Welcome to the latest episode of At the Forefront: Fintech Conversations!
To learn more and listen to our previous episodes, click here.
In this episode, Forefront VP of Account Management CJ Lengua sits down with Managing Partner Eric Soderberg to discuss our recent article providing tips and tricks for B2B firms looking to cut costs and properly allocate their marketing budget during an economic downturn.
To begin, CJ and Eric identify some best practices for maximizing ROI when attending industry events. These include signing up early to secure discounted rates and maximum visibility on the event’s promotional materials – and, while it might seem obvious, shipping sales materials in advance to avoid overnight shipping costs. Next, they discuss various ways firms can unlock efficiencies via partner marketing. By partnering with a fellow industry firm with a similar audience and objectives, whether on a webinar or an in-person client event, your company can enjoy double the exposure at half the price. Eric specifically highlights webinars as a low-cost, high-impact tactic – they require minimal resources to execute, and online registrations are a great form of lead generation.
CJ and Eric go on to discuss the importance of using data to drive spending decisions. While being intentional and strategic about budget allocation is key regardless of market conditions, it’s even more critical when money is tight. Eric reminds firms to specifically check on their Google and LinkedIn ad spend and assess how their ongoing campaigns are performing. Data tells a story, so if the campaigns are consistently falling short of relevant benchmarks, it might be time to scale back the investment.
The episode wraps up with Eric sharing some creative, outside-the-box tactics for squeezing maximum value out of a marketing budget, including bartering with publications and event organizers – trading a newsletter feature for an event ticket, for example. In sum, by optimizing your marketing initiatives, leveraging preexisting channels and taking advantage of the natural synergies that exist both within your firm and with its partners, you can emerge stronger on the other side of an economic downturn.
For more tips and tricks, read Eric’s full article: Marketing During an Economic Downturn: 8 Tips for B2B Fintechs Looking to Budget Effectively.
If you’d like to learn more about how Forefront can help your B2B fintech implement strategies to improve your marketing ROI, please reach out!
See below for a breakdown of what was discussed. Happy listening!
Timestamps:
1:35 – Top tips for event marketing
4:45 – The benefits of partner marketing
7:25 – Using data to inform spending decisions
9:35 – Leveraging webinars to raise awareness and generate leads
10:25 – Bonus, outside-the-box tips and tricks
