050 Ingrid Sierra
Chief Marketing Officer, Finfare
Ingrid Sierra is Brand & Marketing Director at Zego, an insurtech. She spent 18 months at Finfare and then continued her CMO role at Fancy, a spin-off from Finfare. She’s fresh off an appearance on CMO Therapy where she went deep on retention.
“Cash App in the US has successfully positioned itself as a lifestyle brand, which is still rare for a fintech.”
The interview
What’s your coffee ritual?
I’m trying to stick to one per day, so I’m very intentional about it! During the week, I have coffee when I first arrive at the office or when I start work at home. At the weekend, coffee in bed when I wake up is my favourite.
What was your first marketing job?
After a couple of internships in agencies, my first permanent job was for a French mobile phone network. Starting my career in a large business was such a blessing, as I learned a ton of best practices, methodologies, and processes that have been so useful when moving to less structured environments. And starting in CRM, which was a rare area of marketing where you had data on performance and targeting at the time, opened so many doors when everything became data-driven!
What finance apps do you have on your home screen?
Listing them makes me realise I have quite a few! Monzo, American Express, and HSBC for everyday; Wise for international transfers; Hargreaves Lansdown for investments; and Coinbase for crypto.
Which newsletter, podcast, or book do you recommend most?
As I recently started a new job and have a lot to process, I am currently re-reading some of my favourite essentials: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni, How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp, Good Strategy Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt, and The Choice Factory by Richard Shotton.
What’s an underrated growth channel in fintech?
It probably varies by business, depending on its audience. But what’s definitely underrated, and not just in fintech, is staying close to the customer which is the best way to stay grounded as marketers. Running interviews, reading reviews, and shadowing sales and support calls are the best ways to stay focused on our most important stakeholders.
What keeps you up at night?
Assessing whether I have the right balance of focus between what’s “urgent” and what’s “important”.
What are the most useful measurement tools you use in your work?
I use too many and am focusing on simplification!
What’s one fintech brand (other than your own) that’s getting marketing right?
Cash App in the US has successfully positioned itself as a lifestyle brand, which is still rare for a fintech.
Why is marketing so hard?
Marketing as a discipline isn’t fundamentally difficult, and most principles remain the same. But marketing is indeed evolving very fast, and being a marketer means being a lifelong learner, but the difficulties come more from organisations and opinions.
Whose answers to the above questions would you most like to read?
Chantal Swainston who, on top of being a fintech PR expert, is running The Heard to support more women and non-binary people in fintech getting into public speaking.