The FinTech Marketing Summer Conference

Nothing important happens in the office.

Read on to learn why:

① Marketing should aspire to enterprise value.

② Content marketing can deliver leads as well as brand awareness.

③ Keeping a customer is more critical than gaining one.

④ Programmability is digital money’s secret weapon.

⑤ The value of building trust in your brand cannot be overstated.

⑥ CEOs are broadening their concerns to tackle an ever more complex world.

⑦ Retail investors will likely always come second to institutional ones.

What's new

This week I attended the FinTech Marketing Summer Conference so, rather than discuss a news article with you, I thought I’d share my key takeaways from the event.

① Andrew Davis, CMO of Paddle, on how the CMO can be a catalyst for change:

“Customer outcome alignment: Grow with your customers rather than upselling them regularly.”
“Critical foundations require long-term trust: Infrastructure can’t be down - and if it is, you’ll hear about it on social quickly.”
“There is a pull between brand and demand - resits that dichotomy.”
“Be consistently helpful - it builds trust: Your product, your people and the stories you tell are the path to a great brand.”
“Video content: Explain things simply that matter to the market you serve
“Budget can’t constrain your creativity. You’re selling to people not businesses.”
“It all comes down to enterprise value. Don’t get stuck on just doing marketing: Understand the ecosystem you’re in; deeply understand your core business; and understand the market you’re in, not just the marketing you’re doing.”

Kate Man, Head of PR, Nutmeg:

“Knowing when to say something can be more important than knowing what to say.”
“One negative piece of coverage is all it takes. It’s not 1-1 good/bad.”
“Know the right time to say nothing at all.”
“Volume isn’t that important. One great piece of coverage in the FT is worth a lot.”
“Your key messages should remain the same for years.”

② Laura Watkins, Director of Media & Marketing, 11:FS

“We built a media brand alongside our business which is our not so secret marketing weapon. It has unique reach: 22m downloads of podcast, 182 countries engaged with content, 200k followers on LinkedIn and Twitter, 1m reach of social media.”
“We: 1) grow brand, 2) generate leads.”
“Media itself can grow leads, not just build brand”
“We built a media company around what we stand for.
- We always trie to add value
- It’s not a sales channel”
“Values: human, provocative, authoritative”
“Content for content’s sake is never the answer. It needs an audience.”
“You need quantity AND quality
- 1 breakthrough report every half
- 2-3 podcasts per week
- 1-2 strategic vide content per Q
- 2+ events per quarter”
“Every piece should feel unique.”
“Ensure content is a dialogue, not a monologue".”
“Media influences the marketing funnel.”
“What it means
- Brand awareness and cut through
- Business insights
- Industry insights
- Sales enablement and inbounds
- Product marketing
- Sponsorship and partnerships”
“Measuring performance ins’t enough, we focus on the ‘so what’s and ‘what’s next?’”

Why it matters

Attending the conference and picking up so many ideas and insights was a reminder for me of the NIHITO principle: nothing important happens in the office.

It’s taught as part of product marketing - your market is not at your desk, your customers are not in your office, everything that matters to a marketer happens outside - but I think it’s applicable in broader terms. It’s always a great idea to get out there regularly.

What to do about it

Take action

Ask your head of marketing when they’re next taking their team out to an event to learn from other marketers. If it’s more than three months away, change that.

Get help

InMarketing is a dynamic repository of help for senior leadership teams in finance or technology who want to drive growth. Browse others’ ideas, find tactical support, or leverage marketing advisory.

Visit InMarketing

Top stories

The other articles that are worthy of your time.

FINANCE

Wealth managers have lost a fifth of customers due to this issue

③ Keeping a customer is more critical than gaining one.

“Wealth managers are losing a fifth of customers due to poor complaint procedures, bringing into question the state of the colossal industry, a new study has revealed. A total of 25 per cent of customers who filed a complaint said that the problem was not dealt with to the customer’s satisfaction.
“In the second half of 2023, financial services firms received 1.87 million complaints, according to data from the Financial Conduct Authority. Investment and pension related complaints have risen by 20 per cent and 24 per cent respectively over the last decade.”
“Now, research has found that 31 per cent of respondents claimed that they were not kept up to date throughout the process of making a complaint. Meanwhile, 44 per cent found it was not clear who they had to contact or how to even make one, while a total of 75 per cent of respondents said complaints took longer to resolve than anticipated.”

TECHNOLOGY

Ant Intl made billions in JPM Coin payments using programmability

④ Programmability is digital money’s secret weapon.

“JP Morgan revealed that Ant International, the affiliate of China’s Alipay, has processed billions of dollars in transactions using JPM Coin. Ant supports payments for 1.2 billion buyers and 2 million sellers in over 200 countries. Both Siemens and Ant use the JPM Coin blockchain-based bank accounts for their internal treasury functions. Ant’s in-house system monitors liquidity usage in real time across the globe and triggers payment instructions accordingly. Typically any excess funds will be parked in higher yielding instruments.”
“The company has its own Treasury Management System that combines blockchain and AI programmable triggers. However, it uses blockchain technology that is different from JPM Coin, so they communicate using APIs.”
“While the private Quorum blockchain that underpins JPM Coin is currently entirely controlled by JP Morgan, it is designed so that corporate clients could host nodes connected to the platform in future. However, only part of the JPM Coin platform is DLT-based. It records balances and balance updates on the blockchain. The payment execution, such as linking to other JP Morgan systems or compliance processes, is performed off chain.”

MEDIA & MARKETING

Why building a trusted community outshines reliance on intent signals in B2B marketing

⑤ The value of building understanding and trust of your brand cannot be overstated.

“Intent signals can offer glimpses into potential buyer interest, but several vital limitations often hamper their effectiveness: ambiguity of signals, data quality and accuracy; privacy concerns; and time sensitivity.”
“Creating a vibrant community of professionals around your brand’s mission fosters long-term engagement and interest, offering benefits that surpass the fleeting insights from intent signals: ensuring ongoing engagement; building trust and credibility; transforming members into advocates; and gaining valuable customer insights.”
“Practical steps to building a professional prospect community: 1. content matters. If you want people to keep reading it, make it valuable; 2. don’t just publish- engage, answer questions, participate in conversations; 3. personalise your interactions; 4. ask for feedback; and 5. recognise and reward.”

WILDCARD

CEOs in the age of anxiety

⑥ CEOs are broadening their concerns to tackle an ever more complex world.

Source: The Financial Times, 1 July 2024

“Politics is a top board-level concern these days. […] Most participants believed the EU was in danger of falling apart, given unstable politics in both France and Germany, and that post-Brexit Britain had ironically become the least ugly house on the block that is Europe.”
“Chief executives are hedging their bets, big time. Business may complain vehemently in public about tariffs, populism and the risks of industrial policy, but in private leaders know that in future government will play a much bigger role in how companies are run.”
“Some multinationals are beginning to find opportunity in all the crises of the moment. […] There is a clear sense of a real political economy pendulum shift around the world. That is in turn forcing business to truly change how it thinks and operates at the ground level. To the extent that companies become more productive, sustainable, efficient and market sensitive as a result of this, it will be a good thing for both Wall Street and Main Street.”

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Off cuts

The stories that almost made this week’s newsletter.

The last word

⑦ Bethany McLean, reviewing Richard Behar’s new book on Bernie Madoff:

Bethany McLean. Source: Penguin Random House, 6 July 2024

“No one on the Street actually thinks about investors as real human beings. We’re just grist for the money mill.”

Don’t settle for marketing.

Strive for InMarketing.

Wishing you a productive week,

P.S. As if there was ever any doubt, Jeremy King’s latest is a triumph.