CSTMR

Which is More Important: The Message or the User Experience?

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When developing your web presence, it can seem difficult to know where to start. Is it better to focus on design first and mold your messaging to it? Or, do you prioritize content and develop the design around your verbal architecture? 

The short answer is, messaging and UX are not mutually exclusive. They’re inseparable. Messaging and the UX should tell the same story, so one can’t be more important than the other.

A Symbiotic Relationship

A website’s messaging and UX are storytelling tools. They’re in service of your company’s larger narrative, and they help customers imagine themselves using your services.

In this living, breathing story, your website casts customers as the hero. And what do heroes need to succeed? They need you — they just don’t know it yet. 

Through your website, you guide your customers towards the right solution.  

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Social Media Content Ideas for Fintech

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What content should I be sharing on my social channels?

You already know the great benefits of an active social media presence. Social media promotes your brand’s awareness. It gives you a place to engage with customers. It can provide you with key insights as to what your target prospect is looking for, and it can help increase website traffic. The list goes on. You know you need to be there, but you may be asking, what should I put out there?

Coming up with a regular content schedule can be challenging when you have a lot on your plate. Nevertheless, planning ahead with a content calendar and some strong ideas will ensure success.

We know a couple of ways to help you stir up some ideas and to keep things fresh on your social channels:

Tutorials or quick tips –

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CSTMR Fintech Marketing Announced as a 2021 Local Excellence Award Winner by UpCity!

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We are ecstatic to announce that the CSTMR Fintech Marketing & Design team has been recognized as one of the top B2B service providers of 2021 in the Austin area by UpCity! 

For more than a decade, UpCity’s mission has been—and continues to be—to help businesses find B2B service providers they can trust. The UpCity Recommendability Rating was developed to determine a service provider’s credibility and recommendability, giving UpCity the confidence to recommend them to the more than 1.5 million businesses that visit their site. 

Each year, UpCity analyzes and scores more than 70,000 service providers based on their UpCity Recommendability Rating and acknowledges the top national and local providers with an UpCity Excellence Award. The results are in, and CSTMR won!

With deep insights into both fintech and the financial services industry at large,

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2021 Fintech Marketing Priority 2: Multichannel Marketing

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Multichannel Marketing for Fintech Brands

There’s a reason you operate an online-only bank, an enterprise-level SaaS, or a digital lending platform and not an in-person financial services business. And I’m willing to guess your decision had a lot to do with changing consumer preferences.

Because despite the changes happening around us, as business leaders, it’s our responsibility to ensure an intuitive, enjoyable, and seamless experience for our customers. 

Which is why I’m so passionate about our second fintech marketing priority: multichannel marketing. 

Psst. If you missed the first two articles in this series, we’ve got you covered:

What is Multichannel Marketing?

To put it simply,

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

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Artificial Intelligence in Advertising

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,

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Do You Have a Social Media Crisis Management Plan?

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Social media is a machine with a constant flow of posts, likes, mentions, retweets, and follows. Because of this 24/7 cycle, many brands choose to schedule content weeks or months in advance to keep up. And while doing this ensures that you’re always engaging with your customers, sometimes certain circumstances require you to rethink your entire strategy.  

COVID-19 was certainly no exception. Overnight, weeks of scheduled social media posts suddenly became irrelevant. 

PwC’s 2019 Global Crisis Survey found that 69% of business leaders have experienced a crisis in the past five years. Sometimes a crisis is global, like the COVID-19 pandemic, and sometimes it’s more local, like your company being named in a lawsuit. Whatever the situation may be, there are a few ways your brand can successfully navigate it without ruining your reputation. 

1. Take time to think

When a crisis hits,

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3 Marketing Priorities for Fintech and Financial Brands in 2021

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When industry experts were writing future trends articles in late 2019 (ourselves included), no one could have predicted that a pandemic would throw a wrench into all of our plans. 

Despite everything our world has been through, I believe we can learn from this collective experience. For one thing, 2020 has taught us the importance of staying agile. We can use all of the industry data and expertise available to predict what’s coming next, but we can’t foresee something like a pandemic. This is why being able to quickly pivot strategies to match circumstances is so crucial for fintech companies.

In fact, Deloitte predicts that agility will be one of the top trends for marketers in the future, saying that it, “…encourages organizations to embrace immediate and novel ways of thinking while helping them restructure in a way that allows their brand to join conversations and moments organically.” 

Future success for fintechs will hinge on the ability to react quickly to emerging trends and events.

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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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