Fireside chat with Lauren Arhur, Head of Marketing, Nucoro

The Comms Crowd recently caught up with Lauren Arthur, Head of Marketing at our client, wealthtech provider Nucoro. Lauren filled us in with how she got into the world of fintech, what she loves about this unique sector, and why working with The Comms Crowd has been such a success.

So Lauren, how did you get into the fintech sector?

It was more by accident than design. I secured my first marketing role with a company that specialises in enabling local government to adopt technologies, platforms, and processes to promote new ways of working. It was a good feeling to be a part of an organisation that was producing solutions for the greater good and bettering the lives of people within local communities.

Seeking a new challenge, I began exploring fintech and took my role at Nucoro. Although fintech is different to local community-focused tech, it shares many of the same values and I was drawn to the sector’s efforts to make finance accessible to more people. Wealthtech in particular has an altruism at its core that seeks to bring services that were once the reserve of the affluent to a much broader audience and that has been a rewarding  to be part of the evolution.

What about some of your personal fintech career highlights?

Generally speaking, being involved in a sector that is updating a legacy industry with such energy and innovation has been really exciting. In terms of specific projects, there’s been so many I’ve enjoyed contributing to, but some of the webinars and events do stand out.

There was a webinar we hosted shortly after the last lockdown on the topic of trust in banking. We were concerned that there might have been a bit of ‘webinar-fatigue’ after what had been a gruelling period but it proved to be a spirited and engaging event. It was great to hear respondents speak with such enthusiasm on how they’re using the Nucoro platform and share some of the great outcomes they’ve enjoyed. The recent Money20/20 was also a highlight – it’s been great to see the stand come to life, and to feel the buzz of a large conference with lots of people keen to transform financial services.

Another campaign we ran analysed how the top 30 European banks are offering digital saving and investment products. We produced a pithy infographic and hosted a webinar alongside. It was a fantastic demonstration of the industry’s innovation and appetite for new technology.

So, why did you look to partner with a PR agency?

We had been outsourcing parts of our PR to a freelancer but we found the relationship to be very transactional in nature with little in the way of guidance. However, when we explored agencies, we found the price-points to be too high for what we needed.

It got to a stage where we thought that what we were looking for was too niche; a PR agency that was friendly to our budget, able to keep on top of planning and strategy, could offer expert guidance and advice, were great to work with, and – crucially – knew the space. It seemed impossible at first, but then we found The Comms Crowd.

We are a small agency, was that an issue?

Not at all, ultimately, when you outsource part of your business to an external company, you want them to make your life easier while producing measurable results – that’s exactly what The Comms Crowd team does.

They obviously have great internal communication which means they’re always organised and stick to the structures that we jointly put in place. More than that, they’re just good people who are always keen to help and offer extra support. The time we spend together is consistently productive and we’ve enjoyed some great brain-storming sessions from which ideas have become real outcomes.

Results-wise, they have a knack for getting things right the first time and we’ve seen some great traction from their PR initiatives.

Proving ROI on PR can be difficult. How do you feel adding PR into the marketing mix has impacted your overall marketing metrics?

We were a little skeptical of success at first, but we’ve had some great coverage in  publications like CityWire, FTAdviser, and Finextra that has produced both enquiries and some positive feedback.

On an internal level, the comprehensive reports, and yearly reviews that The Comms Crowd provide are ideal for sharing upwards so the Nucoro leadership can have visibility of how the PR and marketing function is performing.

Overall, it’s been a great experience. Having dedicated, knowledgeable professionals to walk us through various processes and present compelling ideas has been invaluable.