The trend: Financial institutions’ (FIs’) marketing to women and tailoring products to their needs has become more sophisticated as banks seek to tap into women’s growing financial power and compete with women-owned FIs and fintechs built to fill this gap specifically.
The apps: Forbes recently analyzed 17 fintechs created by women, for women, including apps focused on:
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Investment and wealth management: Apps like Ellevest and Alinea Invest empower women through tailored investment tools, addressing gender-specific financial challenges.
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Financial literacy and credit improvement: CreditRich, WealthMeUp, and Monytri focus on enhancing financial literacy and improving credit scores through gamified experiences and stock gifting. And CreditRich also seeks to help women and people of color improve their financial standings.
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Access to financial resources: Tala and Parlay provide microloans and support for underserved women entrepreneurs, while Zumma Financial automates financial tasks for women-run businesses.
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Niche Services: CHIP connects women with financial professionals of color, and Sequin offers a debit card that addresses financial disparities women face, such as the "Pink Tax."
Trends in marketing to women: These apps’ marketing strategies speak to the evolution of the industry. For example:
- Their brand colors mostly feature shades of blue and green. Apps that target younger audiences like Alinea Invset, Mongo App, WealthMeUp use lighter colors like purple, yellow, or pink.
- Graphics, ads, and photos often feature diverse women in various stages of life.
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They’re unapologetic about their missions. For example, CreditRich endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the 2024 presidential election on its Facebook page, which aligns with its brand of empowering women of color. But that’s a step many FIs, especially big banks, are unlikely to take in this divisive political climate.
What this means for banking competitors: While these apps’ success varies, some, like Alinia App, have amassed hundreds of thousands of users. And as women continue to gain financial power, their business will become increasingly important to FIs.
Just as some big banks are trying to out-local smaller, local FIs, FIs can try to compete with affinity apps by out-tailoring and out-messaging fintechs about the benefits they’ve designed for women or other affinity groups.