Before exploring the 2020 marketing trends that we’re following in the new year, let’s take a quick walk down memory lane and our journey together through 2019. 

First, we recognized how the rules of fintech marketing have changed. Rather than rely on face-to-face interactions to establish trust, we’re faced with the challenge of building rapport with an online-only audience. This particular realization led us to what would become the two most important tenants to 2019 fintech marketing:

1. 1. Customer-centricity: Keeping the customer’s viewpoint and ultimate wellbeing at the center of everything a company does.
   2. Brand authenticity: How customers perceive a company to be faithful to itself, honest with its customers, caring and responsible, and able to support its customers so they can be true to themselves. 

Having defined and analyzed the concepts of customer-centricity and brand authenticity, next we examined what it looks like to apply in your day-to-day business operations and how to measure the efficacy of your efforts through your customer’s interaction, engagement, and participation. 

Next, while still emphasizing the importance of customer-centricity and brand authenticity at every stage, we shifted our focus to fintech startups and how to use these trends to establish and better grow their online presence. Here is what we covered:

• Building buyer personas
• Nurturing leads through the marketing sales funnel
• And, we shared a DIY Brand Authenticity Audit that’s transformed the way fintechs show up in the world—and ultimately—helps them close more sales (did you get yours yet? Click this link to download your free copy now).

Everything we’ve shared with you in the past 12 months has been in preparation for what we’re about to share with you today—2020 marketing trends that will set the stage for unparalleled growth in the new year. 

In this post, we’ll take a look at three emerging fintech marketing trends and why each one is critical for continued growth in an evolving market. In the coming months, we’ll explore what it looks like to implement each of these in your fintech marketing so you can breeze through 2020 ahead of the curve.

Fintech Marketing Trend 1: Customer-Centricity

Yes, we know—this trend was one we followed closely in 2019. And for a long list of very good reasons, it’s one we’ll continue to follow into this next decade. 

In a previous post, we borrowed customer-centricity consultant, Micah Solomon’s definition of the term. For the sake of consistency (and because we like it), here it is again: 

Customer-centricity is the discipline of attempting to see things from the customer’s viewpoint rather than from your own. The goal is to keep the customer’s viewpoint and the customer’s ultimate wellbeing at the center of everything a company does.

Whether you’ve been following along with us since this article was published or you’re just tuning in, chances are you have at least heard of customer-centricity as a core business concept. Perhaps you’ve even built a strategy around it. Either way, putting customers front-and-center in everything you do as a business isn’t good practice—it’s best practice. And as we continue to steadily transition away from physical storefronts and toward virtual ones, the importance of emphasizing customer-centricity in business is only growing stronger.

Fintech Marketing Trend 2: Lifecycle Marketing

The second 2020 marketing trend we’re keeping a close eye on in 2020 is “lifecycle marketing”. Whether or not you’re familiar with lifecycle marketing, the concept and strategy behind it is something we’ve discussed at length and will be following closely.

Remember the marketing sales funnel we walked you through a few months back? Well, that strategy falls under the lifecycle marketing umbrella. Before we explain any further, here’s a well-rounded definition from the CSTMR marketing team:

Lifecycle marketing is the process of creating, curating, and providing your audience with the type of communication and experiences they need, want, and prefer as they move through the customer journey: from prospects, to customers, to brand advocates.  

Deploying lifecycle marketing for your fintech company in 2020 starts where every other successful marketing strategy does—with a deep understanding of your target audience. By taking the time to develop well-researched, thorough personas for your company—creating, curating, and providing the content and resources they want and need will come naturally.

Whether represented as a funnel, a circle, or something else entirely, the customer lifecycle model of marketing is always sequential and comprised of various stages:

• Awareness
• Engagement
• Retention
• Loyalty
• Advocacy

Traditional lifecycle marketing models like the funnel are still relevant, but as we start to recognize the non-linear journey most customers are on, becoming agile in how we understand and execute marketing strategies is imperative.

Fintech Marketing Trend 3: Customer Retention

Customer retention is a key to sustained growth and profitability. And, as most of us know retaining an existing customer is less expensive than acquiring a new one. 

Yet, despite this knowledge and numerous supporting studies, a majority of companies are still pouring a majority of resources into customer acquisition. The latest State of Digital Marketing report from Altimeter is the perfect example. 

After asking B2B companies to share their primary goal for digital marketing, here’s what they found: 

• • 26 percent said increasing the number of new leads and customer prospects 
  • 20 percent said delivering a high quality, unified customer experience across all digital channels
  • Five percent said increasing business revenue with existing customers

Despite the fact that acquiring a new customer costs, on average, five times more than retaining an existing one—the majority of today’s businesses remain primarily focused on customer acquisition. The data goes on to tell us that the likelihood of selling to an existing customer is 60 to 70 percent, while the probability of selling to a new prospect is as low as five percent. 

So YES, build a rock-solid customer acquisition program but don’t forget to include customer retention into the strategy.

A clear disconnect exists between what the data tells us is true, and where companies are actually spending their resources.  Don’t miss this opportunity to include customer retention as part of a holistic digital marketing strategy. This will help you maintain your profitability while you scale. 

As we venture into the new year together, one of our goals as a fintech marketing agency will be to help you learn how to leverage the power of customer acquisition AND retention to grow your business and profits in 2020.

Tying it to the Customer Experience

Recent research from PWC found that 86 percent of buyers will pay more for a product or service if it comes with an exceptional customer experience; while another study found that 89 percent of companies believe customer experience is a key factor in driving customer loyalty and retention. 

Customer-centricity, lifecycle marketing, and customer retention are not just 2020 marketing trends to watch, but are key components to the overarching, all-important customer experience. If you want customers to buy more, be more loyal, and share your brand with their friends, be prepared to deliver a holistic customer experience that does the following:

✔ Focuses on customer-centricity by putting the needs of your customers first

✔ Provides a path for your audience to journey from prospect to customer to brand advocate

✔ Allocates more resources toward customer retention efforts to close more sales

This year, we’ll dive into what this looks like for financial and fintech brands and how you can develop a customer experience strategy for your business.

In the meantime, we’d love to chat one-on-one about how to position your fintech or financial company for growth and success throughout 2020 and beyond. Schedule a free strategy session with our team today.