5 important considerations when building a marketing strategy for your Fintech startup

Driven by an evolving regulatory framework, rapidly emerging technology, ESG awareness and the continued consolidation of the financial sector, the fintech industry is transforming at a rapid pace. As the landscape continues to change, it’s important that new startups are aware of the marketing challenges they face.

Although online trading and investment platforms continue to grow in popularity, regulatory challenges pose constant problems for marketers in promoting leveraged investment products in such a risky environment.

With this in mind, fintech differs significantly from more traditional product categories. As a result, many marketers face the challenge of producing content that is compliant, transparent, informative and entertaining.

Despite these challenges, and the widespread share market losses experienced by fintech firms in late 2021 and 2022, we can see in the Invesco KBW Nasdaq Fintech UCITS ETF, the UK’s largest fintech exchange-traded fund, that the industry is largely correlating upwards. This is due to the growth of an industry where important tools appear at a rapid pace.

With this in mind, marketers can reap the benefits of working in a growing market that is predicted to achieve a CAGR of 19.5% until 2030. But how can they build effective campaigns for fintech startups in a landscape experiencing more regulatory scrutiny and a greater emphasis on ESG? Let’s take a look at five key approaches to navigating the difficult fintech landscape:

1. Look for responsible gamification

Much has been made of gamification in the fintech industry. In an ESG-focused industry, how firms implement gamification strategies can be highly controversial.

Investment platform Robinhood, for example, faced ongoing scrutiny over what critics suggested were gamification features, and was forced to remove a confetti feature on the app used to celebrate a user buying a stock. Ultimately, Robinhood was fined $70 million by the securities industry’s self-regulator for misleading customers as a result of what was deemed a “series of errors.”

Despite this, gamification can be a powerful marketing tool for fintech startups that are able to responsibly utilize game principles and game design elements.

With this in mind, marketers can use gamification tools to run contests and give prizes to users, offer reward points for referrals or completed purchases/transactions, create quizzes, puzzles and visual games to liven up content and make it more shareable.

Gamification has long been a popular means of creating a buzz around new financial products. For example, when UK challenger bank Monzo introduced a waiting list for the launch of its banking app, the only way users could advance their place in the queue was to refer more friends – introducing a social competition element to the app’s launch.

2. Embrace AI and machine learning

Artificial intelligence is making waves throughout the fintech industry, continuously providing startups with the tools they need to succeed in those delicate first months and years. However, there are many ways AI can directly improve the marketing efforts of fintechs as well.

There are also many different areas of AI that we can refer to when it comes to improving the fintech landscape, and these concentrations can include:

One of the most widespread use cases for AI in marketing is through the implementation of virtual assistants, or chatbots. These chatbots can create meaningful interactions with customers and communicate intelligently with them to smooth the procurement process, introduce new products and act as a query answering tool by predicting answers.

Artificial intelligence is also great at delivering actionable insights into campaign performance, and can deliver great results in informing your marketing strategy through integrated web-based tools like Google Analytics.

3. Conscious branding

The fintech landscape can be a congested place with the technology supporting the industry seemingly growing by the week. This makes it even more difficult for marketers to stand out from the crowd and work on branding that can win new customers.

With many fintech startups using similar approaches when it comes to branding, it certainly pays to be creative and bold. But in a regulation-conscious industry, it is also important to be inclusive, balanced and considerate.

Unlike in many industries, it is not uncommon for brands to change names when the timing is right and the market opportunity is there. This was famously the case for TransferWise, which became known simply as “Wise” in 2021.

This can be a strong approach for brands starting out in the competitive world of fintech. Starting life with an unmistakable name can help build your identity and your customers’ trust, and as you grow, shorten your name to something that can be universally recognizable without the risk of becoming too hard to find.

It’s important to keep this in mind when going through ideas for your website. If data suggests an opportunity is available, make sure your branding can change to fit the landscape.

4. Transparency is key

We live in a post-pandemic society where economic headwinds have been strong in recent months. This means that supporting customers with their finances is critical for fintechs, and it’s certainly worth marketers highlighting what their firm or client is doing to help.

In the UK, the rise of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) has caused further unrest, with the Woolard Review claiming that the industry represents “significant potential for consumer harm”.

According to Attest research, many consumers would like to see new industry regulations such as credit checks and greater transparency introduced to this area of ​​the landscape. In fact, 49% of BNPL users believe that they would be willing to spend more because they would feel more comfortable.

This shows that accepting greater transparency around a fintech firm can not only be good for building customer trust, it can also lead to financial products being used more often than before.

5. Keep your content rich

Finally, it’s time to cover the most important area of ​​digital marketing across just about every industry: content. Whether you’re aiming to reach a new audience, market a new service or nurture leads, content is always important.

There are many ways that innovative content can be used in the fintech industry and these can include:

Your content should target buyer personas, which will detail exactly who your target audience is and what they’re likely to be interested in. Discovering your target audience’s online habits can shed light on exactly how to appeal to them.

It can be beneficial to use your own data to create your content. See frequently asked questions from your audience about your product, and the industry’s biggest ongoing pain points. Is a recurring customer problem capable of being solved in an explainer video? Or can a new point of view add value to an e-book? It is these approaches that can help you win more engagements in return for your content.

With added SEO considerations, it is possible to use content to appeal to customers and showcase your openness and trustworthiness.

In an industry that is becoming increasingly regulatory and ESG-conscious, your campaigns can benefit from taking a more measured and considerate approach. But with the right tools and audience insights, your campaigns can be as effective as ever.