Demand generation or 'demand gen' is defined as the practice of creating demand for a product or service through marketing. It plays a vital role in promoting a product or service. It is a process to build brand awareness, increase traffic, increase deman0d and secure new leads. Demand gen is all about creating predictable pipelines for the sales team and creating high-quality leads that engage your brand and turn into revenue.
A successful demand generation strategy is not just about generating the sheer volume of leads, but also generating qualified convertible leads. Demand generation can be done by filling out forms, signing up for a subscription, downloading a piece of content, participating in a webinar, etc. However, not every lead will be sales-ready. These leads can be nurtured further by the sales team.
Read on to list down various strategies to boost demand generation for FinTech using content marketing.
Content Marketing Challenges for Fintech Brands
The FinTech market is one of the fastest-growing markets in the world. FinTech marketing is the top priority for FinTech brands to promote their products, services, and growth strategy. Unfortunately, the FinTech market is miles behind when it comes to creating viral content. Besides the challenge of not being able to create personalized content, the FinTech market is facing other challenges such as:
Legal Compliance & Regulation
Every piece of copy or creative material needs to conform to the region's law. It restricts creativity and delays the execution of the content marketing strategy.
Complexity and Technicality of the Subject
FinTech is a complex and technical market; hence it can be difficult for an average person to understand. Simplifying a complicated topic can be challenging. And even more challenging to be creative and compliant with the industry standards.
Slow Response Time
Unlike other markets, reachability or content promotion of such a niche or complex market may take time.
Role of Content in FinTech
Content marketing can help FinTech brands overcome the challenges mentioned above. Brand awareness, educating the target audience, and acquiring new clientele is the primary aim of content marketing. Rolling-out relatable content and case studies can help FinTech brands to increase trust and gain new clientele. It can also help improve your credibility in the market as compared to your competitors. Sharing essential market updates, articles, and blogs can help FinTech brands demonstrate their market expertise.
How to Generate Leads For Fintech Brands through Content Marketing
Content marketing works as the fuel that powers your lead generation strategies, and the FinTech brands are aware of it. Both start-ups and well-established FinTech companies rely on lead generation as a part of their growth strategy. According to a research study, 80% of decision-makers gather company or market insights online—whicheases their purchase decisions. Below mentioned are the nine ways FinTech companies can generate leads through content marketing.
Research – Target Audience & Keywords
Your target audience description may include buying behavior, motivations, pain-points, values, budget, hobbies, and demographics. By thinking about who your audience is, you can equip yourself to reach them, engage them, and support them with the most relevant content online. FinTech is a niche market, so you create content that applies only to a small audience group.
Now that you know who your target audience is, we can move to the next step, i.e., keyword research. Keyword research can help you find your target audience, searching for similar content. Using the right keywords can get your product or service the visibility it deserves and reach potential customers. For this, you need to list down the keywords that your audience may use and create your content around those keywords.
Humanize Your Brand on Social Media
"At the end of the day, customer-centric fin-tech solutions are going to win." – Giles Sutherland.
Social media today is more than a B2C marketing tool. Social media marketing provides an opportunity for brands to increase awareness among their target audience. Connecting with your target audience on social media helps you build trust and exposure to your brand as a whole.
Humans are the center of every
technological advancement. Talking about humanizing your brand may involve chatbots, advanced ML, and automation. These technologies pave the way for a more transparent and customer-centric experience. Connecting with your end-user in a language they understand gives FinTech brands a competitive edge with social media.
Effective ways to humanize your brand are:
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Engage and interact
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Share videos
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Create blogs and posts regularly
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Leverage data
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Connect with social media influencers
Millennials prefer brands that connect emotionally and focus on creating more relatable content. Use simple language, avoid using technical jargon, create content that shows care and concern towards the end-user, publish case studies, host podcasts, and create marketing videos.
Generate Content for Various Campaigns
There are different ways for you to use content for lead generation. You need to realize that there is no one-size-fits-for-all solution for campaign content. Depending upon the market and your business's nature, one method may be more effective than the other. Once you have figured out what people want, you need to generate content that gives them what they want. Now that you have the list of keywords, start creating gated content such as articles, infographics, videos, podcasts, e-books, white papers, reports, checklists, cheat sheets, free email guides, webinars, product demos & trials, and sales materials.
Writing high-quality content is the foundation of an effective lead generation campaign. To create quality content, you need a sound content strategy and a specific buyer persona in mind. Apart from creating a solid piece of content, graphs, images, quotes, and infographics lead to a more effective campaign. According to a study, 67% of customers consider clear and detailed graphics ahead of product descriptions and ratings. The best kind of content allows readers to connect with the information added. Also, the writer should present critical information early to ensure readers get to the point before they opt-out.
Investing in high-quality content will pay-off in the form of successful campaigns and more leads. Here are some of the best content ideas for lead generation.
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Giveaway a checklist of tools or lists of resources
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eBooks & Free Reports
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Webinars
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Discounts & Coupons
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Free Trial
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Quizzes
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Mini-Courses
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Free Challenges
Syndication of Content
B2B content syndication is when digital content such as whitepapers, blogs, and videos are re-published to a third-party website. Content syndication works excellently for lead generation for a B2B company. It will give your business and content extra exposure to increase brand visibility with minimal effort that you wouldn't typically get while just hosting it on your website. Distribution of content promotion to generate new leads from prospective customers will always remain the top priority for B2B marketers. Having unique web-page content with none to little traffic on websites is wasting your idea as no one will ever read it. To this, content syndication is the answer.
A landing page provides more context for the product/service featured in your ad or social media post. As the user lands on the landing page, they need to see what they get when they sign up. A landing page should exclusively focus on one specific offer by using eye-catching imagery, action-oriented copy and a clear next step.
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Do's |
Don't |
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Minimal copy with bullet points |
Add too much text |
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Security badges |
Add social media handles / social media share button |
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Free aspect added to the call-to-action button |
Use too many jargons |
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Add a form or call-to-action button |
Add links |
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Add multiple/ big call-to-action buttons |
Offer non clickable phone number |
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No points of exit |
Add copyright signs |
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Add a mobile number or click-to-call |
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Add clients, testimonials & awards |
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Add a free preview, screenshot images, stats, and video for demonstration. |
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Add guest photos |
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Add guest photos |
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Add a form or call-to-action scrolling with you |
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Email Marketing
Email marketing has been used by B2B businesses for a while now. It is one of the powerful tools for marketing and communications. According to a survey, email marketing is the most effective online tactic for lead generation. 91% of businesses prefer email marketing for demand generation. A good lead generation strategy will have lasting benefits, such as allowing you to target your desired customers and boost brand awareness. Lastly, more lead equals more customers and, ultimately, more revenue.
Create a FinTech Forum
The invention of the internet has erased all the geological boundaries for doing business. Local businesses can turn into potential global competitors. Online forums have enabled people to connect online based on their likes, interests, beliefs, or preferences. You can also create an online forum or online community to interact with like-minded people who can turn into customers.
These online forums are of great help for businesses. They allow both your existing and potential customers to interact and discuss; while helping you trouble-shoot flaws or errors.
Virtual Event - Webinars /Podcasts / Live-streaming / Guest Posts
The coronavirus outbreak has changed how the world works and will work for the foreseeable future. Many companies have had to postpone or cancel their events. Lead generation is essential for generating revenue. Hosting online events such as webinars, podcasts, live-streaming, guest posts, etc. can help you build a pipeline for new leads.
Organizing virtual events can offer benefits such as;
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Increased attendees
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No need to travel or make expensive hotel bookings
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Multilingual options can allow for simultaneous translation or subtitles while overcoming the language barrier and opening the event for global audiences.
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The number of attendees is limitless in an online event
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Easier to collect feedback and make new connections
Apart from the benefits mentioned above, virtual events have added advantages such as:
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The target audience is already there
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Easier to identify specific customer behaviors
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You can connect with a broader audience
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Minimized cost
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Shorten the sales cycle
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Easier to collect important information of the attendees
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Deliver what the audience wants to see or know
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Harness the power of data
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Leave it out in the open (let them follow you)
Virtual events, if done right, can be the best way for lead generation.
Utilizing Video Content
51% of marketing agencies worldwide affirmed that video content has the best Return on Investment (ROI). Video content enables people to learn faster from the tone, expression, body language, and other visual clues in the video, apart from the content itself. Video marketing can help draw the right set of the target audience, build trust and brand awareness, hold people's attention, and capture email addresses.
Applying the following video marketing skills can help you use your skills to full potential for lead generation.
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Gate your video content
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Strategically insert your CTA
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Make use of video on landing pages
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Leverage video testimonial
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Make use of video case study
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Leverage your video across multiple social media platforms
Other important things to consider are –
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Define Your Target Audience and Produce the Right Kind of Videos for Them
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Decide the Correct Length for your Video
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Create a Series of Live Videos
Collecting and Using Your Data to Channelize Lead Generation Campaigns
A well-planned and well-executed data-driven lead generation campaign should look like:
Know your audience >> Plan & design your campaign >> Reach out to your target audience >> Fulfil their requirements >> Capture leads >> Qualify leads >> Nurture leads >> Follow-up >> Close
Having a database with accurate and frequently updated info serves as the best source to identify qualified leads and potential customers.
The idea is simple, suppose you can gather data on your ideal customer's characteristics and use analytics to generate insights to carve your buyer's persona. In that case, your database will be filled with leads who are genuinely interested in your organization's products and services.
Final Thoughts
Content marketing is the key to promote FinTech products on various digital platforms. Ensure that the content you publish is readable and well-researched without using much industry jargon. You must master the art of storytelling. It can address the three big stumbling blocks – credibility, trust, and education. Lastly, publish a lot. Ensure that your content is available in all forms and on all the relevant platforms to reach your target audience.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is content marketing, and how does it work for FinTech Market?
Content marketing works by offering readers informative and useful material that provides valuable insights. When done well, it can help FinTech brands raise awareness, aid in consideration between solutions, drive engagement, and drive business growth.
What is trending in the FinTech market?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning are the trending technologies behind the growth and development of the FinTech market.
How to market a FinTech brand?
Know your target audience & keyword
Humanize your brand on social media
Generate content for various campaigns
Syndication of Content
Email Marketing
Create a FinTech forum
Virtual Event - Webinars /podcasts / live-streaming / Guest Posts
Utilizing video content
Collecting and using your data to channelize lead generation campaigns