Fintech Content Marketing Vs. Inbound Marketing

Marketing continues to get more complex as the channels on which we can market evolve. Between direct marketing and affiliate marketing and digital marketing – and everything in between – it’s easy to get overwhelmed with which will be the most effective method. 

Marketing fintech is especially complex. As an industry that often has to surmount trust and credibility issues, effective fintech marketing requires relationship building with an audience no matter which type of marketing you choose to pursue. 

In that way, authenticity rules the marketing roost. That said, both content marketing and Inbound marketing are great ways to establish an authentic presence that can both educate an audience and build credibility for your organization. 

When it comes to fintech content marketing vs. inbound marketing, there are a few considerations to take into account. We’ll look at what is involved with each type of marketing and help you get closer to answering “fintech content marketing vs. inbound marketing: which is the best for our brand?”

Let’s take a closer look.

What is Content Marketing?

While there is much overlap between fintech content marketing vs. inbound marketing, there are some key differences. Content marketing is primarily focused on creating and distributing high-value, educational, and relevant content to attract a well-defined audience – and to compel that audience to take action. 

Creating ebooks, blog posts, white papers, infographics, how-to guides, and videos is a component of content marketing. The goal is to add value for your audience to move them down the marketing funnel and closer to a sale.  

While content marketing technically also refers to traditional non-digital forms such as print ads, the term is generally associated with digital content only. 

Fintech content marketing focuses almost exclusively on developing solid relationships and trust with the audience. The goal should be to inform and engage potential customers and to embrace authenticity as a means of building relationships with the target audience. 

Content can take many forms and is used to entertain, inform, educate or persuade. It’s extremely important to produce high-quality content as the information you put out there can say a lot about your brand. Today’s audiences are highly discerning and pay attention to what brands are saying as it informs who they choose to trust. 

For this reason, Fintech companies should aim high when looking for content creators, especially in the B2B space, where credibility and industry insight are essential to solidifying the brand image and making the right connections. 

What is Inbound Marketing?

Inbound marketing is the science of attracting customers via digital platforms. 

The word inbound refers to how personalized and subtle marketing draws potential customers to your brand. On the other hand, outbound or interruptive marketing simply advertises and pushes products and services to the public. 

Content marketing is one of the essential tools used in inbound marketing, but there is more to inbound marketing than content alone. The primary goal of inbound marketing is to demonstrate solutions to problems and engage naturally with potential customers about these solutions. 

There is a 3-pronged approach to inbound marketing:

1. Attract

Inbound marketing isn’t pushy. Instead, it provides relevant and valuable content that attracts people and establishes a trusting relationship. 

The first phase relies on content being attractive, tailored to your segment, and accessible by the people you are targeting. 

2. Engage

Attracting the attention of potential customers is only the first step. The content they consume needs to be relevant and aligned with their needs, goals, and problem-solving. It must engage them to develop a trust relationship with you. 

Quality content makes all the difference during this phase, especially in the fintech space. The content must be specific to the target audience here, and the more they can relate to it, the better the chances of gaining their trust. 

3. Delight

Once you’ve attracted and engaged the target segment, you need to dazzle and delight them with your product or service. 

It includes the onboarding procedure, communication regarding their purchase, and continuing after-sales service elements. 

The delight phase is essential to create loyal and repeat customers, and in the highly competitive Fintech space, this is crucial. 

Inbound marketing campaigns have various elements, including technical and strategy. 

Technical elements 

• Ads and banners
• Call-to-action buttons
• User forms
• Landing pages
• SEO
• Social monitoring tools
• Webinars
• Ebooks
• Chatbots
• Forums
• Trials
• ‘Freemium’ tools

Strategy elements

• Community building
• Branding
• Marketing persona creation
• Networking

Fintech Content Marketing vs. Inbound Marketing 

There are several differences between fintech content marketing vs. inbound marketing. While content marketing is a part of inbound marketing, there are some areas where the two take a slightly different approach strategy-wise. 

Engaging with the Audience

Inbound marketing is a welcome relief to the millions of people who are tired of aggressive and intrusive advertising. Furthermore, there’s plenty of evidence in the growing disdain towards this type of marketing, most notably the increasing interest in ad-blocking.

The approach that inbound marketing takes is a personalized one that seeks to segment the market and create personas. Campaigns are then built around these personas, and the content is tailor-made for them. 

On the other hand, content marketing may include outbound tactics. Social media advertising and other paid media are often components of a content marketing campaign. Content marketing also tends to be much more focused on educating an audience via content while inbound marketing may have a wider range of goals.

Strategies

A significant difference between inbound marketing and content marketing is in marketing strategy. 

An inbound marketing strategy needs to combine many elements that work together. It includes lead management, digital ads, social media strategies, email marketing, and a well-defined multi-channel approach. 

Content marketing on its own is much simpler and focuses purely on creating content relevant to the brand. 

Since an inbound strategy is often expensive and complex, many brands start by developing a basic content strategy and build larger inbound campaigns once they have a repository of marketing collateral they’ve created through content marketing efforts. 

A Powerful Fintech Marketing Combination

Rather than looking at the angle of fintech content marketing vs. inbound marketing, it can be beneficial to see how the two can work together. Slight differences aside, content and inbound marketing are cut from the same cloth and essential fintech marketing elements. 

A Team Effort

Content leveraged as part of an inbound marketing campaign will go far – and inbound marketing campaigns that leverage high-quality content will be the most successful. Inbound campaigns rely on great content to attract, retain, and delight customers. Without it, there’s really no good way to pull people in. 

Similarly, great content will not get in front of the right eyes without a well-executed strategy that inbound marketing can provide. 

Cohesiveness

Everything should feel like one smooth and effortless ride for prospective customers. Regardless of whether you choose fintech content marketing or inbound marketing, the customer should be at the center of everything. 

Marketing campaigns that are built around prospective customers perform better, regardless of whether they are content marketing- or inbound marketing-focused. High-quality content that is distributed in a way that resonates with the target audience has the best chances of success. 

Stories Build Relationships

Both content marketing and inbound marketing are about storytelling and relationship-building, and that is why it’s so important to have the right marketing team in your corner.

If you’re looking for additional information about the best tactics and strategies to use, download our free Fintech Customer Acquisition Playbook.