How the partnership economy is helping to power the financial sector

impact.com Customer Success Director Smita Pillai discusses how the partnership economy opens up a world of opportunity for the highly regulated financial sector.

As the partnership economy evolves, brands, publishers and creators - even in highly regulated industries like the financial sector - are able to work together at scale to form deeper connections with modern consumers, all while maintaining regulatory compliance.

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This is especially the case in sectors such as financial services, where consumers tend to seek more information during their decision-making process. For example, the consumer may research the merits of different products on content sites, blogs and comparison sites, looking to influencers and experts in their social and professional networks to educate themselves on products best suited for them before they make a purchase. Partnerships offer financial services brands the opportunity to connect with new and existing customers in ways that are relatable to them. 

However, the unique nature of the partnership economy can mean brands and advertisers must relinquish some control of a campaign’s creative to reap the full rewards - but doing so can have a transformative effect on their marketing activities. 

Partnership recruitment

The process of engaging a new partner can vary, depending on whether you’re a publisher, brand or creator. For publishers, finding brands that offer products or services that will enhance the lives of their users is important, as are shared values - they want to align with those that share their ethics and outlook.

For creators, things can work a little differently. As Michela Allocca from BreakYourBudget.com points out, active creators often face a steady stream of enquiries. “I don’t do a huge amount of outreach for new work,” she says. “Most of my partnerships come directly via social or agencies. I like to work with brands that are reputable and seek out long-term engagement, which is always the best way to do business. Critically, a brand's product or service must prove valuable for my audience.”

For brands too, recruiting a partner is an increasingly serious business, simply because of a growing appreciation that a good fit is critical for campaign performance and brand safety. 

But across the board, there is a common theme: you need to take time to get it right and aim for a long-term partnership, as it’s highly desirable for all parties to create trusted, productive partnerships - and these can take time to get right.

A trusted channel for reaching new consumers

The partnership economy allows brands to reach consumers in a way that emphasises trust and authenticity. Influencer marketing is often a great way to drive traffic and drum up demand in new places; it can bring new consumers to a brand they may not be familiar with, and help to debunk misconceptions about a particular business, in a way that feels trustworthy and compelling.

“Influencers help us reach new audiences, offering a diverse range of voices and opinions that resonate across multiple sectors," says Julia Salume, Global Influencer Team Lead at IG. “Younger audiences mainly consume content via social media, and there is a lot of bad content out there. All we can do is support the growth of good content. The point is; that there is already conversation happening, whether we like it or not. As a brand, you have not only an opportunity to step up and show your expertise to potential future clients, but also a duty to actively fight misleading information by organically educating the viewers".

Blending creative control, industry compliance and brand guidelines

The financial sector is highly regulated, and brands are culpable if their partners do not adhere to industry compliance requirements. But at the same time, partnerships with editorial independence work best, and partners - who have already been carefully chosen - should be given enough control to produce the type of content that works for their audiences. 

So the question becomes one of how best to brief creators in order that they use their freedom and unique style in ways that also align with the brand’s own standards. Brands must demonstrate that the audience that they are trying to reach is best understood by the creator themselves, who know what content their audience will react well to and what they won’t.

From an influencer’s perspective, understanding a brand and its goals is crucial, which is why a long-term partnership tends to produce better results. Many creators simply won’t work for a company that tries to control the creative too closely. Far better is for brands to guide what they are expecting, and then set creators free to work within those parameters. 

Having confidence in a partner’s abilities to maintain compliance is key, because brands can’t - and shouldn’t - have complete control. Evidence of heavy corporate influence isn’t authentic or relatable, and influencers need to talk in their own voice to effectively engage their audience. To this end, getting to know an influencer helps a brand understand them as a person, understand their reputation and their character, which limits risk. 

“It’s taken us years to strike the right balance between creative control and industry compliance. When custom editorial or video is part of a media campaign, we have a full review process. The ultimate goal is to avoid writing or producing advertorial content. 

We've built enormous trust with our users and they come to us for credit card, loyalty, and travel advice. And we take that trust seriously, so the content must be authentic to TPG's brand voice.” says Christopher DiScipio, Senior Director of Partnerships & Business Development at ThePointsGuy.com. “But, at the same time, we've also built years of trust with our partners who give us creative freedom. The foundation of that trust is because they know we also have a process on the regulatory side and have a fully dedicated compliance team to ensure everything is compliant with T&Cs and industry regulation.”

A great option to allow creative freedom whilst avoiding regulatory breaches, is for the creator to write a script in advance. This allows the language used to be approved before content is created, safeguarding against a misplaced sentence attracting unwanted regulatory attention whilst still being the creator’s own words. 

Developing a partnership

Planning for the long term is the way to maximise the positive effect of a partnership and boost campaign performance. But also important is a focus on testing and iteration, which helps both sides of the partnership to optimise their campaigns. Responsiveness is vital, and the partnership economy offers great opportunities to react quickly to events.

Ultimately, reporting on full-funnel performance is the best way to judge the true value of each partner, as no single part of the funnel tells the full story. Some partners can achieve a moderate number of views but a super-high conversion rate. Understanding those partners, and where they add value, helps to build a strong relationship.