SaaS products are becoming increasingly popular as many aspects of our everyday lives have moved online. SaaS means “software as a service.” SaaS products can include mobile, desktop, or web apps that provide some kind of online services, such as scheduling appointments or creating designs.
But it’s not enough for you to have a great product. As with other products, you need to promote your SaaS offering. The thing is, SaaS product marketing differs from the promotion of physical products. SaaS’ marketing strategy aims to establish strong customer relationships for purchases, and aims to foster customer retention.
So, if you’re a SaaS startup founder or a marketing executive in a SaaS company, this article is for you. In this blog post, you’ll learn what SaaS product marketing is, how it’s different from traditional marketing, and how you can create your own marketing strategy.
What is SaaS product marketing?
SaaS product marketing is the use of various marketing tactics to promote and sell SaaS products. It encompasses the messaging and positioning of your product and the techniques that can help you differentiate your product features and benefits from competitors in the market.
The product is the center of all SaaS marketing efforts. So, to create effective campaigns, SaaS marketers or founders need to have a strong understanding of what the product does and how it can benefit users.
Ultimately,the purpose of a SaaS product marketing strategy is to drive demand, boost adoption, and ensure product expansion.
Comparing SaaS product marketing to traditional marketing
Unlike traditional products, SaaS products aren’t one-time purchases; their pricing is usually subscription-based, so customers cyclically make the decision to keep paying for the software.
That’s why while traditional marketing focuses on convincing prospects to buy, SaaS marketing focuses on customer retention. In other words, SaaS businesses need to foster customer success and satisfaction to generate consistent revenue. This also means growing the product continuously and effectively onboarding customers throughout the user journey. This is different from traditional marketing, where companies no longer usually consider what happens after the purchase. The product, after all, has already been developed, promoted and successfully sold.
Since the role of SaaS product marketing is to increase user adoption and reduce churn rate, SaaS companies should focus on creating a personalized customer journey. This is different from traditional marketing, which often relies on broad messaging to cater to a wider audience.
Another goal of SaaS product marketing is to drive account expansion, which doesn’t happen in traditional marketing.
Of course, companies will strive to convince customers to repurchase physical products. However, in SaaS product marketing, you need to persuade customers that the product is worth paying more for cyclically. So, when the customer is engaged with the product, the next step is to upsell to a premium plan and get access to additional features or services.
4 tips for marketing your SaaS product
So, how should you market your SaaS product for the best results? Let’s look at four essential tips to follow as part of your SaaS product marketing strategy.
Create valuable content for each stage of the funnel
Promoting SaaS products involves creating demand and educating potential customers about the benefits and value of the product. You can achieve this by creating valuable and engaging content that matches the needs and interests of your target market.
Content marketing, in this regard, is a popular channel for SaaS businesses to reach their target audience.
There are various types of content you can create to satisfy your customers. These include blog posts and emails, which we’ll talk more about in the next sections.
However, you need to be aware that different types of content work for different stages of the sales funnel. So, you first need to map out the customer journey as part of your SaaS product marketing strategy. Then create content for each touchpoint to take the user from awareness to conversion.
The best content types for the awareness stage include blog articles, ebooks, or webinars. These types of content work because they focus on educating the audience on the problem they are facing.
Content types that work best for the consideration stage include case studies, comparisons, product proposals, and demos, or customer reviews, including testimonials. This type of content should steer prospective customers in the direction of your product as a solution to their problem.
The last stage of the sales funnel is the decision stage, and it should be addressed with content such as a free trial or demo, coupon, discount, or consultation that can be sent via email. This is content that can serve as the final nudge for prospects to purchase your product.
Leverage email marketing
Email marketing as part of content marketing is an invaluable tool for keeping your customers informed and engaged with your brand. For SaaS companies, it’s an indispensable method of maintaining customer relationships and ensuring customer retention.
SaaS products have an indisputable advantage over physical products in that they can help you collect huge amounts of customer data, which can drive email automation. After all, customers can typically only gain access to your SaaS product if they sign up for it on your site with the specific data you ask for.
Lifecycle segmentation can then help you match customer data with specific email campaigns. For example, when a user signs up for a trial, you can launch a specific email campaign that urges them to use the tool. In this case, that would be an onboarding email sequence.
Here’s an example of an onboarding email sent by Typeform specifically to its users who signed up to use the tool.
But when collecting data from would-be users for your SaaS email campaigns, make sure you don’t get carried away. Just ask for the necessary information. The less information you ask at the first instance, the higher the conversion rate. If you have five to ten fields, for instance, you get a 15.1% conversion rate. Reduce the fields to less than five and you get a 19.1% conversion rate!
See how Hubspot makes it easy for people to sign up for its mailing list and its free trial:
Also, when sending emails, mix different types of messages. Educational content is great, but you also need content that will drive your subscribers to make a purchase. So, don’t forget a promotional email from time to time.
Enhance website SEO
SEO can be an incredible tool for SaaS product marketing. With search engine optimization, new SaaS companies can boost their visibility. Ultimately, they can drive organic traffic to their website, where potential clients can sign up for a product trial.
Whether we’re talking about educational site content like blog posts or general website copy, or press releases that boost your brand image, keyword research is an essential part of your SEO strategy. After all, the only way for all this website content to crop up in search engine results pages is if it incorporates frequently used search terms.
You can start with Google and type in the name of your niche, which will be your target keyword. On Google auto-suggest, you can already see keyword propositions related to your target keyword:
But you can go a step further. After Googling your target keyword, look at the related questions section and the related searches section for more keyword inspiration. This is what I get when I Google “email marketing”:
To help you automate the process of finding keywords, you can use free tools such as Google Keyword Planner. The good thing about these tools is that they can give you important SEO metrics related to the keyword (for instance, average monthly searches or competition). This can help you decide whether a keyword is worth targeting or not. It’s best to opt for long-tail keywords that are easier to rank for because of their low competition.
Once you have your list of keywords, you can start creating your website content. Optimize everything from your blog content to your landing pages and homepage.
If you simply don’t have the time, you can leverage the services of reputable companies that can do everything from keyword research to site content creation and optimization for you. Just choose an agency that specializes in the type of site content you want for the best results. For instance, if you want optimized press releases on your site, an agency that offers good PR services is your best option. The agency will know exactly how to, not just optimize press releases for SEO, but also create PR content that catches the attention of journalists who can further promote it.
Pay attention to the technical aspects of your site as well, since they also affect SEO. You want to make sure your page loads quickly, for instance. The recommended page loading speed is below two seconds. Also, make sure you submit your sitemap to Google.
You can also enhance your website SEO by leveraging guest posting. A good SaaS SEO agency can help you create optimized guest posts carrying links to your own site articles, and then have those posts published on other authoritative sites. Once these guest posts are published, search engines will see these backlinks as those authoritative sites’ votes of confidence for your own site content. As a result, they’ll likely rank you high on search engine results pages.
Harnessing the power of social media platforms
Social media is a valuable platform for connecting with your audience and showcasing your SaaS product. Social networks support shareability, which can help you easily spread the word about your business.
There are several ways you can leverage the power of social media in SaaS product marketing. On social media, you can:
- Announce special offers and discounts
- Promote your referral program
Don’t forget to create educational social media content that can also help you gain more Instagram likes Facebook shares, or retweets.
Hootsuite is a great example of a SaaS company that educates through social media channels. It shares bite-sized educational tips and insights. These posts are often accompanied by eye-catching visuals and concise, actionable advice.
It also promotes its blog posts on social media, increasing the chances of people going to its website:
The last piece of advice is to create a community for early adopters of your product. Social media platforms such as Facebook or LinkedIn have groups you can leverage to build a loyal community around your product.
Of course, for you to leverage social media in your SaaS product marketing effectively, you need to choose the platforms that align with your target audience’s preferences. You can ask your target audience about their platform preferences (via surveys or polls) to ensure you use the right social media channels.
In closing
Saas product marketing differs from traditional marketing because it mostly focuses on retaining customers and keeping them satisfied. The product is at the center of all SaaS marketing efforts. As such, SaaS marketers should aim to explain the product to users in the best way possible.
A SaaS product marketing team uses various digital marketing tactics. These include email and social media marketing, and SEO. In SaaS marketing, the content should also be highly engaging and stand out from the competition. It should be optimized and promoted across different stages of the sales funnel so mapping the customer journey is key.
Follow these tips for a solid SaaS marketing strategy. You’ll surely connect with SaaS customers and achieve growth. Good luck!
By Chris Norton, host of the UK’s 7th largest marketing podcast, which celebrates marketing mistakes, Socially Unacceptable, and Founder of award-winning B2C specialist PR agency Prohibition. His social media training blog is listed in the UK’s top 10 PR blogs. For tons of digital PR tips, you can follow Chris here @chris_norton.