5 Ways to Market Your SaaS Business

SaaS businesses like yours are now thriving with many companies subscribing to your products and services. SaaS has morphed into an industry that delivers undeniable value to these companies, and the reason for this fast transition is the technological advancements in the modern world, which have spurred rapid developments and have changed the ways people do things.

With every single person relying on the internet, computers, and mobile devices, the potential customer base of SaaS businesses has ballooned into massive proportions. These days, the name of the game is software, with hardware as a close second. This trend is not surprising because it is very easy and cheap to develop any kind of software. Thus, the rise of software as a service (SaaS) has taken over companies, and it is predicted that your SaaS business will continue to exert its influence on your many clients around the globe.

What is SaaS?

For those that are unfamiliar with the concept, SaaS is a software licensing and distribution model, where software is licensed to a client on a subscription basis. The client makes small monthly payments to use the software. However, the interface is centrally hosted and stored within a cloud, so SaaS is also often called as “on-demand software” or “software plus services”.

Its subscription model means that Saas businesses take time to make profits, and more importantly, they must continue to innovate and provide value to their clients. Failure to do these objectives means that SaaS has a great risk of customer churn. Here are some strategies that SaaS businesses like you can utilize to amplify your marketing efforts online and offline:

Take Advantage of Content Marketing

Around the world, companies utilize content marketing to solidify their image, build their brand name, attract clients to their official sites, and generate valuable leads. More importantly, content marketing is powerful as its value increases over time, making it a sound avenue for your SaaS business to leverage on. Bolstering your content will continue to help you drive leads and get the results that you desire. Here three tools that can help you boost your content, and in so doing, help your business grow:

Dropbox

Don’t discount this humble file sharing and storage services. Practically everyone with a computer, laptop, and mobile device is a potential customer. You can target them with your company-specific content at the main Dropbox, Dropbox Business, Dropbox Tech, and Dropbox Developer blogs. On top of that, Dropbox continually hosts webinars to help you communicate your company credentials to your desired clientele.

Intercom

This customer communication platform can help you make quality blogs, podcasts, and even books with the purpose of helping your brand achieve qualified leads. Intercom’s strategy relies on more than just marketing, but it utilizes design, product management, and customer interaction.

Moz

Content that features the value of leadership is what Moz is known for. Tapping them puts your SaaS company in a desirable position. Moz publishes a blog post every single day. On top of that, they create authoritative guides, which is totally beneficial for your products. Every Friday, they also release what is known as their Whiteboard videos. All of these steps create engagement and interaction, which can help you land potential clients.

Noteworthy, content is a powerful player in your SaaS company’s marketing strategy; but, it is also important not to neglect content distribution. Content creation becomes negligible if you are unable to distribute your specialized message to the right target audience.

Make Good Use of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO actually works hand-in-hand with content marketing because this platform makes the content you’ve carefully crafted discoverable to your clients. They can easily find it on search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, Baidu, etc. SEO is not just a matter of typing something on a search box and screening the results, but it actually has two complementing categories that support each other. These are called on-page SEO and off-page SEO.

On-Page SEO

This kind of SEO is within your control.

You craft quality content that people will want to read, share, comment, like, and link to. Other important factors are using the very vital keyword. On top of that, there is internal linking, utilizing title and descriptions, and loading page times. Study several popular websites to help you see how they optimize their small space in cyberspace.

Off-Page SEO

The first thing that comes to everyone’s mind when they hear the word off-page is external links.

However, more than the actual links, it is the quality of those links that bears the strongest weight and impact to your clients. Quality links that come from trusted sites and authoritative sources have a better advantage over those ordinary links that are a dime a dozen. The emphasis here is quality over quantity. Moreover, if you are utilizing social media, posts, links, and shares coming from an influencer or an official brand ambassador is another indicator that your content is reaching and impacting a lot of people.

Offer Product Trials That Promote a Positive Experience

As with any product, people, in general, would prefer to try it first, especially if it is something new before they buy it. For your industry, product trials are vital tools for winning people over to your brand. Think of this as clients’ road testing your products and services. Your business should always offer a trial and you should make this accessible to clients in your website.

Often, being able to see how things are done is more effective than listening to the sales pitch of your company’s representative. You don’t have to provide the whole package experience. Just give your clients enough to whet their appetites, so they’ll be curious enough to ask you for more. The key is to provide the right balance between demonstrating versus overwhelming your clients.

You have to ensure, though, that you provide them with a positive experience during product testing. Otherwise, all your valiant efforts would be wasted. Consider providing support through chatbots, calls, webinars, or even email. You have to go through great lengths to accommodate your clients because they are taking time out of their busy schedules to allow time for product testing. In so doing, they show great interest and intention of purchasing your product. Work on these people who have a higher propensity to buy.

Tap Referral Marketing and First Hand Reviews

A lot of studies indicate that referral marketing is the most effective form of generating leads. In fact, it is now seen as more effective than the traditional forms of advertising. In this modern world, people trust word of mouth testimonials and first-hand product reviews more than any other marketing strategy. Thus, it is important for your company to work on having your existing clients be your spokespeople in spreading your brand.

Some companies have opted to incentivize their marketing referral programs by offering free one month use for every new client that they successfully draw in and get to sign up. You have to make sure that your clients are truly happy with your products, which is their primary motivator in helping with your brand awareness.

If you incentivize too heavily, things may look insincere, and you risk getting low quality leads. It is crucial to strike a balance and test the waters to see what is best for your SaaS business. The most important move that you must do is to create a landing page on your site where people can read or watch reviews and find a link for referrals.

Consider Running Co-Marketing Campaigns

You can consider running a co-marketing campaign with another company that complements your products and services or shares your vision or similar approach to doing business. Collaborating with another company means you have more resources at your disposal. And as the old adage goes: two heads are always better than one. Both of you now have access to more opportunities. For instance, you can leverage on each other’s followers and do cross-posts with hashtags to help clients find you.

If both teams are aligned in terms of their vision and objectives, then co-marketing becomes a vital tool in generating leads. You get to use each other’s strengths, and you also share the expenses incurred in crafting various content and paying sponsorships or ads. By joining forces with a reputable company, you can tap a bigger audience base, widen your brand’s influence, craft better content at a cheaper price, and increase your profitability.

In Conclusion

These five strategies are just a few of the many reliable and result-oriented SaaS marketing strategies out there, which are specifically designed to help your software company grow. Remember, there are many competitors out there trying to tap the same clientele as you. You have to continue to work hard to make sure that your existing clients stay loyal to you; and at the same time, you have to double your efforts and persevere in tapping new clients.

These tried and tested SaaS marketing strategies have the potential to help your software companies grow. Read, study, research, and analyze all the information your read, along with all the data you get from your SaaS company. Only you can determine which strategy or strategies are best suited for your business. Once you find what these are, optimize them to generate the best results for your business.