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Marketing is challenging, more so for a SaaS company whose products have no physical presence and are continually changing.. When it comes to B2B SaaS marketing strategies, in particular, things are markedly different.
Marketing and sales teams need tried-and-true SaaS marketing strategies to grow sales and profits. This article discusses four SaaS marketing strategy examples and how to use them.
Table of contents
3. Product trials and demonstrations
4. Account-based marketing (ABM)
Why a strategy is essential and how to set goals
SaaS marketing involves promoting SaaS products, web-based software platforms, or other cloud offerings that customers can use through a licensing or subscription basis. Vendors of SaaS products look after maintenance, security, and upgrades.
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How is SaaS Marketing different?
- SaaS marketers focus their messaging on their products' value. They focus on how their products solve customers' actual problems and are well-versed in their unique value proposition.
- SaaS products' sales cycles a
re shorter due to the lack of physical technology to evaluate. - Prospective customers see what the products offer by accessing dashboards.
- SaaS marketing's primary aim is to maintain customer retention, which means marketers market both products and customer relationships.
Apart from a sound marketing strategy, you also need to set realistic goals and use metrics to measure performance and results. To do this, use the SMART marketing goals framework (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely).
1. SEO and content strategy
SEO and content marketing are the go-to options for businesses worldwide looking to build their brand and online presence, generate leads, and attract visitors to their sites.
According to HubSpot, blogs are presently among the top three primary media forms that content marketers use today. A compounding power of return characterises content strategy because of its increase in value over time.
But whether you use on-page or off-page SEO strategies, the topic cluster method works wonders for your SaaS marketing strategy, especially if you struggle to get to the top of search engine results pages (SERPs).
The topic cluster methodology (pillar-and-cluster technique) helps both B2C and B2B organisations streamline their content marketing strategy. It focuses on topics rather than keywords and has an intent-based approach to help businesses simplify their blog archives. It involves creating content centred on one topic – often called the pillar post or page.
Once you have your pillar content, create several supporting blog posts (clusters) to explain related sub-topics, and generate internal links to your pillar page. Establishing a semantic relationship between each post and page encourages search engines to push your topic cluster up the ranks.
2. SaaS sales funnels
All successful SaaS marketing strategy examples reveal one fundamental truth – successful businesses don't make occasional one-off sales; they make consistent and high volume sales to remain profitable. They use a SaaS sales funnel to weed out weak leads and convert the serious ones they receive from marketing efforts.
It's normal for many people to enter the sales funnel, only for the numbers to reduce further down the line. However, those who get to the end are often highly qualified and 100 times more likely to turn into customers. A funnel prevents your sales teams from wasting time trying to convert cold, unqualified leads.
Furthermore, a sales funnel allows you to predict your sales growth and know how many leads you need entering the funnel to generate a new customer. It also allows you to know and budget for your ad spend and the expected ROI.
In time, you can decide and control how many new customers you want or can handle. Essentially, it's a numbers game, and you control it.
3. Product trials and demonstrations
Product (free) trials are an excellent solution for breaking down barriers to your clients' purchasing decisions. Free trials give users access to all your premium features for a period without payment. Hence, customers get to try the product commitment-free and experience its value. However, you only get paid after converting free trials into paying customers.
A freemium model allows you to eliminate the free trial payment hurdle partly. It involves allowing users to use your product for free but at a lower service level. They can then choose to upgrade to a premium service level. However, the freemium model is costly because you support and cover your free user base's costs.
Demonstrations before signing up for paid level services eliminate the cost of supporting a free user base. Some SaaS companies decide to make demos mandatory to qualify users and close sales. However, it results in a lot of work for your sales team and increases the pressure to perform.
4. Account-based marketing
Growing account-based marketing campaigns from nothing to a successful and comprehensive lead-generation effort can be challenging to SaaS companies, but not impossible. ABM helps businesses enter new markets, attack new verticals, or engage prospects for upcoming events like product releases. For many B2B companies, ABM is a must-have strategy.
However, ABM involves a lot of preparation, timed execution, and coordination between multiple departments. Failure to pay attention to all areas could lead to an ineffective and costly campaign six months down the line with little insight into what went wrong.
ABM complements an inbound marketing strategy by taking typical marketing or sales funnels and flipping them on their head. Therefore, you start converting prospects who best fit your products but are not ready to purchase and take them through the sales funnel. Instead of sending email blasts or advertising on mainstream media, you concentrate on converting the best-fit candidates for your product.
The bottom line
The four SaaS marketing strategy examples above are useful when applied in the right context, depending on your goals. For instance, a sales funnel is perfect if you are looking to launch a product and test it before investing in a broader marketing approach. Whereas if you target specific growth in a given market and already have the supporting marketing materials, then the ABM strategy is your best option.
A reputable SaaS marketing agency adds value to your marketing strategy and becomes an extension of your in-house team to assist the implementation. An agency considers the resources available to you and fills gaps in knowledge, skill, experience, and time to create a rewarding marketing solution. Contact SpotDev Digital today for more information on SaaS marketing strategies.
