Liz Murnin

Three days, 40+ sessions, and one word in nearly every conversation: differentiation. Three patterns stuck with me. Each one points to a real choice that fin serv and fintech brands have either made or are about to make—and the wrong call costs more than most teams realize.

Pattern 1: Same data, same conclusions.

In an effort to do more with less, many brands in the category are likely working from the same trends, focusing on similar audiences, and following the same “modernization playbook.” The issue with that is when everyone’s reading the same map, everyone ends up in the same place. As a result, customers find it hard to tell brands apart—from what they look like to what they’re  promising.

What to do about it: I see data as a compass, a way to find the right path for your brand. Data should tell you where the category is going. Powerful creative interprets that data to ensure your brand has impact. The brands building real recognition and trust right now are the ones with a clear and meaningful point of view, expressed consistently. 

Pattern 2: Modernization is being treated cosmetically, not strategically.

In conversations, modernization usually came up in reference to a logo update or a website refresh; it rarely came up as a strategy that has to live across every touchpoint. That’s why so many of these projects underwhelm: the  identity gets sharper, but if it isn’t tied to a sharper strategy—a clearer point of view that connects with your audience—the brand still feels like the old one in a new outfit.

What to do about it: Treat modernization as a strategic reset of your complete operating system, not simply a facelift. Your modernization initiative should shift how your sales team sells and how your product delivers on your brand promise.

Pattern 3: Trust is the goal. The follow-through is the gap.

After differentiation, trust was probably the second-most-used word I heard in my conversations at FBF. Across the exhibit hall, many of the trust-enhancing solutions vendors were promoting were product-level, like stronger security and advanced tech. In fin serv and fintech, real customer trust is built and strengthened in your brand—and whether you consistently deliver on what you’ve said you stand for everywhere your customer experiences it. 

What to do about it: This is where the first two patterns pay off. Once you have a data-informed brand and breakthrough creative that makes you genuinely distinct, the work isn’t done yet. The last move is walking the walk. Audit the gap between what your brand promises and what your customers actually experience. That gap is where trust lives or dies.

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The throughline of these three patterns is simple. The brands that are going to win over the next twelve months know exactly what they stand for, and who they’re for, and they show up that way everywhere. If any of this resonates with you, I’d really like to chat! No deck, no pitch. Just 20 mins, and an honest read on where your brand stands. 

Key takeaways

• Your employees are already shaping your brand perception—the question is whether that influence is intentional. A structured advocacy program turns passive representation into a measurable growth asset.
• Employee advocacy drives organic visibility, expands your network and builds the kind of trust that brand campaigns alone can’t manufacture. 
• Effective advocacy programs require a structured methodology that starts with a readiness assessment, aligns content to your existing strategy, builds a rigorous launch plan and designs incentives that sustain momentum over time.

There’s power in staff authenticity and connection. People trust people. We know that’s not a new insight, but it’s one that most marketing programs still underprioritize. Your audience has likely been exposed to your brand messaging dozens of times. What they might not have heard is what your people really think about working for your company. That’s a different kind of message—and it’s where employee advocacy earns its value.

And the benefits of employee advocacy are real:

• Authenticity over advertising: Eighty-eight percent of people are more likely to buy from a brand when they hear positive things from someone they trust, rather than just hearing from the brand itself.
• Access to high-value networks: Employees often have connections to relevant professional contacts or industry peers, which can increase awareness and adoption of your brand. 
• Building a strong employer brand: Employee brand advocates often signify a strong culture, attracting the right talent to your team and shortening the hiring cycle. 
• Improved organic visibility: Content shared by employees receives up to 8x more engagement than content through brand channels, increasing visibility.

Think about the last major purchase you made. Chances are, a peer recommendation played a role. Employee advocacy works the same way—it puts credible, real voices behind your brand at the moments that matter most. But where should you start?

At VSA, we’ve spent over 40 years building brands for some of the world’s most admired companies—and one of the consistent truths we’ve found is that the most powerful brand voices often already exist inside your organization. Our approach to building an impactful employee advocacy program is rooted in our proven methodology—insight led, audience first, structured and accountable to business outcomes. But methodology alone doesn’t make advocacy work—belief does. Before employees can dependably and confidently represent your brand externally, they need to feel connected to it internally—to understand its purpose, live its values and see themselves as part of the story. That cultural foundation is where we start. 

Readiness and resource assessment

Building an employee advocacy program on a weak foundation is one of the most common ways these programs fail. Our discovery process starts with getting under the hood—understanding how employees currently engage with your brand, how they feel about working at your company, where the gaps are and what infrastructure already exists to build on.

We start with an audit of what already exists:

• Key organizational values
• Current employee loyalty and engagement scores
• Communication channels
• Employee social media engagement
• Tools available for promoting engagement 

This diagnostic foundation is what allows us to design a program that fits your organization rather than forcing a generic playbook onto it. Its purpose is to uncover and address where gaps exist in employee understanding or engagement with your brand, allowing us to work to close them first. This might look like internal communications work, leadership alignment, culture initiatives, or simply giving employees clearer visibility into what your brand stands for and why it matters. Once employees are grounded in your brand and their role within it, equipping them to represent it externally becomes far more effective.

Launch and training

We realize that some of your employees might be hesitant to post publicly about their work because they’re not sure what’s appropriate—not because they don’t have things to share or say. Our employee advocacy training closes that gap. We develop a plan to equip advocates with practical knowledge, which can include social platform etiquette, how to access and share content, what guidelines apply and how to engage thoughtfully in comments. We build in regular touchpoints to share those learnings and sharpen the approach as a group. What works in month one rarely looks the same by month six.

Incentives and recognition

Sustained advocacy requires sustained motivation. A structured recognition system shows your team that this program is valued and taken seriously by leadership. Recognition doesn’t have to be expensive to be meaningful. The act of being seen matters as much as the reward itself.

Effective incentives may include: 

• Financial bonuses or gift cards
• Verbal recognition in meetings, social media or company newsletters
• Raised visibility at company experiences, events or outings

Measuring success and ROI

As you begin to design your employee advocacy program, think about what your goals and business objectives are. Are you trying to move pipeline? Build a strong employer brand? Own the conversation in your category? The answer shapes everything—who you activate, what content you arm them with and which channels you prioritize.

We define KPIs upfront and develop a measurement plan to understand what’s working, what’s not, and where to optimize and adjust by:

• Tracking engagement and reach: Assess whether your advocacy efforts result in more engagement by monitoring impressions, clicks, organic reach and total audience size generated through employee shares.
• Correlating sales and leads: Tie advocate activity to qualified leads and pipeline acceleration with a CRM tool.
• Evaluating talent acquisition: Measure lift in referral traffic, quality of candidates and cost-per-hire reductions to assess how advocacy efforts translate to an expanded professional network.

We use what we learn to make the program smarter over time. If engagement is flat, we interrogate the content before focusing on the channel. We identify your highest-performing advocates and understand why they’re resonating—and then systematize those behaviors across the rest of the team.

Turn advocacy into your competitive advantage

Employee engagement is no longer just an HR initiative—it’s a growth lever. Your employees are already shaping how your brand is perceived. The brands that win are the ones that make that influence intentional. A well-built employee advocacy program expands your reach, deepens trust and builds credibility that paid media simply can’t replicate. But it requires real investment—in structure, in content and in the people you’re asking to carry your message.

VSA brings brand strategy and activation together to help organizations build advocacy programs that actually move people. Our services build enduring employer brands, campaigns and experiences that turn your people into credible, motivated brand ambassadors. 

Ready to harness the power of employee advocacy? Let’s talk.