Welcome back to the CMO series of the Scale of One to Tech podcast! We’ve been lucky enough to speak to some incredible CMOs with an array of experiences under their belt, and today’s guest is no different. Formerly at ClearScore, Wonga, uSwitch, and most recently SO-SURE, Nicola Vidal has enjoyed a prosperous career in marketing spanning over 20 years.
Killer Interview Questions, Leadership Lessons & Females in FinTech with SO-SURE’s CMO, Nicola Vidal – Episode 12
With such a plethora of knowledge and experience, we hear Nicola weigh in on what makes a great marketing leader, FinTech’s increasing appeal to Gen Z, diversity in the FinTech & CMO space, advice for CEOs hiring their first CMO – and that’s just scratching the surface…
This episode covers
- Attributes that make a great marketing leader
- FinTech’s shift towards appealing to Gen Z-ers and Millennials
- Making the most of influencer marketing
- Advice for CEOs hiring their first CMO
- Boosting diversity in the FinTech CMO space
- Writing better, clearer, more inclusive job ads
- Killer interview questions
Links & references
Alex Marriner: https://www.linkedin.com/in/digitalmarketingrecruitment/
Acquire Digital Talent:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-marketing-recruitment-london/
http://www.acquiredigitaltalent.com/
Nicola Vidal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolavidal/
SO-SURE: https://www.linkedin.com/company/so-sure/
Episode highlights
“I am where I am today with a combination of hard work, being very curious, stacks of resilience – I think in this industry I’ve had to be very resilient – and always pushing forward.” – 3:15 – Nicola Vidal
“You have to be reliable and be able to deliver results over time. So not just like one-off successes, but constantly delivering your goals in whatever is that you need to accomplish.” – 5:55 – Nicola Vidal
“Some Love Island stars have, say, 1 million followers on Twitter or Instagram, and you do a campaign with them and you get very little engagement. However, I’ve also done campaigns with other influencers that are slightly smaller and that actually do really understand what the audiences want. So putting the right product in front of the right influencer with the right audience works. Sometimes smaller is better.” – 9:30 – Nicola Vidal
“I think the first thing that I would say to the CEO is, ‘Do you really need the CMO right now?’. I have experienced some businesses that have employed the CMO a little bit too early in the business, where you don’t really need someone that experienced to launch a new product. So the first question would be ‘Is it needed?’” – 11:15 – Nicola Vidal
“I’ve done a few roles in FinTech in 3 years and, although there are more female leaders in that industry, it’s still just around 20% globally, which is not a lot.” – 17:50 – Nicola Vidal
“I usually try to make job specs clear. Sometimes you read some job specs and you think, ‘What exactly do they want?’ so being very clear about the business and also what it is required will stop people applying for the role when they aren’t right.” – 25:35 – Nicola Vidal
“Just because you’re senior, that doesn’t mean you know it all, and that you’re always right. Some of the best ideas come from people that don’t even work in your department, but they care about the product.” – 33:40 – Nicola Vidal
“I have seen significant success with the likes of Tik Tok, which I never thought I would, as well as Twitter and Facebook. With Facebook, there’s so much targeting, you can be extremely granular. Done properly it takes time, but it works really, really well. It also helps with brand awareness in a way – building organic social takes time, but it gets so many rewards.” – 38:35 – Nicola Vidal