The Value of Digital Marketing for Payments Fintechs

The Value of Digital Marketing for Payments Fintechs

The Value of Digital Marketing for Payments Fintechs

Woman making a payment with a smartphone.

As we navigate an era where digital convenience reigns supreme, the payments fintech landscape has expanded at an unprecedented pace. With the convergence of cutting-edge technology and the post-COVID contactless shift, payments fintechs have exploded, making the industry more competitive than ever.

The key to standing out in this crowded market? Harnessing the power of digital marketing. 

Conventional marketing methods no longer hold sway in this digital-first world. To truly make a mark, your business needs to craft a comprehensive digital marketing strategy that captures your audience’s attention with the right message, precisely when and where they need it.

Today we are going to look at all things digital marketing, and uncover its vital role in driving growth for payments fintechs. Expect to learn how a well-executed digital marketing strategy can elevate your brand to new heights and set you apart from the competition.

What Is Digital Marketing?

Around the globe, people spend roughly 7 hours of their day online. If you want to reach your audience, you’ve got to be there too.

Simply put, digital marketing encompasses all marketing that takes place on the internet, via digital channels like social media, websites, and email.  

Compared to traditional financial services marketing methods like cold calling, direct mail, or, *gasp* an ad in the yellow pages, digital marketing offers a cost-effective strategy that helps payments fintechs reach their audience with precision, tailoring content and campaigns to specific demographics, interests, and behaviors.

In an industry where building trust and credibility is crucial, digital marketing empowers payments fintechs to establish meaningful connections with their audience through data-driven and hyper-personalized strategies that drive engagement and deliver tangible results.

The Challenges Payments Fintechs Face

When it comes to connecting with their audience and showcasing their product, payments fintechs have a number of challenges to face. Smart digital marketing strategies can help overcome these challenges.

1. Gaining Customer Trust

Perhaps the most significant challenge, especially for new entrants, payments fintechs must demonstrate their offerings’ value and instill trust in their target market.  Trust and credibility take time and effort to build—effective marketing and communication strategies (as well as exceptional customer service) are key elements to achieving them.

2. Staying Competitive 

The payments industry is highly competitive, with a mix of established financial institutions, emerging fintech companies, and big tech firms, all vying for market share. To succeed, payments fintechs must differentiate their offerings and continuously innovate in order to stay ahead of the competition.

3. Keeping Up

Rapid technological advancements can make it challenging for payments fintechs to keep up with the latest trends. Growing and scaling in the payments industry can get tough, particularly when managing increased transaction volumes, expanding into new markets, and ensuring a seamless customer experience. Additionally, integrating new technologies with existing financial systems and infrastructure can be complex, time-consuming, and costly.

The Benefits of Digital Marketing for the Payments Industry

With the right planning and deployment, digital marketing can have a profound impact on the profitability and future success of payments fintechs .

It’s important to remember that the digital payment user space is relatively new, and even though most consumers only adopted digital payments for the first time less than three years ago, 87% of consumers are already using at least one fintech financial service app.

In other words, industry competition is just getting started.

With a sound  digital marketing strategy in place, payments fintechs will be well-positioned to enjoy a competitive advantage in a number of different areas. 

1. Customer Acquisition 

By leveraging various digital channels, you can connect with potential customers across the globe, and ultimately reach a much larger and more diverse audience compared to traditional marketing methods.

Digital marketing strategies can also be tailored to target specific demographics or customer segments (based on factors like location, interests, or online behavior), ensuring that marketing efforts resonate effectively with your most relevant audience.

For example, a B2B payment solutions provider may develop a campaign focused on small business owners, while a consumer-facing product may target young adults interested in digital wallets or mobile payments.

2. Brand Awareness and Positioning 

Consumers are attracted to brands they like and with which they can identify—a company’s values, personality, and identity matter.

In an industry where competition is stiff, creating a solid brand identity and effectively communicating your company’s unique value proposition is crucial to attracting and retaining customers. 

How do you communicate your identity? Develop a robust online presence. 

By investing in digital marketing, you can increase your visibility in search results, social media feeds, and other online platforms, making it easier for potential customers to discover and engage with your brand.

For example, digital ads have been shown to increase brand awareness by as much as 80%. A well-designed website, active social media profiles, and high-quality content can all contribute towards the same goal.

3. Cost-Effectiveness and Scalability

Unless you have a bottomless bank account for marketing, it’s important to maximize the reach of your marketing budget.

With a variety of tools available, brands can optimize their marketing budgets by focusing on the channels and strategies that deliver the highest return on investment (ROI). Databox found that content marketing and email marketing provided some of the highest ROI of any marketing activity. 

By leveraging automation and data-driven insights, and with the right help from a digital marketing agency, payments fintechs can fine-tune their online presence to reach an expanding customer base, without increasing their marketing spend to a prohibitive degree.

Key Digital Marketing Strategies for Payments Fintechs

Digital marketing involves several different steps and strategies. Not every approach may be suitable for every payments company—it will depend on the specific needs of your business.

To understand what works best for your brand, it’s crucial to analyze your efforts to quickly determine which activities drive ROI. Here are a few digital marketing strategies that payments fintechs should explore. 

1. Content Marketing and SEO 

Creating valuable and engaging content can be an excellent way to connect with your audience, while reassuring them about your product’s security.

Blog posts, whitepapers, case studies, and webinars can showcase expertise, build trust, and drive website traffic. By regularly publishing insightful content, payments fintechs can position themselves as thought leaders and build credibility. 

A strong understanding of Search Engine Optimization is essential to increasing visibility and attracting potential customers. A good first step is to optimize your website and overall content so it’s easier for your target audience to discover your brand.

2. Paid Media Advertising 

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising tools, such as Google Ads, provide instant visibility and the ability to target specific keywords and audience demographics. This targeted approach can help reach potential customers that are actively searching for payment solutions. 

With paid media advertising, payments fintechs can measure campaign performance and adjust budgets in real-time, optimizing their ad spend and maximizing ROI. It’s estimated that PPC returns $2 for every $1 spent—a whopping 200% ROI.

Unlike organic marketing strategies, paid media advertising can provide immediate results, generating website traffic, leads, and conversions as soon as a campaign goes live. This makes it an ideal strategy for payments fintechs looking to quickly boost their online presence.

3. User Experience Design 

Do you remember the old days when every financial services company looked the same? Marketing for your payments fintech should be anything but ordinary.

But design isn’t just for aesthetics, it’s also critical for functionality. A well-designed website helps establish credibility, enhance user experience and accessibility, and drive conversions through the sales funnel.

In the competitive payments industry, a visually appealing and modern website design can help a brand stand out and highlight its value proposition.

Need a Digital Marketing Reset? CSTMR Can Help 

At CSTMR, we’re experts in digital marketing committed to helping payments fintechs reach their full potential.

Fueled by our mission-driven passion, we have a long track record of success in the payments industry.  We’ve worked with a wide range of payments fintechs, including Prepaid Technologies, Payframe, and Currencies Direct (see some of our success stories here).

How strong is your brand’s online presence? Whom are you targeting? What are your challenges? 

If you don’t have the answers, we can help you find them as we bring your brand to life and help you scale. We’re here to work out the digital marketing strategies that drive ROI and can place your product where it needs to be… anywhere where your ideal customers are.

Reach out to schedule a call, and we can get the ball rolling. 

Picture of Jack Macy
Jack Macy
Jack Macy is one of the co-founders of CSTMR. His background and experience span branding, marketing strategy, design, UX, and technical development across financial services, technology, healthcare, and nonprofits.

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