Resource Category: saas digital marketing

Software as a Service is rapidly becoming one of the most popular ways for companies of all sizes all around the world to gain access to the software they need. Despite that popularity, there’s a lot of competition in the field, which means you’ll need to market your software in a way that proves its superiority. Below are seven quick tips that you can use to ensure your SaaS marketing efforts are top-notch.

#1 – Use a Tried-and-True Prospecting Campaign

Most of the time, salespeople tend to contact the same prospects several times a month. If they don’t receive any communication, they simply give up on that person or company and move on to the next. If this sounds familiar, you’re doing yourself a disservice. To get through to seemingly disinterested prospects, try this instead:

• Send an email first and a voicemail after.
• Follow up a little while later with a document or digital brochure that shows the value in the product.
• Follow up a little while later with an entire package that includes any discounts you can offer.
• Continue to follow up.

Believe it or not, it works – and it’s better than giving up after five emails and 10 phone calls in a single month.

#2 – Get to Know Your Current Customers

One of the best ways to understand your target demographic – the people who are most likely to buy from you – involves getting to know your current customers better. There are several ways to do this, and some of the best include social media posts encouraging participation and email surveys.

#3 – Market Based on the Potential Buyer’s Position

In other words, make sure you’re using different ads to reach a potential buyer at different positions. If a prospect has shown interest in the software, continuing to bombard that person over and over again with the same ad isn’t as effective as creating a completely separate ad for anyone who’s tried the demo or asked for more info since they’re likely considering the purchase.

#4 – Make Sure Support is Always Available

User experience is everything right now, so the better yours is, the better off you will be. If your current customers are happy with the experiences involved in getting support for the software, they’ll share that with others – and that’s free marketing for you. If a customer needs support, make it easy for them to get that support by reducing the number of clicks involved in submitting their requests. You should even offer troubleshooting for your product as well as an easy-to-navigate FAQ so that users can find help for common issues quickly.

#5 – Implement ABM Funnels

An ABM funnel (Account-Based Marketing) is one of the best possible ways to get the word out about your SaaS offerings. It involves categorizing potential customers into groups by things like industry or business type, then providing marketing materials that have been customized to answer any particular questions or concerns that specific group might have.

#6 – Utilize Review Sites

Review sites are fantastic places to get your name out into the open. All you have to do is search Google and you’ll find hundreds of websites out there that are more than happy to review your product and type up their thoughts for their own audiences – and that’s more exposure for you.

#7 – Automate Your Email

Finally, while email automation might seem like a no-brainer to experienced marketers, the truth is that very few companies are utilizing it to its full potential. You need to make sure you’re sending multiple emails with messages that are relevant to the recipient (using ABM funneling, perhaps) and that remain relevant throughout that potential buyer’s journey.

There’s a huge difference between marketing a product and marketing a service, and that difference is even more noticeable when it’s software as a service. By following these seven tips – and perhaps a few unique marketing ideas alongside them –  you can master SaaS marketing and grow your business substantially.

If you’re looking to disrupt your industry with your SaaS product, there are plenty of ways to do just that. Below are seven outrageous ideas for making the most of your SaaS marketing efforts – and perhaps even taking your company or brand viral while you’re at it. 

#1 – Make Sure Your Free Version or Trial Actually Delivers

People are leery of downloading free trials or free versions of software because most “free” versions of anything are terrible and pointless. As outrageous as it might seem, your free version or trial does not have to follow the status quo. Give people something actually useful. Their time is also money and wasting it won’t make a good impression on anyone. 

#2 – Pre-Marketing through Influencers

Rather than creating social media accounts or relying on paid ads to brag about a “Coming Soon” software as a service, think about contacting some influencers who your target demographic probably follows. This is the best way to get your product out in front of people before it ever even launches. Just make sure the launch goes smoothly – all eyes will be on you. 

#3 – Shock People with Humor

Today’s world loves sarcasm, jump scares, and plot twists, so why not utilize some of these things in your SaaS marketing efforts? For example, you could create a video that starts off serious enough, then morphs into something outright silly before mentioning your product. It’s all about being memorable and broadening your reach, and a good video does all that and more. If you can make people laugh, you’ll win them over. Make them laugh. It’s worth it. 

#4 – Make Your Newsletters Worth Reading

You probably get thousands of newsletters every month, and you probably read a whopping two of them. If you want to stand out from the crowd, follow this outrageous suggestion and make your newsletters actually worthwhile. If every newsletter offers something useful, word will spread, you’ll get some shares, and brand awareness will spread without having to invest any extra money. 

#5 – Record Tutorials for YouTube 

People are afraid of learning to use a brand-new software platform, especially if they’re coming from something that is completely different. Focus on this fact and make the learning process as simple and as painless as possible by recording a really well-done (and easily searchable!) tutorial series for YouTube. Not only does it make your brand more accessible, but it makes the help more successful – and it’s better than digging through hundreds of “Support” pages or fielding thousands of calls every day, too. 

#6 – Disrupt Something

With so many markets and industries completely saturated, the name of the game is disruption. Even if the software you offer doesn’t really bring anything brand new to the table, the way you market it certainly can. Be disruptive, but in a fun and never aggravating way. Maybe your software is actually quite boring, but the company is disruptive with the way it does business. Think of something like Toms, which is a shoe brand like any other. However, because the brand donates shoes and socks to the less fortunate, it has disrupted the industry enough to make a name for itself. You can do this, too. 

#7 – Make the Whole Brand Relatable

The food truck industry is a great example of how relatability can make a huge difference. Imagine four food trucks within a city mile, each serving specialty grilled cheese that is delicious and fairly priced. Which one will people visit most? The answer is simple. They’ll buy from the one they relate to. Build a brand with a personality that your target audience can relate to. For example, if you are selling SaaS to help artists with their bookkeeping, build an artsy brand with logos and slogans that make sense to artists. 

There are hundreds of outrageous ways to build your brand and increase SaaS sales to become successful, but it’s up to each individual company to determine which kind of outrageous is best for them. Try using humor, building a relatable brand, or disrupting something that has never been disrupted before. 

Marketing software as a service (SaaS) is not the same as marketing a tangible product. It requires a different sort of approach. Below are six of the simplest but most important things that you need to remember about marketing software as a service if you want to be successful. 

#1 – Don’t Price Your Product Too Low

Pricing your software and service too high is a bad move, especially if your target demographic is small or startup business. However, it’s important that you avoid selling yourself short in your efforts to avoid overpricing. If the software you offer is truly valuable, you can charge more for it. Charging too little may send a message that your product is inferior. 

#2 – Make the Sales Process Headache-Free

With so many companies in the SaaS industry these days, it’s important for you to stand out from your competitors. One of the best ways to do this involves simplifying the sales and buying process as much as possible. Make sure your website is easy to use and don’t overcomplicate the purchase/subscription process, either. If you provide a free trial, make sure that you’ve provided a thorough user guide so that potential buyers don’t get frustrated before the trial ends. 

#3 – Keep Clients Happy

If your marketing strategy only focuses on obtaining new customers, then you’re probably experiencing a high rate of churn. Though you should definitely attract new customers wherever possible, it’s even better to hang on to your existing ones. To do this, make sure you’re proactive with your users. Send them emails with tips for getting more out of their product, invite them to read and comment on your blog, and more. When they feel valued, they’ll stick around. 

#4 – Produce More Content

The SaaS industry is booming, and that means you’re probably up against some pretty fierce competition. As such, you’ll need to do your very best to stand out, and that means upping your SEO game. The more content you produce across all your various platforms, the better off you will be. Aim to produce at least one blog and post several social media updates on all of your accounts each week. Make sure this content is optimized with the right keywords, relevant, and up-to-date. 

#5 – Social Media is King

Though the odds of your company going viral are relatively slim, social media is still a great way to advertise your SaaS wares. You can buy ads on platforms like Facebook, but you should also produce organic posts, share links to your blogs, produce how-to and demo videos for YouTube (and link to these on other social media channels) and more. The more platforms you’re on, the more likely you are to be noticed. 

#6 – Referrals are Important

Finally, if you aren’t yet providing your clients a way to refer their friends to your product, now is the perfect time to start. Better still, design a referral engine that makes it easy for your clients to refer their friends and family, and offer them some perks for doing so. For example, when a referred company makes their first payment, the referrer receives a month of the “Pro” version of your software for free. 

SaaS marketing requires some creativity. Software isn’t a tangible product that people can go to a retail shop, pick up, and examine, so it requires a different set of marketing guidelines. The six tips above can go a long way toward helping you build your brand’s reputation and start generating revenue. 

If you’re new to the realm of digital marketing and you’re curious about how to build the perfect marketing campaign for your business, SaaS marketing is a great way to get started, even if you don’t have much marketing experience at all. Below are some indicators of a winning SaaS marketing campaign. 

It Should Focus on the Long Term

eCommerce and SaaS are two entirely different concepts, but all too often, companies attempt to make SaaS marketing almost identical to eCommerce marketing. The truth is that there is one major difference: time. With eCommerce marketing, although repeat buyers are certainly welcome, it’s mostly about reaching new buyers and convincing them to purchase a product. With SaaS, you are selling a service, so every campaign should be focused on acquiring customers and keeping them for the long term to avoid churn. SaaS is not a “one and done” approach. Rather, it’s all about retention, and your campaigns should reflect that. 

One Size Does Not Fit All

SaaS is not an impulse purchase. In fact, it may take you up to a year (or more) of interacting with a lead to convince them to purchase your software. Within that year, you’ll have a variety of leads in different phases of the funnel, so your digital marketing needs to evolve and change with that customer’s impression of your company. When you build your campaign, make sure that you’ve considered every stage of the funnel and your efforts are directed to the right people at the right time. This multi-faceted approach is sure to help your campaign become more successful. 

It Needs to Stand Out from the Competition

Everywhere you turn these days, you’ll find yet another company offering software as a service. It’s a huge industry right now, and it’s expected to keep growing well into the future. That means you will have a lot of competition, and you will need to create a campaign that is catchy, memorable, and above all else, better than your competitors’. When marketing your software, make sure you’re focusing on its uniqueness. What can your software do that your competitors’ software cannot? This is the best way to ensure that your SaaS digital marketing campaign truly succeeds. 

You Should Include the “Staples”

Last, but most certainly not least, your SaaS digital marketing campaign should include all the basics – the things upon which a solid campaign is built. These include a solid email marketing strategy, social media marketing, a well-built and aesthetic website, SEO, webinars, and pay-per-click ads. Though there are certainly other things you can add, these are considered critical for the success of your campaign. 

As you can see, SaaS digital marketing is much, much different from marketing in eCommerce. It focuses on improving retention and diminishing churn wherever possible, and it reaches out to a wide variety of leads in various stages of the sales funnel. To be successful, you need to make sure your ads focus on the unique parts of your software and that your campaign as a whole includes all the most important staples.

Software as a Service (SaaS) has exploded in popularity over the last decade, and it is likely to continue to grow well into the future. Due to its popularity, it’s a very crowded industry, which means your company may struggle to gain traction without some experience and knowledge on your side. Below are five awesome examples of successful SaaS digital marketing efforts that you can use for inspiration. 

#1 – GitHub

Almost every SaaS company in existence utilizes all the most popular social media platforms to build their names, but GitHub did something entirely different. It built its own social media platform. If you look up GitHub on LinkedIn and Facebook, you’ll find that those pages aren’t all that popular, but their own niche platform certainly is. By understanding its audience, GitHub built the perfect platform to share content. It is now 22 million members strong and still growing. 

#2 – INVision

There are photo editors all over the web, whether you’re editing professionally, or you’re just interested in fixing up a selfie. When INVision made its debut, it had a lot of competition. It was originally designed to provide professional photo editing options like animations and transitions. Its huge social following and penchant for helpful infographics has helped it grow from these simple offerings into a tool that can stand up right alongside Photoshop. 

#3 – Trello

Trello is a collaboration tool that displays projects like boards – almost like Pinterest – to make them easier to follow in seconds. Believe it or not, Trello used its meager startup budget to build a product people and companies really needed rather than advertising. Because the product was so good, people raved about it all over social media. Later, the company gave its followers rewards for interacting on social media, and they offered referral bonuses, too. 

#4 – HootSuite

HootSuite is one of the world’s most well-known social media management systems. Its approach to marketing is simple – appeal to the masses with entertainment and unforgettable videos. They made a video campaign that focused on the hit TV series “Game of Thrones,” and this catapulted them into the limelight. People loved the video so very much that they shared it far and wide, and it has well over a million views. 

#5 – Zendesk

Zendesk was designed to make customer service simple and effective with ticketing self-service options and other tools. Back in 2013, the team found that people were searching for “Zendesk Alternatives” rather than actually turning to their product, so the marketing team embraced it in a rather odd way. They created a fake music group named Zendesk Alternative, bought the domain name, created social media pages, and utilized SEO to essentially “own” the term that people kept searching for. The result? Zendesk surpassed its biggest competitor, Helpscout, in a matter of days after launching their fake band. 

The SaaS industry is incredibly saturated, which means it can be difficult for new companies to survive. These five companies used innovation, creativity, and outright brilliance to grow their brands. As a result, they are some of the most well-known SaaS brands of all time.