Thank you for considering our Marketing Transformation and Consumer Insights Manager role at Fair4All Finance. As we continue our exciting growth plans in 2022 and to deliver on our ambitious goals, we are seeking an experienced marketing specialist to transform marketing strategy and execution across a range of organisations. You will bring your know how to help observe, identify, and refine initiatives which will support our work to transform affordable credit in the UK - using your insight from organisations to highlight and progress projects that will matter to many by helping us develop tools and assets that are relevant to many firms. You’ll have the opportunity to work with a range of organisations, sometimes acting as a consultant and other times willing to get stuck in and deliver directly.  

The person in this role will be looking for a new challenge that brings together all aspects of marketing, from facilitating strategy development to supporting PPC and SEO initiatives, from building capability in measuring ROI through to using customer insights to support messaging and brand activity.  

 
You’ll have an appetite to work in a small and driven team, be passionate about inclusion and be ready to share your expertise with others, as well as try new things as we work on programmes across the organisation. You’ll work closely with external stakeholders at a range of levels, be a confident influencer and have excellent communication skills. 

You will be joining a talented and driven team overseen by a committed and impressive board. Our high calibre team is drawn from a range of backgrounds spanning CEO, Partner and Director roles within Financial Services institutions through to leaders in impact investing and social purpose organisations. The reach and influence of our team makes this an exciting place to work and enables us to engage important stakeholders at the highest levels. 

We’re working to create a fairer financial services system for all, and a core part of that is understanding people who are marginalised and excluded. Our team is no different, and we strongly encourage applications from members of minority groups and all sections of the community.  
 

Role purpose

Organisations in the Community Finance sector (namely credit unions and community development financial institutions) excel at serving customers in vulnerable circumstances across the UK. There is a diverse range of capability across the sector; some organisations have best of breed technology solutions with automated end to end customer delivery and a range of routes to market, while others are earlier in their transformation journey. This also applies to marketing capability and resource, ranging from sophisticated marketing automation and analytics with reasonable budgets and campaigns delivered by agencies, to a single person responsible for all aspects on a limited budget.  

Despite their strength in serving customers, awareness of these organisations is generally low, as is penetration with their potential customer base.  

The person in this role will be responsible for transforming marketing capability across Community Finance, increasing the effectiveness of marketing through sector wide support, helping marketing teams within organisations to develop their skills and experience, and occasionally being informally seconded to an organisation to deliver marketing activity on their behalf. This means you’ll get a chance to use all your skills, from helping senior leaders to develop marketing strategy through to delivering campaigns directly across a range of different providers across England. This aligns with one of Fair4All Finance’s strategic priorities – to increase access to affordable credit.  

Our remit also extends to the wider financial services sector and working with mainstream banks to support them to more readily serve customers currently excluded from financial services. In this role you'll have opportunities to influence and support major banks on their journey to financial inclusion and promote the learnings we support affordable lenders to acquire on how to attract and serve customers in vulnerable circumstances. You’ll work with other national organisations that have a similar purpose to ours, and share your expertise and insights with regulators and trade bodies.  

You’ll be experienced across all elements of marketing, both direct to customer and where referral relationships are in place, and ready to share your expertise with others.  
 

You’ll also have a chance to get involved with customer insights work, both designing and delivering customer research that supports Fair4All Finance in our ambitions, and if you’re experienced in this area, you’ll lead on this work.  

The marketing transformation that you deliver will have a direct impact on the lives of potentially millions of people who are living in vulnerable circumstances, building awareness of the organisations that can help them the most. For example, you’ll help our investees to reach more customers, where the financial and social impact includes;   

• Moneyline saving low income customers £5.4m in interest payments compared to high cost lenders (view their latest social impact video with Michael Sheen) 

• Fair For You generating at least £50.5m of social impact through their lending 

• Credit Unions helping people in some of the most deprived areas in the UK to build their financial resilience, such as Enterprise Credit Union in Merseyside and  HEY Credit Union in East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire  

You’ll also raise awareness of the community finance sector more generally.  

This role will suit someone who has several years of marketing experience in financial services (in-house or as an agency), is confident at influencing, and who is ready to offer support to other organisations to develop their expertise and capability in this space. You’ll be excited to drive change across a sector, working with organisations at differing levels of capability and working with a range of external stakeholders.  

Responsibilities  

Marketing transformation with organisations who serve (or could be more effectively serving) low income and excluded customers – 30%  

This might include: 

• Consultancy on all elements of the marketing funnel and strategy, providing regular guidance and insight to the relevant stakeholders in the Community Finance sector. You’ll be involved in SEO, PPC, Email and Content Marketing, offline channels, creative guidance and more, from ideation and strategy development through to delivery and performance measurement 

• Regular performance meetings across marketing strategy delivery, or ad-hoc check ins to provide support on specific areas, with the organisations we work with 

• Using your expertise in marketing to low income customers to support and influence mainstream providers to better acquire and retain excluded customers in a sustainable way 

• Potentially acting as an “in-house” marketeer for organisations when required – for example working with an organisation for a set amount of time per week/per month, including occasional site visits, to deliver marketing activity on their behalf 

Delivering marketing expertise to transform sector capability and effectiveness – 30%  

To increase awareness of the community finance sector, you will lead initiatives that help to develop marketing capability across the sector. This will include: 

• The development of marketing toolkits to support capability development across the sector, including guidance on marketing performance measurement, channel strategy, brand strategy and more. This applies to marketing that is both direct to customer, and through referral routes (for example through employer or housing association partnerships with lenders as many organisations currently have these relationships but have low penetration of the membership base) 

• Identifying new market and customer opportunities for the sector, monitoring market trends and delivering insights and recommended actions to support fast and effective execution 

• Developing a content plan for regularly sharing knowledge to improve capability, whether directly or by procuring additional support. This could include facilitating webinars or roundtable events on specific aspects of marketing, collating best practice content or activity, or practical guides and templates for marketing leads across the sector. 

Success in workstreams outlined above looks like increased brand awareness, reduced cost per acquisition and helping organisations to reach and serve a more diverse customer base (in terms of product holding, financial circumstances and into minority characteristics who we know are more likely to be excluded from mainstream financial services). 
 

Customer insights support – 20%  

Supporting the Head of Markets, Consumer Insights and Product Design with customer insights initiatives including scoping, procurement, delivery and in particular roll out of the insights to support organisations to embed the learnings in their marketing and product strategy. In the first instance this will include supporting the development and roll out of customer personas that have been derived from our segmentation project. If you’re experienced in research and customer insights, there is an opportunity to lead more of this work. 

Awareness raising activity – 10%  

To support our strategic priority of growing the affordable credit sector, support and lead initiatives that help grow the awareness of affordable credit. This could include working with other organisations such as Money and Pensions Service to provide content and support for their plans, or to directly lead activity that raises awareness of community finance providers through direct to customer campaigns that we deliver.  

Wider content and comms support – 10% 

On an ad-hoc basis, use your marketing capability to support our Communications and Content team, such as repurposing customer insights and analysis for different audiences, supporting our social media delivery and promotion of Fair4All Finance content and events. 

Person specification 

• Our ideal candidate will be organised, flexible, creative, and resourceful  

• You’ll be able to share your expertise and train or coach others, including those in very senior roles, to improve capability across the sector, doing so in a way that feels collaborative and supportive 

• You’ll be experienced at dealing with stakeholders at all levels, building relationships internally and externally  

• You will be innately curious about how to tackle complex communications tasks and reach those who are excluded from, or not engaged with, financial services providers 

• You will be passionate about our mission to increase the financial resilience of people in vulnerable circumstances, and seek continued learning and development either formally or through supporting other projects across the organisation as and when required    

• You’ll be able to deal with complexity and uncertainty, and work under your own initiative  

Essential experience and capabilities 

• Marketing strategy development and delivery in a regulated industry, or an industry that serves low income, vulnerable or marginalised customer groups  

• Well-rounded campaign planning and performance experience, including digital and traditional marketing delivery. Ideally, you’ll be used to working with small budgets – or ready to give this a go 

• Experience of using customer insights and data to deliver customer focused marketing campaigns  

• Commercial acumen, with experience in assessing cost per acquisition and return on investment for marketing activity  

• Preparation of compelling and exacting market and marketing analyses that create the impetus for change  

• Exceptional communication, persuasion and influencing skills capable of taking senior leaders on a journey and gaining agreement to change and new initiatives  

• Strong stakeholder management skills  

• Highly organised with a clear attention to detail 

• Solid understanding of market segmentation, strategy, planning and execution of marketing activities across a variety of channels 

Desired experience and capabilities (nice to have, but not a requirement for the role)  

• Experience working in a marketing agency  

• Experience of working for a financial services organisation or with clients in the financial services sector 

• Experience of customer insights projects, from procurement through to delivery  

• Experience of customer focused design and delivery, including customer persona work, customer insights and its implications for marketing strategy and delivery  

• Experience of brand development  

• Project management skills or experience 

Terms of employment 

All applicants must have an existing Right to Work in the UK. 

Fair4All Finance is committed to being a diverse organisation that is truly representative of the people and communities we serve. We are an equal opportunities employer with an inclusive environment where different experiences, expertise and perspectives are valued, where everyone is encouraged to grow and develop and all team members can contribute to their fullest potential.  

Applications are welcome from people of any age, sex, gender identity, disability, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, race, sexual orientation, or social economic background. We are determined to ensure that all team members and applicants receive fair and equitable treatment or are not disadvantaged by any inappropriate conditions or requirements being placed on them. 

When we are recruiting, we actively seek to reach a diverse pool of candidates. We are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that potential team member may need to be successful. We recognise the importance of a good balance between work and home life, so we do everything we reasonably can to accommodate flexible working.  

Applications  

• Please apply by 1 April 2022 

• Interviews will be held in mid-April 2022 

• We may contact you prior to the closing date to arrange an interview 

• If you would like to have an informal chat about the role before applying, please email Lauren Peel, Head of Markets, Consumer Insights and Product Design, at lauren@fair4allfinance.org.uk 

After the job advert closes, your answers will go through a sift process: randomising and anonymising answers to take out individual information that could add biases into hiring decisions. This enables application reviewers to review each answer objectively. People scoring the applications will not have seen your CV at this stage of the process so please try your best to answer questions with specific examples and without simply rephrasing your CV, which they will review later in the recruitment process.