How to Choose the Right Marketing Agency for a FinTech Company
December 30, 2024 by Paul Shumsky
Contents
Overview
Fintech companies and startups predominantly provide AI, Machine Learning, IT, and Cloud services. As the field continues to expand, more competencies are added to the list yearly, which creates more opportunities and challenges for existing businesses. Suppose you run a Fintech company and want to remain relevant amidst all the competition. In that case, you must market your brand as effectively as possible, but how do you choose the right marketing agency for a Fintech company?
We will attempt to answer the above question in this article and explain why you should invest in marketing and branding.
For clarity and industry relevance, let us accept S&P Global's breakdown of Fintech categories, which are
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Blockchain
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Wealth Management
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Payments
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Digital Lending
While they are all involved in finance, they require different marketing strategies since they have different challenges and obstacles. Economic tailwinds and interest rate changes impact digital lending or wealth management, while the major obstacle for payment platforms is user security.
Customers who use lending platforms, for instance, are concerned with getting the cheapest loans, while users of payment platforms want to be sure that their funds are safe. Marketers, therefore, illustrate the best outcomes to serve customers' needs through their marketing content.
Explaining the use and benefits of their product and how they align with the user's goals are the cornerstones of Fintech marketing.
So, in a nutshell, fintech marketing content takes the user on a journey and points out the value of using the service and the dangers of not doing so. They use data, performance measurements, and analytics to capture the mind of their audience while also capturing the brand culture and vision in their content.
Fintech Marketing Explained
The Best Marketing Agencies For Fintechs
Fintech marketing firms specialize in Fintech PR, and their services are dedicated to vertical integration. Regardless of who your company hires, they must have the core competencies to deliver on their promise to help your company scale and get new customers.
The best PR firms have
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Account managers
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Content writers
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Social media managers
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Media relations experts
If the firm you are looking at has a team of the above professionals, this is a good indicator that they know what they are doing.
Fintech entrepreneurs are ventures mostly funded by venture capitalists, but a few have grown to a point where they can sustain their operations without relying on external funding. However, most of them use the services of marketing agencies to sell their stories to the outside world.
Importance of Fintech Branding
So why is it important to brand your fintech company like any other business?
You need to understand that the Industry is overcrowded because of the amazing profit opportunities. Every year, new entrants enter the Industry, raising the competition level. To differentiate our business from competitors so you stand out, you must brand your company to create a unique identity.
Targeting your audience with PR that will resonate with them is the only way to do this. In the last few years, we have seen that the best Fintech companies have the strongest brands. Their cohesive identity aligns with their organizational goals, and their messaging strategy differs from their competitors. They develop a strong brand image using
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A strong name
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Logo
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Visual identity
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Tone of voice
All these are harnessed to create a compelling proposition highlighting their service features. The goal is to attract and retain customers, win their loyalty, and drive growth and profitability.
How To Choose The Right Marketing Agency For A Fintech Company
In this section, we want to highlight how to choose the right marketing agency for a fintech company.
These tips will help you target a firm that best serves your short and long-term branding goals. Let's begin!
Goal Definition
The first thing to do is to define your goals before you start looking for an agency to hire. As a business, IU must clearly define what you want; an agency shouldn't do this for you. Once you are sure about this, you will know what to look for in a PR agency. Suppose your goal is to increase brand awareness, for instance. In that case, you must find an agency with a record of crafting and executing successful branding campaigns that drive popularity and user engagement.
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While you may not know everything you plan to achieve, it pays to know a few and then build from there. Marketing is not a one-day affair but a gradual process tailored towards achieving an overall goal of social relevance.
Look for Experience
Marketing is an expensive affair, so you want to hire an agency that will not waste your marketing budget with little or no success to show for it. If you are running a startup or a new fintech venture, you need the experience to break even, right? The same is the case with a marketing agency.
The last thing you want is to hire a greenhorn agency who don't know what they are doing. Look for an agency with experience working with outfits in your Industry because they understand and have experience overcoming challenges.
An agency without experience will not be the best choice for your company, and it may cost you a lot to get the word out. Look for an agency with the technical know-how to deliver results.
A Full-Service Agency Is Better
Is the marketing agency a full-service agency, or would you have to pay another firm an extra fee for additional services? We recommend you hire a full-service agency offering all that you need. Having different agencies piece together your marketing campaigns may be a recipe for disaster. This may lead to a broken campaign or a confusing message.
Hiring a full-service agency has inherent benefits; you will spend less, and the campaign will be cohesive from start to finish. Their strategy will also be comprehensive and consider your shirt and long-term goals. Knowing that your campaigns are in good hands will give you respite.
Evaluate Success Stories
The best firms release case studies to prospective clients, which is important. Reading case studies is are effective way to gauge an agency's competence. You will find these studies on their website, so take the time to review them. Agencies that have none on their website may be new in the field and have less experience.
Having no case studies may also indicate that they are not proud of their work, so we recommend you try another agency. The things to look out for when reviewing case studies include
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Results achieved
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Industries they work with
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Size of firms they've worked for
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Campaign types
How They Fit With Your Company Culture
Another thing to consider when choosing a PR company is how they will fit your company's culture. From experience, we know that having the best marketing team will mean nothing if they don't mesh well with your culture. Review their culture before signing up for an agency to see how they can work well with yours. Intrinsic features like shared values, work ethics, and more are intangibles not to overlook.
Service Cost
You can't overlook costs when deciding on hiring, can you?
During your search, you will likely encounter different service providers charging varying fees for their services. This can be unclear, especially if it's the first time your company wants to run a campaign. But there are down signs to look for.
If they are offering their services for rock-bottom prices that look too good to be true, they may be cutting corners elsewhere. Don't be in a hurry to sacrifice quality for price. You want an agency that offers their services for a fair price. Also, note that the type of service you seek will determine the price. Branding services cost more than social media marketing. Also, understand that the best PR firms charge top dollar for their work.
If you must do it, then you must do it right. Having no campaign out is better than releasing a disastrous campaign because cleaning your image will cost even more.
Communication
Communication style is as important as their organizational culture. How do they liaise with their clients? Through phone calls, emails, or both? You want a firm with an open communication line and a 100% response rate. This is crucial in case you want to ask for tweaks to an ongoing campaign, or you want a speedy response to an unplanned emergency.
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If they are hard to reach or don't respond to messages timely, you will have to micromanage all they do, affecting your focus on another important aspect of your business.