This is a thought leadership post by Stanislav Galandzovskyi, sharing his insights and personal views with fintechview readers, on payment service providers. Stanislav has done marketing work for numerous payment service providers, prop firms, and brokers. He was previously Head of User Acquisition at fintech companies NAGA, Zilch, and property investment platform Binaryx.
I go to a lot of fintech events. And at every single one, payment service providers are among the most visible categories in the room – dozens of brands, all fighting for the attention of the same buyers. Having worked with several PSPs on their acquisition strategy, I know how genuinely difficult it is to stand out in that environment – the market is crowded, the buying cycle is long, and building visibility takes patience.
But there’s good news: the demand does exist, you only need to activate it.
A study by Tug Agency found that nine out of ten UK businesses have issues with their current payment solution, and over half are planning to switch providers within six months. The market is enormous and restless. But here is the catch: most of those businesses are not typing “best payment solution” into Google. They are sitting with their frustrations quietly, unsure that something better exists. That gap between widespread dissatisfaction and active search is exactly where the marketing opportunity lies – and exactly what many brands are not acting on.
The market is enormous and restless. But here is the catch: most of those businesses are not typing “best payment solution” into Google. They are sitting with their frustrations quietly, unsure that something better exists. That gap between widespread dissatisfaction and active search is exactly where the marketing opportunity lies – and exactly what many brands are not acting on.
Why Your Audience Is Not Looking for You Yet
Most digital marketing instincts are built around capturing existing demand: someone searches, they find you, they convert. That model works well in e-commerce or SaaS with short decision cycles, and search advertising absolutely has a role to play in payment solutions too – it is where active buyers go when they are ready to evaluate options, and ignoring it would mean leaving a qualified pipeline on the table. But the challenge is that active buyers represent only a fraction of the total opportunity.
Payment service providers live in a category where most of the addressable market has not yet framed its problem as something a product can solve. The finance director who spends two extra hours a week reconciling transactions is frustrated, but they may not have connected that frustration to the idea of switching providers. The IT manager whose team is constantly fielding manual error corrections has a problem, but they may not be researching alternatives. These people are your future customers – they are just not in the market yet.
What this means, practically, is that a strategy that relies on search alone will reach only the small percentage who have already decided to look, and will miss everyone else. In order to grow your lead pipeline, you need to show up earlier in the process, before the search begins. That requires thinking beyond any single channel and being deliberate about both where you appear and what you say at each stage of the buyer journey.
Know Who You Are Talking To – and What Actually Frustrates Them
One of the most important things I have observed when working with B2B fintech clients is that payment solution purchases are rarely decided by one person. Finance, IT, and Procurement departments are all involved, and the CEO frequently plays a role in the final sign-off. Each of them is evaluating the decision through an entirely different lens – and each of them is carrying a different daily frustration with the current solution.
Finance teams care most about customer service and support quality. IT teams prioritise innovation and error reduction. Procurement focuses on cost and operational fit. These priorities map directly onto what businesses report as their biggest pain points: solutions that are too time-consuming, prone to human error, lacking in innovation, short on technical training, and weak on customer service. The frustrations are real, they are specific, and they are distributed across exactly the people who need to say yes to a purchase.
This is where the messaging strategy becomes concrete. An ad that opens by naming a frustration the reader already feels will outperform one that leads with product features every single time. “How many hours a week does your finance team spend correcting payment errors?” lands differently for an IT manager than “Our platform reduces manual processing” – even though the underlying claim is identical. The first formulation speaks to the reader’s problem. The second asks them to do the translation work themselves, and most will not bother.
The practical implication is that a single generic message cannot do the job. Distinct messaging frameworks are needed for each persona, built around the frustrations that matter most to them. And those frameworks should be tested systematically – running campaign variants around each pain point, measuring which combinations of persona and frustration drive the strongest engagement, and using that data to sharpen the strategy over time.
| Persona | Core Frustration | What They Need to Hear | Example Message Angle |
| Finance Director | Poor support when things go wrong | Reliable, responsive service they can count on | “When a payment fails at month-end, you need an answer in minutes – not a ticket number.” |
| IT Manager | Manual errors and outdated technology | A robust, innovative solution that reduces their team’s workload | “Cut the manual corrections your team handles every week with automated error detection built for modern infrastructure.” |
| Procurement Manager | Unclear costs and poor fit with company needs | Transparent pricing and a solution that integrates cleanly | “One clear contract. No hidden fees. Built to fit how your business actually operates.” |
| CEO / Final Sign-Off | Operational risk and strategic exposure | Confidence that the decision is defensible and future-proof | “The payment infrastructure your business will still trust in five years – not just the cheapest option available today.” |
Channel Strategy Needs to Follow the Decision-Maker
Different departments within the buying committee research solutions through different channels. Finance professionals tend to consult financial media and rely on peer and influencer recommendations. IT teams turn to specialist IT media. Procurement tends to use online search.
The broader point is that channel strategy for payment solutions cannot be optimised around a single platform or a single goal. The channels available to a payment service provider serve genuinely different purposes at different stages of the buyer journey, and the brands that structure their marketing around that reality will always outperform those chasing efficiency in a single lane.
Paid search is where active demand lives. When someone in Procurement is ready to evaluate options, Google is where they start. This channel should be treated as conversion-focused, with tight targeting around high-intent keywords and landing pages built around specific use cases and pain points.
LinkedIn is where the broader buying committee can be reached before the formal search begins. Finance directors, IT heads, and operations managers are on the platform daily, and LinkedIn’s targeting allows a payment solution brand to get in front of exactly the right seniority levels within exactly the right company profiles. The goal here is not immediate conversion, but building familiarity and credibility before the buying conversation starts internally.
Industry media placements, influencer partnerships, and expert endorsements all serve the same underlying purpose: third-party credibility that advertising cannot manufacture on its own. A well-placed case study in a financial publication, or a co-authored piece with a respected analyst, reaches finance stakeholders through a channel they already trust.
Email marketing is particularly well-suited to the long decision cycles in this category. A segmented programme that delivers different content to Finance, IT, and Procurement contacts over weeks and months keeps a brand present throughout the evaluation process. Segmentation is what makes it work – the same newsletter sent to all three personas will feel irrelevant to most of them.
Events deserve serious investment. Beyond attending, securing a speaking slot or panel seat positions the brand as a credible authority in the room. Webinars work on the same principle at a smaller scale – a prospect who has spent an hour engaging with your content on reducing payment errors is a fundamentally warmer conversation for sales.
The table below summarises how each channel maps to a primary goal, the persona it reaches most effectively, and where it sits in the buyer journey.
| Channel | Primary Goal | Best Persona Fit | Stage in Journey |
| LinkedIn Ads & Content | Build awareness and pipeline | Finance, IT, C-Suite | Awareness / Consideration |
| Industry Media & PR | Build credibility and trust | Finance, IT | Awareness / Consideration |
| Webinars & Educational Content | Warm engagement before purchase intent | Finance, IT | Awareness / Consideration |
| Influencer & Expert Partnerships | Peer-driven credibility | Finance | Consideration |
| Events & Conferences | Relationship building and pipeline | All personas, C-Suite | Awareness / Decision |
| Email Marketing | Nurture and stay present | All personas (segmented) | Consideration / Decision |
| Paid Search (Google) | Capture active demand | Procurement | Decision / Evaluation |
The Role of Trust in PSP Marketing
Payment solutions are high-stakes purchases. Businesses are not buying a productivity app that they can cancel with a click. They are entrusting a vendor with the infrastructure that keeps their money moving. The due diligence that goes into that decision is proportionally serious.
I have seen this pattern consistently across fintech verticals: a prospect clicks an ad, arrives on a landing page, and immediately starts gathering evidence. They Google the company name, check review platforms, look for case studies, client logos, and third-party recognition. If what they find reinforces the credibility the ad suggested, the conversation continues. If it does not, they close the tab and move on to a competitor who looks more established.
Peer recommendations are an active part of the buying process in this category. A payment service provider that invests in customer success and turns satisfied clients into visible advocates is effectively building a conversion tool that works independently of its media budget. Reviews, testimonials, case studies, and industry recognition all feed into that ecosystem, and all of them should be treated as campaign assets.
The Sales Cycle Is Long, and So Is the Marketing That Supports It
The last thing I will say is about timeline, because this is where payment service providers and their marketing teams most often set themselves up for disappointment. B2B fintech deals take a minimum of six months from first contact to signed contract. A campaign that started in January may not produce a closed deal until summer. Evaluating paid acquisition results after four weeks and concluding it is not working is a structurally flawed way to measure this channel.
What you can and should measure earlier in the cycle are leading indicators: lead quality, pipeline activity, engagement rates, and the quality of the accounts entering your funnel. These signals tell you whether the strategy is on track long before conversion data becomes statistically meaningful. Building that measurement framework before a campaign launches – and aligning internal stakeholders on what success looks like at each stage – is just as important as the creative or the channel mix.
If you are a founder or CMO mapping out your marketing strategy, the table below summarises the key decisions into one place.
| The opportunity | Nine out of ten UK businesses have issues with their current payment solution, and over half are planning to switch within six months. Most are not actively searching for alternatives yet. |
| The core challenge | PSP marketing is a demand generation problem. Buyers exist in large numbers, but they have not yet connected their frustration to the idea of switching providers. |
| Who makes the decision | Finance, IT, and Procurement departments are all involved, alongside the CEO. Each persona has different priorities and researches through different channels. |
| What messaging should do | Speak to the specific frustration of each persona rather than leading with product features. Generic messaging fails to convince any stakeholder convincingly. |
| Which channels matter | A multi-channel approach is required – from LinkedIn and paid search to industry media, events, email, and influencer partnerships – each serving a different goal at a different stage. |
| The role of trust | Buyers research extensively before committing. Reviews, case studies, testimonials, and third-party recognition are part of the conversion process. |
| Timeline expectations | Deals in this category take six months or more to close. Leading indicators such as lead quality and pipeline activity should be used to evaluate progress before conversion data matures. |
Nine out of ten businesses have issues with their current payment solution, and over half are planning to switch within six months. That’s an enormous pool of potential customers – most of whom are not searching for alternatives yet. So the brands that show up before the search begins, across the right channels, speaking to the right people, are the ones that will build the solid pipeline.
who is who
Stanislav Galandzovskyi is AFntech acquisition & growth consultant. Stanislav has helped 20+ fintech companies – including Zilch, NAGA, and Binaryx – structure their paid acquisition strategies across 120+ countries.