How Nine Stones Supported Klarna's Open Banking Marketing

Klarna wanted to lead the conversation on open banking, but its search performance was weak and its marketing team was stretched. Nine Stones audited its SEO, then wrote the content to build its authority.

Nine Stones for Klarna

Klarna

Client: Klarna
Agency: Nine Stones, part of Cohaesus
Type of work: Marketing & content
Sector: Financial Services
Scope: SEO audit, content strategy, whitepapers, landing pages, newsletters, blogs, SEO copywriting, social media

After PSD2 arrived, a wave of new fintech firms had to explain the value of open banking, and why their own solution was the one to choose. Klarna, now best known for its shopping app and its promise of paying in three instalments, was one of the leaders in open banking across Europe.

The Challenge

A few years ago, Klarna's search performance was weak, nowhere near the top of the results. It wanted to lead the buy now, pay later market and be seen as a thought leader. Its in-house marketing team was at capacity, running B2C and B2B campaigns across several markets and languages.

The Approach

Klarna brought in Nine Stones in August 2020, starting with a full SEO audit. The audit showed where Klarna could grow, in both content and brand positioning.

Nine Stones then built a content strategy that combined search engine marketing with educational writing, to strengthen Klarna's open banking credentials and raise awareness through content on financial services trends. The work covered every stage of the funnel:

Whitepapers and landing pages
Newsletters and blog articles
SEO copywriting and social media assets
Google Analytics performance reports

Open banking is a relatively new technology that some may struggle to understand fully. We wanted to partner with an agency that could grasp the complexity of the topic. Nine Stones demonstrated a strong ability to turn high-tech subjects into digestible content, which made them the perfect fit for us.

Elias Pitsavos, Senior Marketing Manager, Klarna

The Outcome

After the first campaigns, Klarna kept Nine Stones on for specialist work as needed, including client case studies, a glossary of open banking terms and support for the launch of its Klarna Kosma sub-brand. Through changes in Klarna's structure, Nine Stones scaled its support to fit Klarna's goals.