Top PR Strategies for your Fintech Startup

Fintech is an industry on the rise. Currently, tens of thousands of fintech startups operate around the globe. Three out of four consumers rely on fully digital banking and financial services. Most traditional banks are rapidly developing their own digital solutions to adapt to the rise of fintech. Add to that the companies in the blockchain, crypto, and online trading space, and you have a large, diverse group of enterprises fighting for consumer attention. 

Under these conditions, you have to develop a clever fintech PR strategy that boosts your brand awareness. The way you approach your fintech marketing is essential to your company's survival. In such a crowded field, creating brand awareness and getting your brand positioning right can be a real challenge. Here are some basics of PR strategy for fintech startups that will help you get your brand messaging right.

Define the goals of your PR strategy

So you have created a product of value that solves a real problem for a significant number of consumers. It has an original and memorable name that communicates its value proposition. Congratulations! You are ready to kick your fintech PR strategy into high gear!

The first step is to define your fintech PR strategy's goals. Creating brand awareness is a good starting point, but you need to break it down into smaller, comprehensible, executable chunks. 

PR strategy goals that give you a clear sense of direction can be: “Position my company as the leader in the X fintech space,” “Establish our founders as thought leaders on topics Y and Z in the fintech industry,” or “Communicate how my product outperforms the ones by my leading competitors.” 

Taken together, these three goals can combine into a coherent, multifaceted fintech PR strategy that results in greater brand awareness. Creating your own set of goals is the first step!

Differentiate between B2B vs B2C fintech PR strategy

Depending on the nature of your product, you will be targeting other companies, end consumers, or both groups simultaneously. There are subtle but important differences between each approach that you need to consider to create a dedicated fintech PR strategy for either eventuality.

B2B fintech PR lets you message on a slightly higher level because you will be speaking to the initiated. Having a great product and describing its technical capabilities and market potential is already half of the job. Building up and maintaining a serious, impeccable reputation is another important goal here. 

One strategy to get an instant reputation boost is a partnership with a traditional financial institution, such as a bank. Recent research shows that many low-tech players in the financial service industry want to benefit from the rapid developments in the fintech space. However, many of them do not wish to invest and participate in the innovation process itself. Partnering up can thus be mutually beneficial.

B2C fintech PR, on the other hand, involves a different process of consumer education and acquisition. Since the fintech space is overcrowded, you have to invest more and longer-term to build up your user base, and you have to simplify your messaging a bit to make your product more accessible.

In the B2C case, having a strong social media presence and good SEO practices goes a long way to building brand awareness among end consumers. Define your product and company identity and voice clearly and apply this knowledge consistently across your social media communication channels. Make sure your product is searchable with the right keywords so that people who land on your page stay on it.

Build fintech brand awareness through earned media

Earned media will be the major steeple of every effective fintech PR strategy, both B2B and B2C. An authoritative journalist's favorable review or a thought-provoking interview with the right industry outlet can increase brand awareness tremendously. A top fintech PR agency will work to secure you top placements in leading fintech publications.

From there on, the best way to build brand awareness and get journalists' attention is to be newsworthy. This can mean many things from large product launches to insightful messages shared by company leaders. Launching a new product that offers a unique solution to a common problem for a wide audience is always a great story. 

Preparing your messaging and getting your launch announcement right is your best bet on an explosion of brand awareness. While crafting your narrative, always think of the five Ws of journalism – who, what, where, when, and why.

Since we are talking fintech, exciting numbers can also give your brand a boost. A multimillion investment by a renowned backer signifies an authority's trust in your brand. Downloads, transaction volumes, and number of active users, though important milestones, are generally less newsworthy.

A compelling backstory and an interesting team of founders can add a personal touch to your brand messaging, so make sure to weave them into your storytelling, too.

The best way to build a fintech PR strategy

Building up your fintech startup's brand awareness can seem like a daunting task, but rest assured, with the right PR partners it is not as difficult as it appears. As with any other strategic endeavor, it all begins with a vision and a carefully laid out plan on how to achieve it.

You can lay the foundations of your action plan by building a great product and putting your best foot forward with a well-kept online presence. The more specialized tasks you can entrust to a good fintech PR agency that understands the space and has connections to top publications and influencers in the field.

After all, you are the fintech pro, and you built the next best thing in this industry – why not let the PR professionals handle it from here?