Do you know what’s so common between successful SaaS companies these days? It’s their working inbound digital marketing model. There is no doubt that software is eating the world, and Software as a service (SaaS) companies have and will continue to take over or disrupt large parts of the economy. I want to enlighten you on effective marketing secrets for SaaS businesses. First, let me unveil the secret sauce to building organic traffic.
Best Marketing Strategies for SaaS Firms
On the surface, this surely may seem like marketing tech hype. Still, under the surface, a fundamental transformation is taking place in the marketing realm, reshaping how businesses are seen engaging with customers, managing their IT systems, and carrying out business. However, if you ask me in person, I feel SaaS marketing is way more difficult than product marketing because there is no tangible product left to show. Imagine a situation where you have to convince someone to integrate your software into their daily processes without offering them any trial experience. Insanely tricky.
Let’s focus on Google for a while
Recently, we found that Google moved its ads from the less distracting 20% column area on the right to the straight-in-the-face ads in search results. Are you miffed hearing this because I was and that for several weeks? It felt like Google was shooting itself in the foot and had set the stage for someone else to innovate on the search front. In simple words, Google knows exactly when to show ads and when to show content!” This is what we call deciphering the user intent. Of course, several Google ad haters don’t like to think this improves the user experience; unfortunately, we must ignore them momentarily.
Tried-and-True Strategies for SaaS Businesses
Below I have come up with an interesting roundup of strategies SaaS businesses can use to ramp up their lead-generation efforts.
Content Marketing
Every business uses content marketing strategies to build its brand, attract visitors, and generate leads. Unfortunately, many find content marketing a tricky field with several nuances, most of which no one talks about. But have you realized that it has a compounding power of return — just like a smart investment, it increases in value over time.
You must be aware of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising; success depends on how long you spend. If you think your content is an asset, you might be mistaken because it is meant to drive leads. Marketing professionals must make the most of that content for effective SaaS to generate leads. For example-
Dropbox
Many types of potential customers use the file sharing and storage service, and attract them with targeted content at the Dropbox, Dropbox Business, Dropbox Tech, and Dropbox Developer blogs. In addition to this, several webinars are hosted by them to communicate their credentials to prospective clients.
Intercom
This content marketing strategy, in particular, focuses on several aspects simultaneously, from product management to designs, startups, and marketing. The customer communication platform is fast becoming known for the quality of the Inside Intercom blog, podcast, and books, all of which help build their brand and drive qualified leads.
Moz
Popularly known for its thought leadership content, Moz publishes a blog post daily, creates authoritative guides, and releases its Whiteboard Friday videos, which generate leads.
Of course, your content has to be the key part of your strategy to ensure you do not overlook content distribution.
Product Trials
One of the crucial sources for lead generation is product trials. Nothing beats the saying, “Try before you buy.” I feel that trials are one of the most effective tools, especially when selling to a tech-savvy audience, instead of speaking/ bluffing with the help of a sales rep. In addition, product trials are typically self-serve, so you can continue to generate leads with little ongoing marketing investment.
It may quite interest you to know that product trials are one of the strong indicators of buyer intent. So we must balance demonstrating value without overwhelming the prospect and doing it in a light-touch and cost-effective way.
Search Engine Optimization
It’s about making your content discoverable on search engines like Google, Bing, Yandex, and Baidu. Now SEO can be bifurcated on several bases.
On-page SEO
If this can be controlled, it’s what we call On-page SEO. Create content that people want to read, link to, and share, but make sure you consider certain factors. Everything must be considered, from keyword strategy, internal linking, use of titles and descriptions, page load time, and UI.
Off-Page SEO
For those who believe off-page is solely related to link building, it’s way beyond link building. Links are important but in terms of quality from trusted and authoritative sites. So come up with an innovative distribution strategy. I am sure it will work wonders.
Author Bio:
Charles Richards strongly believes that knowledge is meant to be shared, for there is a lot we can learn from each other. A daily business analyst and writer at night, Charles likes to write on new and trending technical aspects. He works at Tatvasoft.co.uk, which provides software development services in the UK.
