If you’re doing research on B2B financial services marketing tactics, it’s likely you’re looking for inspiration for tactics, strategies and ideas that you haven’t tried before.
We’ve compiled various tactics that are relatively under the radar, along with examples and case studies on how to execute on them. Here are the 5 tactics we’ll cover:
- BOFU content marketing and SEO
- Personal brand on LinkedIn
- Podcasting
- Video marketing
- Hosting your own events
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1. Generate leads by ranking on Google with BOFU content
You’re probably familiar with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and content marketing efforts: the strategy of creating content and ranking for specific phrases with content. For example, if you’re a stock broking app, ranking for “stocks vs bonds” by creating an article titled “Understanding stocks vs bonds”.
The thing is, SEO is typically seen as a marketing strategy that is focused on brand awareness and visibility, and perhaps not worth doing if you work for a financial institution.
Although that is sometimes true, there is a big opportunity in SEO as a B2B company. Specifically, not in ranking for Top of the Funnel keywords like “stocks vs bonds”, but for “Bottom of the Funnel keywords”. Those are keyphrases that indicate that your target audience is aware they have a problem and are actively looking for a solution. Instead of targeting a keyphrase like “stocks vs bonds”, you would target “best stock trading app”, for example.
There is a big opportunity here because few B2B financial services companies invest in BOFU SEO for lead generation. More B2B buyers than ever do research online, and ranking for the buyer-intent keyphrases is a great way to attract prospects who are lower in the funnel. In order to target them effectively, you want to make sure you’re doing research on your best customers’, their pain points and understand what words they use to do research.
Take note: this strategy works best if you’ve acquired customers via digital marketing cold before (i.e. not all your customers come via existing relationships and referrals).
For example, if you’re a payment company, rank for keyphrases like “payment API”. If you’re a corporate expense company, rank for “travel expense management”. If you’re an invoice financing company, rank for “top invoice finance companies”.
This is a tactic we’ve helped companies like Jeeves, a corporate expense fintech company, generate leads and acquire customers. We started by interviewing their salespeople to understand who their best customers and pain points were. We then put together a strategy and calendar, where we were targeting people who would convert. These were keyphrases like:
- Accounts payable software
- Spend management for finance teams
- Virtual business credit cards
Then, to ensure we were creating content that was written for an advanced audience, we interviewed experts on the Jeeves team who knew the problems in depth with corporate expense management. This allowed us to create content that resonated deeply with the readers. Fast forward, and we were able to increase leads month over month and get conversion rates from pageviews to qualified leads as high as 2.4%.
You can read the case study here: Jeeves Case Study: Creating Content That Raises Awareness and Brings in Leads
You can learn more about this tactic and how to execute it here: What is BOFU (Bottom of the Funnel) Content and Why Is it Important?
2. Raise awareness by building a personal brand on LinkedIn
People buy from other people, rather than from businesses. Which is why even in the world of B2B, it’s worth building a personal brand. More financial services business leaders are creating brands on LinkedIn, and then using their brands to generate leads, hire and acquire customers. Some tips to build a personal brand on LinkedIn:
- Focus on 3 topics that you want to be known for
- Post it consistently, every day if you can
- Be authentic
A great example of a financial services founder doing this well is Caleb Avery, founder of Tilled. Tilled was founded in 2019, but didn’t launch the product until 2020. Within that time, he started posting regularly on LinkedIn about his journey, how his financial product worked and the problems Tilled solve for. 7 months before Tilled officially launched, they started to see a huge amount of inbound dealflow. By posting regularly, he was able to get 79% of his leads inbound and an amazing 59% close rate from the LinkedIn marketing channel.
By building a personal brand on LinkedIn, he could differentiate himself, attract leads, test messaging as well as build an incredible team. His strategy was straightforward: share interesting content, answer questions and be authentic.
Today, Tilled has a marketing team that is double the size of the sales team – which is unusually for a company with complex buying sales. Their average time to hire is 27 days and they get the majority of their deals inbound. The story is a great example of how in B2B, brand and authenticity still matters.
You can learn more about the case study here: How This Payments Company Gets 75% of Leads Inbound and a 59% Close Rate with Content Marketing
3. Build trust with your audience with a podcast
Podcasting is an incredible way to increase demand generation and instill trust in your audience and is especially effective if you’re a service based company or consultancy, and your business is very relationship based.
That’s because listening to a podcast is a very intimate experience. People usually listen on their own, while working, exercising or in the car. This helps form a relationship with the prospect in a way that no other channel does. It’s also a great way to build trust with a person. With high ticket consultancy services, trust is incredibly important, and podcasting is a great strategy to help build that.
The most important with podcasting is coming across as an expert and showcasing your expertise. That’s why you don’t necessarily have to have guests on – it could be a podcast between two experts at your company.
One financial services company that has nailed podcasting in the financial services industry is 11:FS, a fintech consultancy. Their podcast has been around since 2016, and although they did have first mover advantage the consistency and the quality of the podcasts mean they are seen as experts and this has allowed them to establish themselves as thought leaders in the space.
We interviewed the 11:FS team to learn more about their podcast, their operations and how they do strategy. As Laura says in the interview, media is a great soft selling tool. Now, whenever someone from 11:FS walks into the room, people know who they are and what they do. You can learn more here: [case study coming soon]
Although podcasts are an incredible medium for building trust and build relationships with potential customers, it does take time to see results. It’s also very hard to track results, so if your priority is leads as soon as possible, it may not be the right approach.
4. Stand out from competition with explainer videos
Video marketing might not make sense if you are just starting out and at the beginning of your B2B marketing journey as it does require many resources. However, it is a fantastic way to build trust, much like podcasting. You can start with recording your webinars or podcasts and publishing those on a channel, and then work your way up to doing animation.
Also post any commercials you make. Some ideas of great types of videos that work well:
- Explaining your story
- A video that answers all of your top questions (which you can then cut up)
- A video that explains pricing
- A video that introduces your team
Here are some tips on a process to come up with video ideas:
- Brainstorm a list of the most important products and/or services your company offers
- Have a sales team brainstorm the most common questions they hear on a typical sales call. ideally at least 10 questions
- Narrow the list down to the top seven questions
- Answer each question in an individual video
- Take the seven videos and combine them into a long video
- Integrate into the sales team, with the purpose being that prospects have viewed it before the first appointment
One financial services company that does video very well is Adyen. Payments is a complex topic that requires prospects to know about the topic before picking the right provider. That’s why Adyen has invested in a content Academy. In this academy, you get access to webinars, in house training days, videos on how to use the Adyen platform as well as fully fledged courses. They’ve also complemented these videos with thought leadership content, whitepapers and social media marketing.
We interviewed the SVP of Marketing, Katarina Nordin on how they think about strategy, manage their content operations and track results. Join our newsletter to get notified when it goes live!
5. Build relationship and learn about customers by hosting your own event
If you operate in a sector that relies heavily on relationships, then doubling down on events makes a lot of sense. Although going to events can work, you’ll get the best ROI from hosting your own events. If you’re starting out, that might be just local events in your offices. If you have the resources, then you can host a conference or an event elsewhere.
Moov is a great example of a fintech company that succeeded with this. Although there are a lot of fintech conferences, none of them focused specifically on developers. They hosted their first one in 2021, and now run one every year in August. The conference includes panels, fireside chats and talks, as well as workshops that are hands-on coding sessions that teach other attendees useful processes.
At the Fintech Marketing Hub we saw an opportunity for fintech events focused on marketing. We did our first conference in London in 2023, and now run multiple events per year in London and New York.
Some tips to get this right:
- Get some high quality speakers, having strong brands there does a great job of attracting people
- Provide refreshments and drinks
- Having a strong email list or community helps get the word out there
B2B financial services marketing tactics: a lot of experimenting
These are just 5 ideas of financial services marketing tactics. Of course, the right one will depend on your B2B marketing strategy, your business and what has worked for you so far. It’s very context dependent. Hopefully these have inspired you and sparked some ideas.
If content marketing is something you’d like to invest more in, learn more about what we do:
B2B financial services Frequently Asked Questions
1. Why is podcasting a valuable marketing channel for financial services companies?
Podcasting builds trust and thought leadership by allowing prospects to engage with your expertise in an intimate, long-form format. For relationship-driven businesses like consultancies, it’s an effective way to deepen connections and position the brand as an industry authority, as seen with fintech consultancy 11:FS.
2. What types of video marketing work best for complex B2B financial products?
For industries like payments or financial software, explainer videos, pricing breakdowns, team introductions, and customer Q&A videos work well. They simplify complex concepts, build trust, and answer key buyer questions before sales conversations. Companies like Adyen use a mix of webinars, training videos, and thought leadership content to educate and convert prospects.
3. What is BOFU content marketing and why is it effective for B2B financial services?
BOFU (Bottom of the Funnel) content targets prospects who already know they have a problem and are actively searching for a solution. In B2B financial services, ranking for high-intent keywords like “payment API” or “virtual business credit cards” attracts qualified leads who are closer to making a purchase, leading to higher conversion rates.
4. What’s the best way to measure the success of these B2B marketing tactics?
Track metrics tied to business outcomes, not just engagement — such as qualified leads, close rates, and revenue influenced. For content-driven tactics, use tools like Google Analytics and CRM data to attribute conversions to specific campaigns or content assets.
5. Should B2B financial services companies invest in all five tactics at once?
Not necessarily. The right mix depends on your goals, resources, and existing marketing strengths. Start with one or two tactics most aligned with your audience and sales process — for example, BOFU SEO for lead generation or LinkedIn branding for authority building — and expand as you see results.
