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Market like a Fintech is a podcast by Mint Studios and the Fintech Marketing Hub, on a mission to find out what marketing strategies and tactics the top fintech companies in the industry use to acquire real customers, build a brand and grow revenue.
Araminta Robertson: How do you
create content in an industry where
the stakes are really high, the
competition is fierce, and your
readers are really discerning.
In fact, some of the most
discerning in FinTech.
If you don't know what industry I'm
talking about, I'm talking about
the compliance and regulatory space.
And I know it's a topic we've covered
before, but I keep coming back
to it because compliance content.
When done well offers one of the
best playbooks for FinTech marketers.
You can't get away with mediocrity.
The audience is just too sharp,
too smart, and they can sniff
out fluff from a mile away.
But there's an upside, which is
that they're also some of the most
engaged readers out there for them.
Consuming content is
really part of the job.
But the challenge with this space
is that it's quite saturated,
and with the rise of AI generated
content, there's even more going on.
And in a space like compliance
where accuracy and nuance is really
important, you can't really outsource
it to chacha, bt, and call it a day.
The bar is just too high.
And I think what we're seeing in
compliance now is really just the
beginning and the rest of FinTech will
follow high quality, expert led content.
Content is really gonna be
the only way to stand out.
So in today's episode, I'm speaking
with Dawn Crew, CMO at truly you.
And she's someone who understands
this better than most.
She's got leadership experience at
SAP TransUnion and now truly you,
where, she's seen the compliance
content game evolve firsthand.
For those unfamiliar with Tru You,
they are a global powerhouse in digital
identity verification, helping companies
onboard users in seconds rather than days.
And they currently enable verification
for more than 5 billion people, 700
million businesses across 195 countries.
With Dawn, we talk about why content
is central, to truly use go to
market, what enterprise level content
strategy really looks like, how to
differentiate in a crowded space and
the lasting impact of the rebrand
they did a couple of years ago.
I really enjoy this discussion
and I hope you do too.
Let's get into it.
You are listening to the
market like a FinTech podcast.
My name is Ara Minta, MD admin studios
and partner at the FinTech Marketing Hub.
And with this podcast, my aim is to
explore the strategies and tactics
that top marketers around the world
use to grow FinTech companies.
We have discussions about how to navigate
compliance, the intricacies of marketing
technical products, and targeting
hard to reach ideal customers, all of
that while living the startup life.
I hope you enjoy this episode.
I'd just like to start from the beginning.
So tell me a bit about your role as CMO.
What does the day-to-day look
like and also from a contact
perspective where is your input?
There?
Dawn Crew: so my day to day, it varies.
I would say there is no day to day if
I'm traveling I am typically up and at
it, in the morning with meetings, and
Doing that throughout the day, and
the topics that, that I'm covering span
from, what are we doing with our, like
what are the go-to market priorities
what's happening with, content to support
the campaigns, the actual campaigns
themselves, how we're performing, and
then what's our, pR and media strategy.
So, and then positioning and messaging.
So do a lot of context
shifting throughout the day.
It's primarily in person and virtual
discussions, meetings, workshops, and
quite a bit of travel to the events
that we are at and other types of things
that we do in the field with customers.
Araminta Robertson: Nice.
So if we were to, dive into content,
what would you say is the role
that content plays across like
True's wider marketing strategy?
Dawn Crew: Content's critical,
like content's the core of our
strategy of our go to market.
It's really how we bring it to life and
add value to our prospects and customers
throughout the entire life cycle.
So.
We look at content from
a few different angles.
We look at it from the industry angles.
We have a large market
share in marketplaces and
payments type organizations.
And so those are two different industries
who may be doing identity verification,
but doing it very differently.
So we look at our.
Content playing a part to
add value from an industry
specific lens for our customers.
And then for prospects, we look
at, okay, if somebody is engaging
in making a decision about
identity verification technology.
Are they early on?
What are the types of things that,
that they would need to know?
Are they in evaluation?
Are they making a final decision?
And so our persona as an organization,
our brand persona is the trusted expert.
So all of our content the role that
it plays is to help amplify our voice
as an expert in the identity world.
Araminta Robertson: And I've seen that
you do a lot of different type of content
across a lot of different formats.
What have you seen, like the trusted
expert, what kind of content do you feel
is the one that resonates the most or
is most important for a trusted expert?
Or would you say it's all of them?
Dawn Crew: I think it's all
of them and it's dependent.
and so what we like to do is.
Look at, the industries, the big
major problems, trends as well as
where somebody is in their journey.
Are they deciding on an identity
verification solution or are
they trying to optimize one
that they've had for years?
And I think in terms of coming forth as.
The trusted expert the case studies
and success stories are by far the
most requested pieces of content
from our customer success teams as
well as our new business sales teams.
And because they tell the story.
They tell the story of the power of
our solution, and it's typically.
The customer telling the story,
which is even more powerful
than us telling it ourselves.
But we also do industry reports and we
look at our data and the millions and
millions of transactions that we see.
In a period, and we draw insights
from those and we create reports
that showcase our thought leadership.
And then we do a lot of content, which
is just specific informational type
content about our solutions because
people have basic questions and we want
to have them out there so that they
can have them answered at any time.
So.
I would say that those are,
probably the key areas where we
are continually developing content.
Araminta Robertson: Yeah.
One thing that I really liked
is that when you go on the truly
use product there's two CTAs.
One is obviously book a demo, book
a call, and another one is like.
Read a solution sheet or read a
buyer's guide, because I often find the
issue with case studies is few people
actually read case studies alone.
And so the best way to use case studies is
to input them in other pieces of content.
And so someone on a product page clearly
looking to understand the product, that
is the best place to add a case study.
So how are you finding, like adding
those solution sheets and everything
to that, to those product pages?
Have those worked really well you find.
Dawn Crew: Yeah, they work really well.
We find that our engagement numbers
are increasing because it's one
thing to say, Hey, I want a demo.
That's a big commitment from a
customer or prospect to say like, Hey,
I wanna take my time and actually.
Interact with you
virtually or in real life.
A lot of times they just wanna learn
before they're ready to take that step.
And so offering both has really
impacted engagement because someone will
come, they'll read, they'll learn by
downloading something, and then they'll
say, oh, I have advanced questions.
Let me request a demo
or a live interaction.
So I see them working hand in hand.
Araminta Robertson: Yeah.
Yeah, definitely.
I really like it.
I think it makes a lot of sense.
so let's talk about content strategy.
Like you're producing so many
different types of content.
how do you put together your strategy?
Who's involved in creating the team?
Like how big is the team or who
are the people involved in it?
How does that work?
Dawn Crew: Yeah, I mean, content
strategy is a team sport.
A lot of things in enterprise
technology are team sports and
marketing and content are no exception.
We build our strategy around really
three pillars thought leadership
and sort of authoritative pieces.
Like.
Bylines speaking sessions, interviews,
things that showcase our expertise
in identity verification and our.
Longevity.
and our vision in, an
identity verification.
We also build content around our
account-based marketing program.
So we do very personalized account
specific content that supports
our sales team in engaging.
Specific roles within accounts or
helping them to accelerate a deal.
And then as I mentioned before, the case
studies, right, the testimonials, the
case studies, those real world examples
with measurable outcomes are the third
pillar that we build our content around.
Araminta Robertson: Yeah.
So thought leadership makes
sense that it's a big pillar.
'cause obviously you're
the trusted expert.
How do you try and measure.
It's hard to measure, depend, but like how
would you try and gauge like how you're
seen as a thought leader in the market?
Do you try and measure that or how do
you try and see if it's successful?
Dawn Crew: Yeah, I mean, when we
rebranded a couple of years ago, we
did a global study on awareness and
perception of Trulio in the market,
and that was a baseline for us.
Today it really manifests
by tracking engagement.
so that's a very objective tracking
who is engaging with our content
through what channel, what topic.
And then the other piece of it is more.
Qualitative or subjective.
And that is the feedback from the field
that somebody in the group that they're
talking to is aware of Tru, knows our
position in the market and has recently
downloaded or read some content that
they reference in a conversation.
And so it really is that.
Qualitative and quantitative view
that we take to help us prioritize
our time in creating future content.
Araminta Robertson: So let's
talk a bit about channels.
'cause you just briefly touched on them
there, what are the main channels that
you're distributing that content through?
You mentioned, customer success are
gonna be using a lot of the case
studies probably the sales team as well.
What are some other ways that
you get the content out there?
Dawn Crew: Yeah.
there's a lot of channels and I read an
article recently, I think it was put out
by McKinsey, that the number of channels
and the number of engagement points is I.
More than doubled in the last several
years in terms of how a company needs
to connect with their customers.
And we think about it as using all
of our channels in an integrated
marketing approach to connect
with our customers or buyers in a
meaningful way wherever they are.
And so we look at, reach and impact.
Obviously we have a number of owned
channels, so our blogs on our website
are some of the most visited pages
for new and returning visitors.
We do create white papers.
I've mentioned the case studies.
We do a lot of webinars, and
the webinars are interesting
because we're able to engage with.
More customers in, sometimes in some cases
than net new prospects because we try to
create content through our webinar channel
that's really very specific educational.
And not combined with the
thought leadership, but not
only thought leadership we do
have earned channels as well.
So we have our PR channel of
course, and we also have speaking.
We consider that as a channel.
We have a bench of experts at Trulio
that we have on stage at the various
key conferences in the identity world.
And those are very
successful channels for us.
We also have.
Paid channel.
We work with a company that
does content syndication for us.
And we use them because as many channels
as we own or can earn on our, by
ourselves, they have access to even more.
Digital channels where our
buyers are spending time to
learn and download content.
And so I think those are
probably the main channels.
I would also consider like our website,
the Uber channel there that the
people come to, to access all of that.
Araminta Robertson: one thing that I
really love about this space is that
I feel like identity verification,
compliance, and content are kind of
like a, a match made in heaven because
you're targeting people who, it's
like their job to consume content.
Have you noticed, like compared to other
like FinTech companies that you've worked
at that with Trulio, it's even more true.
That content is super important
because you're talking to people
who are constantly having to stay
up to date with regulations, having
to understand like how to keep up
with fraudsters, that kind of thing.
Have you noticed that as well?
Dawn Crew: Yeah, I think this the
personas in, our audience at large
are always looking for new insights,
ideas proof points methods, tips,
tricks to take back into their
organization and do their jobs better.
Identity verification is not.
there's not a simple solution.
It's a really complex problem
and it varies from industry to
industry, from country to country.
In some cases, state or
province, differ as well.
And so Tru delivers very sophisticated
solutions to help our customers
address these complex problems.
And so.
It's not a one size fits all.
It's not a, here's a how to guide.
It is a lot of content to help
educate as well as inform on
the most recent happenings.
And so yeah, we do see the audience
consuming a lot more content than
I've seen in other industries.
Araminta Robertson: Yeah.
And that's what I find so interesting.
And also it's like.
You also often can't even just
say, okay, this is the new reg.
You also have to interpret it and help
the reader understand what's going on.
Like ideally, like that's
best kind of content
Dawn Crew: And that's an interesting
area too, in this space, right?
Because regulatory compliance
is, it's not black and white.
It's variable.
And the compliance officers are
in the position of really ensuring
compliance without a ton of risk.
And so managing that
balance is something that.
Our customers take full ownership of,
and we operate as their trusted experts
to share with them the flexibility
and modularity of our capabilities
and how they can implement them,
to meet the regulatory compliance
requirements as well as maintain the
best kind of cost per good verified.
User and future proof their identity
verification processes as well.
So again, I come back to it's not
a simple one size fits all solution
and the regulatory landscape
definitely keeps it interesting.
Araminta Robertson: Definitely.
And also, there's quite a few players
in this space creating a lot of content.
what do you find is important to ensure
that like Trulia's content stands out
and is like really that trusted expert?
What do you think is necessary to
take that like to the next level?
Dawn Crew: I think that it
stands out because it's true.
It stands out because it's specific.
It stands out because
it helps our customers.
Learn things that they can then take
back into their organization and
deliver better value to their company.
And I think by helping our customers be
successful, we are inevitably successful.
Araminta Robertson: But would you say
like in terms of producing that content,
have you found that there's specific
processes that help in creating like
that really high quality, like for
example, involving or asking the experts
to write that content or basing it.
On like interviews, how do you
really ensure that it's, 'cause
it's exactly what you said, right?
You have to stay on top
of things constantly.
So how are you able to do that, to
ensure, like the content's at that level?
Dawn Crew: Yeah, I mean we do have a
pretty experienced, small but mighty, but
very experienced content team and they
draw upon others in the organization.
We're also very fortunate that we
have brilliant and prolific writers
on our product management team.
so they are.
Key for us in getting very specific
technical insights into our content that
an engineer or a developer appreciates.
So it's not just the business
outcomes, it's also the technical
viewpoints that are really
valuable to get into our content.
And so the team taps into.
The product and
engineering folks for that.
I think the other part of the
organization that's very active
in supporting the development of
our content there's two actually.
It's our solutions consultants.
So the technical expert architects
who are in the meetings supporting
sales, doing demonstrations,
setting up proof of concepts.
they have, front seats to what's
going on in the market, and so they
provide a lot of input to our teams.
Which ensures it's really timely and
relevant content that we're putting out.
And then last but certainly not
least is our customer success team.
The team that works with our
customers day in and day out.
Not just to get them implemented, but
to do ongoing quarterly business reviews
and ongoing performance optimizations
and ongoing support as they add on new
countries or reconfigure their workflows.
Those.
Teams throughout Trulio are very
much active in input to our content.
Araminta Robertson: It really involves
everyone, like this is what's required
to create the right quality, and this
is often what I see, I think is the
issue or why content isn't as good as
it should be is because it's just the
content marketer or just the writer
doing the content based on research.
If you don't involve the people who are
talking every day to customers then it's
just not gonna resonate with the reader.
Dawn Crew: Yeah.
And there's different processes
and methods that will go about it.
From crafting something, from an outline
perspective, just with bullet points.
And then, having them flush it out.
Sometimes we get input.
I know our machine learning
and AI experts are.
Bringing content fully written, long form
content to us to then use in a way that
makes sense through our multiple channels.
And then Lauren will also sit and
interview our experts and gather
insights for other interviews or
speaking slots or, long form content.
So there's a, a number of different ways,
and I think it's really important for.
A marketing organization and
content creators to be flexible in
terms of how they get that super
deep and detailed information.
It's gotta be based on how the
stakeholder works the best.
Araminta Robertson: Yeah.
I couldn't agree more.
And I think also writers who are willing
to get their hands dirty and really
understand the product themselves,
like this is something that I'd say is.
quite important in FinTech, especially
where the products are quite technical.
As a content marketer or a writer,
you need to be willing to spend
time understanding the product.
'cause if not, it's gonna get tough.
I also think this is an exciting
use case for ai, which we'll
talk about in a second, where.
You try and ask the SME the subject
matter expert to share their thoughts
recording and then you can somehow use
AI to turn that into a piece of content.
But anyway, I'll talk
about that in a second.
I wanted to ask a bit about your
rebrand, 'cause you did that a couple
of years ago and I think, you know,
a lot of companies are often scared
of doing a rebrand of implications.
So I'd be curious to hear like, what
was the process behind the rebrand
and how did you find that really
helped your content strategy or how
did it affect your content marketing?
Overall?
Dawn Crew: our rebrand really
was a comprehensive end to end.
Repositioning of Trulio in the
marketplace, and as I said,
we did this global survey.
We got input from our customers and
personas within target type accounts to
understand their awareness of TRU and how.
They viewed trulio and the thing that
came out in every single way we sliced
and ded the data was that we were
viewed, we had a high level of awareness
in the market and we were viewed as
a trusted expert, hence our persona.
And so that has really driven
a ton of our content strategy.
The other things that we look at are our
brand pillars when we're creating content.
Truly global.
So wherever you are in the
world, we perform the best.
Built for business.
So really focusing on the enterprise
grade identity tech that we deliver.
And then, intelligent technology,
so the depth of our AI ml and the
specific product capabilities.
So our rebrand really impacted kind
of the voice that we take out to
the market, and then the pillars
within which we organize our content.
And so regardless of
whether we're speaking to.
Compliance leaders or product leaders or
risk people, we are able to communicate to
them against that framework, so to speak.
it also, I would say, caused us to
do more socialization on inputs and
reviews before we put content out.
We also focused on specifics
around our solution and why it's
better, why it's different, and
why it's better at a very technical
level, not broad brush statements.
And I think if we hadn't done the
rebrand, we would've maintained
our, good quality content.
But it wouldn't have been at a level,
maybe a couple of, it wouldn't have stayed
a couple levels higher than what our.
Customers truly value.
I would say that the biggest impact
it made is how we look at all of our
content being created through the
lens of we are the trusted expert.
Araminta Robertson:
Yeah, I really like that.
So you didn't have that persona
in mind of the trust expert
before you did the rebrand.
That was not something you had in
Dawn Crew: didn't,
we did not have a
Araminta Robertson: okay?
Dawn Crew: persona
Araminta Robertson: Okay.
Okay.
Dawn Crew: Yeah.
so that was part of our
entire rebrand process.
It wasn't just a visual rebrand.
It was a full inside out rebrand.
Araminta Robertson: Yeah, and so this
kind of helps direct what the style guide
should be, what tone you should take when
writing the content is all from this.
Like imagine you're that trusted
Dawn Crew: Hundred percent.
That's exactly right.
Araminta Robertson: Yeah,
no, this is awesome.
And I really like that idea
of a persona because I think.
When you're a writer, it really
helps to imagine who you are.
It sounds like it's a little bit like
the older brother who's like a bit more
experienced or older sister or whatever.
And that helps a lot when writing.
'cause you can more easily imagine who
you're talking to you mentioned content
for or enterprise as one of your pillars.
How do you find like creating content
for enterprises like different
to other types of companies?
Have you found that something seems
to work better than others, or maybe
they're more interested in webinars?
What have you seen as maybe
different about targeting
Dawn Crew: Um, I think the biggest
difference for enterprises, you have to
have several different form factors for.
Them to engage with and they, while
they all have to sort of hang together
in a cohesive way, they all need to
add value on their own enterprise.
Leaders especially, in our identity
space, as you referenced before, like
they're always looking to learn things
and so you've got to be creating content
that could be accessed through multiple
channels, but you also have to be
creating different types of content.
Some may want to join a webinar and that
will spark some ideas for them to come
back to our website to look for things.
To download more specifics on something
that they may have picked up in
the webinar, whereas maybe a small
business or medium sized enterprise.
They sort of take a more, all in
one platform approach to learning
everything at the same time.
And the enterprises are gonna go deep into
a specific topic that's relevant to what
they need to be working on at that time.
They're larger organizations,
typically a lot of different people
trying to tackle a similar problem.
And so the quality and quantity of
content and the variety has to be there.
Araminta Robertson: Yeah, because the
content targeting, like the person
who's gonna implement the solution
versus the person who's going to figure
out how this fits into the product
versus the other consultant that's
advising, they're all gonna care
about different parts of the product.
How do you find.
That it's important that the right
person finds the right kind of content.
Do you think that's just a matter of like,
making it really clear within the website
or how would you make sure that the, each
person on that committee finds the content
that's relevant specifically to them?
Dawn Crew: Yeah, I think
There definitely is.
It's important to make sure that we have
content created for the different members
of the buying group, because as you said,
they all care about different things.
Not all of that content is
accessed through the website.
We do targeting, through.
Email, for example, or digital,
but our sales team is also
a really big channel for us.
I didn't mention that earlier.
And that's where the content, like
for the developers or the engineers,
they're gonna access that more through.
I mean, they may go online and hopefully
they do read our developer documentation.
There's a lot of very rich content there.
But our sales teams also, as they get
to know the members of the buying group,
know what the topics are that have, that
are of key interest, the problems that
they're trying to solve and the angle
that they're trying to sell them from.
And then they'll work with
the content team through
product marketing and product.
To access content we have in our library
or to create bespoke content for them.
Araminta Robertson: And I would say
this is maybe a big difference between
enterprise and other types of companies.
Where enterprise is gonna be, the
sales team is probably gonna be
your, or the people delivering the
A BM campaigns that are gonna be
The channels, The main channels.
Dawn Crew: I mean, you'd be surprised
these days how many enterprise customers
are interacting with us before they get
on the phone or enterprise prospects.
Quite a bit.
But those are going to be the more top
of funnel thought leadership, right.
Mid funnel type pieces.
Once you get into architecting a solution
it's definitely through the sales team.
Araminta Robertson: Yeah.
Nice.
I'd like to finish on the topic of
ai, 'cause it's a very interesting
one in the content space.
Could you share some ways that
you're testing it from a content or
a marketing perspective as well, just
in general, some ways that you're
finding it to improve the content or.
Save time or save resources,
anything like that.
What have you found has worked quite well.
Dawn Crew: I mean, look,
everybody's playing with ai.
I think it is great for, Either helping
draft something by just putting in
your raw bullets or ideas drafting
something to, the ball rolling.
Exactly.
It's also good to help summarize
really long things like white papers
or even webinars optimizing for SEO.
I mean, we still need heavy human
interaction to make it at the
level of a truly trusted expert
and I think in our business where.
The problems are complex and the
solutions are really sophisticated.
We can only take AI so far and
maintain our trusted expert persona.
So don't get me wrong,
we're using it everywhere.
We're experimenting with it everywhere,
but we still need that human interaction.
Araminta Robertson: Definitely.
I think it's interesting also because
whereas maybe in other audiences the buyer
will use chat PT to do their research
in compliance, they're gonna be a lot
more wary of chat PT because it could
hallucinate, it could get things wrong.
And in identity and compliance,
the sticks are so high.
Right.
You cannot get something like that
wrong, and so they might be less
willing to do attach GBT and much more
willing to go straight to the truly
you website to a trusted expert and
get their content straight from there.
That's a thought I had,
I
Dawn Crew: Yeah.
Yeah, and,
and I think the other dimension, which
isn't necessarily a productivity one, is
as marketers, we have to really understand
the AI and ML in our own solutions,
that's not natural for marketers, all
marketers to be able to just pick up.
And so AI for content creation,
yes, that's one thing.
But marketers understanding AI as they
develop their content is something
else that we've really found.
We have to, and that we have invested in.
Araminta Robertson: Yeah, as in
don't give it certain data or
understand that it's word prediction
like, is that what you mean?
Like how it
Dawn Crew: Well, no.
It's a couple things, but
what you're saying, yes.
I mean, we can't put anything.
We never put anything into, you
know, a chat GPT for example,
that's proprietary things that
are gonna live on our public web.
Fine.
But nothing proprietary, so there is some
kind of learnings that have to go on.
No, but what I mean is as marketers,
we have to create content that
explains our AI and ML in a way that's
very technical and yet engaging.
I think that's a new motion for
a lot of marketers these days.
And in order, right?
Everything's ai, there's so much noise
that the challenge for marketers today
is to communicate effectively of why
our AI and ml, is different, why it's
better and that is something that
customers are asking more and more for.
Araminta Robertson: Very interesting.
That's a whole topic in itself.
my last question is, could you share
a piece of content that Trulio has
created that you're proudest of?
Dawn Crew: one piece of content
I would say that's out there
right now is our trends report.
That's been a standout
piece for consecutive years.
We do a comprehensive analysis of
key trends and offer insights and
suggestions of how our customers tackle.
Those trends.
I did mention our, our case studies,
but I also think, one of the
things that I'm most proud of and.
Shout out to our, leader Lauren Kay, . Has
driven this for us is really the number
of our thought leaders, our experts that
we've gotten on stages at conferences or,
Have been part of expert
panels at customer conferences.
That is a testament to living
our trusted expert persona.
And while it's not long form written
content, it is a channel for us
and we are delivering content in
a, presentation or panel style.
And I think of anything, that's
the thing I'm most proud of.
Araminta Robertson: That's amazing.
I love that.
Well, thanks so much, Don, for your time.
I really appreciate it and I'm
really excited to, to get this
case study up and published.
Dawn Crew: Great.
Well, thank you so much.
Araminta Robertson:
Thank you for listening.
You can find show notes and information
about guests at fintechmarketinghub.
com forward slash podcast.
And finally, huge thanks to Orama.
tv for producing this podcast.
We look forward to having
you on our next episode.