In an exclusive interaction with MediaBrief, Arunima Mehta, Global Marketing Director at FSS (Financial Software & Systems), speaks about how B2B marketing has evolved. She also highlights the role of founders and CXOs in driving leadership visibility, LinkedIn content that drives engagement, and how marketers are measuring real business impact.
In recent years, the B2B marketing landscape has evolved dramatically, pushing brands to rethink long-standing approaches. With buyers becoming more informed and markets shifting rapidly, companies must adapt their strategies to remain relevant and impactful.
On this changing landscape, Arunima Mehta, Global Marketing Director at FSS (Financial Software & Systems), says, “B2B buyers today, especially banks and regulated institutions, self-educate early and anchor decisions around future-readiness, resilience, and compliance. The rapid industry pivot toward AI has sharpened this behaviour; buyers now expect proven, production-ready AI, not experimentation.”
“As an early player in AI-led payments, FSS has seen a clear shift from feature-led discussions to outcome-driven priorities such as fraud mitigation, uptime, regulatory assurance, and scale.
“From a marketing perspective,” Mehta says, “this prompted the creation of Simply Payments as a platform to move beyond promotion into ecosystem education. It enables us to contextualise themes like DPDP, payments resilience, and responsible AI, aligning insight with trust-building across the buying journey.”
The role of founders and CXOs in thought leadership
Leadership visibility has emerged as a critical factor in shaping brand perception, particularly in the B2B space where credibility and trust are paramount.
On the role of founders and CXOs in driving content and thought leadership today, Mehta says, “Leadership visibility is core to how we build trust in a complex B2B category like payments infrastructure. Buyers need practitioners, not brand slogans, to make sense of AI, compliance, and scale. At FSS, CXO voices translate this complexity into real business outcomes.”
She adds, “We are intentional about this. Leaders with deep, long-standing experience in payments including V. Balasubramanian and Vishal Maru collectively strengthen our voice as a payments infrastructure leader. Each brings a distinct perspective, from legacy systems to next-generation AI.”
“Our spokesperson strategy ensures consistency and credibility,” says Mehta. “The insights shared externally through media and platforms, and internally across the organisation, are aligned and rooted in FSS’s business priorities. This cohesion helps move perception from innovation-led claims to sustained, real-world confidence and trust.”
Content formats driving LinkedIn engagement
With LinkedIn continuing to be a key platform for B2B engagement, brands are constantly evaluating which content formats resonate most with their audience. On what is driving the strongest engagement for FSS, Mehta says, “Short-form video and insight-led commentary continue to drive strong engagement on LinkedIn because they align with how senior decision-makers consume information quickly.”
“However,” she adds, “for complex topics such as AI in payments and regulatory effects on the industry, podcasts offer the bandwidth to explore context, trade-offs, and real-world implications in a more measured way.”
“Recognising this, we are now starting a podcast series to complement faster formats with thoughtful, expert-led conversations. Alongside LinkedIn newsletters and timely commentary on regulatory developments, podcasts help deepen understanding and support sustained engagement across the B2B decision journey.”
LinkedIn as Awareness vs. Conversion and measuring ROI
As B2B marketers increasingly leverage LinkedIn, the platform’s role in the broader marketing mix—whether for awareness or direct conversion—has become a key consideration. On how FSS approaches this, Mehta says, “For us as a B2B payments technology firm, LinkedIn functions primarily as an awareness and credibility platform rather than a direct conversion channel. It’s where banks, regulators, and ecosystem partners discover perspectives, validate expertise, and form early opinions on trust.”
“To support this,” she says, “we use formats like the Payments Watch LinkedIn newsletter to share consistent, insight-led updates, while internal emailers to bankers associated with FSS help reinforce relevance across our core audience. Conversion typically happens later through sales engagement and structured nurture.”
“We also place strong emphasis on internal communications,” says Mehta. Employees are among the most credible advocates in B2B, and equipping them with aligned narratives ensures our messaging is amplified authentically. ROI is therefore measured through senior-level engagement, quality of conversations, and pipeline influence reflecting LinkedIn’s role in shaping consideration, not closing transactions.”
