CSTMR

How Fintechs Turned Crisis Into Innovation

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fintech lenders

While nobody enjoys a crisis, I’ve learned that hard times allow businesses to reflect, grow, and innovate. This has been especially true for fintech lenders during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many have had to innovate on the fly, adapt to the ever-changing market, and support the small businesses and customers in their communities.

In our recent Fintech Shares webinar, I talked to a few fintechs about how the COVID-19 pandemic sparked innovation and how they plan to move forward post-crisis. 

The Influx of PPP

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is an SBA loan that helps businesses keep their workforce employed during the coronavirus crisis. And when these loans became available, the impact (and volume of applications) was massive and required lenders to adapt and innovate like never before. 

Community Reinvestment Fund (CRF) founded Connect2Capital—a marketplace that matches small business owners to CDFIs—and recently launched a new product called Spark.

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How to Strategically Shift Your Financial Brand to Digital Marketing

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financial digital marketing shiftThe current health crisis has forced many companies to shift away from traditional, in-person sales and marketing methods like one-to-one sales meetings, conferences, and other networking  events. 

To quickly solve for lost revenue streams, many businesses are shifting to digital marketing. According to Gartner’s recent CMO spend survey, digital accounts for almost 80% of marketing channel budgets in 2020 across paid, owned, and earned channels. 

Digital marketing can be a game-changer for most businesses—especially fintech and financial services brands—which is why it’s important to be strategic. Costs can add up quickly, and your campaigns won’t be effective without a strong strategic foundation. 

Here are a few simple strategy exercises we recommend to help set your fintech business up for digital marketing success. 

Exercise 1: Define Your Target Market

Several digital platforms leverage very specific data parameters for audience targeting.

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Lender helps save 500,000 jobs in underserved communities during COVID-19

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Owner of black-owned cafe smiling

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic recession weren’t what anyone saw coming at the start of 2020. But when it did hit, we weren’t surprised that some of the clients we partner with, like Connect2Capital (C2C), stepped up to help their communities in major ways. 

Powered by Community Reinvestment Fund, USA (CRF), Connect2Capital is a first-of-its-kind platform that connects mission-driven lenders with small businesses that are unable to secure traditional financing.

“Our team has been working around the clock, and we’ve brought on about 25 contract underwriters and loan ops personnel to keep up with demand,” said Patrick Davis, Vice President of Program Strategy and Development at CRF. 

Connect2Capital actively supports economic growth in underserved communities by matching loans for businesses that are often unable to qualify for traditional financing. They also provide resources,

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Why You Shouldn’t Cut Marketing During An Unpredictable (COVID-19) Economy [VIDEO]

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Marketing through unpredictable

During economic uncertainty, it’s essential that your fintech or financial services company continues marketing. Right now, your customers need your services more than ever. In an economy like this, people are worried about their jobs, savings, and the future.

They need a financial partner to reach out and guide them through this. They need you.

Many businesses pull back on marketing spend during an unpredictable economy to cut costs and depending on your unique circumstance, that may make sense for you, too. But let’s look at history. During past periods of uncertainty, brands that kept marketing saw increased sales and bounced back faster once the economy recovered. 

People may be buying less right now, but demand will return. This is why it’s more important than ever for you to continue communicating. You want to be top-of-mind for your customers when they’re ready to buy again. 

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Lending in the New, Wild World of COVID-19 and the CARES Act

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Over the past month, there have been numerous conversations about the impact of COVID-19 sending the global economy into a recession. As more and more “shelter in place” orders are issued across the country, small businesses (especially those in the hospitality industry), are struggling to stay afloat. 

According to a new Goldman Sachs survey, 96% of small businesses say that they have already been impacted by COVID-19. As an end to the shutdowns still remain unclear, many businesses are finding it difficult to pay their loans. 

As for the employees at these businesses, several have been laid off and are worried about how they’ll make it through these tough times. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 16.82 million people worked in the leisure and hospitality industry in January 2020. The Labor Department recently reported that more 6.6 million people filed new unemployment claims during the week of March 23,

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3 Fintech Marketing Trends to Watch in 2020

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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. 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,

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Happy holidays from all of us here at CSTMR!

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Happy holidays from all of us here at CSTMR. For those of you who have been following along, you might remember a holiday video we shared last year starring our CEO himself, Rory Holland. If you missed it, don’t worry! Follow this link to watch “Twas the Night Before Fintech Christmas” ( trust us, you don’t want to miss this!). 

We had so much fun spreading fintech holiday cheer that we’ve decided to make it an annual end-of-year tradition here at CSTMR. 

Without further ado, please enjoy this original holiday jingle recited by our fearless leader, Rory.

CSTMR the Fintech Marketers: An Ode to Fintech Startups

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Use CSR to Build Trust for Your Fintech & Financial Brand

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Corporate Social Responsibility

December is the official month of giving, and what better way to celebrate than to extend our generosity beyond the presents we wrap and place under the tree, and the donations of time and money that we place with our favorite personal charities.

That’s right, today we’re talking about the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the impact it can have on your company and brand. If this term isn’t already part of your company-wide lexicon, it should be. Because while it may sound like a trendy buzzword, it’s anything but—especially for those operating in the fintech and financial services space. 

But first…what is corporate social responsibility?

Whether or not you’re familiar with the term, the definition of corporate social responsibility bears repeating. So here it is:

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a self-regulating business model that helps a company be socially accountable—to itself,

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Part 3: How to Nurture Leads through your Marketing Funnel

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Marketing Funnel

In our final Fintech Startup to Success blog post, we’re taking an in-depth look at how to nurture leads through the marketing funnel, and ultimately, win their business.

Nurture Leads into Relationships

As a fintech startup, not only will you need to generate leads, you’ll need to build brand awareness. And as important as it is to get your logo and message to the masses, it’s even more important to build rapport and trust with your customers. 

Collecting a long list of leads may impress investors, but it’s not enough to generate sales. In a previous post, we shared that fully engaged customers will exhibit more than 50% more revenue and sales than disengaged customers. 

But what does that have to do with building relationships and generating revenue? As it turns out—everything!

An effective sales team can fill the funnel with the most qualified leads,

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Fintech Startup Marketing: The First Stop on Your Journey to Success

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Fintech startup marketing buyer personas

The fintech industry has ignited and transformed the entire way money moves. With more than 12,000 fintech startups currently vying for their corner of the $112B market, the journey to go from a fledgling startup to a thriving business has never been more challenging. 

In fact, it’s estimated that only 38% of all startups will make it past their fourth year – a sobering statistic. 82% cited cash flow problems as the reason, while 42% reported no market need, and 19% claimed they were simply outcompeted. 

As dissimilar as these reasons may seem, they are all connected to one overarching theme: marketing. Or, more accurately, a lack of good marketing. 

As an entrepreneur, it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of your new product or service. No one believes in it more than you do,

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