Fintech Marketing: 9 Tactics and Examples to Scale Your Fintech in 2024 [Guide]

It’s 2024, and along with NFTs and the Blockchain, you’ve probably heard one of the newest phrases – fintech – bouncing around the internet recently. You’re not alone. Since 2018 the fintech industry has grown from $112 billion to an estimated $310 billion in 2024, doubling the sector’s value in only four years. And it’s growth is in large part due to fintech marketing.

Fintech, or financial tech, is a relatively new industry, fusing finance and tech together to create new and better customer experiences and offers. And, as with any emerging industry, marketing is an absolutely essential factor when it comes to fintech companies and startups.

But unlike regular businesses, fintech companies need to take a different approach to marketing, as they have to breach the average consumer’s “risk averse” mindset and change how they think about investments and long-term financial growth.

This can be very challenging to do through conventional channels and marketing strategies, and through the rising necessity for change, fintech marketing was born.

But what is fintech marketing? And more importantly, how can it help you grow your Financial Tech company?

In this guide we’re taking an in-depth look at what fintech marketing is, successful fintech marketing examples, and a break down the best fintech marketing trends to help you grow your fintech company.

Let’s dive straight in!

What is Fintech Marketing?

Let’s face it, finances are boring.

Fintech companies know this and don’t try to hide it, but it nevertheless makes their marketing a lot more challenging.

Then you add in traditional banking services veering heavily towards online and mobile services, and the marketing team at every fintech company’s job just got a lot harder.

Financial technology companies were not succeeding with regular marketing channels. There was not enough interest in the sector, and it was highly competitive and over-saturated, with too many companies vying for a small percentage of customers.

Out of necessity, a new form of marketing was born – Fintech marketing.

Fintech marketing refers to the marketing tools and tactics that are specifically geared towards successfully promoting financial technology companies, and it is designed to combat the unique challenges related to the sector.

Building trust, transparency, and credibility is more important for financial companies, especially new ones that don’t have an established brand reputation yet, and fintech marketing is designed to help instill these feelings in potential customers.

From gamification techniques for engagement to the way fintech companies brand themselves and their products, the fintech marketing strategies used by the sectors ‘Unicorns‘ are different from anything we’ve seen before. Good fintech marketing strategies will help you gain traction, drive growth and develop customer loyalty for your fintech company.

Check out this video by AP Marketing Solutions for more:

The Rapid Growth of the Fintech Industry

The financial technology industry is one of the fastest growing sectors across the world, and expected to grow at a Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.58% from 2021 to 2025. These are massive estimates for any industry!

In addition, the fintech market has increased from $112 billion in 2018 to around $310 billion in 2022, doubling in size in just four years. And what’s more, as of 2019, the fintech sector’s market shares make up just over 1% of the global financial industry.

Further, there are 8,775 financial technology startups in the Americas as of 2021, making financial technology companies one of the fastest-growing types of businesses.

And this sudden and ever-growing boom in the industry has created the need for industry-specific marketing techniques as the sector becomes more and more competitive.

9 Fintech Marketing Tactics & Examples

1. Referral Marketing

Influencer marketing, affiliate marketing, and referral marketing all fall under the same marketing category, as the principles used are similar for all three.

The foundation of this style of marketing is building relationships with third-party influencers or marketers to encourage them to promote your product or service. Usually, the incentivization comes in the form of a commission for each referral.

These affiliates can be anyone from a TikTok influencer to a comparison website or industry blogger. Basically, anyone with a large following that fits your brand’s voice.

Affiliate programs are a common way for fintech businesses to expand. They are often used at launch as part of a “go-to-market” plan, and they are one of the best ways to reach your target market quickly and directly while also earning customer trust.

Coinbase, a US fintech company, is a fantastic example of this. It has developed a referral system to encourage customers to promote their products to their networks.

Coinbase offered a $10 compensation to both the referee and referrer for any referral that successfully converted to $100 or more spent during the first 180 days after creating an account.

The large commission piqued the interest of various industry bloggers and influencers, who started spreading the word and promoting Coinbase through their networks. After raising $75 million in a significant financing round, Coinbase temporarily increased the referral reward from $10 to $75, drawing even more community interest.

2. Content Marketing

Content in the form of blogs and articles is everywhere these days, covering everything under the sun. Nevertheless, content marketing has remained one of the cheapest and most effective forms of marketing out there.

Running a blog or website dedicated to sharing more about your products and services and explaining your sector to the typical consumer is an essential tool. This is especially true for fintech firms, whose services are more complex than those of the average company.

Likewise, with content marketing, you allow your users to understand more about you as a brand, something that is very important with how competitive the industry is. You can use these content channels to create customer trust and set your business apart from the pack.

The Canadian investment app startup, Wealthsimple, is a perfect example of how to use content marketing in the best way.

With the sheer amount of fluff pieces out there, people are looking for real examples and experiences that will actually provide them with value, something that Wealthsimple decided to utilize.

This startup produces articles and interviews that center around its target audience rather than its technology. This changes how people think of their company. They are no longer a massive fintech firm; now, they are a bunch of relatable people who understand the troubles that the average user goes through. This mental shift in their user base’s mentality helped the company increase sales and become more popular.

3. Gamification

Gamification is the use of gaming concepts and game design elements in non-game contexts. So, what does it have to do with marketing?

Gamification is often utilized in fintech pre-launch marketing to build buzz, awareness, and to draw in new consumers.

There are various methods to add these game elements into your marketing campaign, but the most common are as follows:

• Host events and give out prizes
• Give out points for referring people or for making purchases or other transactions.
• Make quizzes, riddles, and visual games out of “boring” information to make it more attractive and shareable.
• Use waiting list games because they appeal to people’s competitiveness, desire to be unique, and curiosity.

When Revolut first launched in Europe, it held a university-wide competition to get as many students as possible to sign up and put their school at the top of the leaderboard. The leaderboard featured groups rather than individuals to entice a younger audience.

This aspect of game design appeals to our need for social interaction. Simply put, working toward a shared objective brings people together, and research has demonstrated the importance of feeling like you belong. By the end of the campaign, more than a thousand students from hundreds of schools had taken part.

4. Go Mobile

Fintech firms differ from conventional financial institutions because they employ technology to make their services quicker and simpler for users.

Getting mobile is critical if you want to remain competitive, as practically everything is mobile-friendly these days. As a fintech company, it’s even more critical as you are advertised as modern and ahead of the curb.

When thinking about going mobile, keep speed and simplicity of use in mind. Reduce the number of pop-ups, widgets, and unnecessary material on your website or app to make it mobile-friendly, accessible, and simple to use for clients.

A great example of this is Cash App.

With its mobile platform, Cash App makes it easier to handle money. Customers can make quick transactions, customize debit cards, set up direct transfers, and buy stocks and cryptocurrency. Cash App gives people access to a wide range of financial tools that they can use to take control of their money and make their finances fit their needs.

5. Branding

With the influx of startups popping up around the world in every sector, especially noticeable in the fintech industry, it is becoming ever harder to stand out, to make a name for your company, and to be memorable.

Almost every fintech is starting to use the same style of drawings, pastel colors, and simple designs. So, it’s more important than ever to think outside the box and take risks with your branding.

Venmo is an excellent example of how to use branding to stand out.

Venmo is a well-known mobile payment app that has attracted millennials and Gen Z users across the world, primarily due to the way it brands itself.

The term “Venmo” has become associated with sending or receiving money. If someone says, “You can simply Venmo me,” the other person will understand what they mean.

Early on, the organization recognized this and created outside ads with billboards on trucks, boats, and streets to further extend this effect among consumers.

6. Social Media

Fintech digital marketing through the use of social media is a key component when it comes to getting the word out there about your product. So often, fintech companies make the fatal mistake of advertising through mediums their target audience doesn’t use; namely tv and newspapers.

That’s why social media is so important. You can reach your target demographic far more efficiently by using ads on the platforms your consumer base is using.

Whichever platform you choose to use, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Reddit, TikTok, or LinkedIn, you’ll need to identify which is ideal for distributing your ads and create a separate strategy for each.

Zopa, a P2P lending company based in the UK, is an excellent example of how to use social media to your fintech’s advantage.

Zopa’s ingenuity has led them to upload mini-comics on their Instagram page instead of the boring informational content other fintech companies post. These images depict how money, notes, and other objects interact in a humorous and instructional manner. It’s a totally different method of doing things than other P2P lending organizations, and it makes them simpler to deal with and investments less scary.

7. Community Marketing

One of the most effective ways to market fintech is to build a large community of loyal customers. This is because it meets one of the most basic human needs: the need to feel like you belong and are being heard.

Community marketing is the process of engaging with people who are likely to become a part of your consumer base. This means involving them in your business’s success while ensuring you meet their needs and wants.

Some ways to start building a community are to ask customers to suggest a name, propose new products, give feedback on what you already have to offer, join open BETA groups and Live Q&A sessions, and go to community meet-ups.

For example, when another firm disputed the trademark for “Mondo,” Monzo was forced to come up with a new name. They informed their 100,000 consumers about it on social media and in the news. Within 48 hours, 12,000 individuals contributed proposals for their new name campaign.

8. Partnership Marketing

Collaboration marketing is a broader term for partnership marketing, which includes a number of sub-categories like affiliations. This also includes co-branding,  licensing, sponsorships, joint ventures, product placements, sharing content, etc.

It all comes down to cooperating with a third party, a company, or a brand connected with a target group you want to sell to.

The US bitcoin leader Ripple is a great example of a company that used partnership marketing to reach and get new customers.

New features are often integrated with current products or services and offered as an “add-on.” Therefore, Ripple focused its marketing efforts on contacting and partnering with banking and industry giants.

Their cryptocurrency and settlement solutions were an ideal complement to conventional banking and payment systems.

Thus, they developed ties with some of the world’s leading financial and technology firms, including American Express.

9. Experiential Marketing

Experiential marketing helps you connect and engage with your target audience, giving them a distinct physical experience with your brand.

Zettle, a renowned Swedish finance firm, adopted this strategy to introduce its product in the UK market. They conducted a press briefing for local media and influencers as part of their strategy to debut in the UK. This featured a pop-up market to demonstrate how Zettle can be utilized in a real-world situation.

At this market, many small enterprises displayed their wares. They took credit card payments by phone or tablet and provided immediate feedback to the media about Zettle’s product.

The pop-up market idea drew 70 journalists and prominent persons from the BBC and the HM Treasury. The launch was a big success, with over 80 pieces published in the local press and media.

Conclusion

And there you have it, the top fintech marketing strategies you should use if you want your fintech company to stand out.

Considering that the sector is growing so incredibly quickly, it is essential to not only focus on traditional marketing channels. Because you’ll be aiming at the younger generations, your marketing strategy needs to remain up-to-date. This means using influencer marketing, social media campaigns, mobile-friendly ads and websites, and so much more.

So to set your fintech company apart from all the other similar startups, just apply our techniques, and you’ll be well on your way to making a distinct name for your company.

References

Statista: Fintech – statistics & facts

BrightTalk:  The Future of FinTech: 2022 and Beyond

Investopedia: Financial Technology (Fintech)

Investopedia: Unicorn

Finance Online: 81 Key Fintech Statistics 2024: Market Share & Data Analysis