Positioning · Fintech · Enterprise GTM
Positioning in regulated markets: make the skeptics your advocates
Fintech and regtech buyers are professionally skeptical. The positioning that wins doesn't dodge the scrutiny — it's built for it.
Olayiwola ‘Hugh’ Osoba
Principal Marketing Consultant · June 30, 2026
Selling infrastructure to banks means your buyer's first job is to find reasons to say no. Compliance teams, risk committees, and procurement all get a veto. Most marketing pretends this gauntlet doesn't exist — bold claims, thin proof, and a demo CTA.
The companies that win in regulated markets flip the approach: they position for the diligence room, not the landing page.
A narrative leaders can repeat
In committee sales, your real salesperson is your champion repeating your story in a meeting you'll never attend. If they can't explain what you are in two sentences, you lose by default.
That's the test of positioning in these markets: not whether it sounds impressive, but whether a non-expert can carry it into a room of experts and survive questioning.
Proof over promise
Skeptical buyers discount claims and weight evidence. Named customers, regulator relationships, uptime history, security posture — these do more work than any tagline. Structure marketing around producing and distributing proof: case studies, executive visibility, and ecosystem storytelling that makes credibility ambient.
When Zone needed banks to trust a blockchain-based network, the answer wasn't louder advertising — it was a category narrative plus executive PR that made the infrastructure legible to every stakeholder who could veto it.
Keep reading
More operator notes.
July 28, 2026
Your stack isn't the problem. Your operating system is.
Teams keep buying tools to fix growth problems that are actually process problems. Here's how to tell the difference — and what a marketing OS actually looks like.
Olayiwola ‘Hugh’ Osoba
May 26, 2026
Embedded teams vs. agencies: why the operating model decides the outcome
Same channels, same budgets, wildly different results. The difference is rarely talent — it's whether your marketing partner sits inside your operating rhythm or outside it.
Adebola Olusunmade