We are continuing our interview series by asking a series of questions to Mandy Idol, our Head of Marketing and Coryn Simmons, our Marketing Manager to gather their thoughts on XUP’s marketing strategy, and tactics they think are necessary for the fintech space.
How do you define and develop your marketing strategy at XUP?
- Mandy Idol – Our marketing strategy at XUP contains a detailed plan of our promotional efforts across different platforms and channels. It includes our objectives, target audience profiles, value propositions, proof points, messaging and KPIs.
- Coryn Simmons – We learned very quickly that marketing fintech products and services requires an in-depth understanding of your target audience. When we prepare our strategy, we are constantly looking for new and engaging opportunities where we can provide value with targeted messaging and education that’s easily accessible for our audiences.
Which forms of marketing generated the best brand positioning for XUP as a startup?
- Mandy Idol – In the early days of XUP, with a very minimal budget, we focused the majority of our awareness efforts on our LinkedIn channel. We were regularly creating new content (blogs, thought leadership) to share with our audience and engaging in conversations across different fintech groups, positioning us as thought leaders in this space.
- Coryn Simmons – We would participate in fintech specific conferences like Money20/20 or FinTech Meetup to gain visibility to thousands of visionaries, decision makers, influencers, and peers. We participated in an industry specific podcast to connect with our audience about our products and brand. A few of these efforts have even turned into real leads.
How do you go to market now since KeyBank acquired XUP?
- Mandy Idol – We had to revisit our marketing strategy and understand how we should modify our objectives, target audience and value proposition. It’s exciting to expand our messaging, tactics and KPIs to a much broader level, leveraging the KeyBank master brand that has been around for over 200 years.
- Coryn Simmons – How we go to market is really dependent upon the audience we are trying to reach and the message we are trying to convey. We have opportunities where we will go to market as a single brand specifically utilizing XUP messaging, and we have opportunities where we lean on the master brand and go to market as KeyBank. KeyBank has many talented, smart professionals in its organization, and we leverage their brains/insights whenever we can while defining our go to market strategy.
What are some fintech marketing tactics people should explore?
- Coryn Simmons – A strong content and digital strategy is always a great consideration. We try to create valuable content that educates our customers and equips them with the tools or knowledge they may be looking for. Podcasts, whitepapers, blogs and client success stories is where we focus from a content perspective. Paid ad campaigns, social media and email campaigns are part of our digital marketing efforts.
- Mandy Idol – I agree with Coryn, all great tactics for your marketing strategy. I think one the most important components is evaluating performance and impact of these tactics. The insights and understanding gained through the data gathering / ROI process will help a marketer better identify the right mix of campaign efforts in the future and maximize impact.
We recently interviewed XUP’s Chief Revenue Officer and Head of Strategy, how does the marketing team work with/ interact with that team?
- Mandy Idol – Our strategy is very closely aligned as we both play a role in customer engagement, revenue generation and market awareness. Our teams must work together in synergy to achieve the goals we set forth each year.
- Coryn Simmons – We all collaborate really well together, sharing best practices, market trends and customer data. At XUP, we believe in the ‘fail fast’ mentality and are always encouraged to share ideas – big or small. It’s a great culture to be a part of.
