The Underlying Value of Financial Comms

Published on Nov. 21, 2024 at 1:38 p.m.

By Rhodes Reddick.

When considering potential careers for a public relations degree holder, most preprofessionals don’t consider Wall Street as a possible landing spot.

While many students aspire to use a PR degree to conceptualize the next viral TikTok trend or to create the next “Just do it” campaign, there is an overlooked opportunity in the world of financial communications.

Gabby DiCarlo, a senior account executive at Vested, stated that financial PR can often lean more toward business-to-business clients rather than direct-to-retail or consumer clients.

“Financial PR is about more than crunching numbers. In my work at Vested, we aid our clients in telling the story of money and its impact on our lives. It takes a sharpened communications skill set to work on behalf of clients that underpin the financial marketplace as we know it,” said DiCarlo.

Amanda Perrucci emphasized the importance of being direct and avoiding PR jargon when trying to gain client buy-in.

Perrucci works as the VP, head of digital at Forefront Communications. Forefront Communications is an award-winning strategic communications firm that is focused on propelling fintech and capital markets firms to the forefront.

“Since most of our clients are startups or early-stage firms, we typically work with heads of sales and CEOs who don’t have marketing or PR backgrounds. They don’t always understand the jargon you typically use with an in-house marketing department. So, the biggest truth I’ve learned is the value of understanding our clients’ goals when I’m speaking to them. Even if we’re talking about a mundane topic like a social post, it’s critical to demonstrate we know the desired outcome and audience for each initiative,” said Perrucci.

Perrucci also noted that her clients have similar goals to traditional consumer clients but different industries. In a sector where media coverage is hard to come by, she emphasized the need for relationship building to gain media coverage.

“It’s not as much spray and pray as it is relationship building. To get one of our clients a profile piece in the Wall Street Journal, we had to build our relationship with the journalist for 18 months to convince them it was newsworthy,” remarked Perrucci.

Sarah Dougherty, vice president at The Bliss Group, recognizes the value of strong relationships with her clients.

“Often times with spokespeople and brands on the financial services side, we as PR pros serve as educators, bringing subject matter experts along through the media cycle. When we provide counsel on how the media cycle works, coach them through messaging, and prepare them well, they’re able to become thought leaders. We need to do our homework and demonstrate that we understand their focus areas and how it fits into the reporter’s story. Ultimately, we’re the media experts and they’re the finance experts; together, we can get their story out to their target audience,” said Dougherty.

Perrucci encourages students interested in working in financial communications to simply go for it.

“Coming out of college is the perfect time to enter a challenging field because there will be zero expectations that you know the subject matter,” said Perrucci. “Joining a finance club or reading publications focused on finance will give you a general understanding of what goes on in the market.”

Dougherty advises students interested in working in financial communications to read different media sources, such as Kiplinger, American Banker, MarketWatch and several others to become familiar with different products and broader storylines. Whether it’s personal finance or more nitty gritty investment strategy, she believes there is benefit in being acquainted with this content and information.

DiCarlo, giving her advice to students, said, “I found that the cross-over of PR and finance was not often discussed in higher education in the 2010s, and while this may be changing, I believe it would behoove educational programs to show PR students the full breadth of the industry beyond consumer goods and services. As a student, if you have a passion or area of interest, you usually can find a PR job there, so the world is your oyster.”

Although the case studies are not as common, financial PR is continuing to grow as clients are recognizing the need to be known and trusted now more than ever.