11:FS with Eric Fulwiler | E190

In today’s episode, Jason is going to talk to Eric Fulwiler - Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer at 11 FS. It is a well-known consultant in the financial services space that specifically helps traditional financial institutions launched digital products. Episode Highlights: 1.46: Talking about 11 FS, Eric says, “We are five and a half years old now. We work with traditional financial service institutions to help them essentially navigate digital challenges and opportunities in their industry.” 2.12: Eric explains, “We do a lot on the strategy side and open big banks, insurance companies, payment providers, wealth management businesses, navigate those changes, where the opportunities where the challenge is coming from.” 2.52: Eric explains about the product called PULSE, a library of Fintech user journeys from around the world. 3.50: “We got some really smart people in the company and many smart people in the industry that we know. We try to bring them together and give them a platform to share what they know and hopefully add value to their financial service professionals.” Says Eric. 7.40: Jason says in Fintech all came in on an angle that came in with a method of monetization that challenges your model. Because at the end of the day, part of their value proposition had to be on cost. 8.35: 11-FS is really a fintech company, but we work with traditional organizations and financial services, and so it is really interesting to see the different perspectives and approaches that start-up to traditional companies take to everything, explains Eric. 8.54 Eric: The start-ups can grow faster in many cases because of the approach they take to marketing and their go-to-market. The more relevant, modern, and current your marketing approach is, the better the result will be able to drive. 10.18: Marketing is the function within an organization that should be closest to the customer. It is what connects the products to the customers you’re building it for and trying to reach, and many Fintech do this well. 11.50: Good marketing communicates the story of your business in a way that is compelling, relevant, and differentiated, and so that’s what any CMO or any business needs to be focused on. 14.35: Jason affirms, in terms of marketing, companies will not do the extreme things necessarily because they don’t want to alienate the mass market that big cultivated for so long. 16.16: Jason points out that some fintech in this world has kind of cornered the mind on market share in certain demographics and functions, and that is unbelievably valuable because now they have become a default. 18.43: Jason asks, “How much do you think the negative hangover of 2008 the global financial crisis kind of impacts the demographic marketing, basically inhibit the willingness of that demographic or eagerness that demographic to work with traditional vendors?” 20.05: Eric says that the second-best marketing is people who you know and trust already telling you that you should do something, and you see a lot of these Fintech taking that approach. 23.40: Many banks are just trying to throw everything they do at you in a digital experience in one shot because they think more is better, or that’s their competitive mode, says Jason. 24.15 Eric: Technology companies in general, think about how you have the attention and the connection with the customer? When they are building apps, it is not just about delivering, but how you can make the experience one that people enjoy. 3 Key Points: 11 FS is the layer on top of the technology that delivers the intelligence value-adding experience to the end consumer that will differentiate successful propositions from not successful propositions. What we are trying to build with Foundry is the level on top to really be able to enable those intelligent propositions, which is really what everybody should be going for. Modern marketing within start-ups and Fintech is about adding value, whereas traditional marketing is more about extracting value. It’s about how do you get this customer to do that thing. The business and the brand that delivers more value is going to deliver Better Business results in the long term. Fintech, by the nature of being small, is usually shaving off a piece of the market so they can be more specific in how they communicate and what they say they offer. Fintech is certainly digital-first in the marketing approach that they deliver, and that allows them to be more relevant because they can segment their audiences better. Tweetable Quotes: “The start-ups can grow faster in many cases because of the approach they take to marketing and their go-to-market.” – Eric “Marketing is the function within an organization that should be closest to the customer.” – Eric “The company that is closest to the customer and has the most trust is the company that will win in the long term.” – Eric “You know having any business is about the people at the end of the day.” - Eric Resources Mentioned: Facebook – Jason Pereira’s Facebook LinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s LinkedIn Woodgate.com – Sponsor LinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s LinkedIn Eric Fulwiler – LinkedIn Podcast Editing