B2B Fintech Marketing: How to Build a Winning Strategy
Fintech’s potential for high-quality leads and revenue growth is massive. But navigating the complexities of B2B fintech marketing? It’s not always straightforward.
You might feel like you’re firing off marketing tactics in every direction, hoping something sticks. You’re publishing content, but it’s not ranking well in search engines, getting you the traffic or conversions you need, or it doesn’t seem to resonate with your audience.
If that’s you, don’t worry. In this guide, we’ll break down the essentials to creating B2B marketing strategies that deliver great results for fintech companies like yours. Let’s get started.
What is Fintech Marketing?
The Fintech Customer Journey
Key Strategies for Fintech Marketing
Creative Customer Acquisition Techniques
Fintech marketing requires campaigns that capture attention and leave lasting impressions.
Why opt for unconventional fintech marketing campaigns? They build trust by making your fintech brand more relatable and memorable. When you’re asking businesses to handle their financial operations, being memorable matters.
Examples of unconventional campaigns include:
- Experiential marketing: Create immersive experiences at industry events, like trade shows or conferences, that allow potential clients to interact directly with your product. For example, set up interactive booths where attendees can engage with a virtual demo or participate in a hands-on workshop that showcases how your fintech solution addresses common industry pain points. This approach captures attention and provides a memorable, practical experience that highlights the value of your offering.
- Guerrilla marketing: Use low-budget, high-impact tactics in unexpected places where B2B decision-makers are likely to be. For example, place branded digital screens or thought-provoking installations in financial district lobbies or business parks. These can share quick, powerful messages or stats that challenge conventional industry practices and pique curiosity, encouraging professionals to learn more about your solution.
- Viral marketing: Develop compelling content tailored for B2B audiences that has the potential to be widely shared within professional networks. This could include provocative thought leadership pieces, humorous takes on industry trends, or case study videos that highlight successful client partnerships. Ensure the content is optimized for platforms like LinkedIn, where it can easily gain traction among industry professionals.
- Influencer collaborations: Partner with niche industry influencers or respected thought leaders who have credibility among your target audience. Collaborate on content like webinars, podcasts, or LinkedIn Live sessions where these influencers share insights about current challenges and how your fintech solution can help address them. This strategy not only amplifies your reach but also builds trust and authority within your specific market.
A standout example of creative marketing is Klarna’s collaboration with Paris Hilton. The payments company partnered with the Y2K icon to create the “House of Y2K” pop-up in Los Angeles—a nostalgic nod to the early 2000s.
This strategic move generated significant buzz and cemented Klarna’s modern fintech identity.
The global multimedia campaign also included a series of films featuring Hilton reacting to different Klarna product offerings with the catchphrase, “That’s Smoooth.”
Through this creative approach, Klarna promoted its stretched payment options in a memorable way.
While this is a B2C example, B2B fintech companies can take inspiration from this level of creativity. Imagine hosting an immersive pop-up at a major industry conference that showcases the future of finance through interactive technology demonstrations or virtual reality experiences.
Partnering with well-known industry thought leaders or tech innovators to co-create content—like live debates or trend showcases—could generate the same kind of buzz and engagement as Klarna’s campaign. The key takeaway is that B2B doesn’t have to be boring—being bold and unexpected can help differentiate your brand in a crowded market.
Your B2B content marketing strategy needs to address the real challenges your potential clients face daily.
Begin by identifying the most pressing challenges your potential clients face in their daily operations.
Talk to your sales and customer success teams—they’re on the front lines, hearing firsthand about the issues plaguing potential clients. You might discover that regulatory compliance complexities, integration challenges with legacy systems, or data security concerns are at the top of your audience’s mind.
Once you understand these pain points, map your content to the buyer’s journey. For those just becoming aware of their problems, blog posts explaining trends, comparison guides highlighting differences, and case studies with filters for specific goals all work to address your audience’s financial needs.
As they consider different financial institutions and financial solutions, offer comparison guides and case studies. For case studies, create filters for different goals so potential customers can read stories from others who faced the same problems.
But what types of content work best? Plaid’s annual “Fintech Effect Report” provides valuable insights into consumer financial behavior, positioning Plaid as a trusted industry authority due to its thought leadership content. It’s also a useful lead magnet.
Hosting webinars demonstrating real-time financial analytics or creating video tutorials on navigating complex investment platforms also works well.
Plus, podcasts offer easily digestible insights for busy executives on the go.
The lesson here? Focus on creating content that truly helps your audience solve problems or make decisions. When you consistently deliver value, measured by metrics like a 20% increase in content engagement or a 15% higher click-through rate on targeted emails, you build trust and establish your brand as an indispensable resource.
Leveraging Data for Personalized Marketing
B2B fintech companies collect lots of information about their business customers. This includes things like:
- Company size and industry
- How they use financial services
- What kind of money problems they’re trying to solve
Analyzing this data helps fintech companies pinpoint each business’s specific needs. Then, they can reach out with ideas that feel tailor-made to increase customer retention and satisfaction.
This approach has some big pluses. Business clients feel understood, which builds trust. Happy clients are more likely to stick around and tell other fintech business contacts about the service.
Here are some ways to use data for personalized marketing:
- Identify patterns: AI helps fintech companies sift through mountains of data to spot patterns humans might miss. For example, it can predict which businesses will likely need a loan in the next six months based on their cash flow trends. This lets the fintech company reach out at just the right time with the perfect offer.
- Predict customer behavior: By analyzing past behavior, predictive analytics can forecast what a business might need next. If a company’s transactions with international partners are increasing, the fintech might proactively offer better foreign exchange services.
- Improve onboarding: Customized onboarding uses data to tailor the setup process for each new business client. A small startup might get a simplified dashboard, while a large corporation could see more complex features right off the bat. This customized approach helps businesses feel at home with the platform from day one.
- Score customer engagement: This is like a health check for client relationships. By tracking how often a business uses different features, how they interact with customer support, and other behaviors, these companies can spot when a client might be losing interest. They can then step in with tailored help or offers to keep the relationship strong.
- Increase cross-selling: By understanding how a business uses its platform, fintech companies can suggest additional service offerings that make sense. For instance, a fintech company might notice that a business is frequently late on payments and use this data to recommend an automated invoicing system, reducing late payments by 30%.
- Personalize content: This goes beyond just using the client’s name in emails. It’s about changing entire web pages, app interfaces, and marketing materials based on the business’s profile and behavior. A retail client might see case studies about inventory financing, while a tech startup sees content about managing investor funds.
Using Behavioral Analytics and IP Detection for Targeted Marketing
Optimal Channels for Fintech B2B Marketing
Referral Gamification
Additionally, referral gamification is an often overlooked but highly effective strategy for engaging Millennials and Gen Z. Fintech companies can implement referral programs within their platforms, offering rewards, badges, or points for referrals.
Gamified elements encourage user participation and build a sense of community and loyalty. Monzo, for instance, has successfully used referral programs, pairing them with vibrant, user-friendly branding to appeal to younger users.
In-App Marketing
In-app marketing is another powerful yet underutilized channel in B2B fintech. Once users are on your platform, personalized in-app messages can guide them through the onboarding process, introduce them to new features, or offer special promotions tailored to their needs. This can be especially effective in converting users who are already engaged and active on your platform.
For example, fintech companies can use in-app notifications to highlight new functionalities that align with a user’s activity patterns or send push notifications about special offers or product updates. This channel is particularly effective for cross-selling or upselling products to current users who might not yet be aware of all the functionalities available to them.
Event Marketing and Networking
Fintech companies also leverage traditional channels like events—conferences, webinars, and networking meetups—to connect with key stakeholders, share knowledge, and get noticed.
These events are great for forging strategic partnerships and driving customer acquisition. However, it’s crucial to maximize ROI from these opportunities.
To maximize ROI from event participation, define specific goals you want to achieve, such as the number of leads generated, partnerships formed, or brand awareness metrics.
Use a multi-channel B2B marketing strategy to promote your participation. This includes using social media, email marketing campaigns, and B2B content marketing to create buzz around the event and encourage attendance.
Implement a robust follow-up strategy post-event to nurture leads. This can include personalized emails, thank-you notes, or exclusive offers to attendees who visited your booth or attended your session.
For example, when Stratabeat CEO, Tom Shapiro speaks on webinars and at conferences, he often gives away free copies of his books, “Rethink Lead Generation” and “Rethink Your Marketing” to the people who attend.
After the event, assess your performance by tracking key metrics like the number of qualified leads generated, the percentage of those leads that convert into customers, and attendee satisfaction scores.
By integrating digital, social, referral gamification, in-app marketing, and traditional event marketing into a cohesive strategy, fintech companies can effectively reach different demographics and convert more prospects into loyal customers.