90 Seconds with Deborah Thompson, Head of Performance Marketing at Banking Circle

Tell us about your role at Banking Circle

Banking Circle is a payments bank providing payments infrastructure to some of the leading payments businesses and banks. This includes Stripe, Paysafe, Nuvei, PPRO, Checkout.com, and Crown Agents Bank. As Head of Performance Marketing, my role is about using data to identify growth opportunities, devise the best strategies to nurture our target segments, and address lead management inefficiencies to boost our lead conversion rate through enhanced automation or a more reliable lead scoring model for example.

How did your business adapt its digital marketing strategy in the aftermath of the pandemic?

Physical events have always been a fundamental part of our marketing mix, offering unique branding and rapport-building opportunities. While the switch to 100% online was never going to meet that same goal like-for-like, during that time, we started leveraging digital channels beyond lower-funnel activation campaigns and towards more awareness-raising thought-leadership and community-building campaigns. This has benefitted us to this day, with our brand more regularly top-of-mind when prospects start considering vendors.

What top tips would you give to fellow B2B marketers?

My three top tips would be:

Keep your finger on the pulse of Martech innovation to help increase the efficiency of your lead generation and nurturing efforts, as well as your general account-based marketing.

Make sure you are comfortable enough extracting insight from mainstream data analytics tools by yourself, such as Google Analytics and PowerBI. There’s nothing like self-reliance when in need of an urgent ad-hoc report!

Network, a lot. It’s amazing how much we learn from speaking to peers. But for me, the main benefit is that sense of community you get from engaging with folks that have faced the same challenges as you at some point. B2B marketers, you are not alone!

What future digital marketing and media opportunities do you think marketers can leverage over the next year to drive business growth?

Intent data and predictive analytics will continue to show their value – Only a fraction of your target audience will be in the market at any given time. It is key to know with whom you can have more product-focused messaging vs a more high-level, thought-leadership-focused branding approach to remain top of mind.

Buying Group Marketing – More often than not, decisions in a typical target account are made by committee. Understanding the role each member of that group holds, as well as their motivations and pain points, allows for better ABM.

Story-telling – I may be a performance marketer, but I certainly appreciate that activation campaigns can’t be as effective without a strong brand as a driver, one that resonates with the audience on a more human level. What could Mad Men’s Don Draper teach us in B2B marketing?

What are the top 5 Fintech Marketing trends to watch out for in the next 12 months?

Predictive analytics, AI-driven marketing automation, B2C-inspired website conversion rate optimisation, a less timid exploration of the opportunities the Metaverse has to offer, and, for good balance, a renewed appreciation of the timeless value of in-person interactions.