Securing meaningful fintech media coverage in the past several years has proved to be a challenge for many in the space. Between journalists’ ongoing focus on the big, established players and disruptors grabbing headlines in short-lived spurts with new concepts, not much room is left for the companies in the middle.
So how should brands cut through the clutter and make a meaningful impact with fintech media? The answer is simpler than you think — connections. Regardless of a brand’s status in the fintech world, fintech media relations has always been a “who do you know?” field. That hasn’t changed in recent years, nor is it likely to in the future.
To build the kind of relationships with fintech reporters that lead to coverage, you need to commit to three critical actions:
- Build a steady news pipeline with updates and storylines that are valuable to fintech readers
- Take advantage of paid partnerships
- Grant media access to your C-suite thought leaders
Build a Steady News Pipeline
If you’re not regularly making meaningful news, your brand will be left behind. To compete with the established players and disruptors who continue to innovate and flood the market with announcements and noise, you need a steady cadence of compelling narratives to capture fintech media share of voice.
This doesn’t mean pushing superlative product updates as a news story though — your news still needs to have relevance and show advancements for the space. Press releases and media outreach should clearly state the value your brand’s announcement is bringing to the market, share why it is different from competitive offerings, communicate a vision for the future, and clearly state how your brand is moving the needle for the fintech industry.
Too many fintech brands are determined to push a weekly stream of press releases to demonstrate momentum, only to bury their valuable news items and annoy fintech reporters in the process. Don’t add to this problem by doing the same. Focus your brand’s news pipeline around a regular and steady cadence of value-added news. It will go a long way in building goodwill with priority fintech reporters and increasing your media share of voice.
Take Advantage of Paid Partnerships
Leveraging paid or sponsored opportunities can help grease the wheels for relationship building with fintech trades, many of whom have built out well-rounded sponsored or contributed content offerings that leverage their channels to reach audiences with brands’ messaging. This has become a key strategy for fintech trade giants including PYMNTS and American Banker (formerly PaymentsSource).
Paid partnerships are a guaranteed and controlled way to reach priority audiences — often through multiple channels, such as email newsletters, sponsored articles and social media posts. These options also keep your brand top of mind with readers you care about if your news pipeline is low.
Sponsored opportunities don’t have to break your budget. Sponsored articles in fintech trade publications typically range from $4K-$16K depending on the outlet reach, co-branded and sponsored email blasts from $500-$4K depending on subscriber numbers, and sponsored webinars run between $15K-$20K on average.
Remember fintech media relations is a “who do you know?” space. If your brand gets familiar with the paid side of the publication, it’s only a matter of time before the earned media reporters and editors start paying attention and finally take that thought leadership interview you’ve been pitching for months.
Grant Access to the C-Suite
Brands that are willing to offer briefings with a C-suite executive to dive deep into a topic and spend the time required for trade media to develop a complete understanding are more likely to be rewarded with strong headlines and feature coverage.
Take this PYMNTS article for example: Netspend CEO On Making The B2B Pivot. It was secured by pitching Netspend’s CEO to Karen Webster, CEO of PYMNTS, a leading trade publication focused on payments and the fintech companies powering a connected economy.
Netspend’s CEO sat down with Karen to share more about a new partnership the brand had recently announced. The two spent over an hour not only discussing the partnership, but also recent shifts in the Netspend’s business and what it all meant for the future of the company. Netspend’s CEO made a point in the interview to deliver partnership key messages that were tied to new brand messaging, which culminated in a stellar headline and feature article about the brand’s future and how the partnership supported his vision for the company.
The resulting article is an example of what is possible in fintech media relations when a brand plays the long game, focusing on activities that build trust with journalists over time. In fintech, everything comes down to relationship-building. And the best ways to do that are bringing valuable news to the table, engaging in paid relationships where it makes sense, and offering access to the people reporters need to bring big stories to life. Simple, but effective.
