Fintech content marketing - an effective growth strategy
Content marketing is a dynamic process, but done correctly it can seriously accelerate your marketing efforts.
Competing for space on the internet is difficult. It’s always hard to be heard above the noise when it comes to ranking online, and as a new start-up in the Fintech space you may have to shout louder than the rest.
According to data from business consultancy firm Toptal, over 18,000 Fintech startups launched in 2018 alone - and the Fintech sector is set to attract a staggering £250m in funding by 2022.
Naturally, not all of these budding Fintechs will be directly pitted against one another. But this does mean in practice that new businesses are constantly competing for space online, looking to build their company profile, establish themselves as thought leaders in their space, and build trust with potential clients.
Professional services agency Deloitte claims that marketing teams will have to be more agile than ever before to attract new customers. In the bustling Fintech space, marketing agility could make or break your business.
So, what steps can teams take to achieve marketing success, and why is this particularly important for Fintech startups?
CONTENT MARKETING FOR FINTECH COMPANIES
Digital marketing for Fintech has changed dynamically over the last few years, but there is one steadfast and time-proven method of providing both value to customers and long-lasting marketing results - content creation.
Content marketing is an inbound marketing strategy that focuses on creating resources that your target audience - be it a B2B client or an end customer - will find engaging, valuable, and attractive.
Most Fintech companies are familiar with generating traffic and attracting customers through paid media, but many don’t fully understand the power and long-term cost-effectiveness of content marketing.
Winning new customers or clients is likely to be an important part of your content marketing strategy. You can use content marketing to tell the story of your brand, identify issues with legacy financial systems, and educate your audience on how your company solves these inefficiencies.
You may also look to content to educate and update your customers on important trends and the latest developments in your industry. This is where blog posts, research reports, and email newsletters can cross the boundaries of simple marketing techniques and begin to provide tangible value to your audience - nurturing prospects and converting them into customers, and supporting your wider sales process.
As a result, not only can your content serve as a tool to position your company and team as thought leaders in your area of financial technology, but it can also be used as a platform to evangelise the solutions you’re building and become a long-lasting marketing asset to your business.
We’ve established that good content should be one of the cornerstones of your inbound marketing efforts. But how do we know what makes good content, and more importantly how can you implement it in your marketing strategy?
WHAT MAKES GREAT FINTECH CONTENT MARKETING?
Great content comes in all shapes and sizes. While blogs may be the most commonly utilised form of content marketing, you can also inspire and engage your target customers through infographics, video content, and guest posts in leading publications.
You should also be thinking about the messages you want to convey as a company, through longer-form thought leadership copywriting such as ebooks, white papers, or reports aimed at key personas.
According to marketing automation platform provider HubSpot, your marketing efforts should revolve around the inbound marketing ‘flywheel’ - a simple but effective method to consistently attract, engage and delight customers.
HubSpot urges marketing teams to use content marketing to provide continued value to users as they navigate through your website, which continues to ‘delight’ them even after they’ve become a customer or subscriber to your service.
Building on HubSpot’s approach, we believe that great content marketing should achieve three key aims. Firstly, it should serve as a valuable resource to attract new users to your website. Secondly, it should educate them and encourage them to convert and become customers.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, your content should provide the tools and information that existing customers need to go out and spread the word about your solutions to others.
Let’s explore some examples of great content marketing. ShopKeep, an innovative point of sale system for retailers, has nailed content for their niche, providing long-lasting and relevant topics and information for their target audience.
In the particularly timely example above, we can see how ShopKeep uses current events to provide value to its readers. With the majority of their customers falling into the ‘small business’ category, ShopKeep has produced articles that answer important questions around the COVID-19 situation - instead of simply using its blog to directly market its product.
Not only does this show that ShopKeep is actively thinking about its customers' needs during times of uncertainty, but it also establishes ShopKeep as a thought leader for small businesses and helps build trust.
Other articles include informational articles such as “Starting and Managing a Small Business 101”, which is a useful resource for ShopKeep’s target market.
Another upcoming Fintech that perfectly understands its audience is New York-based Betterment, an investment company aimed at millennials and young people.
It would be easy for Betterment to produce run-of-the-mill content consistent with that of its competitors. However, with articles like “3 Things Animal Crossing Can Teach You About Investing”, Betterment’s blogs fit in well with their wider brand image and provide a fresh approach to financial content.
This shows that Betterment’s marketing team has put time and effort into identifying its audience, and is ready to take its content to the next level in order to attract, engage, and delight - and it’s shareworthy too.
CAN CONTENT EVER BE BAD?
The benefits of content marketing speak for themselves, but is all content created equal?
Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. A staggering 60% of B2B companies surveyed say they can’t produce content to a consistent quality, and 65% find it challenging to craft content that engages their target audience.
As a result, it’s all too easy to fall into the trap of producing content that doesn’t provide value to your customers or focuses too heavily on your company rather than the solutions you’re building and the problems you solve.
One of the key mistakes Fintech marketing teams make is writing content purely to hit keyword targets, without thought for creating ‘evergreen’ content - material that will continue to provide value for years to come.
Similarly, many teams produce content without first defining what measurable impact they want it to have on their marketing efforts, or how likely it is to appeal to their core demographic.
Instead, you should be looking to create laser-focused content which serves a specific client or marketing goal first and foremost.
For example, let’s say you have identified a content gap for UK Fintech regulation that you feel would be important to your B2B customers. Creating a simplified and non-technical blog post probably won’t attract a professional audience, so make sure you set clear goals for your content during the planning stage.
FINTECH CONTENT MARKETING TIPS
We touch a little on content planning in our marketing automation blog post, but let’s explore other Fintech content marketing tips you can implement.
Consider doing following when you’re creating your content:
Use a relevant and strong title – Many readers will decide if they want to read an article purely on its title. Make sure you capture the reader's attention early on.
Optimise for search engines – Search engine optimisation (SEO) ensures that readers can find your article on search engines, like Google. This can also include linking to other relevant content on your own website to improve your ranking.
Use relevant data and research – Every good piece of content should provide value to your readers, and this can be achieved with relevant and interesting data or research.
Link to high authority sources for credibility – Building on the point above, if you’re using information to craft a compelling point or argument, make sure you link to authoritative sources.
Use content offers to capture visitor details – If you’ve produced some excellent content, like an e-book or a report, consider offering it to prospective customers in exchange for an email address.
Improve readability - Break the article up into easily digestible paragraphs with titles, improving flow and making it more engaging for your reader.
Use numbered lists - Lists and numbered lists can be a great way of capturing a ‘rich snippet’, extra info displayed by Google next to your search engine listing.
Remembering to include all of these content features can be tricky. This is where working closely with an expert Fintech marketing agency can give your content the edge over your competitors.
CONCLUSION
Compared to other forms of marketing, content creation can be a time and resource-intensive process, with rapidly changing goalposts. But the initial effort is worth the long-lasting results.
When you think about content marketing, think about where your potential customers are on the flywheel - will your content prompt engagement, action, and ongoing interaction? If not, it risks becoming an exercise in wasted time.
It’s tough to train in-house writers, who likely have other workstreams and areas of focus, to craft content that converts.
Instead, an expert Fintech copywriter can step in to work with your marketing team, generating consistently strong content in reasonable time frames that fit in with your brand’s tone of voice, messaging, and style.
Curious Cat Digital offers some of the leading content marketing professionals in the Fintech industry, and our team is on hand to help you create a killer content marketing strategy.
We’ve taken the time to perfect our inbound marketing campaign strategy, so why not let us perfect yours? Contact us today to get started!