The London Guide To Vetting Fintech Marketing Agencies

I understand you're struggling to find the right fintech marketing agency in London, and frankly, I'm not surprised. The London fintech scene is exploding, but the agency world hasn't really caught up. You've got a handful of massive, expensive agencies in Canary Wharf that are out of reach for most, and then a thousand identikit "digital marketing" shops in Shoreditch that think selling a B2B compliance SaaS is the same as flogging trainers on Instagram. They'll talk a good game, show you a fancy deck, and then burn through your cash on rubbish awareness campaigns.

The truth is, finding the right partner is less about finding a "fintech specialist" and more about finding a specialist in acquiring high-value B2B customers in a regulated, high-trust environment. It's a completely different ballgame. So, let's cut through the nonsense and talk about how you can actually find an agency that won't waste your time and money.

So, Why Are Most London Agencies Just Not Up To The Job?

Let's be brutally honest. Most marketing agencies are generalists. Their entire business model is built on a repeatable process they can apply to any client, whether it's a local plumber, an online clothes shop, or a SaaS platform. They have a template for Google Ads, a template for Meta ads, and a team of junior account managers who follow the script. This works fine if you're selling a £50 product with a one-day sales cycle. For fintech, it's a recipe for disaster.

Your business isn't simple. The sales cycle can be months, involving multiple decision-makers. The lifetime value of a single client could be tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds. Trust is your most valuable asset, and a cheesy, hard-sell ad can destroy it in seconds. On top of that, you've got the FCA breathing down your neck, ready to slap you down for the slightest misstep in your ad copy. A generalist agency doesn't understand this. They'll get scared by your compliance team, they won't know how to track a 6-month sales cycle, and they'll get frustrated when their usual tricks don't deliver cheap leads overnight.

They'll present you with vanity metrics like 'impressions' and 'reach'. They'll tell you they're "building your brand". This is code for "we don't know how to get you actual customers, so here's a chart that goes up and to the right". You aren't paying for impressions. You're paying for qualified leads, new accounts, and a tangible return on your investment. Any agency that doesn't speak that language from day one is the wrong agency.

What Questions Should I Be Asking on That First Call?

Alright, so you've found an agency with some half-decent case studies. They've worked with a SaaS company before, maybe even one in a complex space. Now you're on the intro call. This is where you separate the experts from the salespeople. You need to take control of the conversation and ask questions that expose whether they truly have the expertise you need.

Forget asking about their "process" or their "team". It's all fluff. Get straight to the point. Here's what you ask:

1. "Based on what you know about us, which ad platforms would you prioritise and why?"
   This is a test. If they immediately say "We'd start with a bit of everything - Google, Facebook, LinkedIn..." they're a generalist. The correct answer for most B2B fintech companies is almost always a combination of LinkedIn Ads and Google Search Ads. LinkedIn is for proactively targeting the exact decision-makers you need to reach (e.g., Head of Compliance at UK challenger banks with 200-500 employees). Google Search is for capturing the people who are already problem-aware and actively searching for a solution (e.g., "best AML software for lenders"). Meta (Facebook/Instagram) can have a role, especially for fintechs with a strong B2C angle or for retargeting, but it's rarely the place to start for high-value B2B acquisition. I remember one B2B software client where we achieved a $22 CPL targeting decision-makers on LinkedIn – something that would have been impossible on any other platform.


2. "How would you approach targeting on LinkedIn for us?"
   Don't let them get away with "we'd target by job title". That's basic. A real expert will talk about layering. They'll talk about targeting by company lists (uploading a list of your 100 dream clients), combining job titles with specific industry groups, or using seniority levels to exclude junior staff. They should be asking *you* who your ideal customer is, not in terms of demographics, but in terms of their pain points. "Who feels the pain that our software solves? The CFO who can't get accurate reports, or the Head of Engineering whose team is bogged down with manual processes?". This is the level of thinking you're paying for.


3. "Our sales cycle is 6 months long. How will you measure success in the first 30 days?"
   This question sorts the pros from the amateurs. The amateur will panic. The pro will have a clear answer. They'll talk about leading indicators. They won't promise you a positive ROAS in month one, because that's impossible. Instead, they'll focus on what we can measure: Cost per Qualified Lead (CPL), landing page conversion rates, and the quality of the leads being generated. They'll suggest setting up a feedback loop between your sales team and their ad team, so they can quickly learn which campaigns are driving conversations and which are just driving tyre-kickers.

An agency that can answer these questions thoughtfully and without resorting to jargon is one worth having a second conversation with. They're thinking like a strategic partner, not just an ad manager.

Stop Obsessing Over Cheap Leads. Here's The Number That Really Matters.

This is probably the most important point to consider. If you take one thing away, let it be this. The single biggest mistake I see fintech founders make is obsessing over the Cost Per Lead (CPL). They'll come to me and say, "My last agency was getting me leads for £50, can you do better?" My answer is always the same: "I have no idea if a £50 lead is good or bad until you tell me what a customer is worth to you."

You need to stop thinking like a small-time marketer and start thinking like a CFO. The metric you need to be obsessed with is the ratio between your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) and your Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC). LTV is the total profit you expect to make from a single customer over the entire time they're with you. CAC is how much you spent on sales and marketing to get that customer. A healthy B2B business typically aims for an LTV:CAC ratio of 3:1 or higher. This means for every £1 you spend acquiring a customer, you get at least £3 back in profit.

Once you know this, everything changes. A £250 lead from LinkedIn that has a 1 in 10 chance of converting to a customer with an LTV of £15,000 is an incredible bargain. Your CAC would be £2,500, giving you a 6:1 LTV:CAC ratio. On the other hand, a £25 lead from a broad Facebook campaign that has a 1 in 200 chance of converting to that same customer is a total waste of money. Your CAC would be £5,000, for a much weaker 3:1 ratio. The cheap lead was actually the more expensive one!

A good agency will not only understand this but will build their entire strategy around it. A bad agency won't even know what LTV stands for. Before you speak to another agency, use the calculator below. Get your numbers straight. It's the most powerful tool you have in these conversations.

Your "Request a Demo" Button is Killing Your Business

Now that you know how to find the right agency and what numbers to focus on, there's one last piece of the puzzle: your offer. This is the single biggest point of failure for 99% of B2B advertising campaigns. You can have the best targeting in the world and the most compelling ad copy, but if your call-to-action is "Request a Demo," you've already lost.

Think about it from your prospect's point of view. They are a busy, important person. "Request a Demo" means: "give me your contact details, wait for a junior salesperson to email you, try to schedule a time that works for both of you, and then sit through a 45-minute sales pitch where I try to qualify you". It's a huge amount of friction and offers zero immediate value. It's an arrogant ask, and it positions you as just another vendor begging for their time.

You must flip the script. Your offer's only job is to provide a moment of undeniable value. It needs to solve a small part of their problem for free, to earn you the right to talk about solving the whole thing. The best B2B SaaS companies in the world have mastered this. They don't sell demos; they offer:

• A genuine free trial (no credit card). Let them use the product. Let them experience the "aha!" moment for themselves. When the product itself proves its value, the sale is easy.
• A freemium plan. Give them a version of your product they can use forever, for free. This builds a massive top-of-funnel that you can nurture and upsell over time.
• A valuable, interactive tool. Can you build a free calculator, a diagnostic tool, or a report generator that gives them instant insight? For a compliance platform, this could be a "Free AML Risk Assessment". For a payments company, it could be a "Cross-Border Fee Calculator".

If you're not a SaaS company and sell services, you're not off the hook. You need to productise your expertise. Offer a free, automated audit. A valuable whitepaper based on proprietary data. A short, pre-recorded webinar that actually teaches them something. Anything other than "Book a Call". We do this ourselves – our free strategy session is designed to give so much value that potential clients see our expertise firsthand. A good agency will challenge you on your offer and help you develop something with less friction and more value. It is definitely one of the most important things to get right.

Your Final Checklist Before You Sign Anything

Finding the right agency in London is tough, but it's not impossible. It requires you to be disciplined, ask the right questions, and focus on what really moves the needle for your business. Before you sign any contract, run them through this final checklist. If you can't tick every box with confidence, keep looking.

When To Stop Looking And Start Doing

Going through this process is hard work. It requires a level of diligence that most companies just don't have time for. But the cost of getting it wrong—hiring a cheap, generalist agency that burns through six months of budget with nothing to show for it—is far, far greater. The right agency partner won't just be a pair of hands to run your ads. They'll be a strategic brain that helps you sharpen your positioning, refine your offer, and build a predictable engine for customer growth.

They bring the experience of having seen what works (and what doesn't) across dozens of other complex B2B accounts. That experience helps you avoid the common pitfalls, accelerate your learning curve, and ultimately get a return on your marketing spend much faster than you could on your own. You're not just buying ads; you're buying speed and certainty in a market that doesn't forgive mistakes.

If this process feels a bit overwhelming, or you'd just like a second pair of expert eyes on your current strategy, that's what we're here for. We offer a completely free, no-obligation strategy session where we'll dig into your business, look at what you're doing now, and give you some actionable advice you can implement straight away. There's no hard sell. Just an honest conversation with people who do this stuff day in, day out. Feel free to get in touch if you'd like to book one.

Hope that helps!