Nerve neobank launched with one objective in mind – to create a financial service that was catered to the needs of musicians. Founded on a micro-niche trend, Nerve offers unique financial services for English and Spanish speakers to help them manage their money and be prepared for the future. Addressing the specific financial issues musicians face, Nerve focuses on community banking by blending personalised services and creating a hub for musicians to connect and grow. Nerve showcases a growing trend in fintech startups in which financial services are tailored to a specific niche. So, what does this mean for the financial sector and what can your finance brand learn?
Nerve neobank made for musicians
From irregular pay to having to split earnings between band members, musicians have specific money problems many people don’t. Nerve neobank seeks to address these while also creating a hub for musicians to connect and grow their network. Partnered with Piermont Bank, Nerve offers FDIC-insured debit and savings accounts enabling users to separate their personal and business lives. Other services offered include:
- Musicians can link their Spotify and other streaming services accounts to their bank so they can monitor their data
- Private networking features enable musicians to connect, collaborate and make easy payments to one another
- Pay anyone for free if they have a Nerve account
- 55,000 free ATM’s which is perfect for a traveling musician
Nerve bank’s CEO William Waupsh believes, “Banks of days past would offer services that their local geography needed. Today, banking communities aren’t defined by rivers and railroads, but by the shared experience and goals of their customers.” Demonstrating the ideology behind Nerve as a community and customer-centric app places its consumers at the forefront of the product through tailoring products and services to the unique needs of their customers.
“ Today, banking communities aren’t defined by rivers and railroads, but by the shared experience and goals of their customers.”
The opportunity in micro-niche trends
The rise in neobanks, which is set to reach $722 billion in market shares by 2028, showcases the growing opportunity financial services can find in catering to specific niches. While banking has usually been synonymous with catering to the general consumer, there are underserved markets waiting to be tapped through tailored financial services.
Identifying a micro-niche and marketing product accordingly is known as resonance marketing. This style of marketing strategy is focused on giving consumers exactly what they want rather than offering products that are simply just satisfactory. Consumers are willing to pay a premium for hyper-differentiated products and they can help your finance brand build stronger customer relationships and brand loyalty.
Learning lessons for finance brands
Financial services don’t need to be a challenger bank to cater to specific market segments. Understanding, recognising, and then creating marketing content and services that are specific to certain audiences enables finance brands to tap into a new customer base. However, these need to be specific and tailored financial products for these audiences, they can’t simply be regular financial services.
As Josh Ligget from the investment platform OurCrowd asserts, you need to “offer something that’s really interesting to them….if you’re just offering regular banking services to somebody like musicians, lumberjacks, astronauts or scuba-divers, it doesn’t matter until you’re actually providing something that’s unique to them.”
Analysing your current customer base and identifying unmet needs within it enables your finance brand to locate niche areas and gain an opportunity to meet them. Tailoring products and services can give your finance brand a competitive edge as it enables you to tap into new market segments and build strong customer relationships.
