Scaling Growth in the Complex World of Fintech with Simon Vishnevskiy and Credit Genie

“As you onboard users, you figure out some of the secondary things you can bring. You start building value props that are actually great for the user, but the first hook usually should get the users in your platform really quick and efficiently.”

In this episode of Growth Talks, Simon Vishnevskiy, Chief Growth Officer at Credit Genie, dives deep into his experiences navigating the complexities of fintech growth marketing. With a diverse background in gaming, ridesharing, and finance, Simon shares his unique approach to building successful acquisition strategies and prioritizing customer retention. He highlights the importance of cross-functional collaboration between marketing, product, and compliance, and how to effectively reach underserved audiences.

🗝️Key Takeaways:

• Unlike other industries where a playbook may work long-term, fintech demands continuous reevaluation and dynamic strategies due to changing regulations and customer behaviors.
• In a highly regulated industry, collaborating closely with your compliance team ensures you can get creative with messaging while avoiding legal issues. Paying attention to product changes may explain swings in KPIs. 
• Starting with digital channels like TikTok, Meta, and Google is key but, as fintech brands mature, investing in offline channels like podcasts, TV, and radio is crucial for establishing brand equity and trust.
• To build an effective growth engine, Simon always evaluates 4 key things: tracking and attribution, data analytics, creative output, and lifecycle marketing as key pillars of an effective growth engine.
• “Day trading,” or short-term optimizations in channel spend, can help maintain an efficient acquisition strategy, while building foundational team roles in MarTech, data analytics, creative, and lifecycle marketing ensure sustainable growth.
• Leverage platforms like TikTok and DSPs to create ads and videos specifically optimized for their formats, boosting performance without hefty creative costs.

‍⏰ Timestamps

00:00:00 Introduction to Simon Vishnevskiy and discussion on how gaming, ridesharing, and fintech compare in terms of growth challenges.

00:04:10 Unique challenges in fintech: legal and compliance complexities, and the impact of product changes on marketing KPIs.

00:06:56 Creating a collaborative playbook with product and legal teams; the importance of communication to avoid issues.

00:13:02 Targeting underserved audiences in fintech, addressing immediate financial needs, and building trust through messaging.

00:16:42 How marketing strategies and channels evolve as fintech brands mature; the shift from digital to offline for brand equity.

00:24:00 A/B Test Segment: Simon's take on customer retention vs. acquisition, influencer partnerships, and his choice between Meta and Google.

00:32:54 Managing CAC while scaling acquisition efforts; how to day trade channels and balance short-term and long-term strategies.

00:38:12 Key roles to prioritize when building a user acquisition team, from tracking and attribution to creative and lifecycle marketing.

00:41:21 Simon's favorite "growth non-hack": leveraging platform partnerships for ad creative.

🔗 Mentioned in this episode:

Credit Genie: www.creditgenie.com

Dave: www.dave.com

Chime: www.chime.com

MoneyLion: www.moneylion.com

Coinbase: www.coinbase.com

Robinhood: www.robinhood.com

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