 years of history comes with a few challenges. Sheryl Markov called that legacy “phenomenal, and also a little frightening,” joking, “Imagine trying to teach 137-year-old AI.” Still, she said, the company’s long history has made it remarkably resilient.

Markov, the EVP and head of digital marketing, demand generation, and data analytics at Northern Trust, has seen several waves of digital transformation at the company yet says AI feels different from anything that came before. She spoke about this and shared insights on data, teams, and brand control during a fireside chat at From Day One’s Chicago marketing conference. 

Northern Trust held $20 trillion in assets under custody and administration and $2 trillion in assets under management as of June 30, 2026, according to its investor relations page. It serves institutions, individuals, and families through wealth management, asset servicing, and asset management. “Everyone is spinning up wealth management divisions within their firms because it is such an attractive and growing segment in the U.S.,” Markov said.

Fintech companies, boutique firms, registered investment advisers (RIAs), and family offices add more pressure. “It’s kind of coming at us from all fronts,” she said. “Trust is literally in our name, which is incredibly important in our industry, and we live and breathe that every day,” she said. 

Northern Trust balances that stability with innovation and client-centricity. The goal is to stay “two steps ahead of challenges that they don't even know they have yet,” from AI to data governance and risk.

From Vanity Metrics to Business Value

Markov started at Northern Trust as an individual contributor, managing content for its public websites. When she later took on advertising, the work centered on brand awareness, and the team couldn’t measure results or generate lower-funnel leads.

She has always pushed to measure return on investment. “It’s not enough to focus on the vanity metrics,” Markov said. The C-suite wants proof of business value, and right now, she says, that means organic growth. 

That marketing evolution has reshaped the team. Two decades ago, the department relied on generalists. Today, it employs specialists with deep expertise in martech and data. The newer hires include integrated campaign strategists, who sit inside the marketing teams and shape campaign strategy. “Our campaigns were pretty straightforward even three years ago, and they’ve just become so much more complex and integral to feeding growth into the business units,” Markov said.

Data Finds the Right Prospects

Moderator Steve Koepp, editor in chief and co-founder of From Day One, asked what happens when someone sells a business and suddenly becomes a prospect. Markov says the team matches content to the life triggers and “moments that matter” for each persona.

The difference now is data. Markov asks publishers to target “not just this audience by demographic, but now psychographic behavior intent signals.” Tracking consumer behavior, such as the news prospects read, lets the team group similar prospects into cohorts and reach them at scale, one-to-many rather than one-to-one.

Northern Trust feeds first-party data to publishers for retargeting and lookalike audiences. It also screens out people who don't qualify, which reduces costs. Gated content still works, too. “That is the golden ticket to get that email address,” Markov said.

On the wealth side, the firm targets prospects with $10 million or more in investable assets, and the sales process runs long.

Nurture programs used to be linear, which Markov compared to “the Candyland experience of us dripping content and invitations out to them.” Today, re-engagement campaigns cycle back prospects who stall in marketing automation or in the sales process.

A close partnership with sales closes the loop. “It’s not just us pitching leads over the fence, but we actually find out which leads convert,” Markov elaborated. “I think the data is the biggest difference maker.”

AI Outpaces Past Transformations

Markov launched social media at Northern Trust years ago, so she knows what a big shift looks like. The impact of AI feels faster and wider, she says, touching people, process, and productivity at once.

“If your process is not great and not solid, you can’t really apply agentics against that,” Markov cautioned. Teams don’t get a pause to plan, either. “We have to do it and figure it out at the same time,” she added.

Markov emphasized that marketers have always had to navigate conversations beyond their direct control. What has changed is the scale and reach of those conversations, as AI discoverability brings new platforms into focus. Rather than trying to be everywhere, Markov prioritizes the platforms most relevant to her audience. Reddit may rank highly in AI citations overall, but it is not among the top three sources for the prompts she cares about. LinkedIn, she noted, is more important to reaching her audience.

The surprise has been earned media. “It’s really important now in my industry and for my brand because earned media is coming up in citations,” Markov said. Her advice is to “pay attention to the signals and really focus on what makes sense for your brand and your company.”

Leading People Through the Shift

Markov has managed people for more than two decades, and she leads a team of about 23, plus contractors. Good leadership starts with knowing each person, she says, so she holds one-on-ones with her managers’ direct reports too.

That helps her spot early movers and reluctant adopters. “Our job as leaders is to inspire people, but also make them feel safe,” Markov said.

Her team has built an analytics-focused agent, a project that exposed underlying data problems.“The AI is not a magic wand to just fix everything. If anything, it shows you what’s broken, and you have to fix it before you apply agents on top of it,” Markov said. 

The generational divide shows up at home. Her nine-year-old son’s fourth-grade class equates AI with fake. When he saw a photo of her graduating with her master’s degree, he said, “That’s so AI.” As for the skills that will matter most for future generations, Markov believes critical thinking “will be highly sought after and a very valuable commodity.”

Markov gives team members who feel anxious about AI one simple piece of advice: “Focus on what you can control, not what you can’t.” Northern Trust has also marketed AI internally, naming its effort and positioning it for employees. “We’re marketers. Do your thing,” she said. 

Ade Akin covers artificial intelligence, workplace wellness, HR trends, and digital health solutions.

(Photos by Josh Larson for From Day One)