Own it

This week

Read on?to learn why:

①?If you’re not paying,?you’re not in control.

②?You should own?your main marketing channel.

③?The UK Government covets?a leading role in fintech.

④?The UK fintech sector?is bucking the downward global trend.

⑤?TikTok cannot be ignored, even by B2B marketers.

⑥?It’s a bad time to work?for the UK regulator.

⑦?Blockchain is the future?of finance.

What's new?

You’re not going crazy. IMTW was missing in action last week. And, er, the week before that too. This time though, I have an excuse that doesn’t involve lingering over a second bottle of wine on Saturday: Revue, the Twitter-owned email platform I use to bring you IMTW, was offline

In short:

• Without warning, Revue went down as I began to draft the last issue of IMTW.

• It remained down without explanation for more than 24 hours, leading many users - including your editor - to take to Twitter to complain. To death ears, as it turns out.

• One company that was listening though was Substack, a competing email platform. They took advantage of the outage, emailing Revue users directly to entice them to switch. Deftly played, Substack.

Why does it matter?

I love Substack’s agile approach here and this issue of IMTW could easily have been devoted to their impressive guerrilla marketing tactics - but that’s for another day. No, I think this incident matters because it illustrates how important it is to be in control of your most important marketing channel.

Most marketing strategies - quite rightly - harnesss a mix of owned, paid, earned and shared channels. But they typically do so to direct your audience back to your own channel(s) - typically your website, blog or online portal. That’s where you can begin to qualify and nurture them. Potential sales leads should then begin trickling into your funnel. That’s why you ‘main’ marketing channel is so critical.

① The danger arises when that marketing channel is controlled by a 3rd party and it’s their responsibility to maintain it. That danger becomes even more accurate if you’re not paying for it and there is no responsibility on the 3rd party to provide a certain level of service. You’re at their mercy.

What's next?

Take action

It’s the middle of the summer, it’s quiet. Why not take the time to do a short audit of your marketing channels this week? First, list your channels by segmenting them into four buckets:

• Owned?(e.g. your website)
• Paid?(the media outlets you advertise in)
• Earned?(your media relations targets and the journalists who know you well)
• Shared?(the social media where your audiences are)

Then map out your user journeys. Are your shared, earned and paid channels all pushing people to your owned channels? Or are you relying disproportionately on a channel you don’t have complete control over?

Finally, think about the factors that might drive you to abandon any of the channels you don’t own. Technical failure - like I experienced with Revue - is just one risk. Paid channels can unexpectedly become cost-prohibitive; social channels can bow to political pressure and seemingly overnight become somewhere you don’t want to have a presence; friendly journalists can move on to other beats.

② The bottom line is this: of course you should leverage paid, earned and shared channels. But your main marketing channel should always be under your full control.?

Get help

Visit InMarketing, my resource library?for leaders in finance or technology who want to innovate, interact and influence.

Join my InMarketing Twitter community, where you can ask questions or comments of me but also your fellow community members of senior marketing practitioners.

Share

Can I ask you a favour??If you found this useful?or know someone who would, please share it. It would really help me to grow the community of regular IMTW readers.

What else?

Three other articles?that are worthy of your time.

FINANCE

UK Treasury unveils Financial Services and Markets bill

③?The UK Government continues to covet?a leading role in fintech.

• “[Chancellor] Nadhim Zahawi said that, under the bill, stablecoins and so-called ‘digital settlement assets’ would be regulated as a form of payment in the UK.”
• “The government will have to consult the Bank of England, the PRA and the FCA before changes are made.”
• “The bill, which repeals hundreds of pieces of EU retained law, is controversial in the UK as it paves the way for ministers to ‘call in’ regulatory decisions made by the Bank of England.”

TECHNOLOGY

UK fintech sector investment grows 24%

④?The UK fintech sector?is bucking?the downward global trend.

• “UK FinTechs have raked in ￡7.6bn in funding, only second to the US (￡20.8bn), more than the rest of Europe combined and?double the amount of Germany (￡2bn) and France (￡1.9bn).”
• “Despite the influx of funding, the growth in the first six months of 2022 has ‘paled’ in comparison to the 217 per cent year-on-year growth reported for UK FInTech last year, when investment levels soared back to their pre-Covid highs.”
• “The figures, from data platform?Beauhurst, show that during the first quarter of 2022, equity investments into UK fintech companies hit a ten-year high of ￡2.5bn.”

MEDIA & MARKETING

TikTok is the fastest growing source of news for UK adults

⑤?TikTok cannot be ignored, even by B2B marketers.

• “TikTok is currently used by 7 per cent of UK adults as a news source, compared to 1 percent in 2020.”
• “Although TikTok has risen fast as a news source in the UK, it’s still only the sixth most popular destination among those aged 16 to 24 (where it’s used by 27 per cent of the demographic). That’s behind the BBC website/app (29 per cent), Twitter (35 per cent), news TV channel BBC One (36 per cent), Facebook (40 pe rcent), and Instagram (46 per cent).
• "Among 12 to 15 year olds, the skew towards social media news is much greater. The top three digital news sources for this group are Instagram (29 per cent), then YouTube and TikTok (both at 28 per cent). However, these news sources are still outpaced by the two most important for teens: talking to family (65 per cent) and watching TV (59 per cent).”

One more thing...

⑥?Citywire reports that?more than two-thirds of staff members don’t think the FCA is a great place to work.?

• “Only 16% of FCA staff members have confidence in the regulator’s executive team, while more than two-thirds don’t think the FCA is a great place to work.”
• “Only 30% said they think the FCA is a ‘great place to work’, 49% said they were satisfied with their job security, and only 25% said they were satisfied with the remuneration and rewards on offer at the FCA.”
• “Asked if they were?satisfied with the strategy and direction of the regulator,?37% said they were, 30% said they felt management delivered on their promises, while 52% said they would tell other people outside the FCA that they were proud to work there.”

Off cuts

The stories that?almost?made this week’s newsletter.

FINANCE

???? Barclays to host CBDC hackathon

???Jane Fraser keeps Citigroup out of harm’s way — for now

???A post-Brexit bonanza eludes both the City and the EU

???Blackstone reports surging inflows; warns of economic slowdown

???Global market tumult slows growth in ETF industry

TECHNOLOGY

??Blockchain has the biggest potential since the internet

???Revolut’s UK risk and compliance chiefs quit

???Starling posts first annual profit as revenues rise 93%?but?abandons plans for launch in Ireland

???PensionBee sees 72% rise in invested customers

???Moneyhub and Pennyworth partner on financial planning

MEDIA & MARKETING

???Twitter and Snap results send shudders through ad market

???Euromoney accepts ￡1.7bn private equity offer

???The BBC is making a three-part Mark Zuckerberg documentary

?????Nucleus appoints Aegon’s Fraser Smith as Head of Marketing

?? Why brands shouldn’t segment consumers

The last word

⑦?Peter Harrison, Group Chief Executive, Schroders?on blockchain, while announcing that?the asset manager was buying into?digital assets firm Forteus:

“Blockchain will be a catalyst for fundamental change within asset management, financial services at large, and many other industries more broadly. It not only has the potential to transform the efficiency of existing solutions but will drive the democratisation of private assets; it represents a new frontier of technological and financial innovation.”

About

Written for CEOs, marketers and other leaders in the financial sector,?InMarketing This Week?is a showcase for news likely to impact them - delivered with insight on why it matters and ideas on what to do about it. It’s published every Sunday to give you a head start on the week. Read it?here, or?subscribe?to?have it delivered straight to your inbox at six, before it's available anywhere else.