A customer pays at a checkout.

Research shows 44% of consumers have seen influencers promote credit cards and 42% have seen sponsored content on digital wallets, according to eMarketer. Brands are collaborating with “influencers” along with creators in other niches to educate audiences about everything from credit cards and savings accounts to buy-now-pay-later loans.

While influencer marketing is an effective addition to your marketing efforts, the road to success looks different compared with those selling a tangible product.

Common Goals for Payment Brands

Promoting credit cards or a buy-now-pay-later loan differs from promoting a tangible product. It takes customers longer to sign up for these services than it does for them to try a new skin cream, for example. As a result, your influencer campaign goals look different.

Common goals might include:

Brand Awareness

Payment brands need to get in front of potential customers to drive brand awareness. The foundation of conversion is awareness, so initial influencer campaigns often focus on brand recall.

Drive Website Traffic and Boost Customer Education

With a longer buying process in play, payment brands realize that customers won’t convert immediately. To nurture the connection and sway the minds of customers, influencer campaigns can drive interested followers to your company website to learn more about a specific product.

For example, if you plan to promote a buy-now-pay-later loan, your audience needs to understand how the loan works. Educational landing pages or even downloadable assets could be included in your CTA.

Drive Conversions

After your audience is successfully primed by influencers, your brand can launch conversion campaigns. To do so, consider asking influencers to share their experience with your product or explain how easy it is to use. Promo codes can serve as an incentive too.

Tips for Payment Brands to Launch Effective Influencer Campaigns

Working with influencers is an organic way to connect with potential customers. When you’re ready to launch a campaign, consider these tips for success:

Clearly Define Your Target Audience and Ideal Influencer

Consider demographics, education levels, annual income, and location, for example, to better define your ideal customer.

With a well-defined target, you can find an influencer with an overlapping social audience.

Pro tip: Use an influencer marketing platform or experienced team to search for influencers.

Share Regulatory Guidelines

Your influencer campaign must meet guidelines set by the FTC and FINRA.

The FTC requires influencers to disclose their relationship with a brand and add clear descriptors to text, like “Ad” or “Sponsored Content.”

FINRA requires all financial communication to be fair, balanced, and truthful. Influencers should be mindful of making promises. While they can share their experience, they shouldn’t promise or guarantee any results.

Given these additional rules, make sure influencer-generated content is reviewed by your brand before it’s published. For brands who seek full-service campaign management, influencer marketing companies like IZEA have experts in place to help.

Consider an Always-On Approach

Influencers are sometimes compensated on a commission basis, earning a percentage of each sale they inspire. While this payment structure can be effective for certain products, it may not be the best approach for brands implementing influencer marketing strategies.

Acquiring a new customer or persuading someone to subscribe to a service is a bigger commitment than, for instance, convincing them to purchase a one-time product. With a longer customer journey, commission-based pay may not be appealing for influencers. As part of an always-on approach to influencer marketing, consider offering influencers a flat fee for each piece of content they create. This ensures continuous engagement and content creation, thus keeping your brand consistently visible and relevant in the market.

Examples

Campaigns can take on many forms. Video is a common format for payment brand collaborations as it gives influencers a chance to explain the product. Take a look at these two examples:

Mark My Ad

Mark My Ad teamed up with influencers to promote its money-saving browser extension. The tool compares prices and offers cash back when shoppers make purchases with their Mark My Ad credit card.

DollarSprout, a financial education channel on YouTube, partnered with Mark My Ad and shared a video on how it works.