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90 Seconds with Harjeet Singh, Sr Director Marketing and Demand Gen Operations, Finastra

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90 Seconds with Harjeet Singh, Sr Director Marketing and Demand Gen Operations, Finastra

Tell us about your role at Finastra?

Finastra is a global Financial Software company with over $1.8b in revenue. It offers the world’s largest range of market-leading financial services solutions to unlock the power of financial services for all. We enable the financial services world to deliver the future of banking with applications that power financial institutions, marketplaces that accelerate the industry and an open innovation platform for banks, fintechs & non-banks to connect and collaborate. Finastra serves customers in 130 countries and prides itself in a culture of innovation and collaboration. The company has a commitment to diversity, inclusion and equality and is dedicated to improving access to, and equity and opportunity in the financial services space.

I specifically look after Finastra’s marketing operations globally as Sr Director, based in the headquarters in London. The role covers enabling a broad-based Martech, data that helps investment and measures performance in relevant areas, reporting requirements and identifying and implementing best practices. Over the last few years, we have been working towards improving our marketing, gearing (Contribution / Investment) from <1 to over 3.

2.    How did your business adapt and evolve in light of the pandemic and in this new world?

Once the pandemic struck, Finastra had to quickly evolve its marketing tactics. We had been testing out rigid BCP plans so ‘working from home’ wasn’t an issue. However, the go-to-market strategies had to change as the market went indoors too. We adopted every aspect of the marketing function during this time. For prospecting and engaging ‘top of the funnel’, we moved from physical to virtual events, adapting our website and digital marketing strategy quickly to meet the challenge comprehensively. 

We also brought in various changes in workflows and implemented several new concepts to engage with our target market. These included implementing an AI-based marketing/sales enablement system, creating an insight/intent-based demand generation engine, bringing in practices like account-based marketing and amending the content creation and presentation layer, making it more engaging and personalised. We also brought in a conversation AI-based engagement bot to engage better with visitors to our website.

3.    What top tips would you give to fellow B2B marketers?

B2B marketing generally and more so in the fintech marketplace continues to evolve quickly. With over 10k technology-based systems available today, the challenge is to evolve marketing into a measurable, performance-based engagement and demand generation engine. Gone are the days of marketing being seen as a cost centre. Marketers must always ensure they understand the changing market dynamics and adopt their tactics. Now, with the advent of AI, ML and RPA-based technologies, the pace of change is likely to increase even more in the near future.

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

AI-based solutions and embedded AI-based systems are now taking over. ChatGPT and other evolving platforms would add to the speed and fun of creating new content. Existing digital and email-based tactics are likely to continue to be used but with the adoption of more interactive and personalised content.

On the media front, new platforms like TikTok and short-form videos on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram offer new channels to market and they must be leveraged. LinkedIn remains the leading B2B brand development and engagement engine. Tactics on LinkedIn and spending on this platform must be managed well for a healthy ROI.

5. What are the top 5 Fintech marketing trends to watch out for in 2023? 

There are lots happening in Fintech marketing. In my view some of these are the key trends:

  • More re/upskilling in marketing with new systems and tactics
  • More focused investment in engaging content and engagement strategies
  • Development of a better understanding of Martech and making it more efficient
  • Evolution in the measurement of success and adoption of new strategies
  • Marketing is more than lead generation so marketers would focus more on deal influencing and nurture in life customers to reduce churn

Harjeet Singh, Sr Director Marketing and Demand Gen Operations

at

Finastra – www.finastra.com