The global fintech market size reached $111.8 billion in 2018, a staggering growth of 120% in one single year. 5,779 fintech startups were introduced in February 2019—and that was just in the Americas. Once you wrap your head around that number, combine it with the countless companies that are already established in the space, and the well-known traditional financial organizations throwing their hat in the fintech ring. 

The glaring, undisputed fact? Fintech is the future, the future is here, and everyone wants in. 

As your fintech startup prepares to launch and compete with thousands of other new companies for customers—how will you market yourself in a way that’s as evolved as the industry itself? 

You’ve already:

• Identified a problem and formed a solution.
• Developed a product or created a service that will benefit people around the world.
• Found and impressed investors with your long thorough business plan and list of prospective customer targets or leads.

But what’s next? How do you turn that impressive list of hopeful targets or leads into actual paying customers? And those one-time transactions into loyal, long-term customers?

The answer? Marketing. But not your regular, run-of-the-mill marketing tactics. The growth of fintech and the over-saturation of the market means startups need to focus their time and resources on demonstrating long-term value, not just on acquiring leads. They need to transform their fintech marketing strategy in a way that compels action, instills long-term trust, and differentiates themselves in the market.

Fintech Marketing in 2019: Turning Leads to Loyal Customers

You can’t market to your audience in the same way a hometown bank would market to theirs. Barring any potential restrictions, the majority of fintechs can sell their product or service to people anywhere in the world. And when the world is your marketing oyster, you need to think big and plan even bigger. 

Here are some tips to get you started:

1. Get to Know Your Customers

Before you can effectively market to your customer base, you need to have a deep understanding of who they are. Taking the time to identify your audience and build personas for those buyers will help inform your fintech marketing strategy. Step outside of your own perceptions about who you think your audience is. Find out who they actually are, what they want, and how to reach them on their terms. 

Because your fintech company has the ability to reach such a large customer base, it’s critical to hone in on the right audience to be more effective and ensure your marketing dollars are being used correctly. 

2. Build Relationships that Last

Without customers, your business would cease to exist. A fintech startup that successfully acquires leads but fails to convert, nurture and retain them, won’t last long. Once you know who your customers are, building rapport and trust with them is essential to earning their long-term business. 

Jason Henrichs, founder of FinTech Forge, puts it this way: “Marketing needs to not only be about filling the top of the funnel, but how do we actually work you from being a prospect to being an applicant to being a customer, to being a fully engaged customer.”

In most cases, the answer involves relationship. Reports show that a fully engaged customer exhibits more than 50% revenue and sales than their disengaged counterparts, and that increasing customer retention rates by just 5% will increase profits by 25%. Regularly interacting with customers can have a potentially enormous impact on your bottom line

And remember, while traditional financial services companies have face-to-face interactions and physical locations to build trust, your fintech company needs to emphasize relationship-building at every possible touchpoint to accomplish the same goal.

3. Remove Friction

In a recent interview with Fintech Forge founder, Jason Henrichs, we briefly discussed the success of Uber. The ride-sharing company not only offers a solution to the many pains and frustrations of the transportation industry, but does it in a way that’s frictionless. As Jason put it, “Their payment system is a non-event. There’s no more inconvenient time to be making a payment then when I’m trying to get out of a cab. It’s New York City, I’m being honked at, I’ve got an umbrella, and I’ve got luggage.” Uber took a common, everyday problem, and figured out how to solve it in a way that people didn’t think was even possible. 

Remove as much friction from as many of your processes as possible. Make signing up for your service convenient and easy. Encourage self-service on your platform where you can, and educate your audience on the friction-free experience you provide with content marketing.

When you make it easier for someone to use your product or service than the competition, you’ll inspire lifelong customer loyalty. 

4. Don’t Just Innovate, Automate

The previous three points aren’t easy to manage, especially in the startup phase of business. And while all fintech companies are focused on innovation, many miss out on an essential part of growth: automation. 

From the actual onboarding process to the execution of the marketing strategy itself, automation is the key to sustainable growth and success. Incentivize customers to move through the funnel with highly targeted emails, valuable content, and strategic retargeting.

In the past, pushing customers through the funnel with static reminders and generic language worked, but not anymore. Today, consumers want to form an emotional connection that makes them feel something more. 

Use automation to involve customers in the product experience naturally, so they become active and willing participants. Match educational pieces with where they are in the customer lifecycle, and form a connection that makes them feel like they’re missing out if they don’t engage. 

Is Your Fintech Startup Marketing Evolved?

In our next article, we take a closer look at these four points and your first stop on the journey to success. Are you prepared for the journey from startup to success? View our infographic to find out! And if you’re ready to position your fintech company for long-term growth and success now, schedule a “startup to success” consultation with us today.

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