Fintech thought leadership is catching on. Whether you're a large neobank or a fintech start-up, thought leadership can help you secure new customers, engage investors, and poach top talent.
In this article, we provide a primer on fintech thought leadership, helping you understand the nature of fintech thought leadership, why it's important for all types of businesses, and how to run an effective campaign.
Fintech is a complex sector that remains poorly understood. Many companies operating within it could arguably be divided into their own sub-sectors because of how much they vary.
With virtually all fintech firms handling personal data, finances, and sensitive information, a lack of understanding has led to distrust, which is partly why as much as 75% of investor-backed fintech start-ups fail.
However, lacking public trust isn't exclusive to fintech. Even the internet faced trust issues when it first rose to prominence in the 90's. Today, people freely share their data online, and most know how it's used.
The same outlook is possible for fintech. It's still a relatively new, highly technical sector that's only taken off within the last decade.
That said, there's a lot of work to be done before fintech is widely accepted, with half of consumers remaining unconvinced by digital payments companies, blockchain and crypto firms, and AI advisers.
Negative headlines, such as those likening crypto to a Ponzi scheme, and strict regulation imposed on neobanks, have further eroded public trust.
What's been missing is enough leaders willing to tackle the sector's troubles head-on. As fintech has rapidly progressed, anxieties have only intensified.
For instance, as companies like Revolut continue to grow, the question of whether neobanks will overtake traditional banks becomes increasingly relevant.
Moreover, does crypto risk global financial instability?
These types of questions need answering.
Thought leadership can be a powerful tool for fintech companies and their leaders.
It involves an executive using their expertise to share engaging insights and opinions on behalf of their company across various platforms, such as online blogs, social media, and earned media coverage.
Because it breaks the credibility barrier by educating and forecasting about industry developments, social issues, or environmental concerns rather than selling a product or service, it helps to build trust.
For fintech leaders, it can be crucial to bring audiences on the same page and tackle common misconceptions.
Other than instilling trust, thought leadership can drive various audience behaviours.
It can lead to a increase in subscriptions or sales.
Convince investors to support a funding round or IPO.
Encourage governments and policymakers to tweak regulation more favourably.
Increase visibility among potential B2B partners and suppliers.
Drive technological research and innovation to solve industry bottlenecks.
This is just scratching the surface.
For example, our research even shows that visible leaders recruit better.
To become a fintech thought leader, you must have a strong but timely campaign message offering a fresh perspective on a particular issue.
Though it’s important to avoid alienating certain groups, your campaign message can't rehash what others have said and needs to be bold and impactful to engage audiences.
For instance, if you were to revisit the idea of neobanks overtaking traditional banks, you could predict this would take place by 2030.
Once you know what you want to speak about, refresh all of your multimedia content and online bio's to ensure that everything about you is up-to-date.
To appear online as the best possible version of yourself, consider hiring a multimedia team to capture videos of you speaking about your ideas to set yourself apart.
Thought leadership is always about looking at the bigger picture.
Unlike marketing, it should never focus on a service or product, but analyse and respond to industry, political, or social trends that all stakeholders will be interested in.
While thought leadership should encourage a discussion between your audiences, messages communicated through a marketing campaign can either be accepted or rejected.
Moreover, marketing campaigns usually run for several months before they have an impact. They are also rarely tweaked or cancelled because of the time and budget put behind them.
Thought leadership, meanwhile, isn’t only budget friendly but highly flexible, often producing instant results.
You might talk about BNPL regulation one month and how AI is changing customer experiences the next. It just depends on the audience you want to target.
However, successful campaigns will often depend on the credentials of the individual representing their company. For instance, demand for a founders or CEOs insights will, in most cases, be much greater than a CMO.
So, if you're not a senior figure within your fintech, consider who else might be better suited to represent the company.
No. Thought leaders and influencers are very different.
Again, like marketing, influencers exist to increase sales by reaching a certain demographic and changing the way consumers think about the service or product being advertised.
Moreover, influencers don’t encourage innovative thinking. Thought leaders do.
By nature, fintech is a highly technical industry with lots of moving parts.
Starting out by explaining how your fintech works, the latest advancements in technology you use, and how you aim to improve customer experiences can be a good way to ensure your audiences understand your ambitions.
Moreover, by directly outlining how your fintech prioritises security, you can dispel any anxieties your customers or investors might have.
Quite often, fintech leaders avoid conversations like this since they don’t want to unearth a regulation debate. However, these are the exact topics thought leaders must put their stamp on.
Alternatively, if you’re unsure about what you can speak about, consider a simple keyword search on Google for some inspiration. This can help you uncover new trends or publications that might be interested in your opinions.
Performing well in the media and on social media is not a given. It often takes time to build a strong reputation that warrants coverage in a publication like the FT or thousands of followers.
However, to improve the reception your content has, there are several things you can do.
Firstly, make sure you always use relevant data to support any points you make and avoid misinformation.
The fintech industry is complex and rapidly evolving. Confusing audiences with untrue or outdated insights can be significantly damaging, particularly with so much regulatory scrutiny.
Besides, evidence-based arguments are much more persuasive and more likely to achieve any objectives.
Secondly, you should be mindful of the language you use across different channels.
Just like you wouldn’t want to frustrate industry experts by overexplaining every term in the trade press, it’s crucial to simplify language for social media audiences who may not be as technologically adept.
Lastly, be polite and receptive to feedback, even when people disagree with your ideas.
Journalists will be more inclined to work with you, while social media audiences will continually engage with your content if you’re respectful and good-natured.
You might have ground-breaking insights, but if people can’t emphasise with you, those insights may go unnoticed.
Other than media engagement, fintech thought leaders should consider attending and speaking at industry events. In the fintech sector, there are many of these.
Some specialise in key areas such as web-3 and blockchain, while others are broader. But all events allow audiences to put a face to the name.
Moreover, appearing at these events tells audiences you are genuinely passionate about the issues you speak about.
You will also be joined by other accredited professionals within the industry who can further boost your credibility, and you'll have more opportunities to network, attract investment, and secure various partnerships.
In fintech, as in many sectors, visible leaders are in high demand.
Executives who embrace this role are more likely to gain recognition and influence than those who don't.
While there is no exact timeline, consistently contributing to a wide range of fintech publications and regularly engaging with relevant topics can help leaders gradually build awareness of their name and company.
Eventually, there might come a time when journalists come to you for insights rather than vice-versa. You may even be mentioned across others' LinkedIn accounts.
These are all good signs that you've built a strong profile. Just make sure that you stay committed to thought leadership to ensure you don't fall by the wayside.
If you enjoyed this article, you can read more about how financial services PR might help you here.