Increasing your customer numbers as a fintech business opens your technological venture up to more market opportunities. With approximately 30,000 fintech startups operating in 2023, it’s never been more important to stand out amongst the competition and keep increasing your client subscriptions.

Did you know that a whopping 75% of venture-backed fintech startups collapse within their first year of operation? With an increasing amount of competition and more potential clients than ever before, it’s crucial to develop a marketing strategy that can boost company revenue in an economic slowdown.

After a major crash in 2022 Fintech investment, the sector still remains attractive to newcomers and investors. According to experts at CB Insights, over 1 in 5 unicorns are valued at a whopping $1 billion, which suggests that we’re likely to see another wave of startups in the years to come.

If you’re desperate to remain ahead of the curve and grow your fintech exponentially, a well-developed marketing strategy is the key to success. Stick with us as we walk you through the role of fintech marketing and reveal 5 targeted tactics to include in your own growth strategy in 2023.

What is Fintech Marketing?

Fintech marketing differs from a traditional business growth strategy. Marketing a fintech company requires expert targeting and a set of innovative campaigns that showcase the power of financial technology with ease.

When implemented correctly, a successful fintech marketing strategy can help you get closer to your customers while positioning you as an authoritative voice within your niche market.

Marketing your fintech can:

• Encourage consumer loyalty and build trust for future purchasing 

• Drive new traffic highs to a website or app

• Generate new opportunities to create and leverage user-generated content

• Help build a community surrounding your product/service

• Strengthen the quality of your customer acquisition process

"Fintech marketing is built on the same fundamentals that other industry-specific marketing is; it’s not about how you market a fintech, it’s about how and where your customer wants to be marketed to. What is true for traditional financial institutions is true for fintech; trust, credibility and reliability come first. Even the most ambitious early adopters will expect these attributes to be true before moving their money to or through a fintech,” says  Andrea Linehan, CMO at CurrencyFair.

Finding ways to showcase your trust, credibility, and reliability is essential as a fintech startup. Here are just a few of the key marketing tactics you can include in your own fintech growth strategy for a more robust customer base.

Take a Community-Led Approach 

Building a strong community amongst your loyal customers should be a key concern for fintech startups. While acquisition is essential, retention will generate the most revenue in the long run.

While it can take time to cultivate an engaged and loyal customer base, the benefits largely outweigh the effort. This growth strategy is not established overnight, but finding new ways to keep your consumers connected with your business is a great place to start.

From leveraging consumer content to introducing live question-and-answer sessions on your socials. The more ‘human’ your company appears, the greater the level of connection you’ll receive. 

“We have 16,000 crowdfund investors who invested in Chip, and this community is really our secret sauce and where most of our growth comes from,” says Alex Latham, CEO of Chip. “For example, any kind of blog post we put out automatically gets 16,000 eyeballs from our investors who are really passionate about our brand and then tell their friends about it.”

“So for us, building out our community has been the most important thing, and it's not easy, and it's still to this day very, very difficult...maintaining them and making sure they're positive and that they've bought into the vision and direction of the business. But for us, that has been kind of the most important thing,” he adds.

Monzo is a great example of a fintech giant that knows how to build customer loyalty. Priding itself on having open and honest communication with its customer base, Monzo aims to be fully transparent with its consumers.

(Image Source: TalkWalker)

Just take a look at their advocate score. With over 84% of Monzo users recommending the fintech to their peers, it’s no wonder that it’s the king of consumer loyalty.

For example, when making a mistake, Monzo actively posts an update about it in the form of an app alert or email to keep their consumers in the loop. Using this customer-centric approach that positioned subscribers as equal players, the brand has since increased its engagement and retention rates.

Gamify Your Consumer Experience

Another essential marketing strategy for Fintech businesses to adopt is gamification. As a sector built on tech innovation, it’s fair to assume that most target audiences will be well-versed with smartphone technology.

Therefore, a great tactic to include in your growth strategy is content gamification. It’s an easy way to showcase financial services in a game-like way for increased consumer engagement.

From incentives such as exclusive offers and product-related prizes to app-based progress journeys that a subscriber can track along the way, there are plenty of ways to introduce a ‘game-like’ marketing campaign into your strategy.

A great example of fintech-based gamification comes from the makers of Fortune City. As a fintech service centred solely around game-play, Fortune City is a great twist on traditional online banking services. 

With the aim of the game to grow your own city, or in other words, your savings, users can deposit money to reach building and transportation goals, all while building up their spending pot in the background.

(Image Source: Fortune City)

Visited by over 30 million users, Fortune City has seen great success based on gamification alone. If you’re looking to sell your financial service/product to a wider, digitally native audience, getting creative with gamification could be your key to success. 

Get Creative With Your Organic Search

As the market develops, it's becoming increasingly difficult for fintech businesses to stand out amongst competitors.

When you create a website, it’s important to ensure that it is optimised for maximum search potential. Whether you use a web template or build your online store from scratch, it’s important to prioritise your UX design, keyword placement and product content for an increased chance of appearing at the top of the SERPs. Make sure you do not save too much on crucial parts, like your website hosting provider or website theme. Quality provider is an essential investment to making sure your website is always live without interruption and is quick to load. Here, it's worth using known providers like Hostinger.

However, while organic search is imperative to search engine success, so is creativity. The key here is to find new ways to stand out from the crowd as an online brand. If you're constantly coming up with new creative campaigns, you’ll create a larger buzz around your brand across a range of platforms.

The more your audience talks about and shares your content/links online, the greater your authority will be within a niche search. 

"Fintech marketing is super exciting right now. There are loads of brands pushing creative boundaries in order to capture attention, differentiate and win customers. And the secret to success is - don't be boring,” says Laurel Wolfe, VP of Marketing at Mambu. “Whether B2B or B2C, no matter who your audience is, no one wants to be bored. Don't be afraid to take an unusual POV, be provocative, cause a stir and/or tell an emotional story. Great ideas and concepts transcend distribution channels. Why limit yourself or your brand by doing what's considered 'normal'?"

Moving Forward 

As we step into a new era of multi-media marketing, fintechs should be at the heart of innovation. As a sector founded on the possibilities of technology, fintech-driven marketing campaigns should consistently test the realms of digital creativity.

Whether you follow the gamification route or invest time in a creative organic campaign, the number one key to success is community. Taking time to nurture your existing customers with loyalty campaigns, exclusive offers, and excellent customer service will see your fintech business rake in revenue in 2023.