It’s official: SaaS (software as a service) companies have taken over large parts of the economy and changed everyone’s life for good. This comes as no surprise as developing software is cheaper and easier than ever thanks to technological advances.
And with more than four billion Internet users worldwide, a SaaS business has a huge potential customer base. This, combined with the subscription model used by most SaaS companies, is what has transformed SaaS into a thriving industry.
But it’s that very model that gives SaaS business owners headaches. The subscription model means that SaaS companies have to provide value continually in order to prevent clients from leaving.
In other words, SaaS companies need to come up with ways to boost their lead generation.
If you’re one of them and need some inspiration, check out these 5 marketing strategies tailored for SaaS businesses.
1. Offer Product Trials
Product trials are one of the most important sources of lead generation for SaaS companies, as they’re an indicator of buyer intent. Of course, it comes as no surprise that tech-savvy clients prefer testing the product on their own rather than speaking to a sales representative for hours, asking dozens of questions. So make sure to make one available on your site if you haven’t already.
However, if you decide to offer free trials, you need to make sure people have a positive experience. This means providing some initial support or onboarding in the form of phone calls, automated emails, or group webinars.
2. Give Cold Email Marketing a Try
For those starting or running a SaaS business, it is very easy to focus on the product and forget that people need to actually hear about your software before they start using it. Cold email marketing can help scale your SaaS business and pave the way for predictable revenue.
Many SaaS businesses have great success using cold email marketing, while others end up frustrated with the results. Why is that so? The fact is, cold email marketing is still a very effective marketing tactic, but it has to be done right. And, sadly, most SaaS companies aren’t that good in finding qualified leads or creating cold emails that convert.
This is where having an outreach automation tool can be of great help. A good outreach tool handles everything from sending personalized emails, including mail merge, sending automatic follow-ups, and campaign tracking.
3. Content Marketing (Almost) Always Works
Businesses of all sizes and industries have been relying on content marketing to attract traffic to their sites, build brand recognition, and generate leads.
Content marketing is great because its value increases over time. Unlike other marketing tactics like PPC that require continual spending in order to provide results, content marketing continues to generate leads almost completely free of charge.
When it comes to creating an efficient content marketing strategy, the content itself is key. Having in mind that nearly 50% of B2B buyers read 3 to 5 blog posts before speaking with a sales rep, you should consider adding a “Resources” section to your website with at least a handful of blog posts. Through SaaS content marketing, you can effectively educate customers on how your product works, demonstrate how it can solve their problems, and guide them toward testing out your solution.
4. Rely on SEO
Content marketing works together with SEO (search engine optimization) to make your content visible on search engines. They’re the foundation for a predictable, sustainable, and scalable growth strategy. It’s no wonder that some of the most successful SaaS businesses, like Salesforce, Asana, and Buffer, have invested in content marketing and SEO.
When it comes to SEO for SaaS, you need to consider two aspects: on-page and off-page SEO.
On-page SEO is an aspect you can easily control – all you need to do is create engaging & useful content that people will read and share. Of course, on-page SEO requires strategies like using keywords, internal linking, paying attention to page loading times, etc.
Off-page SEO, on the other hand, is mostly about link building. But the most important thing here is the links’ quality. In other words, instead of focusing on quantity, you need to focus on quality, i.e. get high-quality links from authoritative and trusted websites.
5. Use Referral Marketing
Generating leads through word of mouth is one of the cheapest and most effective marketing strategies and here is why: Research has shown that recommendations from friends are more trusted than traditional ads.
Referral programs mobilize your existing customers to promote your product at very little cost to you. In addition. Referral programs boost customer loyalty, leading to increased CLV (referrals have more than 15% higher customer lifetime value than non-referred customers).
Sounds compelling? Here are a few tips to help you develop a scalable SaaS referral program:
- In order to build a winning referral program, you first need to make sure your product is awesome. Check customer feedback and online reviews to see if there are any pain points you can improve.
- Make the referral process as simple as possible. Provide users with multiple ways to share your offers, like social media, SMS, and email.
- Choose the right incentive. Do some research to figure out what drives your users and what they find most beneficial.
- Promote your referral program to make sure it is easy to find.
- Track, test, analyze, and optimize your referral program to see what’s working and what isn’t.
Final Words
These 5 SaaS marketing strategies are sure to get you started off the right foot and help your company grow. Of course, you don’t need to try them all at once. Choose the ones that you think the best suit your needs and give them a try. Of course, as always, don’t forget to analyze and optimize to see what yields the best results.
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