How to Market and Communicate in B2B Fintech

Kamyar Naficy, Founder and Principal at KNECTCOMMS

08.03.2022 01:00 pm

#B2B #innovation #funding

B2B fintech is attracting a surge of activity, innovation and funding around the world. But how can companies in B2B fintech successfully market and communicate their business in a crowded and competitive market?

What steps should you take?

Start with purpose and strategy. Companies should ask themselves how they meet a business need, solve customers’ problems, and provide broader societal value. To answer these questions, they should conduct a stakeholder analysis to determine the wants, needs and interests of clients, prospects, employees, regulators, analysts and media. The information gathered and analysed during this process can be used to create detailed buyer personas and identify the main levers of influence and reputation in the market. It can also inform the development of the value proposition and associated narrative and messaging.

Once the planning stage is complete, the focus should turn to creating and providing relevant content to stakeholders at the right time and on the channels they care about. There are numerous touchpoints where businesses can create valuable content to change mindsets, influence behaviours and motivate stakeholders – whether that’s media coverage that sparks interest and new enquiries, website or social media content that generates new leads or webinars that persuade prospects to meet with the sales team.

Blending marketing and communications

Most B2B fintechs are heavily sales-led and focussed on lead generation. Marketing and communications teams need to partner with their sales counterparts to drive the go-to-market process, promote awareness and education, and facilitate the buyer journey. Companies disrupting entrenched or regulated markets also need to build credibility and trust through third party endorsement, for example from media, analysts or industry associations. They need to combine marketing-led approaches, such as advertising and events, with communications-led approaches, such as public relations and public affairs, to gain attention and consideration, educate the market, advocate for their solution, and achieve conversion.

This should be managed in an integrated way, rather than in silos, to maximise the synergies and dependencies between the approaches. It requires multi-disciplinary content development skills – across writing, editing, web design and audio visual production – to create compelling content that resonates with stakeholders. It also calls for strong project management skills to plan, implement, measure and iterate workstreams. Curiosity is also vital. It can help drive the continuous assessment and adoption of the various marketing and communications skills and disciplines needed as the business evolves. It also helps marketing teams develop more creative and effective campaigns, find new ways to connect with customers, and formulate new business opportunities in a disrupted financial ecosystem.

B2B fintechs face numerous threats and opportunities and multiple choices for how to market and communicate their proposition. Their marketing and communications campaigns must be firmly rooted in business strategy and purpose, enriched with compelling content, and effectively deployed, managed and iterated. This approach can help companies identify and commercialise opportunities in fast-evolving markets, enhance their brand, reputation and growth, and ultimately create sustainable value for business and society.