This interview is part of a Boardroom Insight article series exploring the marketing consulting landscape from the perspective of industry executives. Rosalie Berg is the award-winning president of Strategic Vantage, a marketing, public relations and social media agency focused on the real estate finance and mortgage industries, with dozens of clients in this space.

Boardroom Insight: Certain marketing practices vary across verticals, reflecting differences in buyer expectations. Accounting firms, for example, usually have less high-tech website designs than your typical SaaS startup. What are some of the ways that financial firms approach marketing differently than companies in other markets? 

Rosalie Berg: I got into marketing and PR for the real estate finance industry over 20 years ago, and I immediately knew this wasn’t like other verticals. Particularly in the B2B space, it requires a deep understanding of how the industry operates to communicate intelligently. 

In fact, Kate Berry, a longtime reporter for American Banker, once said to me, “The mortgage industry is so complex that it would be crazy—or at the very least, unwise—to hire a publicist who does not know the industry already. There is a steep learning curve to understanding mortgages.” While she only referred to publicity in the mortgage industry, her statement applies across the board. So, that’s a big difference. A marketing agency or marketing staff must understand the industry incredibly well. 

Marketing in the finance space must emphasize trust and credibility. To do so, we showcase expertise, experience, and compliance through positive publicity, leadership content, social media, awards, speaking engagements, webinars, and testimonials.

Financial products and services can be complex, so as marketers, we focus on making these concepts accessible and relatable through plain language, visuals, and storytelling. These products can also seem dry and dull, so our job is to make them interesting and visually attractive—which surely isn’t as easy as when marketing consumer goods. It’s a totally different way of thinking.

It’s important to note that when we are marketing lenders and financial institutions, compliance and regulations play a crucial role, as strict guidelines must be adhered to, which can require cautious messaging.

We also can face long sales cycles, so it’s important to nurture leads with insightful content and multi-channel campaigns that engage prospects from first contact until well after the sale is made.

Boardroom Insight: What role does content marketing play in financial services companies’ marketing strategies? And are there differences between how consumer-facing and B2B-focused firms within the sector approach the task? 

Rosalie Berg: Content marketing plays a vital role in the marketing strategies of companies in the world of real estate finance and finance in general. It’s all about engaging with industry professionals and building trust.

In the B2B realm, we’re mainly targeting senior industry executives at mortgage lending and financial institutions, or we’re recruiting loan officers and influencing referral partners on behalf of financial institutions. So, our content marketing has to focus on showcasing expertise, thought leadership, and keeping our fingers on the pulse of market trends. 

In consumer-facing content marketing, we are often focused on educating prospective and current customers on more basic topics pertaining to financial services, such as “What is a bridge loan?” or “What should I not do before applying for a mortgage loan?” The topics are very different to what we use in B2B marketing.

The beauty of content marketing is its versatility and how it can be used across various channels. You can take great content and use it for email marketing campaigns to reach out to prospects and clients with valuable, relevant information. Share it on social media to expand your reach, nurture relationships, and attract new leads. And posting articles on your company blog and getting published in industry news outlets can further fuel your credibility.

The famous quote from Bill Gates, “content is king” definitely rings true. The power of well-crafted, insightful content in marketing can’t be underestimated. For financial services, particularly in mortgages and real estate finance, content marketing demonstrates your deep understanding of the industry and highlights your ability to offer innovative, tailored solutions. By doing so, you’re building long-term relationships and guiding clients through the ever-evolving financial landscape.

Boardroom Insight: There’s often a learning curve when a marketing or PR agency takes on a new client, especially in B2B verticals. The agency has to familiarize itself with the client’s offerings, which get very technical very quickly. How can an agency manage that learning process to ensure team members have a solid grasp of the client’s solutions and competitive environment? ‘

Rosalie Berg: My advice is to make sure you have an agency or marketing team with a very strong foundation in finance. That’s absolutely critical, so my entire executive team has a minimum of 7 years of experience in this vertical. You can’t just learn this in a few months and hope to catch up; it doesn’t work that way. So, from that deep level of understanding, we engage in strategy discussions with our clients, review their website, marketing materials, and those of their competitors. For us, this doesn’t have to be a very lengthy process, as we usually are very familiar with the kind of work our new clients do and their competitors before they ever even engage us.

Boardroom Insight: What benefits can the integrated agency model, where an agency acts as a one-stop-shop for all or most of a client’s marketing requirements, provide for clients in B2B verticals? 

Rosalie Berg: In the world of real estate finance in which my marketing agency primarily serves, it’s incredibly rare to find an agency that understands every aspect of marketing, which is one of the reasons our clients value what we do. 

Many of our clients view us as their outsourced marketing department, handling all their marketing, PR, social media, and content-writing needs. For others, we’re here to supplement their internal capabilities. Either way, it’s critical to understand what tools will work best given the unique circumstances. You can’t use a hammer to insert a screw, after all. We talk strategy first, and then we make a plan—and those plans could include public relations, digital marketing, content marketing, social media, branding and much more.

Boardroom Insight: Trade conferences are often a very important source of leads for B2B firms. Depending on the event, the conference center can also be a very competitive place. What are some ways a company can set itself apart when competing for the attention of prospective buyers at industry events? 

Rosalie Berg: Trade conferences can be a goldmine for B2B firms when it comes to generating leads, especially when we plan ahead and execute strategically.

One key step is ensuring a company projects an optimal image. We focus on nailing the branding and messaging, working on their exhibit booth, business cards, brochures, presentations, videos, and more. Business cards act as mini brochures at tradeshows, so they need to make a great first impression and educate prospects at a glance.

It’s important to arrive at the conference with meetings lined up through our marketing efforts, rather than just hoping to bump into prospects. Therefore, proactively marketing to conference attendees through email marketing, social media, and publicity is essential. We want everyone to hear about our client before they step foot on the tradeshow floor.

Securing speaking engagements months before the tradeshow is another great way to showcase our clients’ expertise and connect with potential buyers. Crafting the perfect elevator pitch is also crucial, as many sales teams struggle in this area.

Hosting events is important too, and maximizing marketing opportunities surrounding the hosted event is where most companies miss the mark. They invest in hosting an event but fail to market themselves and their offerings effectively, so attendees remember their event, but don’t remember what they do. 

For example, our mortgage technology client Lender Toolkit recently hosted a Supercar Experience event before the ICE Experience conference. My team helped them promote their company before, during, and after this event, with weeks of social media, email marketing, and advertising that strategically tied the racecar theme to their branding, emphasizing the “Need for Speed” and “the speed of AI.” It was a huge success.

With ample creativity, strategy, and diligent execution, companies can shine at trade conferences, winning over potential buyers and outshining the competition.

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