Sam leads relationships with some of Honner’s asset management and diversified financial clients.
Here’s what she has to say about changes she’s seeing in financial services communications.
Q: Give us a brief rundown of your career so far.
I started my career as a corporate lawyer in Brisbane and have a strong background in issues and crisis management as well as corporate reputation and project management.
I’ve worked across both institutional and retail wealth management markets, developing and managing communications strategies for a range of financial brands.
I joined Honner three years ago from AMP, where I spent a decade working in media and financial services marketing across multiple channels.
I’ve worked in financial PR, corporate communications and marketing for over 20 years (yikes!) in Sydney and London.
Q: You oversee a range of asset management and diversified financial clients. What changes have you seen in financial services communications in the past year?
One of the key changes among some of our clients has been a shift in focus from institutional markets to targeting wealthy individual investors and family offices – effectively moving from a business-to-business to sophisticated consumer audience.
From a communications perspective this has meant shifting the dial on style of content we deliver and the channels we use.
Getting messages out to consumers – even affluent and sophisticated investors – requires a more engaging and digestible style, using more diverse vertical channels. We’re using podcasts, video, infographics and influencers more often, as well as our clever written content for websites and target publications, for example.
Even visual content needs to be more engaging – people want diagrams and illustrations that visually tell a story in an interesting and engaging way. No one’s interested in a boring old bar graph!
LinkedIn can be useful in reaching people across a range of audience groups, but while we wouldn’t often use social media channels like Tik Tok and Instagram in targeting institutional investors, those channels can be valuable for reaching some consumer groups.
Q: What new skills or expertise have you developed recently?
It’s amazing how much you can learn in a short period of time. Five years ago, I can’t say I’d ever really thought about the advantages of investing in private credit, but I have literally dozens of conversations about it every day now! I even went to a wedding recently where I was sitting at a table full of private credit experts. It’s such a hot topic!
Q: What’s the best thing about your job at Honner?
My favourite part is getting to work with a large and diverse collegial team. We tend to work in groups of about three to five on each account but everyone in the broader team is always happy to jump in and support when needed, sharing ideas and opportunities. That might be sharing contacts or brainstorming ideas.
We’ve got such a wealth of talent, from ex-AFR and trade journalists to political junkies, platform and asset management aficionados, and branding experts. There’s always someone who has relevant experience and insights to contribute.
Learn more about Sam and our other team members here