Fintech and financial literacy

As we’ve written about elsewhere, fintech has incredible potential when it comes to offering consumers more choice and freedom in finance. That choice and freedom will work best for informed consumers however. So, what role can fintech play in spreading financial literacy, and how can this in turn help the sector grow?

Financial literacy is not most people’s strong point. In fact, more than half of American adults are financially anxious. Moreover, two in three households don’t have an emergency fund. With financial literacy having been identified as a key factor in individual success, it is more important than ever for people to develop the skills and knowledge necessary to effectively manage their finances. 

Financial literacy makes for better business

In fintech, as in any other business, knowledgeable customers are a huge asset. An audience that’s not educated in your products will be harder to convert. After all, if someone doesn’t understand your product, or they aren’t aware of how it can help them, they won’t feel any incentive to buy.

For most companies, that can be solved with a simple sales page, exploring a product’s benefits. Unfortunately, here’s why fintech startups might have it a bit harder. In most cases, if you’re addressing a financially illiterate audience, you won’t just need to sell a product to them, you’ll also need to educate them.

You can try to do that in a sales page… but it won’t always work. If you have a complex investment platform, people will be reluctant to sign up without some working knowledge of, for example; the value of investments and how they work and the benefits of creating a passive income. 

That’s why improving financial literacy should be an ongoing effort for fintech startup. This is something much of the market already understands with 9 out of 10 big fintech companies create thought-leadership content, often aimed at improving financial literacy.

So if you want to educate your audience, and compete in your niche, focusing on financial literacy should be a key marketing objective.

Marketing or education?

One of the best ways to attract potential customers, and improve financial literacy is with the creation of SEO-optimized, educational blog posts. Done right, these articles will get your business ranked by search engines such as Google, bringing ever more traffic to your website, and by extension your products which also enhancing their financial literacy.

For example, if you have a cashback app, you can create valuable articles about saving money, smart shopping, or personal budgeting. These articles will then help people understand the complete purpose of a cashback app, and create a need for your product. All while engendering trust in your business.

So how do you go about publishing this type of article?

First up, do some keyword research in order to effectively target words matched to your product and appeal to search engines. Use apps like Ubersuggest or Ahrefs to identify what people are searching for on Google. 

Write valuable content which uses these key-words. Aim to go above and beyond to serve your audience and help them understand the financial principles you’re talking about. Add multimedia content to your article and use add-ons like YoastSEO to improve the metadata of your articles to further increase the appeal of your content to Google.

This is just a brief overview of the kind of steps you can take to try and improve the searchability of your content and, for companies really invested in content marketing, outside support from writers and SEO experts may well be helpful. 

Another great means of promoting financial literacy is with a strong social media presence. While stories or posts with limited characters can’t go as in-depth as blog posts, they can still provide bite-sized information to your audience. This will help them be more financially literate, and again, improve trust in your company.

You can even combine social media presence with consistent blog posts. For example, you can write an in-depth guide to budgeting for personal purposes, and then create a condensed version of that information to share on social media. You add value on both platforms, and incentivise users to visit your site.

Content Strategy

If you want to improve financial literacy through your content marketing efforts, it’s important to pick the topics you explain carefully. Besides that, you should also be aware of what your audience needs, and create the perfect mix between the two.

Let’s start with your audience.

The first question a business should ask is who it is trying to sell to. If trying to attract non-specialist consumers to an investment platform for example, simple investment tips and finance fundamentals should be the focus. If on the other hand the target is enterprise customers, content should be focused on in-depth, and niche specific content.

The key questions fintech businesses should ask when thinking about its audience are: how financially literate is the audience; what financial information would be valuable to them and how is that information best delivered to them?

Once the audience you want to reach and the content you need to reach them is clearly defined, it’s time to put pen to paper!

Create a content calendar for all of your platforms, and be consistent in publishing new content. Whether they’re blog posts, social media stories, or instructional videos, a consistent publishing schedule will help you stay on top of the clutter. It will also help your audience get accustomed to your brand, and trust you more.

In Conclusion

For fintech businesses, improving financial literacy is good for business and consumers. Understanding current levels of financial literacy in your audience, and then investing in growing that knowledge, is a marketing objective that will pay dividends for the fintech sector, as well as your audience who will come away from your content feeling better informed, and more likely to turn from reader to customer.