In January 2024, the SEC approved 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs. Within hours, fintech companies that had prepared commentary were quoted in Bloomberg, CNBC, Reuters, and dozens of trade publications. Companies that had not prepared were invisible during the single biggest regulatory moment in crypto history. The difference was not expertise. Both groups understood the implications. The difference was digital PR readiness: having journalist relationships, pre-written analysis, and a rapid response process that could activate within minutes of the announcement. According to DemandSage, 82% of companies use content marketing, but the fintech companies that convert content into media coverage are the ones with deliberate PR strategies behind their publishing efforts.
What Digital PR Means for Fintech
Digital PR is the practice of earning online media coverage, backlinks, and brand mentions through newsworthy content, journalist relationships, and strategic timing. It differs from traditional PR in its emphasis on measurable digital outcomes: search rankings, referral traffic, social amplification, and link authority.
For fintech startups, digital PR is particularly effective because fintech operates at the intersection of two heavily covered beats: technology and finance. Journalists covering either beat regularly need sources who can explain complex financial technology to their readers. A fintech founder who positions themselves as a reliable source for these journalists earns ongoing coverage that goes far beyond individual announcements.
The Boston Consulting Group projects fintech revenues will reach $1.5 trillion by 2030, with embedded finance and digital lending accounting for the largest share of projected growth.
According to CB Insights’ 2024 fintech report, global fintech funding declined 40 percent between 2022 and 2024, pushing the sector toward consolidation and a sharper focus on profitability over growth at all costs.
The Edelman-LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Study found that 75% of decision-makers said compelling thought leadership prompted them to research a product or service they were not originally considering. Digital PR amplifies this effect by placing thought leadership in publications where decision-makers already read, rather than relying on them to find the company’s own blog. Media coverage drives fintech brand growth precisely because it meets decision-makers where they already spend their attention.
Data-Driven Press Outreach
The most effective digital PR tactic for fintech companies is publishing original data that journalists can cite. Journalists need numbers. A statement like “cross-border payments are expensive” is not a story. A statement like “the average cost of sending $200 from the US to Sub-Saharan Africa is $8.46, per World Bank data” is a fact that a journalist can build a story around.
Fintech companies that publish proprietary data from their platforms create a renewable source of media coverage. Wise (formerly TransferWise) built its brand partly through regular publication of remittance cost data, comparing its fees to traditional bank fees for identical transfer corridors. This data was cited by journalists hundreds of times, creating a persistent association between Wise and transparency in cross-border payments.
The data does not need to come from the company’s own operations. A fintech company can aggregate publicly available data (central bank reports, regulatory filings, industry surveys) into analysis that no single source provides. Fintech companies that publish market research give journalists a reason to cite them as sources, which generates backlinks, brand mentions, and credibility simultaneously.
According to CMI’s 2025 B2B research, only 29% of B2B marketers rate their content strategy as highly effective. Companies that combine data-driven content with proactive journalist outreach consistently outperform those that publish content and wait for it to be discovered.
Newsjacking Regulatory Announcements
Fintech regulation generates constant news cycles. The SEC’s ETF approvals, the EU’s MiCA implementation, the UK’s FCA licensing decisions, India’s UPI international expansion, Brazil’s Pix adoption milestones. Each regulatory event creates a window of 24 to 48 hours where journalists actively seek expert commentary to contextualise the news for their readers.
Fintech companies that prepare for these windows in advance dominate the coverage. Preparation means: identifying upcoming regulatory events (most are announced weeks or months in advance), drafting analysis of likely outcomes and implications, and reaching out to relevant journalists before the announcement to offer expert commentary.
Coinbase executed this effectively during the Bitcoin ETF approval process. The company had pre-written analysis ready for multiple scenarios (approval, rejection, partial approval) and distributed commentary within minutes of the SEC’s announcement. The result was quotes in major publications that associated Coinbase with the most significant crypto regulatory development in years.
Smaller fintech companies can newsjack effectively within their niche. A compliance technology startup does not need Bloomberg coverage. Coverage in Compliance Week, JD Supra, or RegTech Global during a major regulatory change reaches the exact audience the company sells to. Thought leadership for startups is most effective when it responds to events that the target audience is already paying attention to.
Building Journalist Relationships in Fintech
Fintech is covered by a relatively small number of beat reporters at major publications. The Financial Times has two to three dedicated fintech reporters. TechCrunch has a fintech editor and a small team. American Banker, Finextra, and PYMNTS each have editorial teams that cover fintech daily. Bloomberg and Reuters have broader finance teams that cover fintech within their beat.
This concentration means that relationships matter disproportionately. A fintech founder who is a known, trusted source for three to five beat reporters will receive more coverage over time than a company that sends press releases to a list of 500 journalists. The relationship provides the journalist with someone they can call for quick context, background information, or on-the-record quotes. In exchange, the source receives consistent coverage.
Building these relationships requires providing value before asking for coverage. Introducing a journalist to another source for a story they are working on. Providing background context on an industry development without expecting to be quoted. Responding quickly when a journalist reaches a deadline. These actions build trust over months, not days.
Industry publication presence for fintech companies depends more on the quality of journalist relationships than on the volume of press releases sent.
Measuring Digital PR Impact
Digital PR produces measurable outcomes that fintech companies should track monthly. Domain authority (measured by Moz, Ahrefs, or similar tools) indicates how media coverage is improving search visibility. Referral traffic from media publications shows how many readers are following links from articles to the company’s website. Brand mention volume (tracked through Google Alerts, Mention, or Brandwatch) shows the company’s visibility in industry conversations.
The most important metric is share of voice: the percentage of media coverage in the company’s category that mentions the company versus its competitors. A fintech startup that captures 15% of media mentions in the “payment infrastructure” category has stronger brand positioning than one with 2%, regardless of their relative product quality.
Publishing fintech insights builds long-term brand authority, but measuring that authority requires tracking the specific digital signals that indicate whether the strategy is working.
Digital PR is not optional for fintech startups that sell to institutional buyers. It is the mechanism through which expertise becomes visible, credibility becomes transferable, and brand awareness compounds over time. The fintech companies that invest in digital PR at the seed stage build advantages that are nearly impossible to replicate later. Those that wait until Series B or C to start find that their competitors have already established the journalist relationships, the publication track record, and the search authority that take years to build.
