Fintech Marketing 101: Expert Tips & Key Advice
No matter how radical, innovative, or disruptive your product, it doesn’t stand a chance without effective marketing. In fact, the less familiar it is, the more you need a strategy that convinces potential consumers of its value. True of all industries, this applies more than ever to fintech.
However, the financial technology industry poses its own unique challenges for marketers too. It’s hugely competitive, first of all. With over 10,000 startups worldwide hoping to carve a niche for themselves among the established players, fintech had been projected to grow at nearly 25% annually through to 2022. While Covid-19 has given growth a possible knock, competition is only expected to sharpen.
Secondly, while fintech has its committed advocates, it has been growing in a world that isn’t always sympathetic. After the financial crisis, consumers were already sceptical of financial institutions – and fintechs and startups are tarnished with the same brush. Marketers need to overcome this trust deficit, while selling products that many consumers won’t necessarily understand in full.
As such, fintech firms need to think carefully about their marketing campaigns. We’ve collected some of the best fintech marketing strategies and tips – for social media, content marketing, and pay-per-click (PPC) – from experts in the industry. Here are thirteen bits of advice to get you on the right track.
If you’re looking to hire a pre-vetted freelance fintech marketing agency or expert, you can do it for free using Traktion. Connect with the world’s brightest marketing minds through our easy-to-use platform.
The Fundamentals: The Basics of a Fintech Marketing Strategy
Where to start with fintech marketing then? Before getting into your channel-specific strategies, let’s look at the bigger picture. Here are some of the principles that need to shape any fintech campaign – including what it is that you want to communicate and how.
#1: Focus on Humanising Your Brand
Algorithms, artificial intelligence, and automation might make up a huge part of the fintech space’s concerns. However, as Lauren Tellman at Influence and Co. points out, when approaching consumers, you need to talk like a human.
This isn’t as easy as it might seem in an industry cluttered with technical jargon. According to a study by BackBay Communications, many fintechs struggle to create content that hits the sweet spot between excessively technical information – and language that is too overtly promotional.
“Put yourself in your readers' shoes to make sure the content would be clear and digestible,” Lauren says. “People want to read content from people — not robots devoid of personality”.
#2: Personalise Your Messaging
While painting yourself as personable and human, appreciate the personal needs of your consumers, too. As Lauren notes, 91% of customers these days want to receive relevant recommendations and advice suited to them.
This can be offered through content – by providing an interactive quiz, for example, to which you provide customers with personalised information. Or else, go out onto social media and engage. You’ll help consumers know what you can do for them personally, while providing a more interactive experience.
As KPMG’s recent report on the future of banking noted, financial firms with great personalisation are “consistently ranked as best in class” by consumers. And that’s in marketing as much as service provision.
#3 Balance Transparency with Value
The complexities of the fintech space highlight another point, too – namely, the need for transparency. In an industry suffering from that scarcity of trust, being clear on all of the rules and regulations is fundamental.
However, David Bowler at IncisiveEdge gives some important advice: when thinking through your messaging, craft your value proposition before you consider regulation. By outlining your promise from the strongest possible position, you’ll create the most compelling marketing materials, narrative, and proposition.
You’ll refine these later in light of any relevant regulations – but it starts you off on the right foot.
#4 Enable Referrals
While it’s a truism in marketing that your customers need to be your evangelists, this is more important than ever in fintech. One study found that customers who are referred are 25% more valuable to a financial institution than customers who aren’t referred.
According to a poll, 55% of fintech customers would recommend their fintech provider to a friend. However, as Laura de Castro Braulio, head of marketing at 2gether, points out, by incentivising them to do this, you kill two birds with one stone. You outsource your messaging to someone prospective customers trust – while making it human at the same time.
Social Media Tactics for Fintech Companies
Back in 2014, a study found that a massive 87% of consumers found banks to be “boring, annoying, and unhelpful” on social media. While many financial institutions have since got their act together, following in their footsteps is not recommended.
So, what’s the way forward? Eyal Katz, over on Oktopost, had some great ideas on how to make social media marketing a success for fintech firms.
#5 Empower Employees
Brands that speak only as brands on social media often leave consumers cold. While a centralised account is helpful for broad messaging, consumers would rather engage with a person rather than an anonymous corporation. Again, it’s all about talking like a human.
Employees can be useful players in this. As Eyal writes, “Employee advocacy can be a very powerful social media strategy, especially in finance where knowledge, experience, and personalized advice may be your primary selling point”.
To drive the point home, 41% of people were found to trust a company’s employees over the CEO, founder, or PR department. So, amplify their voices.
#6 Use the Right Influencers to Speak to the Right Audiences
Consumers want to see what you can do for them as individuals. Finances are personal – and the potential human impact of your products makes a difference to prospective customers.
Sharing customer stories and testimonials from your brand account can reveal to followers the possibilities of your services. However, using influencers can reach new audiences and move prospects from an awareness to a more active interest.
Ensure you use the right influencers, however. As Eyal points out, don’t use a superstar to market your budgeting app. Keep things relatable and convincing.
#7 Integrate Social Data for Better Measurement
We’ve talked a lot about ensuring you use the right voice and engage with audiences in the right way. However, you need to keep an eye on what is working and what isn’t. That’s why messaging needs to work in sync with measurement.
Eyal identifies technical integrations with social as the best method for bringing data into your fintech marketing strategy – for example, by adding Facebook SDK to your mobile banking app. This allows you to gain data and insights into consumer behaviour and the performance of particular ads.
It should go without saying that this information is invaluable for finessing your marketing strategy. However, some fintech startups have the opportunity to streamline the process further.
Fintech Content Marketing Approaches
By now, every digital marketer will appreciate the power of content.
As many as three quarters of consumers would rather learn about a company through articles over ads. As a result, content needs to be a strong part of your fintech marketing strategy. Competition is fierce here though, with companies fighting over ranking, eyeballs, and clicks.
Here are some fintech content marketing tips to start from the strongest position possible.
#8 Become a Teacher
In fintech, content can be useful for educating. As we mentioned, the chances are that your offering is pretty technical. Meanwhile, what with it being finance, the stakes can be pretty high. Consumers want to understand what your product actually does, they want to know why they can trust you with their money, and they want that information delivered to them simply and engagingly.
Again, that’s not as easy as it might sound. Yet, fintech firms are using all sorts of different formats to educate their customers – and prospects. Kaizen’s study of fintech content marketing revealed infographics as a really popular option, and video as much less inspiring than many think.
As Trapica’s article argued, viewers of your content want a teacher: they want an education, yes, but they want someone who they can trust, too.
#9 Position Employees as Thought Leaders
Remember, your employees are some of your best advocates – and your greatest assets, too. While 96% of the big fintechs produce thought leadership content, they focus all too often on their founders as the thinkers. This is all well and good, but you have a team of employees that need to have expertise as well.
However, as Content Capital Online argues, customers don’t want to just see expertise at the top. Publishing and promoting under their names can help across a variety of goals: building confidence and trust, personalising your brand, and activating your employees on social media.
#10 Generate Leads with Downloadable Content
Free content is a great way to build awareness and interest among prospects – and to provide helpful information for your existing customers, too. However, it can play a crucial role in converting prospects too, by asking for contact details in exchange for even better content.
As Ashley Poynter at Content Rewired writes, lead generation of this kind is key. Yet, it is most effective for B2B clients – as they are most likely to be interested in research reports or whitepapers, the most commonly used downloadable content.
Admittedly, producing these reports results in costs. However, they provide truly unique content in a field that is highly saturated and fiercely competitive.
Tips for Fintech PPC (i.e. Google Ads)
Finally, Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising will be a crucial feature of your marketing strategy. However, in the finance and technology spaces, the competition is pretty brutal. Yes, here too. Finance and technology keywords are some of the most expensive on Google Ads, according to Wordstream. And, as a result, it is essential to have an effective strategy to get seen at a budget that is realistic.
Here are some tips on Google Ads marketing for fintech from Jeroen Minks, founder of PPC agency, Vazooky Digital.
#11 Establish How Much You Can Pay
The first point that Jeroen makes is a simple one: work out how much you can afford per click. If your competitors are reaching £30 for a click – which, in fintech, they are – bidding £5 is useless. To compete at all, you’re going to need to know what resources are available to you.
Jeroen does the maths. Understand how much a new client is worth and how much you are willing to invest to get the client. Then, establish how many leads you need for a customer, and how many customers for a conversion. Calculating this tells you how much you can manage per click.
It’s pretty fundamental to know – and matters for fintechs more than many other industries.
#12 Get Your Keywords Right
With competition high (and clicks pricey) in the fintech industry, it’s important to refine your keywords. Jeroen suggests combining 3-word-minimum keywords alongside negative keywords to filter out the irrelevant searches.
However, David Bowler from IncisiveEdge suggests that fintechs think as widely as possible for keywords. The trouble in fintech is that, if your product is truly new, the chances are no-one is searching for it.
Instead, David writes, “start brainstorming an extensive list of what your audience might be searching for, including keywords even remotely related to how your product or service helps them.” Looking at what competitors are doing can help too.
#13 Keep Optimising Conversion Rates
Once a lead has clicked on your Google ad, what happens next? You want to take them to a landing page that is, in Jeroen’s words, “focussed on one goal: generating leads.” This matters in all industries, yet when you are potentially paying as much for clicks as you are in fintech, you want to ensure conversion rates are optimised.
As Jeroen says, use the principle of less-is-more. Keep the landing pages as clean as possible, and ensure that not a single click is wasted.
In Conclusion
To wrap things up, here are the 13 tips:
- Focus on Humanising Your Brand
- Personalise Your Messaging
- Balance Transparency with Value
- Enable Referrals
- Empower Employees
- Use the Right Influencers to Speak to the RIght Audiences
- Integrate Social Data for Better Measurement
- Become a Teacher
- Position Employees as Thought Leaders
- Generate Leads with Downloadable Content
- Establish How Much You Can Pay (for PPC)
- Get Your Keywords Right
- Keep Optimising Conversion Rate
We hope you found this article useful, with these tips to help you master the art of Fintech Marketing.
If you’re looking to hire a pre-vetted freelance fintech marketing expert or fintech marketing agency, you can do it for free using Traktion.
Connect with the world’s brightest marketing minds through our easy-to-use platform. Start now.
