Fintech Marketing Strategies
If the fintech industry is fully digital, the million-dollar question becomes this: how do you create a marketing strategy for something intangible and inspire consumer trust in catering to their financial well-being?
Think about your paycheck for a minute. You’ve probably meticulously divided it between rent, utilities, groceries, and more. Now imagine handing your paycheck to a faceless someone on the other side of a screen that you’ll never meet in person. Sounds like a hard “no,” right? Now, think of going down to your local bank and handing that money off to an actual bank teller you’ve known for years. It’s almost relieving in comparison to using a digital financial service.
Trust is a huge barrier potential customers face when deciding whether or not to utilize fintech services, as money can be an extremely vulnerable subject. This leaves it up to advertising campaigns to win the public’s favour. How? By curating familiarity in an educating and engaging way within your target audience, you can build trust in your brand and become the name that springs to mind when they think of a financial product. Ready to make your brand stand out? Let’s get into it!
Best Fintech Marketing Campaigns
Whether you’re a payment processing service, involved with cryptocurrency, or part of traditional banks switching to digital, there’s a fintech content marketing strategy for you. Comedy, inspiration, and pop culture are all your friends when spinning the story you’ll present to your audiences to familiarize them with both the fintech sector and your product and/or service.
Not sure how to get started? Here’s a breakdown of our favorite fintech marketing campaigns that are brimming with inspiration!
1. Binance/Cristiano Ronaldo
When you think of an NFT, a couple of things likely come to mind – weirdly distorted images of animals or monotone men named Chad or Kyle in Patagonia vests, to name a few. Sounds… less than exciting, right? Binance wants to change that. Collaborating with football legend Christiano Ronaldo, they found a way to make NFTs not only relevant but interesting through influencer marketing.
The campaign opens with the words, “We all have a great story to tell,” setting the tone for something inspiring. The image of a luxurious museum crafted from polished marble welcomes Ronaldo into a room of fantastic, awe-inspiring sculptures, where, with a single kick, he transforms the space into a cyber wonderland. By utilizing a well-known symbol of power (Ronaldo himself), Binance was able to sway public opinion on NFTs in a 60-second ad spot.
2. Wealthsimple/Medusa
It doesn’t matter how old we get; we’ll be the first to admit it: filing your taxes can be nothing short of agony. Finding the pain point that customers faced, Wealthsimple created a genius campaign by marketing the unknown with the familiar – and a sprinkle of comedy. Everyone knows the story of Medusa, and her famous reptilian locks are easily recognizable.
By introducing Medusa as the main character casually listing her dependents, Wealthsimple shows its audience how painless tax season can be. If a mythological character can do it, it shouldn’t be all Greek to you!
3. Cash App/Kendrick Lamar and Ray Dalio
Investing can be ridiculously difficult, but Kendrick Lamar wants to help you understand. The plain message behind this fantastic ad is that investing isn’t rocket science and that Cash App makes it easy for anyone to invest – regardless of whether you’re opening a local barbershop or if you’re a Wall Street mogul.
The simplicity of this campaign really sells us on the idea as well; a bare white balcony setup with a simple zoom-out sets up the vision well, and the lack of music allows viewers to really focus on what’s being said. Minimalism tells us all we need to know, and whether or not we have Ray Dalio’s experience in investing, we’ll get the gist with Cash App’s fintech app services.
4. Acorns/Invest Like A Squirrel
Woodland puppets in suits? Something tells us Wes Anderson would love this Acorns campaign. In a buried headquarters for investing, Acorns puts the spotlight on a squirrel that breaks down how investing is a lot like… well, acorns.
If you’re patient enough to put it away for a while, you’ll find a tree grown in its place. Same with investing – and a great way to simplify a somewhat complicated topic for those interested in investing but unsure where to start. The Fantastic Mr. Fox aesthetic of this ad is not only incredibly unique and engaging but also very in tune with the brand name and voice, giving viewers something memorable to hold onto.
5. Klarna/4 Tiny Cowboys
KLARNA FOUR QUARTER SIZED COWBOYS from Andreas Nilsson on Vimeo.
There’s so much to love about this Klarna campaign. The western theme, the comedy, and most importantly, lots of Maya Rudolph – no really, lots. There’s 4 of her, and that’s just the right amount to showcase exactly what Klarna offers. When faced with an online purchase, each tiny cowboy Maya puts in a payment to complete the whole purchase in installments over time, driving home Klarna’s “buy now, pay later” service.
We’re obsessed with the actual format of the campaign, though – there are plenty of payment installation services available, but this campaign (among others produced by Klarna) stands out, because Klarna is known for their whimsical, eccentric advertising.
This short film-esque campaign is extremely on-brand for them because aside from helping customers buy what they like without paying in full at once, Klarna can also be relied upon to entertain.
Bringing the Customer to You
Now it’s your turn to attract potential clients to your fintech service. Don’t panic; it’s a lot easier than you might think! Here are a couple of core elements of success to keep in mind when brainstorming digital marketing strategies for your financial solutions.
Entertainment Value
In a world overly saturated with content everywhere – video, static, or otherwise – it’s difficult to show up on people’s screens and more difficult to stay without getting scrolled past. With social media marketing, your brand must pique consumer interest with its ad campaigns to avoid being pushed aside.
The previous examples showcased entertainment value in the forms of puppetry, celebrity appearances, humor, and cinematography, which are all great hooks to draw in attention. When in doubt, think storytelling first, selling second. The educational content (spearheaded by your expert insight within the industry) will fall into place once you establish that!
Clear Product/Service Offering
Fintech marketing strategies can be tricky to craft because when you whip out terms like “financial technologies,” “financial institution,” or anything in relation to the fintech sector, it can be pretty anxiety-inducing for a person looking to get started on tackling their financial situation when they can’t speak your language.
The examples we shared really excelled in providing clarity around each brand’s services and serve as a reminder to those looking to start their own digital marketing campaigns. Make it crystal clear as to what you offer people (or just hire Kendrick Lamar to do it for you).
Emotional Connection
A crucial approach to marketing efforts is connecting with your customers. Emotional connection removes the barrier between brand and client and creates the highly sought-after effect of community. When audiences become part of a brand community, that brand benefits enormously from their investment (no pun intended).
Companies can expect to see greater customer loyalty and engagement as their products and/or services become intertwined with their community members’ lives, driving business growth through user-generated content and word of mouth on the customers’ end. The most valuable content resonates deeply with your audience and keeps them close to you.
Recognizability
Marketing messages mean very little if there’s room to doubt who they’re from. Social platforms are buzzing with fintech businesses fighting to boost their online presence, but a smart marketing team knows the best campaigns are the ones internet users can point out by brand name without the ad having to say it.
When building your marketing plan, it’s important to factor in things like brand mascots and/or characters, colors, and (most importantly) voice. Once these elements are established, your audience will know what to expect from you, making your brand instantly recognizable (like Klarna’s stylistic short films or Acorns’ anthropomorphic squirrel puppets).
Getting Started
With a plethora of inspiration for fintech marketing tactics, you’re well equipped to be on your way towards sharing your fintech app, cutting-edge technologies, or other such innovative solutions to people’s day-to-day financial needs. Need a little extra help? Whatever your fintech product is, we’ve got you covered!
Get in touch and start your financial digital marketing journey with our expert team.
