Join us Dec. 1-3 in Nashville for the Digiday Programmatic Marketing Summit
When it comes to getting new customers, startups in financial technology are in a lose-lose situation.
It’s no surprise: The reigning banks have been around for decades so they have a large existing set of customers and streams of data on them from over the years. Their problem is they’re plagued with old infrastructure that slows them down and cuts into their ability to manage data well. Startups don’t have that problem, but they also don’t have the customer base — or the ability to scale.
Customer acquisition is expensive. For a large bank it could cost between $1,500 and $2,000 to acquire one customer, according to Ciaran Rogers, director of marketing at StratiFi, an early stage startup that helps advisors manage portfolio risk. At startups it could be between $5 to about $300 for one customer. Fintechs just have less money to spend on that — at Wealthfront, for example, marketing budgets have decreased every year.
More in Marketing
Digiday+ Research 2026 Creator Marketing Index: A brand guide to social media campaigns
As creator marketing becomes a fixture in many brands’ marketing strategies, creators’ roles are shifting and expanding.
Good ads have a new name, ‘entertainment-first’ and SharkNinja is using it for its holiday campaign
Making ads people want to watch is now a strategy. SharkNinja’s celebrity filled holiday spot shows why.
Here are the questions on advertisers’ minds after the DoorDash-Instacart deal
DoorDash and Instacart are joining forces. Now advertisers want to know what happens to costs, data and measurement.