Dear BAMf Podcast: Episode 44 with Elise Brown

Dear BAMf // Episode 44: Elise Brown of Anthemis Group explains how to communicate success during a pandemic.

In this episode of the Dear BAMf podcast, we speak with Elise Brown, Director of Marketing at Anthemis Group, a leading global early-stage venture capital firm. Elise has more than 10 years of experience as a strategic marketer in the financial industry. She continues to rise through the industry as a sought-after marketer helping fintech companies strive to understand their clients on a deeper level by bringing a human element that oftentimes is missing, and increase their overall market share. Most recently, Elise was recognized for her leadership in the industry by NYC Fintech Women and listed as an Inspiring Fintech Female in 2020. In this episode, Elise answers some tough marketing and PR questions from our listeners, including this one about communicating success without being tone-deaf:  

Dear BAMf,

This is more of an internal comms question. I handle PR and internal comms for our team of about 1,000 at our startup. 2020 was a rough year for many, of course, and we have many workers (full-time and some contractors) that are working in some of our production facilities. As I'm drafting up the year-in-review note, I'm leery of over-hyping the massive success we've had this year as a company to our entire team. Obviously our investors want to hear about our metrics and know that they've been outstanding. I'm thinking I have a separate, but similar note for the investors versus the entire team. What are your thoughts on this? 

Listen now to hear how Elise advises this writer to move forward.

Dear BAMf: Episode 44

Episode 44 highlights:

• (1:00) What is Anthemis?

  Elise gives BAM the rundown on Anthemis saying, "Anthemis is the world's leading global FinTech and InsureTech VC firm, committed to cultivating change in financial services. We've been around since 2010 and we are based in New York & Europe."

• (02:50) What are you most proud of accomplishing in the last 12 months?

  
  Elise remained honest about what she was most proud of saying, "Pivoting Anthemis' marketing strategy." Like many other companies, Anthemis had to learn how to adjust all in-person events to webinars. Elise was proud to find a silver lining in webinars explaining, "You can repurpose webinars for a lot of different uses. You can convert them into podcasts. You can create really great content driving people back." As a marketer remember to always follow the data and see where it leads you. For more advice read, "5 Metrics Every Marketer Should Be Tracking and Why" on our blog.
  

• (06:00) What is your favorite way to tell a story?

  Elise's favorite way to tell a story is through video. She explains how video has been successful for Anthemis: "The best way that has worked for us is visual storytelling through videos." According to HubSpot, video has become the most commonly used format in content marketing, overtaking blogs and infographics. Elise encourages listeners to find a budget-friendly and time-effective way to produce videos saying, "It's all about cost-effective ways, so we do it on Zoom. We work with an editor, it works for us."

• (06:30) How does my company communicate success during the pandemic, without being tone-deaf?

  Elise encourages the listener to remain sensitive to both customers and shareholders saying, "It's important not to be tone-deaf, especially with these communications and the fact that everyone externally is getting inundated with tons of communications." Elise suggests speaking with investors and internal comms differently. Internally Elise reminds the listener to thank their team, wish them safety, and acknowledge a few major wins and losses. Elise eloquently suggests, "The goal here is to be human together." When speaking with investors remember to be honest, but don't hesitate to highlight major wins and momentum. Investors want to feel reassured with profitability, even during a global pandemic. 

What is Dear BAMf?