For marketing success, a solid marketing strategy is a must. Coschedule, for instance, found that:
“Marketers with a documented strategy are 538% more likely to report success than those who don’t.”
Your marketing strategy is the blueprint to help your SaaS business attract leads, convert them to customers, and retain those customers for the long haul.
Wondering how to reach the right audience in a crowded market? We created this guide based on our industry experience guiding SaaS clients like you to success.
Otherwise, let’s dive into the importance of a sound SaaS marketing strategy and how it can support your greater revenue goals.
A robust marketing strategy is essential for SaaS companies aiming to achieve their revenue goals. Unlike traditional software, SaaS products are subscription-based, requiring continuous digital-based efforts to attract, convert, and retain customers. Here are six things a well-defined SaaS marketing strategy can help you achieve, and the methods behind each:
Without further ado, here are some tips to help you build a better SaaS marketing strategy:
To make sure your target audience finds your business in the first place, you’ll need to start by focusing on search engine optimization. This doesn’t have to be a long and complex process — the foundation of strong SEO is to build your website on relevant, well-targeted keywords.
If you’re not sure which keywords work best for your business, you may want to spend some time on keyword research. Identify what actual search terms your target customers would likely enter into a search bar. Don’t forget to consider which terms your website is already being found for — use a web analytics tool like Google Analytics to find out which search terms your existing visitors used to find you.
Once you’ve identified which terms work best for your SaaS product, make sure that you have used them appropriately on your website. You’ll also want to consider other factors that will make your website perform well on search engines — page load time, internal links, and the use of titles and descriptions.
Of course, SEO isn’t just something you do to your own website. To perform well on Google, you’ll also need other trusted websites to link to you. And how do you get links back to your site? Create valuable, informative content that other people want to share, and then plan a regular schedule to distribute it. In other words, you need a content marketing strategy.
In his article, “How SaaS Marketing is Different,” Neil Patel flags how fundamental content is to SaaS success:
“SaaS marketing depends on information. It’s amazing how foundational this is, yet how often overlooked...If you are a B2B SaaS marketer, think of yourself in different terms from mere “marketer.” Think of yourself as an industry savant — the one who possesses and dispenses information.”
What’s more, SaaS marketers have a unique advantage in content marketing. By the very nature of your product, you have access to a wealth of data that you can convert into fascinating content — think white papers, infographics, helpful blog posts on user behavior ... the list goes on. Great content not only attracts leads to your site; it also helps build your company’s reputation as an authority in your industry.
Referrals are marketing gold dust. HubSpot calls referrals — where existing users recommend your software to their contacts — “one of the most effective types of leads.” No wonder, really – nothing builds trust in a product more than knowing it’s already being used by someone you know personally. So how can you generate more referrals for your SaaS business?
First, make it extremely easy for your users to refer your company. Simply asking can be enough to drive referral numbers up. At the minimum, add a landing page on your website where people can make referrals. You could also consider adding a referral CTA in the software itself.
Second, make sure that all customer-facing personnel know that they should be asking for referrals, and provide templates for them to use.
Finally, consider incentivizing referrals. This is a delicate balancing act. If you incentivize too heavily, you may find that the quality of referrals goes down — people recommend your software to everyone they know, regardless of its suitability, to claim the incentive. To reduce the risk of poor-quality referrals, make sure that you’re clear on what counts as a referral, what kinds of leads are useful to you, and explain that incentives will only be paid out for real referrals.
No matter how effectively you’ve designed and optimized your site, no matter how clear your calls to action or how compelling your content, most web visitors will simply look around — and leave again. To get the most out of your hard-won web traffic, consider using retargeting to lure them back to your site. Retargeting means that you track who visits your website, and then show them online ads on other sites they interact with. You can do this via Google Ads or via a platform like HubSpot. To get the most out of retargeting, consider customizing your ads based on which URL the lead has visited on your site.
Another aspect that gives you a major advantage when you’re marketing SaaS is that you can give away your product free. Most SaaS companies offer a free trial — a highly effective conversion tool, as your lead can start using your software and see the value it offers for themselves. However, product trials are a subtle art. Overwhelm your prospect with information and features, and you risk sending them running for the hills; but too much handholding can come off as irritatingly intrusive.
To maximize your product trial conversion rate, make sure that people have a frictionless experience using your product. This might mean following up a trial sign-up with a phone call, webinar, or email series. You might want to consider restricting features to simplify the experience. Leads who are demo-ing your software are showing a clear indication of purchase interest, so it’s well worth investing time and effort polishing up your onboarding process.
SaaS has a short sales cycle. Unlike traditional B2B or enterprise software sales, a lead can become a customer on the same day, or within a few days of starting a trial. However, this only works to your advantage if you make it incredibly easy for leads to buy. For instance, make sure that anyone using the demo finds it effortless to click the Buy button at any stage during the trial. Be transparent about the sales process and what the customer gets when they buy. Spend time optimizing your buy page — consider adding a chatbot to make sure that any questions can be dealt with instantly.
Let’s say you’ve built a highly usable website, developed some well-crafted content, and made it easy to contact your sales team. You’ll probably start getting inbound leads. But are they all ready to buy right this second?
The answer is probably no. Which is why nurturing leads is a crucial component of any SaaS marketing strategy. This process involves building and maintaining relationships with potential customers throughout their buying journeys to establish trust and demonstrate value before conversion. Here’s a deeper look at why lead nurturing is essential for SaaS marketing:
Regular and relevant communication helps build trust with potential customers. By consistently providing valuable content and insights, you position your SaaS company as a reliable and knowledgeable partner. Additionally, tailored interactions based on lead behavior and preferences foster personal connections, making prospects feel understood and valued.
SaaS products often offer complex and comprehensive solutions. Nurturing allows you to educate potential customers about how your product’s features, benefits, and use cases over time fit into the larger picture. Without taking an overly salesy stance, this strategy helps leads understand the full value of your offering within the context of their pain points.
Providing detailed information, case studies, and comparisons assists leads in making informed decisions. Ultimately, this will assist with reducing hesitation and increasing confidence in your product among potential buyers.
Regular touchpoints keep your brand top-of-mind. Engaging content such as newsletters, webinars, and personalized emails ensure that leads remain interested and engaged.
By continuously addressing the specific challenges and needs of your leads, you demonstrate that your product is the right solution for their problems, keeping them engaged throughout the decision-making process. And a well-crafted nurture sequence keeps your company top-of-mind once prospects are ready to raise their hands.
As a bonus, this can accelerate your word-of-mouth efforts. As your current leads see your brand more and within the context of high-quality, thought leadership-driven content, your company is more likely to come up in industry-relevant discussions.
The reality of conversion rates in B2B SaaS is harsh: Only about 1% of leads convert on average. So, if you can tick that up even slightly, you’re in a better position to reach your profit goals.
How does nurturing fit into this equation? Segmented and personalized nurturing campaigns cater to the unique needs of different leads, increasing the likelihood of conversion. Tailored messages resonate more with potential customers, making them more likely to take the desired action.
Automated and timely follow-ups based on lead behavior (e.g., downloading a whitepaper, attending a webinar) ensure that no opportunities are missed, enhancing the chances of converting leads into paying customers.
Regardless of the annual contract value (ACV), the average sales cycle in B2B SaaS takes around 84 days to finalize. Think about how much quicker your company could produce revenue if you can shorten this timeline even by a fraction.
By providing the right information at the right time, lead nurturing helps prospects move through the sales funnel more efficiently. Answering their questions and alleviating concerns promptly can expedite the decision-making process — accelerating your end-to-end sales cycle.
Address objections and provide proof points (like customer testimonials) throughout the nurturing process to reduce friction and smooth the path to purchase. Always remember that your buyers are probably more educated than the average consumer in your particular industry. When making your nurturing strategies, think deeply about the exact points of interest your leads will need to know more about to nudge them toward a “yes.”
How sticky is your B2B SaaS brand? If that’s a head-scratcher, you might need to think long and hard about how you’re engaging your current customers. That’s right! Nurturing isn’t just for making an initial sale.
Building strong relationships during the lead stage sets the foundation for long-term customer loyalty. Engaged and well-informed customers are more likely to remain loyal and explore additional features or upgrades.
Effective lead nurturing doesn’t stop at conversion. Ongoing communication helps identify opportunities for upselling and cross-selling, thereby increasing the overall lifetime value of each customer.
In the modern world, data is everything. Lead nurturing campaigns provide valuable information on customer behavior and preferences, and can give you unprecedented intel about what content resonates with your market.
Analyzing this data helps refine marketing strategies, improving targeting, personalization, and overall campaign effectiveness. Feedback and interactions during the nurturing process offer insights into what works and what doesn’t, allowing for continuous optimization of your SaaS marketing strategy.
SaaS companies are constantly at risk of customer churn. Users sign up, try the product out, decide that it doesn’t provide them with the value they expected, and leave. To prevent churn, you’ll need to do two things:
SaaS business success relies on delighting your users. This, of course, means creating an exceptional product, but it also means backing that product up with fantastic customer service.
Firstly, make your support incredibly easy to find. Customers should be able to easily locate support with one click of a button. For complex issues, people generally appreciate the ease of talking to a person. There’s simply nothing like solving a problem in a short phone call rather than trading several days of back-and-forth emails.
Secondly, provide multiple options for accessing support. Sprout Social advises using social media for customer service — for instance, offering customer service hours on Twitter, or sharing answers to common user questions in your social media posts.
And, of course, last but not least:
Your marketing strategy can only take you so far. Your top priority has to be creating a product that people love to use, that they rave about and recommend to others. This means taking into consideration every interaction users have with your product. Experts emphasize that, “it is important for your product to be 100% technically sound. It needs to be stable and provide scalable solutions to your customers.”
Ideally, your product should sell itself. Ease of usability should be reflected in registration, setting up customer data, reporting, and analytics.”
SaaS is one of the most exciting, high-growth business areas to operate in. By understanding the full conversion and sales cycle — from awareness to conversion to continued relationships — you can reach new heights of revenue generation.
We hope these tips help you build an outstanding SaaS marketing strategy. If you’d like the help of our digital marketing experts in taking your marketing plan to the next level, click here to set up a free consultation call.
