Whether you look at mobile banking, personal finance applications, or payment platforms in general, there’s been a great deal of change and evolution over the years; Patrick Turiano, Director of Marketing from Paysafe Group joins us in this interview to share his thoughts.
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Can you tell us a little about yourself Patrick (including your hobbies!) and what your marketing journey within the fintech niche has been like so far?
I’ve been in the fintech and payment technology space for a little over a decade now, and I got my start when I moved to Boston from Miami in 2009. I’ve spent a lot of my marketing journey working in channel marketing and marketing communications.
When I’m not working, I enjoy traveling, trying new restaurants, playing or watching sports and spending time with my wife and son!
How have you seen fintech as a segment evolve in the recent years?
It’s evolved a lot. Whether it’s in the world of mobile banking, personal finance applications, or payments, there’s been a great deal of change in the space. There have been more investment opportunities and consolidation as well. I feel that the product creativity is finally catching up to the technology capabilities.
Read More:Ten Global Payment Apps That Are Transforming Instant Payments
How, according to you, will the fintech segment shape up in the next couple of years, given the constant innovations and investments in certain areas? What do you think this landscape will look like in future?
I actually think we’ll see a lot more partnerships, joint ventures and integrations of competing or related solutions as opposed to outright acquisitions. Technology and the existence of APIs has made it easier for us to partner and integrate solutions more than ever before.
While I don’t think investments will slow down, I do think, given the current economic climate, we’ll see investors and corporations become more risk averse, particularly in the short-term.
What are some of the biggest challenges you face as a fintech marketer and how would you advise others to tide over these same challenges with the right combination of tech and strategy?
It’s a very competitive space. To stand out, you have to get creative with your marketing mix, but at the same time focus on being extremely efficient. I’ve always thought of marketing in a customer-centric way. Your messaging and advertising should always tie in directly with your customers and end-users. And don’t be afraid to invest in marketing technology. CRM, automation and data, if used correctly, can create a lot of efficiencies for marketers.
What are some of the most game-changing fintech innovations that you feel will change how companies employ and use finance technology?
I’m a little biased having spent most of my fintech career in payment technology, but SaaS business solutions are going to really help SMBs to manage their businesses more effectively. The technology costs and training challenges that businesses had to deal with 10 or even five years ago no longer exist.
And with so many financial functions and solutions being bundled together – banking, taxes, payroll, e-commerce, cost management, and payments – via integrations and product extensions, the small and medium-sized businesses who get this right and invest in these smart solutions will succeed.
Read More: How the Payment Industry Can Best Support Their Customers (And the Market)
Fintech is an evolving segment, as a result, creative marketing is need of the hour for fintech companies – could you talk about some of the most successful industry campaigns (or some of yours) from this niche?
I deal primarily with enterprise and partner sales. And one of the most unique campaigns I’ve been a part of, while not novel by any means, is not commonly used amongst fintech companies. We conceptualized and executed a great campaign targeting decision makers on our prospect list. It helped tremendously with developing qualified leads and conversion.
Tag (mention/write about) the one person in the fintech industry whose answers to these questions you would love to read!
I’d love to read the answers of Jenn Reichenbacher, the SVP of Marketing who leads our team.
Your favorite Finance Tech quote and fintech tips you’d advise everyone in B2B finance/fintech to swear by:
My favorite quote would be: “Fail fast, fail often and fail forward.” I try to build this philosophy into my marketing plans. Testing and learning are key to building successful marketing programs and campaigns. But if you are going to move to a strategy where you are constantly testing, you need to be able to determine failure, learn from it, record your findings, and move on to a new test or experiment.
Paysafe is a leading specialized payments platform. Its core purpose is to enable businesses and consumers to connect and transact seamlessly through industry-leading capabilities in payment processing, digital wallet, card issuing and online cash solutions. With over 20 years of online payment experience, an annualized transactional volume of over US $85 billion, and approximately 3,000 employees located in 12+ global locations, Paysafe connects businesses and consumers across 200 payment types in over 40 currencies around the world. Delivered through an integrated platform, Paysafe solutions are geared toward mobile-initiated transactions, real-time analytics and the convergence between brick-and-mortar and online payments.
In his role of Director of Marketing for Paysafe in North America, Patrick oversees the company’s marketing strategy for its Merchant payment processing division in the region. He has over a decade’s payments and fintech experience. Patrick’s previous positions include senior marketing and communications roles at iPayment, which was acquired by Paysafe in 2018, iMobile3, and Cayan.
