When a fintech product hits 300,000 active users in under 8 months, the first assumption is often: โYou mustโve had a massive marketing budget.โ
But most times, thatโs not the case.
In markets like Nigeria, where trust is earned slowly and lost quickly, itโs not flashy advertising or influencer marketing that drives growth.
Itโs clarity, relevance, and a product that people understand and can use. Thatโs what product marketing does. Itโs the bridge between what youโve built and the people itโs meant to serve.
For fintech and crypto startups, especially, here’s why product marketing matters.
1. Nigerians Buy Trust
The Nigerian market holds massive potential, but itโs also extremely unforgiving. People have seen it all: banking collapses, cloned fintechs that disappear overnight. So when a product touches their money, theyโre not asking about features, theyโre asking:
- Will my money be safe here?
- Will this work?
- Who else is using it?
If your product doesnโt answer those questions upfront, theyโre gone. Product marketing helps you build trust before your users take a risk. It communicates reliability in every word, screen, and interaction.
2. You Canโt Rely on Good Tech Alone
Even if your product works perfectly, if users donโt understand it, it wonโt scale.
This is especially true for startups built on Web3 infrastructure. Users donโt care about blockchain; what matters to them is whether they can receive dollars and access their money fast. Thatโs what your messaging needs to reflect.
Instead of saying, Activate your eUSD wallet. You can say, Save your money in dollars.
3. Focus on Clear Outcomes
Many startups try to impress users with all the things the product can do. But in reality, the user just wants to know what the product does for them right now.
If your product is meant to help freelancers receive cross-border payments, that should be the entire focus of your homepage, onboarding, and first experience. If a user can explain your product to a friend after one successful transaction, youโve done it right.
4. Onboarding Is Product Marketing
The first few minutes inside your product determine whether a user stays or leaves. And in fintech or crypto, those minutes carry extra weight.
You need to design your own onboarding flow, not just to collect KYC, but to create confidence. Reduce unnecessary steps. Use language people already know. Show whatโs happening in real time.
One small change, like grouping funding options under clear headers like โFund with your bankโ or โUse crypto,โ can significantly increase completion rates. Every decision should help the user feel like, โThis is so easy to use .โ
5. Every Screen Is an Opportunity to Build or Lose Trust
Itโs easy to think of product marketing as something that happens outside the product. But in reality, your most powerful marketing happens inside the app. Every tooltip, error message, confirmation pop-up, and even empty state is an opportunity to build trust or create doubt.
If users are stuck or confused at any point, support tickets will increase, and referrals wonโt happen. But if you structure your flows clearly, guide users through friction points, and respond to feedback quickly, you create an experience theyโll talk about and return to.
6. Crypto Is Complex, But Product Marketing Makes It Feel Human
Web3 products carry an extra burden: the tech is complicated, and the market is already skeptical. If your product (marketing) relies on crypto rails or stablecoins, you have to do the extra work of translating that experience into something local and familiar.
Users shouldnโt need to understand blockchain to use your product. They should feel like theyโre simply sending, saving, or spending money, just more efficiently. The job of product marketing is to make advanced infrastructure feel like everyday banking.
7. Growth Doesnโt Start With Spend.
If youโre launching in Nigeria or any complex emerging market, donโt immediately start by thinking about ads. Start by thinking about how clearly your product speaks to its audience.
Done well, product marketing helps you:
- Build trust before you ask for commitment
- Reduce drop-offs through better flows and messaging
- Increase referrals through confidence and clarity
- And align your product and growth teams around real user needs
Scaling to 450,000 users doesnโt require hype. It requires a product that works and marketing that helps people get it.
Fintech and crypto startups donโt fail because theyโre technically weak.
Most fail because people donโt understand them, donโt trust them, or donโt know why they should choose them over what already exists. Product marketing closes that gap.
It makes your product make sense, and it earns you the right to grow.
If youโre entering a market like Nigeria, donโt wait until launch to figure this out. Make product marketing part of the build, part of the team, and part of the plan from day one. Because in a place where attention is scarce and skepticism is high, clarity isnโt optional; itโs your biggest advantage.
About the Author
Adetola Durojaiye is a product marketing specialist with experience scaling fintech and Web3 products across Nigeria, the UK, and Europe. He has led product growth initiatives that have impacted hundreds of thousands of users and helped startups gain traction in emerging markets