You are under pressure to generate more leads without increasing spend. Your paid channels are plateauing, cost per acquisition keeps climbing, and the leadership team wants results yesterday. If that sounds familiar, you are not alone.
Fintech marketing strategy has shifted. The companies seeing consistent, high-quality pipeline are not throwing more budget at saturated ad channels. They are building systems that compound over time, attracting prospects who are ready to buy.
As an agency that works exclusively with fintech and financial services companies, we see what few people can: how different fintech companies are doing lead generation and what is and isn't working for them. We compare Google Analytics accounts, HubSpot dashboards and internal team functions, and see first-hand which fintech marketing strategies actually move the needle.
Our Managing Director (Araminta) also co-manages the 2,000+ person fintech marketing Slack group and hosts fintech events regularly in Austin, NYC and London. This gives us a good overview of what's working in fintech.
In this article, we will cover:
- Common fintech lead generation challenges (and how to think about them)
- 4 examples of fintech lead generation campaigns with real results
- A strategy that works: content focused on the bottom of the funnel
- How we help fintech companies generate leads with content
What are the challenges with fintech lead generation?
Before diving into what works, it helps to understand why fintech lead generation is harder than it looks. These are the challenges we see across the companies we work with.
Long B2B sales cycles make attribution difficult. In B2B fintech marketing, deals can take months to close. Multiple stakeholders are involved, and the buyer journey rarely follows a straight line. That means the content or campaign that first captured a prospect's attention might be six months removed from the closed deal. Tracking which channels actually drive revenue, not just clicks, requires careful setup and the right reporting.
Regulatory complexity raises the bar for content. Financial services content has to be accurate, compliant, and reviewed by legal or compliance teams. That slows down production and makes it harder to publish at the pace your competitors do. It also means generic content marketing agencies often struggle to produce work that passes internal review, let alone resonates with a sophisticated audience. The customer acquisition cost of getting this wrong (rework, delays, missed opportunities) adds up quickly.
Saturated paid channels keep getting more expensive. Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads and other paid channels in fintech are crowded. Every payment processor, neobank and lending platform is competing for the same keywords and audiences. Conversion rate optimisationoptimization can help, but the fundamental economics of paid acquisition in financial services are getting tougher. That is why more companies are investing in organic and content-driven approaches that compound over time.
Building trust in a crowded market takes time. Fintech buyers are cautious. They are evaluating vendors who will handle their money, their data, or their customers' transactions. You cannot shortcut trust with a clever ad. It takes consistent, expert-level content that demonstrates you understand their world. Lead scoring helps prioritiseprioritize the prospects who are engaging most deeply, but the content has to earn that engagement first.
4 examples of fintech lead generation campaigns
Without context on your company, it's hard to know what lead generation plan would work. So we thought that instead it would be better to showcase how other fintech companies have succeeded with lead gen.
1. Creating content on LinkedIn helped Tilled get inbound leads with a 59% close rate
Caleb is the founder and CEO of Tilled, a Payfac-as-a-Service financial services company. By posting regularly on LinkedIn, Caleb was able to reach a point where up to 75% of qualified leads came inbound, with an incredible 59% close rate.
We interviewed Caleb to learn more about his approach and what drives this success.
He attributes the majority of his success to content marketing and consistent LinkedIn posts. 12 months before Tilled officially launched, Caleb started publishing multiple times per week on LinkedIn and the Tilled website.
He hired a part-time ghostwriter who would interview him on a weekly basis, and create content based on those interviews. His fintech lead generation strategy was straightforward: share interesting content, answer questions from prospects and talk about trends in the market.
7 months before launching, Caleb started to see a huge amount of inbound dealflow. Best of all: it was consistent. Every month, people reached out to him via LinkedIn or his website to work with him.
Now, when a prospect jumps on a call, they are very well educated on what it is Tilled does. Best of all, this content has also helped reduce recruitment costs. Unusually for a B2B consultative company, Tilled's marketing team is twice the size of the sales team.
Lead generation tactic: start building a brand on LinkedIn. It could be on behalf of your founder/CEO or yourself. Start posting regularly about topics linked to your company and your journey. Do it consistently and keep it authentic. Then, wait.
Read the full case study: How This Payments Company Gets 75% of Leads Inbound and a 59% Close Rate with Content Marketing
2. Sponsoring this event generated a huge amount of awareness and leads for Brex
In high ticket enterprise and B2B sales, relationships are key to lead generation. That requires going to events and networking. There are more events for payments and fintech every year (many of which we organiseorganize and speak at), and they're a great opportunity to get in front of the right people.
The problem is most companies execute it incorrectly. They pay a sponsorship fee, turn up to the event and hope to get high-quality leads. Unfortunately, that rarely works.
In this Twitter thread, Sam Blond, ex CRO of startup Brex, goes into a lot of detail about how Brex made the most of a SaaStr while spending one-third the budget of other companies. The key message in this thread is not the absolute budget numbers (which we know may be too high for most fintechs), it's how to approach the strategy.
Instead of paying a fee and hoping for the best, Brex went all out with their sponsorship. The strategy was: everywhere the conference attendee went, they would see Brex.
These are four things Sam did to stand out with Brex:
- Sponsor key cards. When an attendee checked in, the key card looked like a Brex credit card.
- Hired people dressed in Brex swag giving out "Brexfast" burritos just outside the conference centrecenter.
- Hired a magician at the booth: there was always a big crowd at their booth.
- Bought bus shelter billboards within a mile of the event.
Lead generation tactic: if you're going to spend money on a booth, get creative. Hire a musician. Host a party afterwards. Go dressed in bright pink. Be creative and your lead gen efforts will be more successful.
Read his Twitter thread: Sam's Twitter
3. Sponsoring a niche podcast for developers brought in a 30% increase in conversions for Railz
In a webinar we did a few years back, Nabi, Demand Generation Manager at Railz, talks about how his company sponsored a niche podcast and got good results.
Railz is a financial technology and accounting data API company. At the time, they were looking for ways to target developers. Even though developers aren't the main decision makers, they are instrumental to implementation and a key influencer in the buying process.
Railz decided to sponsor a technical podcast where the podcast host interviewed Railz' CTO. They decided an interview on a very technical topic would be more effective than placing a 20 second ad (which doesn't go down well with developers).
The result? According to Nabi, a 30% increase in conversions.
A few other tactics that worked for Railz include:
- Posting their product in product discovery directories like API listings and directories.
- Doing SEM ads that drove people directly to an API registration page rather than a landing page.
Lead generation tactic: if you're targeting developers, take your Head of Data Science, CTO, Head of Engineering and get them to be interviewed on podcasts.
You can also watch the webinar with Railz here: Marketing to Fintech Developers: What Works and What Doesn't | Nabi, Demand Generation Manager Railz
4. Investing in SEO helped Wise target prospects who are more likely to convert
Based on our experience as a content marketing and SEO agency, we've seen a lot of fintech companies do SEO wrong. Often, companies use SEO to rank for keyphrases that are only slightly related to what the company does.
For example, an accounting software will often try to rank for "what is accounting" or "accrual vs cash".
But if you're looking to do lead generation, you should be aiming to rank for "top accounting software", "accounting software for SMEs" or "competitor X vs competitor Y". Too often, SEO is treated as a channel for education, when it can be incredibly powerful for lead generation efforts.
You can read more about the right way to do SEO here: Fintech SEO: How to Acquire Customers (Not Traffic) with Search
But there are some fintech companies that are doing a good job with SEO. One great example is Wise.
Although they are a large company, this lead generation strategy is easy to replicate cost-effectively with a small budget. Their strategy is simple: target people who are leaving or joining a competitor's company.
Here are some examples of the pieces of content they've written:
- How to close your ING Australia Bank account
- How to close your UBank account
- How to open a bank account with Westpac
- St. George Bank international transfer: Fees, rates and transfer time
This is very clever because: someone looking up "how to close an ING bank account" is someone who might be looking to change bank account (and may be interested in Wise). They are a lot more likely to convert than someone looking up "what is a bank account". Even if the reader may not be ready to convert, the fact they're reading about how to close or open an account on Wise can only be beneficial for the company.
A lot of the work we do with our fintech clients is exactly that: helping them figure out who their ideal customer is, what their pain points are, targeting them by ranking on Google and then writing in-depth content that would lead someone with expertise to convert.
And if you work for a big-ticket B2B company and think this may not work for you, don't worry, it works very well. For example, we helped complex B2B payment orchestration company Zai bring in multiple SQLs worth $150k+ (and were able to prove it). They're less focused on the competition, but they're still targeting people who are ready to buy:
- Direct Debit API: How to set one up (and when to use one)
- Top Direct Debit Solutions in Australia (We Compare 4!)
- Adyen vs Stripe vs Zai: Which is best for Australian businesses?
You can see a similar approach in our Fiska case study, where we helped another fintech company build a content-led acquisition engine from scratch.
Lead generation tactic: If you have a strong website and have already published quite a bit of content, creating content that targets people who are closer to converting could work well for B2B lead generation.
This is the approach Mint Studios takes with every fintech client: we identify the keywords and topics that signal buying intent, then create content designed to capture and convert that demand.
You can learn more how to put this into practice here: What is BOFU (Bottom of the Funnel) Content and Why Is it Important?
Join our newsletter
Get updates every time we publish content!
Subscribe
Want to see how this works for your fintech company? If these strategies resonate but you do not have the bandwidth or fintech expertise to execute them in-house, we can help. Mint Studios builds and runs content-led lead generation programs for fintech companies at every stage. Get in touch to discuss your content strategy to discuss your goals.
A strategy that works: content focused on the bottom of the funnel
If you've read this far and are still looking for a strategy that would help with fintech lead generation, then keep reading.
In this section, we'll walk you through a specific strategy and tactic that is very effective for lead generation: content marketing for lead generation. Content marketing is very powerful in fintech, especially because the topics are usually complex and people rely on Google to find information. Also, a lot of the existing B2B fintech content is low quality or is written for the wrong audience. This is where the opportunity lies.
When marketers get started with content marketing, they often start by targeting people who are at the top of the funnel: prospects who don't even know they have a problem. We argue that it makes more sense to target those at the bottom of the sales funnel and are ready to convert.
If you've got a strong website, and some good traffic already, then you might be able to get results very quickly with BOFU content (usually, however, we say that results take at least 5-6 months. Learn more about how long it takes here: When Can You Expect Results from Content Marketing?).
For example, with Jeeves, a business credit card for high growth startups, we wrote content targeting keyphrases like:
- Business credit cards for employees
- Virtual business credit card
- Ramp vs Brex
- Global expense management
For our B2B client, Zai, we wrote content targeting phrases like:
- Direct debit solutions
- Stripe vs Adyen
- Multi-party payments
You can read the case studies for each client if you'd like, but with each client we were able to bring in enough leads per month that we were able to pay for ourselves and more. Just by focusing on people who are at the bottom of the funnel, we got in leads.
But ranking on Google is just half the battle. You also need to write content that is compelling to your reader and will encourage them to reach out. This is another mistake fintech firms make with content: they write content that is for beginners. If you are targeting Heads of Payment and CTOs, don't start an article with "what is a direct debit" or "what is a marketplace". You need to write for their level of knowledge.
That's why when we create content, we make sure we're writing for the ideal customer, not just anyone.
See how for our B2B payment orchestration content, the level of writing is for an advanced target audience, not beginners:
- Intelligent payment routing: How it works and top use cases
- Top Direct Debit Solutions in Australia (We Compare 4!)
Not only that, but you also need to know how to write in a way that leads someone to convert. In many cases, that means writing about the product in the right way (without being salesy). You can learn how to do that here: How to Write About Your Product In Your Content [And Increase Conversions]
It is also worth considering how AI mode and emerging AI search channels are changing how fintech buyers discover and evaluate products. The companies investing in AI search visibility now will have a significant advantage as these channels grow.
How we help fintech companies generate leads with content
Our specialty is helping fintech companies use content for customer acquisition. We do that in a few ways:
Your content strategy is focused on acquiring leads and potential customers and based on customer research
As per what you've read above, you'll see that we believe it makes more sense to start with BOFU content and work your way up. So when we start working with a client, we'll spend one month interviewing the right people on your team to understand who your ideal customer is and their pain points.
We'll ask them questions like:
- What was the last prospect/company that you had a really easy time closing? What type of prospects are the ones that are the easiest to close?
- What are you usually compared to? What are the alternatives?
- What is the most common reason for buying your product?
- How do they currently solve X and how much does it cost to do so?
- Who are the customers that bring the most amount of revenue?
- Who are the customers that stay with you the longest?
It's a very thorough process that allows us to understand how to target your ideal customer. You can learn more about it here: How to Do Research for Bottom of the Funnel Content Marketing
Once that initial phase of research is done, we'll put together a strategy that starts by targeting people who are more likely to convert. That way we can get results sooner and bring in leads and customers.
Your content will target your ideal customers (not everyone)
Because we've spent that time doing the research on who your ideal customer is and their pain points, it's a lot easier to then write for them. Since we also have a background in fintech, we know how to write for an advanced audience. We don't write for beginners or for anyone who isn't an ideal customer.
You can see examples in the articles we've linked to throughout the article, but here they are again:
- Intelligent payment routing: How it works and top use cases
- Top Direct Debit Solutions in Australia (We Compare 4!)
Your content will be expert-based and advanced
For an advanced audience, you need to write advanced content. If not, no one will take you seriously, especially in B2B.
In order to overcome that, most of our content is based on interviews with internal experts on your team. This allows you to create thought leadership content and to also include key information about your product.
Learn more about that process here: Why You Should Create Content Based on Interviews With Experts
You'll be able to attribute leads and customers to content
Finally, we do something no other content agency does in fintech: we track leads and sales.
A lot of people in digital marketing will say you cannot attribute leads to content. But with Google Analytics and HubSpot, we can track how much content helps with generating leads via first and last click attribution.
With the right HubSpot reports, you can track deals and see which contacts were influenced by your content. This allows us to measure how many organic leads we've generated, as well as the quality and close rate. These metrics also help create a more data-driven content strategy.
We understand that the leadership team needs to see numbers, so we are focused on those as well. Even though it takes 5-6 months to see results, the results are cumulative and significant enough that they are worth it.
You can learn more about our whole methodology here: Mint Studios framework
Frequently asked questions
How to generate leads in financial servicesWhat works for fintech lead generation?
The most effective approach combines bottom-of-funnel content marketing with SEO targeting high-intent keywords. Rather than competing for broad educational terms, focus on comparison queries, alternative searches, and product-specific keyphrases that signal buying intent. Pair that with thought leadership on LinkedIn, strategic event participation, and niche channel sponsorships (like podcasts) to build trust with your target audience. The key is matching your content to where your ideal customer is in their decision-making process and writing at a level that resonates with financial professionalsIt depends on your company, audience, and stage. For many fintechs, a mix of content marketing, LinkedIn thought leadership, event sponsorships, and niche channel plays (like podcast sponsorships) tends to work well. The key is matching the tactic to where your buyer is in their journey. Content targeting people who are already comparing solutions or looking to switch providers often converts better than broad awareness campaigns, but the right mix varies.
Can ChatGPT generate leadsDoes AI help with lead generation?
AI tools like ChatGPT can support lead generation by helping with research, drafting, and ideation, but they cannot replace the strategic and expert-level content that actually drives fintech leads. The content that converts in financial services requires deep product knowledge, compliance awareness, and an understanding of the buyer's pain points that AI alone cannot produce. Where AI search is changing the gameAI tools can speed up research, drafting, and ideation, but they work best as a support layer rather than a replacement for expert-level content. In financial services, buyers expect depth and accuracy — generic content tends to fall flat. Where AI is making a bigger impact is on the discovery side: more buyers are using AI-powered search to evaluate products and vendors, which makes AI search visibility an increasingly important part of any fintech marketing strategyengines to evaluate vendors, so making sure your content shows up in AI search results is becoming increasingly important.
What is the best lead generation strategy for fintech's the best fintech lead gen strategy?
Based on what we have seen across dozens of fintech companies, the most reliable strategy is content marketing focused on the bottom of the funnel. That means creating content that targets people who are already comparing solutions, looking to switch providers, or actively searching for a product like yours. This approach lowersThere is no single best strategy — it depends on your product, audience, and sales cycle. That said, content that targets high-intent keywords (like competitor comparisons or product-specific searches) tends to generate more qualified leads than content aimed at broad educational topics. Organic content also compounds over time, which can lower your customer acquisition cost over time because organic content compounds. Combine it with strong conversion rate optimisation on your landing pages and you have a sustainable, measurable pipelinecompared to paid channels. The most effective strategies usually combine content marketing with other channels like LinkedIn, events, or partnerships.
How long does it take to see results from fintechuntil content marketing delivers results?
Typically 5-6 months for meaningful lead generation results. The first few months are focused on research, strategy development, and publishing foundational content. Results then compound: as your content ranks and builds authority, lead volume grows month over month. Some clients see early wins from BOFU content within the first quarter, especially if they already have domain authority. The important thing is that unlike paid channels, the results from content marketing are cumulative. You are building an asset that continues to generate leads long after the content is published, though companies with existing domain authority sometimes see earlier traction. The first phase focuses on research and strategy, followed by publishing content targeting high-intent keywords. Results tend to compound — as content ranks and builds authority, lead volume grows month over month. Unlike paid channels, the content you publish continues generating leads long after it goes live.
Ready to build a lead generation engine for your fintech company?
Hopefully with this article you have more ideas on how to generate leads for your fintech business. Some of these tactics will have inspired new ideas for your marketing campaigns, and you might be interested in implementing content marketing for lead generation. This approach is how we've supported companies like Zai, Parpera, Jeeves and many more with their lead generation and marketing efforts.
If you're interested in learning more about how we could help your company, reach out to us to have a chat.
