Fintech Talks: How Brands Earn Trust, Relevance and Visibility

Speaker A: Welcome to the Georgia Fintech Academy Podcast. The Georgia Fintech Academy is a collaboration between Georgia's fintech industry and the University System of Georgia. This talent development initiative addresses a massive demand for fintech professionals and gives learners the specialized education experiences needed to enter the fintech sector. Fintech has never had more companies, more content, or more channels competing for our attention. And now AI has made it possible to create even more faster. So the question becomes how do companies actually stand out, earn trust, and become known for something that matters? Today I'm joined by Mike Neumeyer, CEO and co founder of Archetti Group, and Erica England, Vice President President of Arketti. Arketti works with B2B technology companies on marketing, PR, communications and growth. So they have a unique vantage point into what is actually breaking through and what is getting lost in the noise. Welcome Mike and Erica.

Speaker B: Thank you.

Speaker A: Before we get into fintech specifically, what are you seeing right now that has fundamentally changed how companies compete for attention?

Speaker C: Yeah, so I, I can start. And Mike, frankly probably views things the same way. I mean, I think that there was a point in time where creating as much content as possible was super important. That's obviously not a differentiator anymore, I think. And it's almost kind of silly to say it feels like such common sense. Right. But what becomes more valuable is original thinking and real expertise and sort of the meat and the substance behind that content that really helps to kind of switch gears and grab that attention that's needed.

Speaker B: Yeah, I'll jump in there. I was going to say AI, um, but in this case, AI really stands for authentic individualization, um, not artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is the, uh, great friend of mediocrity and especially when it comes to content, when it comes to data and analyzing things and researching, it's great. When it comes to, um, content creation and thought leadership, uh, it's very vanilla. So really having authentic individuals point of views, um, thinking, thought leadership, that, that really lets you stand apart thinking about

Speaker A: how crowded the fintech market is. There are plenty of companies with strong products, smart people. What separates a company from, from being recognized as category leaders, um, in their niche, from those that remain relatively visible.

Speaker C: So I'd say kind of playing off of what Mike just shared, having an actual opinion. So actually, um, using proprietary data to help storytell, relying on customer insights. A lot of companies have people who have worked in the industry for many, many years. So really leaning into that expertise that's been gathering and like putting that at the forefront I think is really important. Um, another thing that I share Too. I think a lot of folks, uh, really just focus on major announcements and they don't really think about the in between. So I think in order for a company to sort of establish themselves as market leaders, um, and really build that credibility, there has to be thought leadership and other mechanisms of building visibility in between those major announcements. I like to say category leadership isn't necessarily a big splash. It's credibility that's accumulated over time.

Speaker B: I will, um, um, tack on to that. Customers, customers are key. Like that's where the proof is in the pudding. If you can actually get someone to pay you for your idea, for your technology, for your solution, uh, that's really where the rubber meets the road. And sometimes not necessarily in fintech, but sometimes early stage companies focus too much on, uh, trying to secure funding or trying to win, uh, business competitions and startup competitions. Uh, I've seen a lot of, uh, startup companies that win a lot of startup competitions, uh, but don't win in the customer game and they're not around anymore. So customers are really where it's at.

Speaker A: Yeah. Putting the customer first, uh, as well as, uh. Erica, your point around almost the storytelling, because I feel like it's a journey. I immediately thought about, uh, some recent announcements on awards and recognition that I've seen where people missed the opportunity to talk about what got them there and why they're being recognized. Could you talk about like, what, what would that look like for a company that needs to share a little bit more about that journey?

Speaker C: Yeah, I think companies are very good at like trying to sell you the engine but not really where the car can take you. Um, I think that that is, to your point, a really missed opportunity. Leaning in on what's really important to the customer, how you made the customer the hero and shine, um, is really something that we kind of coach our clients on too. I think, um, whether it be award opportunities or speaking opportunities, bringing their story to the forefront, um, is a huge opportunity. Doing speaking sessions, things like that, really talking about, um, how you enable them to be successful is something that is really a great tactic that's kind of underused.

Speaker B: Talking about the we, not the me.

Speaker C: Yes.

Speaker B: Always serves you well, right?

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: I mean, who got you there? Your customers got you there.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Employees got you there, your husband and wife or significant other might have got you there. But, uh, talk about those we's and bring those in. Everyone wants to work with, or most people prefer to work with a servant leader, uh, someone that puts others first. Um, and I think, uh, that's just always A great North.

Speaker A: Thinking about some of the folks that I've seen do the things that you guys are noting really well. The other element I feel like is missing in some of the fintech companies that I see now is why should we care? What is the problem that's being solved or the point of the solution? What do you guys think about that? Is that something that companies should do more? I know there's a balance to be considered given all the other elements you mentioned already.

Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. We were both at Fintech South. All of us were at Fintech south, um, last week. And I think, um, the panelists that stood out were really the ones that talked about the why versus the what. Um, there was a great company, believe their name is silvershield, um, who really kind of focused on the storytelling behind, um, how to help older individuals combat fraud in fintech. And just hearing the founder's reason for building this company and the purpose behind it just made it so much more compelling. And I mean, he's not the only company out there who's doing it, but it was great to hear, like, his purpose and his why. And I think that that really pulls people in. So I think for fintech companies, like, naturally, it's very easy to talk about the features and functionality. We've got AI, we have APIs and our architecture. But, like, what are the problems that you're actually solving for your customers? And what can you add to the conversation that's different? And how can you bring your purpose and your mission into that story?

Speaker A: Yeah, I love that. Yeah, well said. I think about some of the fintechs that compelled not only my, my attention, but others in the room. There's always been that meaningful, touching story that initiated the work that they do. I do feel like people connect with that human element, uh, as part of that journey that you're highlighting, Erica. And I love that you highlighted specifically, uh, a FinTech at FinTech south, because I might have to go look them up. I missed that panel.

Speaker C: They're great. They were great.

Speaker A: Oh, perfect. So, just changing, uh, topics a little bit, thinking about kind of the activity I've noticed out on LinkedIn and other platforms. It seems to be a lot more pressure today on executives to be thought leaders and to have kind of a, uh, Persona, for lack of a better Word, on LinkedIn and other platforms representing their brands. Um, we also have an enormous amount of content that feels kind of interchangeable. What makes someone individually or a company credible? Um, when you think about thought leadership.

Speaker B: Yeah, I think you have to resist that urge to use AI, Right. And go back to that whole being an authentic individual. M. That's what's going to make, uh, you stand out from the crowd to make sure that it really is that executive's voice, that executive's point of view. Um, uh, something that's not unexpected from the individual, at least for those who know her or him, uh, personally, will get you much further than, um, something that's overly produced. Back in the early days of podcasting, I used to say, um, it's better to be gritty than to be glitzy. Um, and I think that kind of rings true for a lot of things on LinkedIn. Also, um, be a real self, um, and don't let your handlers or folks out there, uh, overproduce you.

Speaker C: Yeah, I think people can tell. I mean, it's pretty evident. I mean, forget the EM M dashes and what have you, but people should tell that, um, the content that's being produced a lot of times is just so manufactured. Um, so going back to Mike's point, avoiding being, um, one of the LinkedIn slop, AI slop, uh, criminals there also too. So LinkedIn, um, did introduce the kind of, that feature where people can go and basically indicate whether or not they feel like your post is kind of fabricated. But also Claude is watermarking, um, content too. So, like in our world, when we're working with clients on the media relations front and helping them develop contributed pieces, things like that, if that content's produced using AI, that's going to come up red flags everywhere for media outlets and then you sort of tarnish that relationship with media too. So there's a lot of, there's a lot of ways people can really call your bluff nowadays. So it's important, as Mike said, to really come to the table as your true self.

Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, now anyone that knows me and Erica's going to roll her eyes because she's heard this bazillion times. In order to be a thought leader, you have to first have a thought. Like that is the key of being a thought leader, an original thought, and then it grows from there. Um, so it's, it's not a, uh, thought put together by algorithms or put together by your PR comms team. It's. What do you, as an individual really think about? If anyone was ever so interested in dissecting my LinkedIn profile and everything I do on LinkedIn, they would probably find, uh, the two often used words in all caps are either awesome or rock and roll. You responded to someone Guess the rock

Speaker A: and roll one definitely might. I love that we started off with authenticity and we kind of transitioned into AI, which was going to be a topic I wanted to get deeper into thinking about how AI has like, transformed over the years and how much more familiar people have gotten with AI. It's interesting to think that there's almost an AI fatigue happening right now. So it started off where it was really cool and fascinating. I know I was definitely an early adopter of, of the technology. I did one campaign where I turned myself into an action figure with all of my. Yeah. And then I, I muppified, uh, Anya and Grant, uh, who went with me to Money20 20 Europe. And so some of those campaigns, for lack of a better word, um, were fun and it's whimsical. Uh, but then to your point, I do feel like as an industry or just as people over the past couple of years, we're now kind of fatigued by some of that. So where it was like, fascinating at one point, now it's a little bit, for lack of a better word, cringe, uh, in a way. Uh, and so I think there's almost like a balance too. Like when you're trying to creatively depict something visually and leveraging it as a tool versus, to your point, thought leadership and maturely showing and showcasing what you have to offer individually or as a company or as a brand are different things.

Speaker C: Yeah. I think, um, from my perspective, what I'm seeing a lot of times with media, they don't want to be pitched any more stories on AI like, they, they just, they can't. Their inbox is flooded with basically the same thing over and over again. So what we're really coaching, um, our clients to do is take a step back and think like, okay, what is something I can teach other people? What's a assumption that I can challenge? Um, what's something that maybe I can bring to the table, an explanation that I can bring to the table of something that's really complex, um, versus just kind of leaning on the fallback, um, run of the mill conversations that are currently happening on that space.

Speaker A: Interesting. That's deep.

Speaker B: Sure. I mean, think about it in terms of what you're doing in real life, Right?

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Irl. In real life. What. How, how would you interact with someone? Uh, face to face, uh, and, and then that bring. The other mediums can just augment. We can work with fun things with AI.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Still make a cool character of yourself. And, and you're, you're brain dead and you need to Write an email that's inviting someone to an event. Like that's a low, a uh, low threshold, easy administrative, performative thing that can be done super quickly. Uh, our good friend David Cummings has been writing a lot recently about using the voice feature in AI, which for someone like myself, uh, probably not Erica, she's a little bit more words driven, I'm a little bit more vocally driven. So like speaking what I want to say into Claude or copilot and, and having it shine that turd is like amazing. It's a technical term.

Speaker C: It's a good, it's a good checks and balance. Right. I think too for um, founders who are so busy running the day to day of their companies and may not necessarily have as much time to dedicate to. Okay, what are, what's kind of a different perspective or what have you on a trend? Using AI to kind of assess like what competitors are speaking about can help you kind of consolidate that information very quickly and help you identify the holes and where you can kind of jump in where the conversation hasn't necessarily gone before. And that's how you can kind of start down that road of building your own thought leadership platform. So to Mike's point, very, very helpful as a good checks and balance, but that's kind of one way that we see it working for, for folks who are maybe a little bit stretched for time and new to thought leadership.

Speaker A: Mhm. I love that. So more focused on strategy than outsourcing the work.

Speaker C: Yeah, I'd say so. I mean you, you can't, it's so evident when people are using AI to outsource their LinkedIn post and contributed articles and all of that. I mean you really need that human perspective and insight and AI can help polish things and, and help you kind of ensure that you're talking about something a little bit different or maybe um, gut checking what, what you're putting out there.

Speaker A: So you work with companies that really want media attention. Companies believe certain things are newsworthy, but journalists might not necessarily care about that as much. What is the balance? Like what is, what does that look like for, for companies who are really trying to get out there?

Speaker C: Yeah, that's a, that's a great question. Um, now I think sometimes it's hard because you're so entrenched in the day to day of your company. Right. And so it's important to take a step back and understand like what's important to your company isn't automatically important to everyone else. That product launch or that partnership or new feature that um, you're really excited about and is a huge deal internally may not be as groundbreaking externally. And there's a whole lot of reasons why. I mean maybe it's sort of like a me too solution. Um, but there's a place for those stories. And then uh, kind of looking at maybe taking some of those announcements and figuring out like how do you connect that with what's happening outside of the company? What are some of the bigger picture stories that maybe you can take that news and attach it to? Um, could be kind of looking at it through the lens of something you're seeing across customers. Maybe there's a surprising change in consumer behavior, um, a trend that kind of, you're seeing um, the market recognize and tying those announcements to that. But um, it certainly is difficult to kind of look at what you have and you never want to call the baby ugly. Right. But maybe there's a different place to put the baby and focus on some bigger stories.

Speaker B: Low cosmetic surgery. Never heard it.

Speaker A: Yeah, I keep thinking polishing the, the turd that um, Mike mentioned earlier.

Speaker B: Yeah, there you go. Well, I know you know, we, everyone um, everyone listens to the same radio station, wiifm. What's in it for me? So you really have to think what's uh, in it for the receiver, the person that's receiving the message, not the teller. And uh, especially for young, uh, students that might be consuming uh, this great storytelling session. Um, a couple points. Number one, being a someone ah, who reads a lot. Reading makes you a better storyteller. So like carving out the time to read something and it doesn't need to be the Odyssey or the Iliad. It can be a slightly trashy novel. Um, but reading anything lets you see how other people set up a story, frame it and deliver it. And that happens subconsciously. Um, and um, that's so key. And for those that go on to become entrepreneurs and business folks, look at some of the greatest business folks out there. Um, you could argue they might have been great at innovation or they might have been great at storytelling. Some people would argue that uh, Thomas Edison could tell a better story, um, uh than some of the inventions that he went through. Crew, uh M and Steve Jobs is, is known for, for really nailing the story and the communicating. Um, while folks behind the scene did, did the technical stuff. Um, so that art of storytelling is, is so very important.

Speaker A: Um, yeah.

Speaker B: And it's something that um, uh, is innate to really most humans. We just have to foster it.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: Really foster it. I've been leveraging AI As a Coach. So I've been using the vocal side to your point, Mike, and telling my story and then having it kind of articulate and dissect what it heard, um, and give me points to refine and some takeaways. And to be honest, AI has gotten to a point where it's like you need to breathe more. Like, things like that, like, give it space, like, let it land. Uh, and so I've been, I've been using it from, from that perspective into Erica's earlier point, um, leveraging it strategically in that way to help strengthen that muscle of storytelling. Um, and then referencing other storytellers that you admire through the literature that you've read. Like you mentioned, Mike brings it all together. So we've been talking about content a lot, and the volume of content out there is ridiculous. I subscribe to a lot of different newsletters. I have thought leaders I follow on various channels. I'm curious to know if you guys think content stops becoming the competitive advantage for companies, fintech, large or small.

Speaker C: Yeah, I think it goes back to kind, uh, of what I said at the top of the call. Like, I think content is always going to be important. I just think, think it's the substance behind it. I think it's bringing that unique point of view, bringing in customer stories, bringing in data that, uh, you own and can share. What can you add to the conversation that's new and different? I think that's really going to help stand, um, out. And as far as, like, AI search goes, we know earned media in particular is really important, and I know we'll probably dive into this a little bit later, but, um, I think like 84% of AI citations are generated from earned media content. Think about that too, as part of your competitive advantage and your strategy.

Speaker B: Yeah, our, um, Executive Interactive Director Charles Askew would say, uh, while content is king, context is queen. Yeah, so you kind of need to look at those two together. Uh, a bunch of content with no context. Who cares?

Speaker A: Yeah, I'm at the quote that later on. That's a good one. Uh, well, and thinking along those lines, and not to get too technical, I've been fascinated to think about, like, SEO and they're calling it AEO now. Uh, aie. Oh, yeah,

Speaker B: we're starting to refer to it as is Search Everywhere Optimization. Otherwise you get lost in the acronyms of aeaeo. Um, whatever. So really it's about Search Everywhere Optimization because that's the way the world's presenting it now. Uh, if you go to Google, you're going to get an AI, uh, response up top. Right. It's going to push you to its model. Um, so it is about everywhere and it's going to, it's gonna make things better, faster, stronger. It's gonna leave some people behind that aren't staying, uh, up with the trends. Um, there's gonna be. We've, we've, we're probably nearing the end of the, um, black hat tricks, uh, so to speak. Um, which we saw that, uh, 20 years ago with, um, um, with search engine optimization, just, uh, put all your competitor's name on your website and make the font white, you know. Yeah, it was good for a hot minute and then it wasn't because they figured it out. Same thing with the large language models. Right. And with AI, uh, there are ways around it, but we'll get to a normal c. Uh with it and then it's gonna, it's gonna be great. Right? It's gonna be like Star Trek, where you gonna be like asking the computer, you know, hey, blah, blah, blah. I mean, you already can. You got Alexa.

Speaker C: Yeah, I think there definitely is, um, more of an opportunity for folks to kind of lean in again, as we said to some of those third parties, like earned media, so maybe exploring opportunities where you can contribute your voice to, um, trade media outlets. It's so funny. Everyone thinks like, in order to be cited by these LLMs, you have to be on the COVID of Forbes, which, hey, that's great, that's fantastic. But it's some of these, like, foundational industry outlets that we're seeing kind of pop up a little bit more, uh, frequently in AI searches. So I mean, that's something really to kind of lean into as you're looking at building out your AI strategy and visibility strategy as we go forward.

Speaker A: Well, and speaking of strategy, I don't know if you can give everyone the secret sauce to how this works, but Mike mentioned earlier, like, companies could get left behind if they aren't thinking about this. Um, to Erica's point, strategically, and you already highlighted a couple things that some companies should be thinking about. But what is that? I want to say roadmap, but what does that process look like for a business that's really considering not getting left behind in all of this, the activities that we're talking about right now?

Speaker B: Well, the easiest thing, Laura, is just simply hire our kedd, take care of it. You don't need to worry about it at all. And that's, that's great. Um, there, there are definitely content things you can do and Erica talked about that and Put it in context in terms of earned media and having uh, reputable, even deep industry, um, content, uh, creators pointing to you. And then there are technical things that can be done on your, um, on your website and with your web presence. I mean the machines want to gobble up things in a. They're all about order, right? They're all about hierarchy. So there, there are ways to structure your tags, there are ways to build out your schemas underneath. There are things that can technically be done in your web presence that is going to make it easier for the large language models to consume your information. Uh, and you're rewarded for that. So it's, it's kind of still a mix of, of the art and the science, uh, type of thing. But, and I've been known to tell some of our digital marketing professionals, hey, I appreciate that feedback but at uh, the end of the day, we're writing this for humans, not for robots. So we are going to refer to it in different ways. Um, instead of always using the same descriptor and being vigilant about being 100% clear, constant, we have to make that conscious decision at some point because we want to really live in real life.

Speaker A: So I'm going to say, uh, selfishly, when I reached out, I'm so appreciative to Arketti for, um, the support not only of me personally, Georgia Fintech Academy, um, and Atlanta Fintech Week that we're launching this this year, um, as well as the work that you just do in the community with a lot of the folks that we partner with. And one of the things that I wanted to ask you guys, as I was thinking through the, the outline for this discussion is all of the things that we talked about earlier, the mechanisms, um, the, the channels, the content, the strength of the quality of the content as well, applying it to the Atlanta Fintech ecosystem. Now we have so many things going for us. We have the talent, we have the companies, we have a thriving, uh, ecosystem. We have fintechs that are growing and finding success here. Are we as good as at telling that story? Um, if you had to, I want to say, give us a grade. But are we good at telling that story as we have been at building what's been built in the Atlanta Fintech ecosystem?

Speaker C: I'll let Mike take that first.

Speaker B: Well, you know, you're always going to say you're not as good as you are, but you're always better than you think you are. So I would say yes, I think that, um, even on a global stage. And Laura, you've been to international fintech events. Uh, they don't go Atlanta. Who? Um, they're not confusing uh, the state of Georgia with the country of Georgia when it comes to fintech. Um, I mean they know we're here and that we have really a great thriving ecosystem when it comes to fintech. Um, and I like to say that our fintech, um, ecosystem is about creating and generating money. Sometimes you might be like, oh, it's, it's not the hottest, flashiest technology unless you like making M money, in which case is pretty darn good. Um, so I think we don't give ourselves enough credit. And, and I would, I would say we, we get an A, we get an A for Atlanta.

Speaker A: Look at that. I love it. Erica, you have any thoughts on that?

Speaker C: I mean I, I agree. I think no one is saying Atlanta. Who. Um, I think we do a great job of telling our um, economic development story. I think we have a great opportunity for our Atlanta fintech executives and we're doing this to some degree today. But I think we've got a great opportunity to kind of further become, go to sources for some of the biggest national and global conversations affecting our industry. Um, I think that that's something we can kind of go outside of our state a little bit and start to weigh in on some of those broader conversations because to Mike's point, I mean Atlanta companies are really powering much of the infrastructure that allows money to move. Um, and that's a great story and one that I think we are telling. But we can, we can do more, we can put more gas behind that.

Speaker A: Thank you both for that thinking about how we're proceeding with the intentional outline for Atlanta fintech week. It has been showcasing different companies, different brands across the ecosystem, across the state. Um, but then it also has been aligning on some relevant topics that bring in some of our partners outside of the state of Georgia. It's about the, the collaboration, um, and having those uh, synergies discussed on um, and relevant topics shared from that platform, uh, in Atlanta. So I, I love that you guys highlighted that.

Speaker B: I bet we probably have more collegiate students in fintech study curriculum and courses than any other state and, and possibly than any other country. Because we've been your work and what you've been doing with the academy and what the business uh, community has been doing has been putting that front end system front and center across all our universities and colleges and made it available to everyone. So I've got to believe that we're cranking out uh, fintech fluent uh, talent in a massive way that's outpacing most other states. True, you think?

Speaker A: That's very true. Uh, and to your point, I continue to have this conversation. I'm glad you teed me up for this, Mike.

Speaker C: Shameless.

Speaker A: Uh, plug for the academy. But there is no other model like this. And the fact that we collaborate across, uh, an ecosystem of institutions, uh, is an interesting story for other universities who are embarking on their journeys, uh, developing fintech programming similar to the academy. So we've seen a lot of that growth across the, the U.S. and internationally. And yeah, to your point, we are, we're pushing out larger volumes of numbers of, of students that are fintech, digital, uh, AI and other areas just skilled, um, and, and primed and ready for the workforce. So, uh, exciting time because the state

Speaker B: has such a strong ecosystem, our ecosystem can absorb those students and, um, they don't have to move out of state. They can stay in this wonderful state, uh, of Georgia, uh, anywhere in the entire state of Georgia and participate in the exciting world of what's going on in fintech. And, uh, fintech is not boring, um, unless you think money is boring. And most people think money is pretty important. Um, so being at the vanguard of transactions, uh, monetary policy, moving money, getting the point where, uh, it's so frictionless and so secure that it changes the paradigm of how we as individuals look at it, uh, spend it, interact with it, invest it. I mean, Frontier's wide open.

Speaker A: Not to get too deep, um, connecting us back to AI. And there's been a lot of talk about AI coming for early talent roles, but I also see a lot of opportunity for folks to innovate. And these students that were helping cultivate their talent and skills right now, they're the future innovators that are solving problems unique to their generation or unique to the fact that they have been digitally native, that have had exposure to AI longer term, um, than other generations. And so I'm definitely optimistic.

Speaker C: I don't know if it's Southern hospitality or what have you, but I think that for young professionals who are entering the space in this market, there is just such institutional knowledge that's recycling through the ecosystem. I mean, you have people who have built their entire careers here who start a new company, they mentor founders, they teach, um, and I feel like that's not something that's really manufactured in other markets. I think that's something that's really unique to us. Just my two cents there.

Speaker A: We always talk about mentorship from the Academy. Is this like, cycle of of, uh, give back in the community. The, the folks that are experts, the SME, are now, you know, investing in the next generation in that reciprocal kind of cycle of, of growth, mentorship. It all kind of evolves that talent ecosystem that's supporting the ecosystem in general. That's what keeps were powered by the folks that are working in this community. Um, and so it's an exciting story for me to tell. It definitely, you know, proves the case for the academy, but it's really opening up doors for opportunities. So it's exciting. All right, guys, it's time for rapid fire questions. Need to have a sound effect for this time. So what should companies. Um. Yeah, exactly. Thank you, Mike. What should fintech companies stop doing?

Speaker C: Said this before. I think stop leading with your technology. Which sounds so funny to say, but I think lead with your. Why not? The what.

Speaker B: What should they stop doing? Uh, concentrating on winning business competitions. Win customers.

Speaker A: Yeah. Uh, what should they start doing?

Speaker B: Win customers.

Speaker C: Say develop a stronger point of view and share that point of view.

Speaker A: One word you think will define communications and marketing over the next few years.

Speaker C: Exciting. I don't know. I think there's, I think there's a lot of, um, opportunity. I spent a lot of my time in the media relations space, so I just, I love seeing this resurgence of um, value and strategic priority on earned media and storytelling like that to me is really exciting. I think we're going to get, um, to our conversation earlier a lot richer content. So exciting.

Speaker B: And I would say impact. Uh, so that dovetails. Exactly what you said. Uh, um, communications is something that can drive a real impact. It's not just telling a good story. It actually delivers the business. You ask any salesperson and um, a, uh, very successful salesperson is going to be someone that's able to communicate and that communication is going to drive impact in the form of revenue.

Speaker A: Well, that's a good way to wrap us up. Mike, Erica, thank you so much for joining us on FinTech Talks. The Conversation really gets at something bigger than marketing. Credibility, trust, uh, clarity. Some of the things that you guys have focused on in today's conversation I think is very meaningful and something that I'm hoping everyone listening in can take away, not only as individuals, but representing the companies that you work for or the brands that you work for as well. Atlanta Fintech Week is coming up the end of September. Follow us out there on ATL fintechweek.com and thank you to Arketti, who also helped with the branding, the storytelling behind Atlanta Fintech Week. Um, and everything that you see out there. Uh, so thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you again soon. Soon.

Speaker B: Thank you.

Speaker C: Thank you.

Speaker A: The Georgia Fintech Academy podcasts are available on itunes and Spotify. To obtain additional information about the Georgia Fintech Academy, please visit our website at georgiafintechacademy. Org.