2021 Fintech Marketing Priority 1: Artificial Intelligence in Advertising & Acquisition

2021 Fintech Marketing Priority 1: Artificial Intelligence in Advertising & Acquisition

This time last year has been on my mind a lot lately. 

As we wrap up the final weeks of 2020 and attempt to plan, project, and predict what the new year will hold—it’s hard not to feel wary. While no one knows what the next four quarters have in store for your business (or mine for that matter), there are things that you can do to help boost acquisition and minimize risk throughout 2021. 

The last time you heard from me, I shared an overview of the top fintech marketing priorities for 2021. I’m calling these “priorities” and not “trends,” because they aren’t short-lived strategies. And while it’s difficult to predict the impact of a global pandemic on your business, these priorities can help insulate it from risk. 

Today, I’m going to talk about the first “thing” on my list of fintech marketing priorities: how to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) in advertising, to position your brand for optimal paid media and acquisition results.

Artificial Intelligence in Advertising

AI in Finance & Fintech

Artificial intelligence in finance has transformed the way we interact with, manage, and spend our money. As a financial services or fintech brand, you might already use AI for things like chatbots, underwriting, robo-advisors, and other critical business processes. If you’re a pure fintech, your entire business may hinge on artificial intelligence. 

By using AI instead of humans for these tasks, your company can take on more business, be more efficient, and cut down on costs. 

Leveraging the power of AI for paid media and acquisition comes with the same benefits, plus a few surprising extras.  

3 Ways AI Improves Acquisition Costs

A lot goes into successful paid media and acquisition campaigns. Here are a few that can be enhanced with AI.

1. Target the Right Audience

Successful acquisition strategies depend on targeting the right audience. And when you’re being charged per impression or click, honing in on who your audience is, is everything.

Despite its obvious importance, a recent study found that 76 percent of marketers don’t utilize behavioral data segmentation analysis or targeting. Shocking to my marketing ears. My theory? They don’t know how to do it, so they don’t. 

If that describes your business’ approach to paid media, it’s time to try something new. Tools like Trapica use AI and predictive analytics to analyze your existing audiences, behaviors, and interests. Then, based on those findings, it seeks out new groups for your company to target with paid ad campaigns. 

SAP Ariba, a fintech SaaS company, sought AI automation software to improve audience targeting and segmentation. Armed with better information quality, Ariba was able to generate 387 new MQLs—a 118 percent increase over monthly goals. By developing a clean and updated database with AI, Ariba was also able to bring in $53 million in new net subscriptions.  

Audience targeting and list segmentation may seem like a simple, no-brainer exercise, but the process can be complicated. So if you’re ever in doubt, don’t hesitate to reach out

Now that you’ve identified the right target audience with AI, it’s time to figure out how to reach them. 

2. Select Best Performing Ad Channels & Optimize Bids

Aside from finding out where your audience is most likely to convert, artificial intelligence software can assist you with selecting the right keywords, analyzing competitors, and calculating projected monthly costs and ROI. 

Wordstream is an AI-powered software that analyzes a company’s paid ads and then provides data-driven recommendations for better results. The recommendations could be anything from which poorly performing ads you should pause, to bid adjustments, to keywords that can reach new audiences

Adaptive Insights, a financial SaaS company, enlisted Wordstream to take over its paid media and acquisition efforts after the task became too much for the internal team to handle. In the first three months, Adaptive Insights saw an average click-through rate of 30 percent, a 5 percent increase in average SER position, and overall decreases in remarketing, non-brand forecasting and budget campaigns, and display initiatives. Since implementing the AI-powered software, Adaptive’s Marketing Program Manager also reported saving close to 50 percent of her time.

You have your audience, channels, keywords, and strategy in place. 

Next up? Copy.

3. Test and Perfect Ad Copy

That’s right. AI is optimizing all aspects of paid media and acquisition processes, including text and visual content.

In July 2019, JPMorgan Chase announced a five-year deal with Persado—”the leader in using AI to generate the highest performing marketing creative.” This decision was a no-brainer for Chase, which saw up to a 450 percent lift in click-through rates on Persado-rendered ads, versus human-generated ads in the 50-200 percent range—and that was just the trial period!  

But lesser-known names aren’t the only players in the AI marketing software game. Facebook’s Dynamic Creative uses AI to analyze multiple ad components like images, videos, titles, and CTAs, before optimizing each to deliver more effective messaging to each person who views an ad. Google has similar offerings available to businesses that advertise on its platform.

What’s Next?

Adding AI to your fintech’s paid media tool belt is one way to stay competitive, insulated, and resilient in 2021. 

In my next article, I’ll break down the what, why, and how of multi-touch marketing campaigns as a priority for fintech and financial services brands in the new year. 

If you haven’t read our Marketing Through Economic Uncertainty guide yet, it’s a great complement to this series. We created it specifically for fintech and financial services brands like yours, and I think you’ll find it useful. 

Done reading and ready to talk? Grab a time on my calendar to learn how these three fintech marketing priorities can boost your business in 2021.

I hope you and your family and friends are well. Thanks for reading!

Rory Holland
Rory Holland
Rory Holland is CEO and Co-Founder of CSTMR. For more than 20 years, he has made it his passion to help Fintech and financial companies leverage digital marketing and advertising to drive growth.

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