A SaaS (software as a service) marketing strategy initially seems to have little in common with a standard marketing strategy. You create a product, market it, and then, ideally, sell it to a large number of consumers.
SaaS products are different from other products, though. For starters, a SaaS product lacks a tangible presence; you cannot hold one in your hands. As a result, you need a new approach to selling SaaS goods. SaaS marketing steps into the scene at this point.
Selling SaaS solutions in a (mainly) digital environment with a focus on digital channels and content marketing is the goal of a SaaS marketing strategy. To draw in new consumers who will sign up for the long term, marketing efforts for SaaS solutions must stand out in the rapidly expanding industry.
1. Content Marketing
Companies all around the world use content marketing to build their brands, drive traffic to their websites, and generate leads. Because of its compounding potential of return, content marketing has the important advantage of seeing its value increase over time, much like a sensible investment would.
In contrast to other marketing tactics like pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, which only produces leads while you are still paying for them, content marketing continues to provide leads after you stop paying for them. For this reason, as opposed to online advertising, which is rented, we view content as an asset that businesses own. This distinction must be taken into consideration by SaaS marketers.
Your strategy should heavily emphasize content, but it’s also critical to take content distribution into account. In other words, investment in content development is useless if the distribution is ignored.
2. Trials of Products
In the SaaS sector, product trials are becoming a more important lead-generation tactic. Nothing beats “test driving” a product, so if your company doesn’t currently offer one, think about doing so.
If you’re selling to a tech-savvy customer who prefers to test the product rather than chat with a salesperson, trials are an exceptionally successful lead-generation strategy. Since most product trials are self-serve, you may keep generating leads while spending the least on continuing marketing expenses.
A few obstacles must be mentioned, though. Depending on the intricacy of your product and your unit economics, you should think about offering some onboarding or advice to customers who are testing out your product. This can be done using one-on-one phone calls, group webinars, or any mix of the three.
Trials of products are useful because they provide a trustworthy indicator of consumer intent. A potential consumer is spending time finding out more about what you have to offer. We at HubSpot know that people who have completed a trial have a higher chance of making a purchase; we refer to these people as product-qualified leads (PQLs) and carefully watch after them.
3. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Search engines like Google, Bing, and Baidu can find your material if you combine SEO with content marketing. Consider on-page SEO and off-page SEO as two distinct but related types of SEO.
3.1 SEO on-page
On-page SEO is completely under your control, which is fantastic. There are other factors to take into account in addition to producing content that people want to read, link to, and share.
These include keyword strategy, internal linking, title and description utilization, and page load speed and user interface (UI). For a detailed examination of the elements that make a website well-optimized, see our on-page SEO instructions.
3.2 SEO off-page
Contrary to popular belief, link development is not the only aspect of off-page SEO. Although links are important, their quality is what matters most. High-quality links from credible, authoritative websites always outweigh quantity. Since links and shares from well-known social accounts are another indications of quality, social media is essential.
4. Affiliate Marketing
Referrals are among the best kinds of leads, according to a growing body of research. There is a referral mismatch between sales and marketing even though recommendations are frequently free and close rapidly. While 56% of sales representatives consider referrals to be “extremely significant,” only 33% of organizations have a program in place.
Referrals should be rewarded by businesses, although this notion is hotly contested. One school of thinking holds that without a referral incentive, you won’t get many recommendations, while the opposing school holds that if you strongly reward, you might obtain low-value, low-quality recommendations. The greatest recommendation is to experiment to identify the needs of your SaaS business before focusing on it.
The most crucial phase is launching your referral program, followed by SEO. We urge you to at the very least set up a page on your website where people can submit recommendations, even if there is software available that can manage your referral program from beginning to end.
Describe what a good referral is to ensure that you get them. This may refer to the individual’s industry, the size of the business they would work for, or their vocation. Furthermore, you must be extremely explicit about whether, how, and when rewards will be given to individuals.
By creating templates that they may utilize, marketing teams may make it easier for sales, customer success, and support teams to offer suggestions.
5. Ads on Google
Although your AdWords spend may be significantly reduced by inbound marketing, millions of consumers still click on search engine advertising every day. Continue investing in PPC, especially as advertising takes up more real estate in Google search results if you don’t want to lose out on some prospective leads.
PPC is still widely used for a variety of reasons. It generates targeted traffic for your website and is extremely scalable, allowing you to tailor spending to suit your company’s demands as they alter during the day. The high degree of inherent predictability it offers, both in terms of costs and outcomes, appeals to CFOs and other individuals who frequently influence marketing budgets.
The best advice is to do numerous tests and identify the activity that provides your business with the highest return on investment. Even while industry-specific competition differs widely, PPC can still result in significant traffic and lead generation if you’re willing to pay for it.
6. Co-marketing
Many SaaS companies choose to work together by launching a co-marketing campaign with other organizations that either complement their product offering or have a comparable point of view or business strategy.
Co-marketing has no set rules, although often the participating businesses produce some kind of material, like an ebook, present a webinar, or release some research. The participating businesses split the expenditures and lead that are produced.
Both businesses have the chance to benefit from one another’s the fan base and possibly reach new customers. Co-marketing can be quite successful if both teams are on the same page. However, it’s crucial to make sure that both teams are on the same page and are aware of the expectations from the beginning.
We’d even venture to suggest that some SaaS marketing techniques are pandemic-proof.
But keep in mind that a solid buyer persona and ideal customer profile come first. Without understanding what customers want, it’s impossible to develop a product that meets their needs and to develop a marketing strategy that gets noticed.
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