Why FinTech should love Content Marketing

The FinTech industry is changing rapidly and now faces the question: Is the technology growth forcing fintech to evolve? Or conversely, do the needs of fintech urge the technology to step up? Why should I bring it up, or how does it relate to content marketing? You ask. Well, hold your horses. 

I would say ‘both’, as an answer. Modern companies are fighting with one another in developing technologies that are better or different or serving differently. Well, it all sounds similar, but it’s not, and that’s the challenge with the fintech space currently. Too much detail moved from the “legal” side to the “tech side.”

On the other side, we have traditional companies adopting modern technology and trying to get the message across to the consumers on how to use it, why to use it, and more.

Both come with challenges, like the inability to impress upon the audience clearly (enough) or getting them to use it with adoption being the major challenge.

Marketing techniques tailored for FinTech

Numerous solutions from various competitors were tried, most of which do not go more than half of the way, and all these have led to immense confusion, mistakes, and rollbacks. The results cannot be changed unless time can be reversed, but a suitable solution can be explored.

I won’t name any brands or case studies here, as I want to keep focused on actionable steps and pure knowledge. After this, you may filter brands and know the difference by what you learn here. A campaign that made money does not make it great, but failing to help the business’s bottom line is of no use either.

So, Fintech marketing is the sum of marketing techniques specifically tailored for financial technology (‘fintech’) companies. 

What are the marketing needs of FinTech?

Reaching the target audience is marketing – call, email, message, meet them door to door, teach them with infomercials, or attract them with exciting ads. That is all the marketing in the world in one line in layman terms.

However, it’s a lot more complicated than that, now that we have 70+ top social media across youtube, Instagram, TikTok, Slideshare, webinars! , each needing its format of content, own delivery style, own strategy, and more.

Each platform is different.

Each delivery medium, a.k.a content format, is different.

Each industry is different.

And most importantly, everything changes with the change in the objective/goal of the campaign.

How is FinTech unique?

So FinTech is unique; it’s not the same as every other industry, and its marketing needs are different. Yes, it has more legal boundaries than almost any other industry, except for medical.

FinTech needs to stand out from the crowd and position themselves on the edge of innovation in the ever-evolving field of financial technology.

The stats say that 86% of Americans fast forward through TV commercials, 91% unsubscribe from email lists, 44% of direct mail is never opened, and more than 221 million people are on a “Do Not Call” list.

But that leaves us with a good opportunity. Billions of people on earth RIGHT NOW love to scroll endlessly through their Facebook feeds or youtube “recommended videos,” Instagram feed, and any feed they could find with their exceptional (more than necessary) extra long smartphones. 

What’s the best form of marketing?

Reaching the audience with what they want is the best form of marketing. That is how every stage of marketing evolved.

Now delivering high value, educational, informational, exciting, and compelling content across these channels is what best reaches them.

Again, quality and quantity balance matters.

Let me tell you my story. I started working at the age of 14. I started selling anything I could find, primarily my web design services, as that’s the skill of a 14-year-old who finished 10th grade.

Then, I explored many industries, worked with fortune 100s like CISCO, fortune 100 nonprofits like AJC, and 1000s of businesses across six continents and numerous business sectors in dozens of languages and cultures.

I learned to see the differences in marketing across all these, but one thing remained consistent – and that is, people seek value, and they get addicted to the brand who delivers that, in channels they like, in ways they prefer. The customer is the king, even here.

Fintech can be a serious business, but customers do not need to be serious when dealing with it.

My marketing mantra

I follow Stoicism, and there is an exercise in Stoic practice to be “Hyper Aware.” Being super aware of all thoughts, feelings, and experiences and even writing it down for future reference. If you are a fintech owner or you work at a fintech organization, try to be hyper-aware of your thoughts, feelings over financial services, and financial businesses in your personal life. What do you feel? Do you know what you seek? What makes you think or complain? Do you even know what you like? Know thy customer. But first, know thyself. That is my marketing mantra.

If you know those innate thoughts, they can be a gold mine for what your customers MIGHT want to hear. To understand what they want, you might want to ask them, research, and more. But in short, you start being sensitive to what needs to exist there and produce content around it, not boring long videos or text with a disclaimer.

Highlight pain points of your target market

Great content helps highlight pain points your target market may not even realize they have—pain points your product or service solves. It doesn’t matter what kind of FinTech business you are.

1. Lending
2. Payments
3. International Money Transfers
4. Personal Finance
5. Equity Financing
6. Consumer Banking
7. Insurance
8. Or Blockchain/Crypto based modern emerging fintech service

The principles of marketing within FinTech are very similar. Yes, there will be differences to your sub-niches that need to be worked on, but every marketing campaign is different and needs to be customized as one size does not fit all. Every company is different, so is every product. World changes, customers change, and so, you and your campaign change as well.

What is an effective Content Marketing strategy?

The word content marketing has been overused and oversimplified over the years. Writing a small piece of a Facebook post is called Content Marketing lately. It’s hilarious, marketing by itself. But it’s more comprehensive than that.

It’s about knowing the audience, entertaining them while educating them, a lot of feedback collection, reaching through all possible channels, and a lot more.

Know your audience

The key is finding out what your target customers need to know and providing it to them in an engaging, seamless way.

It starts with personas and audience segmentation. But that’s a different topic for a different day.

When executed correctly, a content marketing strategy can have a tremendous impact on marketing efforts – and the bottom line. 

Leveraging highly personalized information to get beyond traditional marketing noise enables the consistent delivery of valuable and contextual insights across multiple channels. 

Minimize marketing challenges

Challenge #1: Budget

Big banks have a lot, endless pits to advertise as they are too big to fail (at least as of yesterday). But fintech startups aren’t there yet. Using storytelling, emotional connection, and real perspectives via content marketing is how they can capture the space in the audience mind with a relatively reasonable budget, which most banks cannot achieve even if they spend so much more as their mindset is not set right for 2020 – giving startups a massive edge (until they catch up)

An effective content marketing strategy helps minimize stumbling blocks for fintech startups.

Challenge #2: Too Complex

That is a complaint from the audience for all fintech products. Change it. Be simple. Explain with stories. Personalize. Put yourself and your life in the content. Show them how simple it truly is!

Challenge #3: Radical Transparency 

This is a value that fintech companies are lacking, more than ever. Content Marketing can help you achieve that (if your business intend to, which I strongly would recommend if you want to stand apart, stand alive in this fintech marketing battles)

Target specific goals

1. Build engagement and loyalty without the abrasiveness of a direct sales message. Like insurance sales or “give me your money and never ask about it” schemes
2. Educate customers and promote financial literacy through content marketing. 
3. Keep up with customers’ increasing need for control and self-service, the most important one currently.
4. Keep emotional ties with customers healthy since most opt to manage their money digitally now. Personal connections lead to trust.

What are some critical areas of application of Fintech Content Marketing? 

Recruitment 

Positioning the business in a good light is crucial for attracting the best talents. Deliver punchy, bold, engaging content about your work culture. Be creative; be fun. No one wants to work in a severe and tedious company. Your marketing materials to your customers reflect on your beliefs and help attract talents who have the same wavelength. 

Funding 

A sleek, well-structured campaign can help attract funding. The investors see the “value” you adopt in marketing. The trust gained and shows you understand the power of inbound marketing – which is the highest quality of customer acquisition out there. If buying your product requires “x” know-like-trust factor, investing requires 10x or 20x of it. 

Brand awareness

Unique content attracts potential clients. This is THE way of increasing awareness of your brand. Monitor social interactions among your target audience and note popular content that may guide and inspire your campaigns.

Generating leads and inquiries 

A strong content marketing strategy is crucial for longevity and financial success. Start-ups stumble for failing to understand the integral role of good copywriting within business development. Forgot not.

There are almost unlimited applications of Content Marketing for a fin-tech, but I think I should let you explore the rest.

A great content marketing company will advise you where best to focus your funds in order to best present your business without breaking the bank. But if you decide to do it yourself, inhouse, make sure you have all the skills hired and lined up to not compromise on research, quality of content and finally the distribution

Now, go out, make some difference. 

About The Author

Mr. KEY – Karnika E. Yashwant has been an avid marketer leading blockchain projects since 2013 and executing Content Marketing for Fortune 100s since 2007. He is the CEO of Utopian Capital, an investment firm for blockchain technology, and the Founder of KEY Difference Media, an agency rated in numerous Top 5 and Top 10 lists in the Blockchain/Crypto space year after year. He can be reached at LinkedIn or Telegram. 

He helps businesses understand how they can function and use blockchain technology to benefit their businesses. His whole perspective stems from marketing, helping businesses reach the marketing objective – be it raising investment or attracting users. 

He can help them navigate the challenges and help make the right choices, and most importantly, get the message across to the crypto audience. He is a master at educating the audience, onboarding them and customer acquisition using crypto news media, influencers, Content Marketing, and community connections.