Persuasive reach
The messenger is as important as the message.
Read on to learn why:
① Influence leads marketing, not persuasion.
② You already have social media influencers in the making on your payroll.
③ Operational challenges hinder private markets despite high investor interest.
④ In the age of AI, size isn’t everything.
⑤ CMOs need to understand the language - and thinking - of the CFO.
⑥ Connecting your team may be the most powerful thing you can do as a leader.
⑦ Private markets fund managers are marketing to a much broader audience.
What's new
The Financial Conduct Authority has hired influencers to raise awareness of the motor finance compensation scheme, CityAM reports.
In short:
“In its attempt to stop people using claims management companies or law firms to access the motor finance compensation scheme, the City watchdog has kicked off a £1m media campaign.”
“The FCA has announced that […] 79 per cent of motor finance customers are aware they may be owed compensation, and 61 per cent are aware of a possible compensation scheme. However, under half of those aware didn’t know they would not need to use a CMC or law firm if a redress scheme were introduced. The watchdog stated that using a CMC or law firm to make a motor finance claim could cost consumers around 30 per cent of any compensation paid.”
“As a result of its new campaign, which will feature radio and online advertising, the FCA has partnered with influencers to disseminate its message to consumers over the next two months.”
Why it matters
Oh, the delicious irony. Within days of taking three ‘influencers’ to court as part of its crackdown on illegal promotions, the FCA has had to enlist others in their cohort to help it with another campaign. Even the UK’s financial regulator is not immune to a phenomenon that has haunted marketers for years now: social media has shifted the power in communications away from brands and their finely tuned messaging, in favour of so-called ‘influencers’.
① As Peter Drucker, the American author, consultant, and professor who originally defined the ‘marking mix’, conceded years ago:
“Influence will lead marketing in the future, not persuasion.”
Well, the future is here. This story matters because it reminds us that regardless of how compelling your argument and how clear your copy, the message is now the understudy of the messenger. People have tuned out of traditional PR outlets and advertising channels and - reinforcing the adage that trust is the currency of influence - listen instead to people they follow on social media.
② What does this mean for B2B financial services or technology firms? I’m not suggesting you venture out to find TikTok stars to help you sell your banking-as-a-service, but perhaps you have some stars in the making already on the payroll?
As Zoe Haimovitch wrote this week: “B2B buyers aren’t waiting for your next guide or whitepaper. They’re scrolling LinkedIn, tuning into peers, and lurking quietly in the background. These hidden buyers are researching without following your brand or filling out a form. They’re making decisions long before your SDR ever picks up the phone or messages them. Frequently, they aren’t announcing themselves with a follow, a like, or a form fill. But they are listening to what people in the industry are saying, especially thought leaders and executives.”
That’s why your team, your senior leaders and your executive committee all have the potential to be powerful influencers. They can create reach and trust that brand channels alone can’t deliver.
What to do about it
Take action
Call it social selling, call it employee advocacy, call it what you want. What matters is that you are leveraging the power of your employees’ networks and the credibility of their reputations to those networks. Because the messenger has your audience’s trust, making them receptive to your message.
Be inclusive: Don’t limit yourself to sales people or even client-facing staff. Every single one of your employees is a potential advocate.
Comply with the rules: If you lead a regulated firm, be sure your Marketing team engages with your Compliance people early in the process - you’ll want a firm understanding of the parameters in which you can operate when it comes to social media.
Clarify your message: Ensure your Marketing team has made your messages are succinct and crystal clear to your own employees. They need to understand what you stand for before they’ll want to share it with their contacts. Internal communications is job #1.
Think like a publisher: Your marketing team should be producing high-quality content that your employees will want to share with their networks - whether because it’s genuinely valuable.
Educate: Your people will need help with social media. Their level of familiarity and therefore comfort will vary enormously. Some will need guidance with the basics, others will simply want to know what to share and where to find it. Marketing should be your firm’s centre of excellence for social media.
Empower and trust: Because authenticity is so important in social selling, your employees need to feel empowered but you shouldn’t aim to coordinate too much, let alone dictate how they should share.
Monitor and adapt: Keep on eye on what people are sharing, how they’re doing it and the reaction they’re getting. Some will need a little nudge one way or another. And, by doing so, you’ll learn what content resonates most.
Get help
Two ways I can help you: 1) hire me as a full-time member of your team; or 2) use InMarketing, an advisory service for senior leadership teams in finance and tech.
🔎 Audit 🧭 Strategy 🖋️ Positioning ✅ Planning 🤷🏻 Problem-solving ☎️ Counsel
Top stories
The other articles that are worthy of your time.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
Private markets give banks an operational headache
③ Operational challenges hinder private markets despite high investor interest.
“The archaic systems used for tracking private markets present a big operational burden for wealth managers allocating to illiquid investments.
Deals in this space are often paper-based, with client data tracked on spreadsheets as opposed to coordinated internal systems that are more standard in the mutual funds world.”
“That headwind may act as a deterrent for players in the wealth space to invest in this area. This is especially the case if firms are only making a relatively small allocation to private markets of say 5%, when this area may take up 20% of administrative capacity.”
“But if wealth firms do want to delve into private markets, they will need to develop more sophisticated in-house operations, or use a third party technology provider that specialises in this area.”
👀 See also: London’s IPO drought - fund managers turn to private assets to ease pressure and Hargreaves Lansdown opens up access to private markets through pensions
TECHNOLOGY
Faith in God-like large language models is waning
④ In the age of AI, size isn’t everything.
“The slowing pace of improvement at the bleeding edge of generative AI is one sign that LLMs are not living up to their hype. Arguably a more important indication is the rise of smaller, nimbler alternatives, which are finding favour in the corporate world. Many firms prefer bespoke models that they can tailor to their specific needs. These so-called small language models are cheaper than all-purpose LLMs, whose God-like intelligence can appear superfluous.”
“Being as easy to run on a company’s in-house it systems as via a cloud-service provider, SLMs may also be more useful for AI agents, which do work-related tasks alongside or instead of humans. SLMs’ slimmer size makes them particularly well suited for AI in smartphones, self-driving cars, robots and other devices where energy efficiency and speed are at a premium.”
“Another reason for the growing popularity of SLMs is economics. Companies have moved on from a spend-whatever-it-takes approach, employed in the early days of generative AI, to a greater focus on return on investment. Though they may still use LLMs for many tasks, they can do simpler jobs with SLMs.”
MEDIA & MARKETING
When CMOs and CFOs align their KPIs, they deliver more value
⑤ CMOs need to understand the language - and thinking - of the CFO.
“CFOs and CMOs actually want the same thing: predictable, profitable growth. CFOs think in systems, profit forecasts, and incremental ROI (even if they don’t necessarily call it that). They want to know how shifting marketing strategy will affect the business, and what range of outcomes they can expect based on various marketing scenarios.”
“When the partnership is successful, CMOs meet these desires with robust systems of planning, hypothesis generation, and execution that focus on the metrics finance cares about. Instead of ‘What worked last quarter?’ they ask ‘What channels are we most uncertain about? What marketing bets should we place next quarter, and what outcomes can we expect?’ This is exactly what finance wants: Measurement that helps them plan and operate the business.”
“Here’s what the most successful teams do:
They change the fundamental question from ‘What worked?’ to ‘What should we do next? And how sure are we?’
They establish a shared language of uncertainty, forecasting, and risk.
They implement regular marketing experiments and goal-pacing reviews that both teams attend.”
WILDCARD
Loneliness is reshaping your workplace
⑥ Connecting your team may be the most powerful thing you can do as a leader.
“Loneliness has been linked to increased burnout, declining productivity, and rising attrition—costing U.S. companies up to $154 billion a year. Beyond measurable financial impact, leaders sense something has shifted but struggle to name it. After all, goals are still being met, people are still showing up to meetings, and Slack channels are in use. Yet the energy feels lower, collaboration more transactional, and initiative harder to sustain.”
“Effectively managing teams in an era of loneliness requires leaders to focus on two distinct but deeply interconnected layers of connection:
Social cohesion and belonging: This is the connective tissue of teams, encompassing shared identity, community rituals, and practices of inclusion.
Meaningful interpersonal relationships: These deeper, trust-based connections transcend work tasks. When team members genuinely know and trust each other, they communicate better, solve problems faster, and are more likely to innovate together, thus making deep relationships key in combating loneliness and increasing productivity.”
“We’ve identified five leadership practices that combat loneliness by helping team members feel seen, supported, and aligned.
Build team cohesion through shared identity.
Design collaboration to build trust.
Model humanity to build resilient teams.
Operationalise belonging through systems and rituals.
Set the tone by acknowledging your own need for connection.”
Off cuts
The stories that almost made this week’s newsletter.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
🫱🏼🫲🏾 Meet the new City minister
🇺🇸 Bank of America chief Brian Moynihan shakes up leadership team
👏🏻 Franklin Templeton names Daniel Gamba as new chief commercial officer
TECHNOLOGY
🏄🏻♂️ How Oracle’s Larry Ellison rode the AI ‘tsunami’
💰 Klarna will make over 40 employees millionaires at IPO
🏦 Clearbank brings fintech revolution to corporate banking
MEDIA & MARKETING
🤴🏻 Who is Lachlan Murdoch, the media prince who would be king
💌 Air Mail, a digital weekly, is expected to be acquired by Puck
🎨 Square Mile rebrands under Titan banner and launches MPS range
The last word
⑦ Harvey Schwartz, private equity behemoth Carlyle’s chief executive, on why the firm is sponsoring a Formula 1 team:
“[The growth in the industry is] fuelled by greater access to private markets and growing interest from a new generation of investors. […] The partnership will create long-term value for both parties.”
Don’t settle for marketing.
Aspire to InMarketing.
Wishing you an influential week,
P.S. Don’t let a pesky little thing like death get in the way of leading your business.
