In 30 seconds:
- What makes Gen Z a key target audience for fintech brands? The generation of young digital natives are soon to become the largest consumer generation since the Baby Boomers.
- They’re highly motivated to avoid the financial mistakes of older generations, so they’re already open to learning more from fintech services.
- Successful fintech marketing balances education with advertisement, and social media is the place Gen Z go to educate themselves. Meet them there, and your brand is off to a great start.
Financial services. It might not be the super sexy search term you imagine Gen Z regularly plugging into Google, but that’s where you’re wrong. 70% of Gen Zers check their finances daily, and when it comes to fintech companies, they’re a key market: over a third believe they simply won’t need traditional banks in the future.
With that in mind, it’s clear why investment in fintech development has continued to rise. But with the number of fintech start-ups having risen sharply since 2008, fintech marketing strategies must evolve to attract new customers.
One key target market is Gen Z. The generation born between 1995-2010 now comprise a quarter of the UK’s workforce – and 40% of global consumers. And 12% have already begun saving for retirement.
They’re clearly money-minded. So how can fintech brands use this to their advantage to market towards Gen Z?
Gen Z and finance
Research shows Gen Z are spending more time on finance apps than other generations. They spent 60% more time on apps within this category towards the end of 2020 (compared to the previous year).
1 in 4 Gen Zs are now using challenger banks. Mobile-first approaches are Gen Z’s preferred method of banking, so it’s no wonder that digital money-management is growing.
But it’s not just banking apps. Whole groups of savings apps, and financial insights, wealth management, lending, and payments services are growing in popularity.
What makes them so popular amongst Gen Z? The important thing to consider is that Gen Z has grown up with a different view of finance than older generations. We discuss this more in our article here.
Gen Z collectively have 169% less debt than millennials. They are pragmatic spenders, and although they have a collective spending power of around $140 billion, savings tops their list of priorities. In fact, 35% of Gen have £1,000 or more in savings.
81% of Gen Z cite money as a major stressor in their lives, so fintech businesses should be aware of this inclination towards budgeting when promoting fintech towards this generation.
How do you promote fintech?
Inevitably, traditional banks will catch up technologically. 80% of people in the UK already use some form of digital banking. Focusing on technology and new products is no longer enough of a unique selling point to raise fintech brands above their more traditional competition.
So what is?
A focus on best practices is vital. Transparency, trust, reliability… These are not just expectations people have for fintech services. They’re also attributes Gen Z are known to expect from the brands they champion. As the disruptive force in the financial services space, the fintech industry is uniquely suited to influence industry norms and create a more appealing sector for Gen Z.
Fintech marketing that seeks to capture Gen Z as potential customers should prioritise promoting their individual brand identities as well as their services. Gen Z forms brand loyalty as they age, so by standing out from the crowd early, brands can expect to gain more lead generation.
For this reason, some of the most successful financial services company campaigns have embraced a completely different, more social attitude to fintech marketing. By doing so, these brands have more effectively attracted Gen Z.
Fintech marketing examples
Fintech social media marketing can take many different forms – from traditional ads to video content, and we’re even seeing growing use of “fin-fluencers” as a marketing tool.
These finance-minded influencers have generated dedicated followings on apps like TikTok, where a majority Gen Z user base turn to them for trusted, bite-sized teachings in financial literacy.
It might not be the kind of content you’d expect to find on the app most famous for viral dances and cooking hacks, but the #finance hashtag has over 4.9 billion views. When cryptocurrency Dogecoin went viral on TikTok in 2020, its value rose by 40%.
Fintech brands cannot afford to ignore the huge impact TikTok – and its influencers – can have on Gen Z audiences, for building trust and supercharging brand awareness.
WealthFront
One of the biggest names in #FinTok is Humphrey Yang (@humphreytalks). With 2.7 million followers and over 39 million likes, the California-based influencer (and ex-financial advisor) is known for his personal finance educational content, covering everything from inflation explainers to stock market advice.
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It made him a great choice for the brand WealthFront to collaborate with. They partnered with Yang on a fintech influencer marketing campaign, with the video he produced quickly racking up over 40,000 views. That’s more than twenty times the total number of followers the brand has on its own page.
Influencer partnerships mean that you can boost your reach in a big way – and by engaging with active communities like those on #FinTok, you can ensure your message is reaching the right audience.
If you want to know more about how Finfluencers can boost your marketing techniques or fintech marketing campaigns, we have all the details here.
Current
Current is a new personal banking app which is branded as ‘The Bank for Modern Life.’ Looking to raise awareness amongst US-based BAME Gen Z, the bank worked with Fanbytes to emphasise the fact that it offers users the chance to get paid 2 days earlier using faster direct deposits.
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This campaign focused on creativity. We wanted the focus of influencer content to centre around how Current helps them lead the life they want to lead, and how the bank’s services help. This authenticity kept videos fresh and entertaining, rather than feeling like an ad.
The video content featured an end card ad asking viewers to swipe up, helping drive conversions and the campaign utilised TikTok’s link-in-bio feature to drive installs. We achieved an £0.83 CPC. Current wanted to keep the cost per card shipped under $25, and we achieved a 70% reduction in targeted cost per card shipped.
By emphasising the more fun aspects, we motivated viewers to sign up for Current. The ads allowed cool and interesting content to happen, adding brand personality and boosting sentiment while driving brand awareness – and of course, driving signups.
Chip
Outside of the video-content sphere, fintech brands can successfully reach Gen Z by prioritising education through other means. 35% of Gen Z have attended a financial education program, webinar or seminar, so it’s clear they’re self-motivated towards education in financial matters.
This is something fintech brand Chip takes advantage of. The brand reported that their series of blog posts are popular not only with potential investors, but have built a community of high-quality, loyal readers.
This brand strategy focus on community marketing is particularly important when you consider that 62% of the younger generation have said they believe brands have the power to create communities – and this sense of belonging is something Gen Z are known to crave.
By offering valuable content marketing – educational, clear, concise – companies can expect an increase in brand sentiment and referrals from Gen Z audiences, who are more than doubly likely to seek out this kind of content than their millennial predecessors.
Monzo
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Recently, the brand held a digital marketing campaign in which users could win a stuffed version of their signature coral card. They launched the competition on TikTok, where analytics showed that content featuring the stuffed toy was performing better than regular posts.
By using gamification strategies (ie. the competition), the brand increased their engagement amongst their followers, demonstrated understanding of Gen Z audiences, and benefited from boosted brand sentiment amongst TikTok users.
Moneyhub
MoneyHub is an app that helps users achieve their financial goals and allows users to see all their finances in one place. Fanbytes worked with Moneyhub to conceptualise, develop and manage an influencer (or “fin-fluencer”) campaign to drive installs and signups amongst Gen Z.
We knew TikTok and Facebook Ads would be the best fit for this campaign, as users are more engaged and watch ads for longer. We developed high-converting content, achieving 3.5 million views and the best CPI this app has ever achieved, beating Money Hub’s target cost.
This campaign capitalised (excuse the pun) on exactly what Gen Z loves about influencers: their relatability. By focusing on real-life stories on how the financial product has helped them, our influencers were able to connect on a deeper and more tangible level. The result? Gen Z flocked to the app to reap the benefits for themselves.
What does this mean for brands?
The fintech industry is active and growing. In a space so saturated with new voices, the key to establishing a successful fintech marketing strategy is standing out from the crowd.
Customer acquisition should focus on Gen Z to guarantee future growth. This demographic is money-conscious and digitally native: the ideal focus for companies looking to cement themselves as key players in the fintech industry.
Establishing a clear value proposition for Gen Z means meeting them where they are. And that means nailing a social media marketing strategy. We’re already seeing a rise in the popularity of fintech voices on social media, and Gen Zers are sure to continue developing their interest in fintech as they become the biggest consumer generation.
Fanbytes are the experts when it comes to capturing Gen Z’s attention, so get in touch today and we’ll talk you through how to create the perfect fintech marketing campaign for your brand.
Want to learn more? Check out these links to help you nail your Gen Z fintech marketing strategy:
