People buy people

When it's all said and done, marketing and sales (whether in B2C or B2B) is really just about making a human connection.

Last Sunday’s email , sent during the UK’s period of national mourning, ended with a reminder of how no one wants brands commenting on societal affairs. This week, the ever-insightful Mark Ritson?expanded on the theme . It’s a great read.?

Now, read on?to learn why:

①?On social media, being human is more important?than looking slick.

②?Being real, inclusive and consistent?will help you connect online.

③?Embracing threats as opportunities?ensures you win either way.

④?Leadership in fintech?requires regulation and standards too.

⑤?Marketing is more critical?than ever.

⑥?London’s role in finance, much like Britain’s in the world, is in flux.

⑦?Cryptocurrencies shouldn’t be confused?with stablecoins or blockchain.

What's new

The Financial Services Forum carried?an interview this week ?with social media strategist?Andrew Jenkins .

① In short:

• “Banks should stop worrying about production values and start using social media to humanise themselves.”
• “He mentions working at Royal Bank of Canada, where the Twitter account called RBC News had around 700 followers who were all journalists. ‘It had zero engagement but it served a critical role for the dissemination of corporate news.’ For reaching consumers directly with corporate news, however, he advocates a different approach.”
• “One example he gives are people just coming out of conferences and sharing three takeaways that really resonated while they are still fresh.
• ‘The device is there in the palm of your hand that can create great content. The goal is not to go viral. The goal is just to share content that will be of value to your audience.’ He says that these types of activities can help to humanise banks in particular. There are ways to do it, he says, while remaining on brand.”

Why it matters

With the conference season now in full swing (and perhaps?the biggest one of all looming), this interview is a timely reminder that our approach to social marketing needs almost continual reconsideration. In the words of Ferris Bueller, “life moves pretty fast” and your online audience’s expectations are shifting constantly.

The mistake so many financial organisations - and tech firms, especially ones that serve the financial sector - make is to believe that they need to look polished at all times. Precious marketing budget gets thrown at expensive video production agencies, studio hires or media partnerships to achieve it. The truth that too many marketing folk in finance seem unaware of is that ‘people buy people’. On social media (the clue is in the name) particularly, people warm to accounts that display some character, some humanity, some reality. And the best way to achieve that is to be just a little less polished.

As Jenkins says quite clearly, that means giving people the freedom to be themselves. A quick video recorded on an iPhone - even (whisper it) with a selfie stick - as you leave a conference session to share key takeaways is worth so much more than a shiny slick movie produced by your comms team back at the office two weeks after the fact, when you’ve long since forgotten what really struck you as important and are instead just regurgitating corporate key messages.

What to do about it

Take action

② Sit down with your marketing team this week to discuss your social strategy. Consider three aspects:

• Be real:?Don't script your people. Give them guidelines, of course. More importantly, give them compelling content to share and ideas on how best to do it. In short, enable them. But then get out of the way and let them be themselves - whether it be on video, audio or in writing.
• Be inclusive:?Don’t limit your social marketing activities to a group of spokespeople. Every single member of staff is a potential advocate of your brand. Make sure they all feel empowered to talk about it on social media.
• Be consistent:?Being yourselves and involving a wide group doesn’t meant you shouldn't also be ‘on brand’. Talk to you marketing team about social ‘assets’. It could be branded infographics, intros cards for videos, audio jingles. Whatever it is, give your staff the ingredients they need to make their social media posts on your behalf look and feel like they comes from your brand. Just don’t worry too much about typos or video focus. That’s not what people connect with.

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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.

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Why it matters

The other articles?that are worthy of your time.

FINANCE

How JPMorgan’s plan to kill credit cards split the bank

③?Embracing threats as opportunities?ensures you’re covered either way.

• “The diktat came from Jamie Dimon during a closed-door meeting at JPMorgan Chase’s headquarters in November. Facing growing pressure from nimbler fintechs, [he] pushed the leaders of his two largest divisions to put aside any differences and collaborate on a new payments processing system. ‘If I hear that any of you aren’t sharing information with each other, or you’re hiding information, you’re fired,’ Dimon told the 15 or so executives who had gathered for the meeting.”
• “The belief in some parts of the CIB that this ‘pay-by-bank’ product had the potential to supplant plastic created inevitable tensions with JPMorgan’s consumer and community banking division — the CCB — which booked more than $5bn in card revenues in 2021. Dimon, however, reckoned it was better to risk existing revenue than to allow non-bank competitors to beat JPMorgan to the punch.”
• “In the short term, JPMorgan believes pay-by-bank is an alternative for rent and bill payments as well as cash, high-priced debit and cheques, rather than for credit cards. In the longer term, however, the bank is making sure it is ready for the potential demise of credit cards.”

TECHNOLOGY

Government and regulators 'asleep at the wheel' as UK risks fintech lead

④?Leadership in fintech?is as much about sound regulation and standards as it how clever your technology is.

Despite the good news this week that?Silicon Valley Bank is creating a UK subsidiary ?and?Brits are leaving Europeans trailing in digital banking , fintech founders have growing concerns about the country’s leadership. CityAM reports:

• “According to the Fintech Founders Summer Survey, nearly 90 percent of founders said they lack confidence in the future of the UK economy and over half felt their voice was somewhat ignored in policy and regulatory circles.”
• “Scarcely a third believe Britain is the current fintech world leader, down from 56 percent last year and under 10 percent of founders think the UK is a leader in crypto.”
• “Over 40 percent of survey participants reported that insufficient access to funding was the number one obstacle to growth and over a quarter want the Government to speed up delays through improved resourcing of the FCA.”

MEDIA & MARKETING

What B2Bs need to know about their buyers

⑤?Getting your marketing right is more critical?than ever.

“A survey by Bain and Google of 1,208 people at U.S. companies who are involved in buying software, cloud hosting, hardware, telecommunications, logistics, marketing, and industrial equipment revealed a set of misconceptions among sellers about how buyers behave.

• Sellers don’t realize that 90% of buyers choose a vendor that was on a short list at the beginning of the sales process;
• they focus too much on high-level decision-makers, underestimating the number of people inside the buying company who have influence;
• they ignore how vendor websites can strongly influence the search and forget that a strong digital presence goes beyond the website;
• they neglect physical selling; and
• they don’t realize how much the product demonstration factors into buyers’ decisions.”

WILDCARD

The City is fighting to carve out a post-Brexit role

⑥?London’s role in finance, much like Britain’s in the world, is in flux.

Despite?breezing past European rivals to retain its finance hub crown , London still needs to find new business lines in which to excel, writes The Economist:

• “Brexit harmed [the City] less than many had feared: 7,000 jobs and ￡1.3trn ($1.5trn) of assets were lost from a sector that employs 1.1m, manages investment funds worth ￡11trn and holds banking assets worth ￡8.3trn.”
• “Yet the City’s shine has dulled. An index compiled by Y/Zen, a think-tank, shows that London’s position has slipped. International firms opening a European hub, whether Japanese banks or Chicago trading outfits, prefer Amsterdam or Luxembourg. And the City’s problems are Britain’s. The financial-services industry generates around a tenth of economic output. In 2020, together with associated professional services, it contributed taxes of nearly ￡100bn, or 5% of GDP.”
• “The efforts to reverse this gentle slide are taking place on three fronts:
• An attempt to make Britain’s markets and financial institutions more competitive by streamlining regulations.
• A wide-ranging debate over how to convene more capital for long-term investment.
• A search for new business lines to replace the revenue that came from being a financial gateway to Europe.”

Off cuts

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

FINANCE

???81% claim targets but only 22% of asset managers have 'credible' net zero plan

???Sensitive Morgan Stanley devices were auctioned off online, finds SEC

?? The Sachs of Gold are?hunting new revenues in transaction banking ?and?expanding services to Swiss clients

???Nasdaq launches crypto custody service

????Credit Suisse?shares hit record low ?and it?considers splitting investment bank

TECHNOLOGY

???JPMorgan partners AI/ML platform Cleareye to digitise trade finance

???HSBC invests $35m in Monese and takes minority stake

???Fnality is pitching for fresh funding

???Fintechs form Open Finance Association

?????Stablecoin restriction dropped from E.U. digital asset framework

MEDIA & MARKETING

???Why web analytics is poised to embrace Google’s GA4 platform

?? Email marketing:?How to segment your list ?while?Mailchimp is moving beyond

?????Google, Amazon and Microsoft under pressure as Ofcom probes

???Money Marketing’s Katey Pigden crowned platform journalist of the year

???? CMO appointments:?Algorand adds ex-comms head at Visa, Fidelity ?while?Pontera appoints Nicole Zheng

The last word

⑦?Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan?testifying in front of Congress this week on the distinction between blockchain (“real”, a powerful technology), stablecoin tokens (useful, backed by fiat, enhanced with additional data, and would benefit from being regulated) and *cough* cryptocurrencies:

“[Cryptocurrencies] are decentralised Ponzi schemes, and the notion that it is good for anybody is unbelievable.”

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.