Fintech marketing is a crowded space
Fintechs are driving the digital transformation of every element of our personal and professional financial lives. Their sphere of activity is bewilderingly huge: mobile banking, digital payments, lending platforms, robo-advisors, blockchain-based solutions, and more. The sector has experienced significant growth in recent years and is projected to be worth $188 billion by 2024.
With tens of thousands of fintechs competing for market share, it’s no easy task for brands in the space to differentiate and attract new customers. But how to stand out without falling foul of stringent regulation that is intended to protect customers from hyperbole and false claims?
Constraints specific to Fintech marketing
When it comes to marketing their solutions, FinTech firms face specific challenges and constraints:
- Regulation: From consumer duty to AML-KYC, they have to contend with a range of marketing guidelines to follow, and processes and procedures to adhere to. These are over and above wider regulations like GDPR.
- Long purchase cycles: Fintechs in the B2B space often have to contend with purchase cycles that are more than 12 – 18 months long. For good reason – you would want a bank, insurance provider or pension fund to ensure all due diligence has been completed before adopting any new platform. The need to nurture and sustain audiences through this prolonged purchase cycle immediatel y has an impact on the type of content marketing strategies that are needed.
- Security and fraud prevention: FinTech companies need to demonstrate more so than any other sector how robust the defences of their systems are: especially if it’s a cloud-based solution.
Given this set of constraints, it might seem like a daunting challenge to launch content that isn’t dry or so guarded as to be ineffective. But it’s not impossible. Some fundamental B2B content marketing strategies can be very effective for fintechs looking to scale business growth, drive leads and engage appropriately with various stakeholder groups.
Stepping back – and into the customer’s shoes
Taking the time to understand your value proposition and the benefits you are looking to take to market can help you achieve your strategic objectives. The other foundational step is to understand your target audience. For Fintechs looking to sell into large financial institutions, purchase decisions are rarely linear – nor are they short. Solutions may be championed by one persona, but often have to be evaluated from different perspectives, with multiple stakeholder groups and committees entering the picture at different stages of the process. Marketing and lead nurture, in this context, needs a balance between high-level messaging and technical detail.
The most effective way to ensure the right messages reach the right groups is to segment the audience and create a message matrix with accompanying proof points. Match these to the relevant points within the sales cycles. Then create simple, concise content tailored to the medium you’re using as part of your go-to-market strategy with the prospect at the forefront. Capitalising on their specific areas of interest and targeting them with the right messages, at the right time will greatly aid with conversion – you can learn more about how to do this in more detail here.
What type of content is most effective?
You’ve got your audience, key messages, medium, and purchase stage all mapped out. But what types of content should you produce? Here are some simple tips, and you can learn more and get some inspiration in our blog on fintech marketing campaigns that are killing it.
- Audiences love value-added content: B2B fintech audiences tend to be interested upskilling and abreast of the industry. Offering value by providing updates that enable them to keep up with the latest trends and developments can be an effective strategy to build preference and trust.
- Data-driven insights are always helpful: Senior audiences in particular respond well to data-driven insight that enables them to arrive at their own conclusions about key issues and pain points. This could come in many forms: insights into their own audiences’ preferences, or benchmarking with their peers. Ensure that data is unique and of interest to your audience, and not too self-serving.
- Tips and tricks: This works very well into the middle of the purchase cycle: hurdles to expect, or things to be aware of to ensure that a project is successful, pitfalls to watch out for, for example.
- Interactivity is fun! Nobody can resist a good quiz or questionnaire. How about an ROI calculator or poll? Offering an interactive way for audiences to consume content is very effective in increasing stickiness and engagement. Here are some content types that have worked very well for us.
Measurement
To ensure your content is generating the right results, you need to be rigorous about measurement. Agree KPIs upfront to benchmark and measure your campaign goals in-line with your overall business strategy. Check your metrics consistently as you go along and refine your messaging and content to optimise your results every step of the way. We looked at the benefits of proposition agility within the traditional financial sector more fully in our previous blog from last year which you can gain further insight from here.
Offer value and keep it real
Tech B2B audiences are notoriously hard to reach and convince: especially so for fintech, with hundreds of thousands of competitors vying for the same eyeballs. With numerous regulatory hurdles to navigate, hyperbole and exaggerated claims or hard-sell strategies will not work. Fintechs must go back to the basics and focus on adding value to their target audiences to help move prospects along the purchase cycle. And remember: measure, optimise, and try bold new ideas: it’s meant to be fun!
To learn more about our content marketing offer for fintech companies, contact us at hello@isolinecomms.com
