FinTech50
SHOW AND TELL: BUILDING REPUTATION
THROUGH THE POWER OF STORYTELLING
Claudia Bate, Associate Director and head of Hotwire’s Financial Services
and Corporate Communications practice
F
ew can deny that the wave of FinTech innovation that
recently rolled across the financial services landscape
has fundamentally reshaped the industry. With the
democratization of peer-to-peer lending and funding, new
payment and financial engineering solutions, and the rollout
of every financial app you can think of, new behaviours and
expectations have been generated amongst business and
consumer clients. Financial institutions and banks have
found their seemingly safe market share under threat, yet
surprisingly, have not always been quick to react. Perhaps
this is because, as well as driving innovation in the industry,
the disruptive new companies that joined the financial
community have also significantly altered the incumbent
model for stakeholder communications. Moving away from a
tightly prescriptive focus on telling customers and prospects
about services available, these firms have reintroduced the
venerable concept of storytelling, and have used narrative to
communicate their values and the benefits their technologies
can provide.
As they have taken on the challenge of encouraging
businesses (not always an audience open to change) to think
differently about their financial tools and move away from
the familiar, disruptive FinTech firms have used sophisticated
storytelling techniques to build audience engagement to their
advantage. A focus on emotions, benefits and transparency,
supported by personal testimony from company founders,
has fostered a new wave of openness and inclusiveness in
the industry. Today, the gauntlet has been thrown down whether you are an industry institution with decades of
experience or a young startup targeting strong growth - you
need a compelling narrative to compete and win.
This new way of communicating is a major break
with the past for the financial sectors. Many banks and
financial institutions have viewed bland press releases
and pre-approved executive interviews with traditional
media as the best communication tools, ensuring full
control of messaging and impact. As many companies have
struggled with the public perception of their businesses,
due to regulatory and financial scandals, this may be
understandable. However, in today’s dynamic FinTech
environment, it feels hopelessly out of date.
In comparison, technology firms have proved quick
to reform their communications, following the tech bust
in 2000 and a wave of cynicism from investors and the
general public. For years, these companies focused the
communications on touting new innovative features,
insisting that technology could do it harder, better, faster,
stronger. As such, they tended to overpromise on the impact
of technology and in the end underdeliver in real benefits
to the end user. Investors pulled out and the general public
began to see technology as Frankenstein’s creature, all
features and improvements, but no soul within. In recent
years, however, communications have been wrested away
from features-fixated engineers, and have incorporated new
narratives of business benefits and industry change.
Given this brave new world of communications, FinTech
innovators are in a unique position to build and communicate a story, influencing how the market perceives them
and their technology. By explaining where an idea or service
has come from, showing the genesis and the person behind
a concept, and by demonstrating how new technologies
and innovations can change the way businesses work and
succeed, a FinTech firm can engage with their audience on
an emotional level. Whether the target is an investor they
wish to bring on board, or businesses they want to download the latest app or gadget, by showing them the journey,
an innovator can gain buy-in and build excitement in their
offering.
In addition, FinTech firms can also take advantage of
multiple communication channels to spread the word,
increasing audience reach and amplifying the power of their
narrative. From blogs and forums, through to social media
outlets such as Twitter and Facebook, a firm can provide its
audience with access to multiple viewpoints of the company
and its technology. As an audience is engaged and better
understands the power of a company’s ideas, they may even
join in for the ride, becoming a powerful echo chamber for
the company’s story.
THIRTY-SEVEN