April 1, 2025
Tapping into the synergy of influencer and paid social marketing can unlock new growth for fintech and financial services brands. But how do you approach it? What does a good strategy look like? And how can you tell when it’s working?
Check out what we learned during this month’s Influencer and paid social marketing roundtable, and see how a holistic approach could be the key to growing your brand.
The topics we’ll look at include:
1. Taking calculated risks.
2. Getting compliance on board early.
3. Reaching B2B audiences with influencer strategies.
4. Building trust through authentic influencer partnerships.
5. Remaining compliant without compromising creativity.
6. Combining UGC and influencer content with paid strategies.
7. Proving ROI with measurable, meaningful metrics.
8. Leveraging strategy for success.
Creative, unconventional marketing approaches aren’t just for high-end fashion brands or maverick tech startups. Pushing the envelope and doing the unexpected gets brands noticed, whatever their industry.
Fintech and financial services have been slow to adopt these strategies, often preferring more conservative approaches that reassure their audiences – and their stakeholders – rather than wow them. But all the data suggests that the challenger brands who dare to break the creative mould can make a lasting impression that helps them stay top of mind, ultimately leading to lower CAC, deeper brand loyalty, and faster growth.
Check out Klarna's collaboration with social media personalities, where they blend humour and nostalgia to connect with their audience on an emotional level, and boost their brand recognition.
Involving compliance after the creative content has been produced is a mistake many fintechs and financial services brands make. Compliance shouldn’t be seen as one of the final boxes to be checked before you can go live. It is the framework that sets the parameters of what you can and can’t do with your content. It lets you know what’s fair game, and what’s off-limits.
Armed with this knowledge, brands are better equipped to push the boundaries without going over them. Early collaboration with compliance allows the marketing and legal teams to align on expectations and identify potential challenges before they become major roadblocks.
When compliance experts are brought into the brainstorming and strategy sessions, their input will often go beyond helping content stay within the necessary legal frameworks. Their insights can also help guide and sometimes expand the creative process in ways that might not have otherwise been apparent.
Influencer marketing is often associated with consumer-facing brands, but its potential in the B2B space – particularly in fintech and financial services – shouldn’t be overlooked.
Establishing trust and credibility is key with B2B audiences, and collaborating on platforms like LinkedIn with respected industry experts and thought leaders can be a game-changer. By partnering with well-known voices, B2B fintech and financial services brands can elevate their position as authorities within their field, fostering levels of trust and respect that are difficult to replicate with other marketing strategies.
One of the most effective ways for fintechs and financial services brands to establish trust is through authentic partnerships with influencers. Unlike other advertising strategies, influencer marketing leverages personalities that already have a loyal following. These influencers can provide transparent, honest content to significantly enhance a brand’s credibility.
Influencers who speak authentically about their experiences—whether it's a fintech app, investment platform, or wealth management tool—help demystify the complexities of the product or service, making it more accessible and understandable.
American Express's "Pay It, Plan It" campaign is a good example of how brands can effectively use influencers to explain new features, and enhance user engagement.
It’s a common marketing misconception that compliance is the enemy of creativity. Strict regulations, subject to regular updates can seem like a minefield for creative teams. But the truth is, the best campaigns often come from finding innovative ways to work within the regulatory framework, rather than battling against it.
Brands can explore approaches that still align with regulatory standards but offer fresh, engaging ways to communicate their messages. Rather than seeing compliance as a constraint, successful creative teams use it as a streamlining tool to hone their content from both regulatory and creative perspectives.
As an example, Wealthsimple's campaign featuring an animated slug overcoming obstacles creatively conveyed investment concepts that engaged audiences, while still remaining compliant.
Blending UGC and influencer marketing with paid strategies can create a ‘best of both worlds’ approach. The authenticity and trust that come with UGC and influencer partnerships work with the precise targeting capabilities of paid media, with each amplifying the benefits of the other.
Audiences tend to trust content created by their peers more than branded messages. When this authentic content is incorporated into paid social campaigns, it not only attracts attention but also engages viewers on a more personal, relatable level.
This combined approach can help brands ensure that the right message reaches the right audience at the right time. Paid social ads allow for granular audience segmentation, meaning that UGC and influencer content can be shown to highly targeted groups, leading to improved engagement rates and higher conversions.
While metrics like likes, shares, and comments can provide an initial sense of engagement, they don’t always reflect the true value of an influencer partnership. Reliably demonstrating ROI requires more meaningful indicators, including:
Achieving success against these metrics is a stronger indication of how influencer marketing is driving long-term business goals.
KPIs against these metrics provide a deeper understanding of how influencer marketing campaigns align with overall business objectives by demonstrating the direct links between influencer efforts and revenue growth.
Asking these questions is a good way to kick off a campaign. Answering them will help its success.
A well-defined strategy provides a roadmap that aligns influencer marketing efforts with broader business goals, ensuring measurable outcomes. Marketing teams should:
Data-driven creative approaches can significantly enhance the chances of success. By leveraging insights from previous campaigns, customer behaviour analytics, and market trends, brands can make informed decisions on what type of content will truly resonate with their audiences.
As fintech and financial services brands become more creative and innovative with their marketing, influencer content has a bigger role to play. By combining authentic stories with targeted paid strategies, brands can hit their audiences with maximum accuracy and impact.
- Unconventional campaigns can captivate audiences - dare to be different.
- Compliance teams are creative allies, not enemies - get them onboard early.
- Influencer marketing opportunities in the B2B space shouldn’t be overlooked.
- Authentic influencer partnerships help humanise brands - choosing right influencer is key.
- Combining influencer and paid social marketing can be incredibly powerful.
- Reliably demonstrating ROI requires meaningful, measurable metrics.
- A well-defined strategy provides a roadmap for success - data-driven approaches FTW.
Hitting the right audiences at the right time with the right content is how challenger fintechs and financial services can compete with their established counterparts, and win big.
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