Despite all the differences, Fintech firms and neobanks can often apply the same marketing tactics successfully.

Succeeding in marketing is not about how you advertise a fintech company or a neobank; it's where it’s the easiest to reach your ideal customers with a message that will convince them of your business’s worth.

1. Focus on Real Values - Reliability, Trustworthiness, and Transparency

Neobank marketing is built upon the combination of concepts that can be applied to the sectors of digital services and the banking industries. Fintech follows the same rule as traditional financial institutions: reliability, trustworthiness, and transparency come first.

Before shifting their money to fintech, even the most eager early adopters will demand that these characteristics be true. Because of this, 'transparency' is not simply a marketing fad in the financial industry. Fintech firms cannot keep leading with just technology being the ace in their hand, as the banks will eventually catch up in terms of technology. Currently, transparency is being positioned together by fintech and neobank companies because it will ultimately become the standard in the sector.

2. Affiliate and Influencer Marketing

Referral marketing, affiliate marketing, and influencer marketing all allude to the conventional marketing strategy of forming alliances with outside 'marketers' or 'influencers' and rewarding them with commissions for each sale they bring in. Affiliates might be expert advertisers, media owners (such as comparison websites), bloggers and influencers in the field.

When discussing personal or business finances, trust is one of the most important aspects of how people perceive your business. If they don’t see it as trustworthy, they will never trust their money with you in the first place.

People trust people. If your idol says they’re using Neobank X, Y, or Z, you’re more likely to trust that bank if they haven’t misled you before. This type of marketing approach works in a more natural way than promoting yourself that you are a solid and trustworthy business.

Many neobanks and Fintech (Revolut, Coinbase, Paypal, etc.) have already used affiliate programs for acquisition . Not to mention, what you pay for is what you get with affiliates . You don’t need to pay upfront, as you pay the affiliate per acquisition, so your marketing budget isn’t wasted on efforts that don’t bring you any benefits.

Check out the recent Finance Magnates London Summit 2022 Session on "Challenger Banks, The Challenges (and Opportunities) Ahead"

3. Utilize Community Marketing

Community marketing involves developing close relationships with your target market and integrating the customers into your company's growth while ensuring you’re directly addressing their needs and desires.

As it appeals to the most fundamental human needs of belonging and sharing, fostering community is one of the most effective strategies to foster commitment and deep emotional long-lasting relationships. A great example of how a company built a community around something mundane from scratch is Peloton. The same can be done for any neobank, given it provides for a certain niche.

Let’s say your neobank focuses more on the marketplace offering of shares, crypto, or other financial instruments. You can easily modify your app to work like a forum, to instill badges on people depending on their successes, and slowly form a community around that. There are hundreds of examples that can be given here.

Taking advantage of that strategy, many prosperous fintech startups, such as 11:FS, Revolut, Monzo, and Finimize, have concentrated their efforts on developing strong brand communities that foster product development, customer retention, and business expansion. These startups invite users to recommend and name future products, offer feedback on current offerings, participate in Q&A sessions, open BETA groups, and attend community meet-ups.

4. Implementing Gamification

With the attention span of the average user quickly decreasing over the years to just 8 seconds, you need more than just a way to keep their attention. One of the best ways to cultivate attention is by spiking the user’s dopamine levels.

This can usually happen by enticing them with prizes, rewards points, or engaging users in puzzles or something visual they wouldn’t normally expect to see. You can use gamification with each new in-app campaign to increase the likelihood of people sticking for longer to know what it is all about.

Monzo, a leading UK retail challenger bank, implemented a waiting list and a referral program to debut their banking app. Users who downloaded the app were automatically sent to a waiting list. While the only way to advance to the top of the list was to recommend the app to a friend. This way, the list would continue to grow while people were eager to start using the beta app.

Final Words

Whether you’re running a Fintech or a neobank, these 4 marketing tactics can enable the streamlined growth of your acquisition and customer loyalty. Study your customers, define a hypothesis of what might work best for them, and test it.