FinTroop, a strategic fin-fluencer management marketing agency-In conversation with Shreya Jaiswal, Co-Founder & CA

FINTroop, a flagship influencer management platform co-founded and spearheaded by Shreya Jaiswal, a chartered accountant and content creator. FinTroop is the newest IP of Dot Media – a leading creative martech startup in the influencer management space.

Can you explain in brief how you started FinTroop and how has been the journey so far? 

After a considerable amount of research, I joined Dot Media as a creator in October 2022 and not any other traditional agency because they would only focus on brand deals but not to the specific needs of finance creators. Whereas, Dot media was into uplifting their creators and opening doors for different opportunities for them which was clearly visible in their other verticals such as Dot Talents and TGB Troop that have been operative since 2020. Being one of the first creators in this niche, it was obvious that the agency and I both were just experimenting on how things work out. Fast forward to 3 months, I got my first brand deal through Dot Media and soon we realised that we can make it big in this field.

Being a CA, I always wanted to build a business of my own and this was something that Dot Media’s founders, Shubham and Vaibhav were already aware of. I shared all my dreams and aspirations with them as to what all things finance and infotainment creators can achieve. And that’s where they offered me a partnership of building one of a kind agency catering to the Finance, Infotainment and Tech space. I willingly said yes to it.

The journey as of now has been nothing less than a roller-coaster. Shifting from a conventional CA office to a completely unconventional media agency, I think I’d say I am still adjusting. “If you want to do something, do it right or don’t do it at all”, that being said I am making sure that in spite of having such strong co-founders who are experts in the field, I learn the nuances of media and marketing from scratch.

 In this highly competitive market, how does FinTroop stand apart?

FinTroop is an extended arm of Dot Media Base which is an established player in the media and influencer marketing industry. We have the bandwidth to provide end to end media and marketing services including influencer marketing, ad productions, SEO management, PR strategizing, content creation and brand partnerships. Hence, for any requirement that the brand has, it can all be provided under the same roof and they do not have to hire multiple agencies to grow their business. Plus me being a CA and a creator would give us strategic advantage which no one else has as I understand the needs of the market and the brands as well. I am looking forward to maintaining the balance between the sentiments of the brand and well as the creators. This is what gives us an upperhand in the market vis-a-vis other agencies.

Factors basis which you strategize the campaigns

From its inception, Dot Media’s aim has been to always be a content first influencer marketing agency. That being said, delivering the right set of content is always the top priority even for FINTroop. And for brand campaigns we achieve that by delivering the brand message in the most creative way by strategically selecting the right set of influencers who would not only be able to convey the brand sentiments but also deliver it to the right set of audience. The first step is always to understand the product by the brand themselves, next to understand what the brand plans to achieve through this campaign and we accordingly deliver them what they want. 

What is the business model and prominent clients until now

The business model that we are currently following is Artist Management, Finance & Portfolio Management, Influencer Campaigns and IP Building. Within a few months of inception, we already have prominent clients like MIA by tanishq, Dezerv, Liquide Life & many other finance & infotainment brands.

What is the process from onboarding a influencer to retaining

The preliminary process starts with primary shortlisting of the profile. Considering there is no barrier to enter content creation there are new profiles emerging daily. When the algorithms are in favour of these new profiles they gain huge numbers of followers. However, a good creator is not just about numbers, you need to see the quality of content, production, consistency, audience engagement and several other small factors. A good creator is not just someone who is saleable to the brands but also someone who is influential in front of the audience. A creator who misses even one of these factors has a short shelf life.

Next is actually meeting the creator. A creator you wanna work with may not necessarily wanna work with you. In any business, the customer is always the king, that is why our first priority is always understanding what the creator wants from an agency. Moreover what is their vision about themselves as a creator 3-5 years down the line. If our visions don’t align with each other, we don’t onboard the creator even if the creator is willing to work with us as we believe in sustenance and developing long term relations. I believe once these 2 steps are done, retaining a creator is comparatively easier because in the end we are meant to deliver. Retaining an influencer is based on 2 pillars – giving them everything they expect, and giving them something beyond their expectations. Since we already have a very strong filter in our first two processes, retaining them is easy, because that is exactly what we are working towards day in and day out.

The audience that FinTroop caters to and future goals      

FINTroop caters to anyone who is willing to learn and uplift themselves. As I mentioned we work with extremely filtered creators who are delivering quality content and have a set vision in place, the same is in terms of brands. There are various products, especially in the fintech space, against which RBI, SEBI and other regulatory agencies, including our finance minister, have issued cautionary guidelines and even banned some of them. At FINTroop we make sure that we are not associating with any brand or product unless a thorough quality check has been done, especially in terms of regulatory guidelines and moreover the brand is delivering some value to the audience.

We hope to create an ecosystem of trust, collaboration and most importantly to create a layer of comfort when it comes to financial prudence in the millennial and GenZ market. We aim to become enablers in a way that we get your money to work for you.

Elaborate the present finfluencer market scenario and business opportunities that you see in this segment?

The present fin-fluencer market is going through a turbulence with new regulations coming in daily, however as we know every storm is followed by silence, similarly this turbulence is also going to bring in much needed stability in the market. Financial health is as important as physical health and I believe only those who possess knowledge about it should be the ones talking about it.

Once structured guidelines come into place, the fin-fluencer space will become an expensive but also a niche space with legitimate people talking about finance and business. This will in turn not only attract more audience attention towards finance content but will also increase the ROI of brands working with fin-fluencers. Moreover a structure in place will encourage more knowledgeable people to enter into content creation since they no longer will have to fight the masses. Also there are barely a handful of agencies who are catering to this niche and they are only focused towards the traditional influencer marketing i.e. bringing sponsored posts for influencers. Considering the industry-wide presence of Dot Media, FINTroop has a strategic advantage which no other agency has and we are completely hands on in bringing out this hidden treasure of opportunities to influencers as well as brands.

 According to you what role technology is playing in the influencer marketing sector & how it has helped businesses across the world

Influencer management agencies have a network of influencers that they work with on a regular basis, this helps businesses find the right influencer for their brand and campaign goals. Technology helps in analysing data such as audience demographics, database management, engagement rates and content performance. This helps in better collaboration and easier executions of campaigns for the brands by automating tasks such as scheduling posts, tracking metrics and analysing results.

 Any new trends you see in the Insurtech segment in coming years? How is it going to impact the customers & Influencers? 

In the world’s rising insurance markets, India is the fifth largest life insurance market, growing at a rate of 32-34 percent per year. The insurtech sector in India offers a market opportunity of $339 billion, which has been recognised by private equity and venture capital firms. With digitisation in full form, insurtechs help in automation for claim settlement, personalised insurance plans and catering to the specific needs of their consumers.  Considering AI will become the enabler for insurance companies, the differentiation factor between companies will vanish or hardly exist. In such cases influencers will play a crucial role in branding and driving customers to the companies, since they have the key to distribution. Eventually the powerplay of influencers will be the distinguishing factor.