Trust is fintech’s currency in generative search

In many ways, 2025 has rewritten the playbook. Search has gone generative, visibility depends more on authority than ever before and the lines between PR, content and social strategy are getting harder to distinguish.

Whether you’re wrapping up campaigns or planning for what’s next, now is the time to be thinking about the role of marketing and communications in building and maintaining brand trust in 2026.

As generative search changes how audiences find and interpret you, trust is now one of the most reliable ways to earn meaningful visibility. In this post, we’ll share nine actions fintech and bank brands can take to ensure your message not only reaches the right people, but earns their trust.

1. Refresh your core messaging

Clear, consistent messaging remains the foundation of every campaign — and a major driver of how your brand is interpreted by both audiences and algorithms. 

If it’s been a while since your last refresh, take stock. Messaging should evolve with your audience, your industry and how people and AI describe your space.

Ask yourself:

• Does your narrative still reflect where your brand is headed? Is it still resonating?

• Are your differentiators clear? 

• Does your boilerplate sound like who you are today, not two years ago?

• Have any of your products or services changed?

• Have competitors shifted how they describe themselves?

2. Audit your website for AI-era discoverability

Your website was never just for humans — it’s always had to perform for search engines, too. But now, your content is being read and interpreted by AI models that generate answers instead of links. That makes structure, clarity and authority signals more important than ever.

Think of it as SEO’s next evolution. The goal isn’t just to rank; it’s to make sure AI understands who you are and why you’re credible.

Third-party validation through media coverage, interviews, cited sources and award wins strengthens authority signals and shapes how your brand is interpreted online.

3. Fortify your thought leadership foundation

Strong thought leadership can transform your brand from a relative unknown to the industry expert everyone wants to hear from. Credibility starts with expertise and grows through consistency.

Marketers are only beginning to see how much thought leadership affects how their brand appears in AI-driven search. Tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini lean heavily on credible third-party validation when recommending brands.

4. Grow your social presence

Social media is about connection. When your company and its leaders show up consistently and authentically, they reinforce each other’s credibility. The most effective brands don’t separate corporate and executive social; they align them to tell one cohesive story.

Platforms like LinkedIn have evolved from simple networking sites to publishing hubs where journalists, investors and algorithms all take cues about which voices carry weight. Today, visibility depends not just on what your company says, but on who says it — and how consistently they show up.

For this reason, executive and corporate social work best when they move in sync. Leadership posts bring personality and perspective, while company channels give those messages reach and reinforcement. Together, they shape how your brand and people are perceived.

5. Strengthen your earned-media footprint

If thought leadership lays the foundation for credibility, your earned-media ecosystem is how you scale it. Once your executives are showing up in the right stories, the next step is to turn that early traction into an ongoing rhythm, one that keeps your brand visible even when you’re not announcing something new.

Sustained visibility is what separates one-off coverage from category leadership. Reporters remember the sources who show up prepared, provide usable data and respond quickly. Over time, that consistency builds trust, and that trust keeps you top of mind when news breaks.

If your spokespeople haven’t had recent media training, now is a good time to hone their delivery. Even experienced executives benefit from a refresher to ensure messages land clearly and confidently in high-stakes interviews — especially as conversations become faster, more technical and often AI-informed.

6. Reassess your awards and speaking strategy

Both award wins and speaking opportunities raise visibility and validate expertise. Each signals leadership within your space and provides third-party proof that your brand is worth paying attention to.

When handled strategically, awards can reinforce your positioning and unlock coverage, partnerships and credibility that paid visibility can’t replicate. Choosing partners with a strong presence in the conference space can help you identify the right opportunities, craft submissions that stand out and tap into insider knowledge about what event organizers and judges are really looking for.

7. Experiment with paid amplification

Paid media works best when it amplifies what’s already resonating. Instead of rushing out new campaigns at year-end (unless there’s a specific reason to do so), try amplifying your best-performing earned and owned content to give it longer life and broader reach.

When done right, this kind of amplification strengthens brand credibility and ensures the content people already trust continues to surface for a wider audience and not just the followers you already have. It can also serve as a lower-risk testing ground for new messaging or audiences that inform your larger digital advertising strategy.

Whether through paid social, search or display, thoughtful targeting and creative consistency help connect your PR, content and advertising efforts into one cohesive visibility engine.

8. Repurpose and refresh top-performing content

Your strongest content has already proven it connects, but it shouldn’t stop there. Refreshing and reformatting top-performing pieces keeps your insights relevant and helps them reach new audiences who may have missed them the first time around.

As generative AI continues surfacing content based on freshness and authority, updates and context matter more than ever. Sometimes that means updating existing content, and sometimes it means giving it new life in a different format.

9. Plan and prioritize your content strategy

A strategic content calendar keeps you consistent and intentional, but even the best plans tend to drift once the year picks up and priorities shift. Year-end is the perfect time to pause, take stock and recalibrate — not just to plan what’s next, but to recommit to creating the kind of content that moves your brand forward.

Look back at what you published in 2025 and where you might have fallen off track. Maybe ad hoc requests, company news or other initiatives bumped scheduled topics. Revisiting last year’s calendar helps you identify which themes deserve more attention, what formats you underused and where you can lean in more deeply next year.

As you plan ahead, keep in mind how search has changed. SEO and AI-driven discovery reward brands that publish credible, relevant content on a consistent cadence. A well-structured calendar helps you show up, not just for your audience, but in the places where algorithms decide what they see.

Brand trust isn’t built all at once. It’s earned steadily through clear messages, consistent visibility and proof that others value your ideas. Focusing on these nine areas can help fintech and bank brands approach 2026 with direction and confidence — and show up in ways that make credibility a lasting advantage.