Ideal Marketing Technology Stack: Fintech

This will come as no surprise to you, but the Fintech space has become increasingly crowded with the evolution of digital experiences for financial institutions.  How do you create awareness and demand for your solutions with so many competitors vying for your customers’ attention and dollars? The first place to start is defining your go-to-market strategy and how that supports the customer journey.  The key catalyst for that is a purposeful marketing technology stack. With more than 10,000 options available, it can be difficult to make heads or tails of the best tools to make your marketing engine hum and accelerate your customer journey. 

In this blog, let’s dive into the ideal marketing technology (martech) stack for your medium to large-sized company in the Fintech space. We’ll define the basics of martech, where to start with your tech evolution, and categories to consider for an ideal martech stack. With the right tools, you can optimize marketing efforts, reach more customers, and drive more revenue. 

Let’s start with the basics:
What is martech?

For a mature company, this should be a no-brainer, but let’s just say this out loud so we are speaking the same language.  

Definition: Martech Stack – Marketing Technology Stack is the integrated set of software applications used to drive demand, execute tactics, manage leads, orchestrate programs, and measure results of marketing activities 

Which tools you select in your stack will vary greatly depending on company size, market, customer journey, and the personas you are targeting.  Today’s financial services sector is facing significant hurdles.  Building trust and relatability in your marketing approach is essential to creating lasting relationships.

What are the pain points for financial services?

This isn’t a marketing strategy blog, so why are we calling this out? Because you can’t build the road if you don’t know where you’re going.  Understanding your customers and where they are is the first step in building your martech road.

• Trust and transparency: Your customers are not only dealing with their own financial futures but that of their customers.  Stakes are high and trust can be tough to build. Digital banking experiences also increase vulnerability to fraud. All of this creates barriers to adoption, as your customers seek confidence that their data is safe and secure.
• Managing Costs and ROI: Many fintech companies charge high fees for products and services. This can be a turnoff for customers, especially if the value and return on investment isn’t clear.
• Customer service: Many start-up fintech companies don’t have an evolved service model. For customers new to fintech, this might leave them feeling skeptical about the implementation path or the support they’ll receive once they are live.
• Complicated user interfaces: Many fintech companies use complex user interfaces that can be difficult to navigate. This can be frustrating for customers, especially those who are not tech-savvy.
• Lack of features: Some fintech companies offer a limited range of features, which can be a major drawback for customers who need more options.

These are just some of the pain points that medium to large customers of fintech experience. Fintech companies can address these pain points by focusing on security, compliance, integration, cost, transparency, and customer service. By doing so, they can attract and retain mid to large customers and grow their business. And that’s where Martech comes in.

How do we get started?

Last thing before diving into categories of an ideal martech stack; Here are a few fundamentals you should think through before investing in new tools:

• Current state of your martech stack. Assess what tools you currently have. Our recent blog on Software Asset Inventory can help you get started.
• Do your research. Be clear on the personas you are talking to, what they care about, and how they want to connect with you.
• Personalize your messages. Customers are more likely to respond to messages that are personalized to them. Use their names and reference their interests and needs in your messaging.
• Make it easy to respond. Design a digital journey that makes it easy for your customers to engage with you. Make sure your call to action is clear and easy to follow. 
• Follow up. Don’t try a one-and-done approach. While your solution is a priority for you, it might not be for your customers. Craft and approach with multiple touchpoints over several weeks or months. This will show them that you’re interested and committed to helping them. 
• Track your results and adjust as needed.  Analytic tools will capture progress and trends, showing you where you might need to adjust your approach.
• Start small. After you complete your current state assessment, stack rank your stack needs. This will help you not only manage your budget and ROI but will ease change management in your organization.

The Ideal Martech Stack:

The categories of a good martech stack are similar across most industries. In our overview here, we have included options tailored to fintech companies:

Core:

• Customer relationship management (CRM) software: As a larger company, you undoubtedly have this covered, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t include this in our overview. Your CRM is the equivalent of your core; the hub for managing the customer journey end-to-end. This includes customer data and interactions, tracking sales leads, closing deals, and growing accounts. Some popular CRM options include Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zoho CRM.

Data / Intel:

• Data enrichment: There are a host of tools that will aggregate intelligence about your target accounts and contacts to enable a personalized experience as you bring customers into your funnel.  These tools include Envestnet, FI Navigator, ZoomInfo, LinkedIn Sales Navigator
• Customer Intent: Tools in this category help you understand what your prospects and customers care about and are responding to.  An example in this group is 6Sense.
• Competitive Intel (CI) Platforms: CI tools help you keep the pulse of the ever-changing landscape in the fintech space.  Popular options here include Crayon, Klue, Kompyte, and Watch My Competitor.
• Web analytics software: This software will help you track website traffic and analyze your website’s performance. Some popular web analytics options include Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, Mixpanel, and Matomo.

Customer Engagement

• Marketing automation software: This software will help you automate your marketing tasks, such as email marketing, lead nurturing, and social media marketing. Some popular marketing automation options include Marketo, Pardot, and HubSpot CRM.
• Email marketing software: This software will help you send email marketing campaigns to your customers. Some popular email marketing options include Outreach, Salesloft, Mailchimp, Constant Contact, and AWeber.
• Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising software: This software will help you create and manage your PPC campaigns. Some popular PPC advertising options include Google Ads, Bing Ads, and Facebook Ads.
• Search engine optimization (SEO) software: This software will help you improve your website’s ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs). Some popular SEO software options include Moz, Ahrefs, and SEMrush.

Content Creation and Management:

• Content management system (CMS) software: This software will help you create and manage your website content. Some popular CMS options include WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla.
• Social media management software: This software will help you manage your social media accounts and publish content. Some popular social media management options include Hootsuite, Buffer, and Sprout Social.
• AI Content Creators: Leverage AI to become a prolific and personalized content creator.  There are free tools in the space, like ChatGPT, Google Bard, etc.  There are also subscription-based tools like Jasper.ai, Regie.ai, Scribehow, etc.

This is just a sample of the martech options for fintech companies. The specific tools and software that you need will vary depending on your customer journey, business goals, and budget.

Using the right tools provide the building blocks to optimize your marketing efforts, reach more customers, and drive more revenue. To get started on your road to the ideal martech stack, check out our recent blog.