By Valentina Drofa
The financial and fintech sectors are dynamic landscapes, constantly influenced by global events and technological innovations. Over the course of 2024, regulatory shifts, cybersecurity challenges, and growing AI adoption have not only reshaped the industries but also set new benchmarks for communication strategies. How companies communicate and engage with their audiences plays a decisive role in their success.
As we look ahead to the coming 2025, the trends shaping fintech communications reflect these developments. From personal branding to navigating crisis communication, these changes demand fresh, thoughtful approaches.
Here’s a closer look at what’s driving these trends and how businesses can adapt.
The Importance of Personal Branding In Building Trust
In today’s fintech ecosystem, personal branding has shifted from a “nice-to-have” to a necessity. For founders, a strong public presence is no longer optional — it’s an essential part of earning public trust.
There was a time when anonymity could be an asset, but today, business leaders with no public digital footprint are often viewed with suspicion. Potential partners, investors, and clients seek reassurances that a company is credible and the people behind it are trustworthy.
As a result of this shifting perception, many founders and top managers now turn to PR not just to promote their projects but to establish themselves as trustworthy professionals in their chosen field of operations. By sharing authentic business cases and personal stories, they can demonstrate their career path, experience and commitment to long-term success instead of short-term gains.
Meanwhile, on the investor side of things, personal branding helps people avoid being perceived as “toxic money,” which can scare off potential partnerships.
Avoiding the Trap of Hype-Driven Branding
Finance is a sensitive industry, so transparency is not just a fancy modern word that has become popular to use. It’s a non-negotiable standard. Audiences today expect companies to be open about their operations, particularly in areas like regulatory compliance and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) commitments.
However, addressing such topics, once again, requires authenticity. For example, jumping on the ESG bandwagon without taking meaningful action to support this agenda can backfire, causing trust in your business to go down instead of building it up. Companies need to find their niche — areas where their values and expertise align — and focus their messaging there.
While it may be tempting to capitalise on buzzwords and “hot” topics, relying solely on hype to build a brand is a risky idea. My personal advice for companies is to always focus on sustainability and consistency rather than chasing short-term attention.
This doesn’t mean that popular topics are to be avoided altogether, not at all — just approach them strategically and ensure that they genuinely align with your core mission and values. Build your brand on the basis of relevance, not fleeting hype. Ensure your messaging reflects the long-term value you seek to bring to the market.
Navigating Crisis Communications
Where money is involved, the cost of losing the trust of your clients is always steep, so you must always plan for situations where that trust might be challenged. There’s always a risk of a cybersecurity breach or an operational error happening, which would invite public backlash and leave a stain on your reputation.
And yet, many companies in finance and fintech underestimate the importance of proactive crisis communication until it’s already too late. You can’t afford to wait for a problem to arise — you have to plan ahead, identifying potential risks and developing response protocols, so that when something goes wrong, your teams are ready to respond swiftly and effectively.
Transparency during such situations is essential: don’t try denying that there is a problem. Instead, acknowledge the issue and clearly explain what steps are being taken to resolve it. This will go some ways towards pacifying your audience and painting your company as a responsible one.
The Power of a Human Voice vs the Growing AI Content
As AI-generated content becomes increasingly prevalent across the Internet, the value of genuine human expertise only grows more important in communications. Yes, AI tools make it easier to produce messages quickly, but they often lack the emotional nuance that comes with the human touch.
For this very reason, many media these days push against AI-generated content, always requesting authentic comments from spokespersons. What they want to see are original insights and perspectives that come from real people. For fintech companies, this presents an opportunity. Founders and managers who make an effort to articulate their thoughts in their own words stand a better chance of being recognized amidst a sea of generic content.
Authentic communication is important because people can recognize when they are not dealing with another human being. By sharing meaningful content that reflects your genuine thoughts with your audience, you and your business can foster trust and strengthen relationships.
Final Thoughts
As we enter 2025, the way fintech companies communicate will continue to evolve. Personal branding, transparency, crisis planning, and audience segmentation are all critical components in building a successful communication strategy.
The companies that will thrive in this competitive landscape are those that embrace these changes, engage their audiences authentically, and position themselves as trustworthy, forward-thinking leaders. By adopting these strategies, fintech businesses can not only navigate the challenges of 2025 but also lay the foundation for sustainable growth in the years to come.
About the Author
Valentina Drofa is the Co-Founder and CEO of Drofa Comms, an international PR consultancy specialising in financial and fintech sectors. She is an international entrepreneur and business leader with over 15 years of working in the financial market. She is a financial market consultant with a PhD in Economics and author of a few books on financial literacy.
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