Strategy-Focused Digital Marketing for FinTech
There are few new things under the sun, and that can be especially true for traditional financial services. For example, banking has historically been resistant to change and disruption; especially the digital aspects of the business. At least that was the case until the last decade when Fintech arrived and became the fastest-growing sector.?Now, Fintech is undoubtedly having its moment.
According to a research by Mckinsey, 42% of financial decision-makers now have a Fintech account, and more than 24% of consumers use a Fintech banking platform. Since 2015, Fintech companies have started to pop up everywhere in the financial services industry and far beyond. And that growth has only accelerated since the effects of COVID-19 began.
So, now the question isn’t, “Will Fintech succeed?” but “How do you stand out?” Since Fintech mainly preaches to the already converted, the key is strategy-focused digital marketing for Fintech.
What is Strategy-Focused Digital Marketing for Fintech??
To capitalize on the potential, Fintech companies must embrace how consumer behavior and relationships are shaping the market. Today, Fintech is setting new standards in customer expectations by offering more convenient products and services throughout the customer journey. (PWC Global Fintech report 2021)
Why does this matter for Fintech digital marketing strategies? Because the best digital marketing approaches can offer the same positive disruption to the marketing landscape as Fintech offers to the financial services world.
The key is strategy-focused digital marketing tailored to Fintech’s unique products or services, experiences, prospects and consumers. This strategy must be informed by experience and relentlessly focused on results. And it must consistently reinforce your unique value proposition based on your positioning, buyer personas, and path to purchase.
But what exactly does strategy-focused digital marketing for Fintech look like?
It is multi-dimensional digital marketing across the full breadth of digital techniques, channels, and platforms; from SEO to email, social media, pay-per-click, blogging, and media. Your digital marketing strategy should align with your firm’s existing state of marketing readiness and goals—whether they are revenue-based, customer-service-based,?or simply market awareness-based. It’s all about a well-thought-out plan that proactively finds new avenues of growth. 3. Brand development for FinTechs
The best branding strategy for a FinTech will be largely determined by the nature of the problem it solves, and the demographics of the target market. There is no single "right answer." However the brand development process for tech start-ups should be observed in most cases:
There will always be exceptions to these ‘rules’ eg; an older demographic may not take well to unusual spellings or exotic syntax.
Nevertheless, success in FinTech is strongly correlated with those founder teams who ‘bake in’ their marketing strategy at the conceptual level. The ultimate is to develop a brand identity that functions as an idea virus which users actually WANT to share.
Great FinTech product design
It might sound counterintuitive (especially coming from a director of a digital agency), but your first and most powerful marketing opportunity has nothing whatsoever to do with digital marketing services.
To paraphrase the Clinton presidential campaign: “It’s the product, stupid.”
A FinTech with a product that solves a BIG problem for lots of people in a new, compelling way is an easy sell. Build a truly great product, and a lot of marketing problems suddenly disappear. Good marketing can still sell a ‘dog’ of a product of course, but it will generally take longer and cost more.
Don't be generic or salesy, but do?brand?your content.
Content is still king—it has never been dethroned. But that doesn’t mean that every piece of content you create will provide value. It is the?quality?of your content that determines the effectiveness of your Fintech digital marketing strategy. Your content should educate your prospects while providing valuable insight and tools to improve their everyday lives.?
Don’t focus only on?generic?content that could be written by anyone within Fintech.?
Further, your brand and offering are unique, and prospects prefer to invest in companies that they feel offer something different from all the rest. Branding provides your content with authenticity and helps you stand apart from the crowd by highlighting your unique value-add.
Spread out your digital marketing spend across channels.
Your prospects should be found on many different channels, depending upon your target market. They should be found on Facebook or reading blogs or searching Google. They should be spread across many different platforms and channels, including industry publications.
Determining who is your target audience and how to find them is critical to creating a digital marketing strategy.?Recognizing that this might evolve throughout the evolution of your products and services is also very important.?Perhaps at the beginning of their interaction with your brand, it will happen on social media, but by the time they’re willing to purchase or download something, they are on your website and/or reading your blog.
Think about your marketing efforts and what channel makes the most sense to reach your audience. And begin with a narrow focus. Become consistent at engaging with just a few of the most important channels first and then launch more as you have time and a team to assist.
ON’T forget to engage, engage, engage.
Your prospects don’t just want to be sold until they are ready to buy, and certainly prefer not to be preached about how your product or service is the best and your service is second to none. They want to experience it first hand, and they want to do so while developing a relationship with your brand. This is why it’s so important to interact with your prospects as much as possible in a digital channel first.
There are many ways to engage your prospects in conversations through your Fintech digital marketing—some passively and some actively. Here are just a few:
Consider paid advertising, carefully.
Ads have their place in strategy-focused Fintech digital marketing. As you’ve probably heard, you have to pay to play, and that’s very true. But remember, 47% of prospects use ad-blocking technology when browsing, so ads must be planned out carefully.?
The key is to use paid advertising as a?supplement?to your overall strategic marketing plan and not as your only ace-in-the-hole. The last thing you want to do is waste money on clicks that never convert. When setting up ad campaigns, you must consider:
Don't hide. Be transparent, honest, and empathetic.
Fintech prospects and consumers need to be able to trust your company in order to do business with you. They need to feel comfortable with what you offer and how you offer it. You must provide safety, privacy, and comfort in the online world. This is critical to the customer experience and to their willingness to build a strong relationship with you.
To do this through digital marketing, you need to be transparent, honest, and empathetic. You must help your prospects feel like you have nothing to hide as a brand and that if they become your customer and remain your customer, you will take care of them.?94%?of consumers?said they’re loyal to brands that are transparent, and 73% are willing to pay more for products and services from transparent companies. You must prove your worth.
A good digital strategy
Before your FinTech even writes a line of code, a basic digital strategy should be evident in the business plan and product design. At a minimum, answers to these questions should be clear:
Digital Marketing experts can help develop a strategy for your FinTech marketing, based on these core principles.?
Finding the Best FinTech marketing channels
When scaling growth (particularly if you’re still in cash-burn phase) it’s all about cost per acquisition (CPA). So finding the channel that can deliver large volumes of users for the lowest cost is the path to glory! At this point ‘attribution’ is king, so effective analytics and reporting of data is critical.
All the usual online channels such as Pay per click advertising (PPC), display, social media will probably figure in the mix for lead generation and branding, but a few deserve special comment.
Search Engine Optimisation.
I think SEO is an underrated channel for FinTechs. Yes it’s a medium-term strategy that requires patience, but get it right and it’s a ‘free’ source of traffic which can slash your overall CPA. The superior UX of most FinTech platforms is a perfect fit for today’s Google algorithm which is speculated to be heavily weighted towards user experience signals.
Public Relations (PR) in FinTech
Media publicity is an essential channel for most FinTech businesses. Aside from building ‘buzz’ about the brand, it has the virtue of being ‘free’ (less agency costs). Although FinTech is very ‘hot’ with journalists, you still need to have a great story in order to get exposure. Here are five key FinTech PR tips:
Partnerships
Corporate partnerships might be dull and boring, but when interests are aligned and the chemistry is good they can work wonders for your growth. FinTechs who can establish meaningful partnerships with larger, older organisations also get the benefit of credibility association, and the joint press release announcing the partnership is another valuable publicity opportunity. What’s the old cliche? WIN-WIN-WIN.
FinTech Content Marketing
Whether you need to educate the market, establish trust or improve conversions, ‘content’ will almost certainly form a large part of the solution.??Once a comprehensive digital strategy is in place, a content marketing agency can help you create the amazing content you need. Here are just a few Fintech content marketing ideas to consider:
Embrace mobile as part of your Fintech marketing initiatives.
In 2022, U.S. consumers spent approximately?5.2 hours per day on mobile apps—up 30% from two years ago. On top of that, 76% of Americans have used their primary bank’s Fintech mobile app within the last year. The trend toward mobile is clear, so it should be no surprise that embracing mobile as part of your Fintech digital marketing strategy is critical.
An effective mobile marketing strategy should include:
Strategic Digital Marketing Delivers Great Results for Fintech
Within the Fintech sector, digital marketing’s role is to fight for the prospect and consumer. With strong storytelling, a solid strategy, and relevant digital marketing tactics, you can yield great results that convert.
But while you can do this on your own, it isn’t always the best option. A strategic digital marketing partner who understands the Fintech industry, your business, and the online ecosystem can be invaluable.