A SaaS marketing strategy is one that is methodical due to the highly competitive landscape that this complex industry finds itself in.
The competitive landscape is extreme. Saturated with some heavy hitters with unyielding resources which in turn allow them to dominate channels, a new-comer can feel overwhelmed. On the other hand, a company that came into the market long ago but failed to adapt to new marketing strategies and equipping their team with the right tools will also see a decrease in growth.
When looking back to the age-old tale of David and Goliath in terms of budget, we can understand that the strategy must be precise. Allocating your budget to Awareness Metrics, PPC, SOV, and the like, will fall flat as you consider scalability due to bidding wars.
The Five Key Metrics for SaaS Marketing
When looking forward to your growth marketing plan to find a strategy that is sustainable, a great place to begin is with 5 key metrics defining success.
As your agency partner and in-house team work together to review awareness strategies and test new markets, a great place to look and breed strategy is within your activation and retention metrics. This bigger picture strategy and conversation will bring us to a later article around Product Led Growth.
“PLG is a business methodology in which user acquisition, expansion, conversion, and retention are all driven primarily by the product itself. It creates company-wide alignment across teams—from engineering to sales and marketing—around the product as the largest source of sustainable, scalable business growth.’ (source)
Defining Your Differentiator in Your SaaS Marketing Strategy
One of the biggest challenges in a saturated market is defining what makes you different. This will be the first step when you are solidifying your branding and messaging – take your time this is very important.
When you define your differentiator it is time to weave it into your on-going content marketing strategy.
The Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing as:
‘…a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.’
CONTENT MARKETING INSTITUTE
This tactic when implemented with care to your personas and keyword strategy, will improve conversions. This is simply because when we look at this from 10,000 ft, we see that users are searching for a solution, therefore it makes sense for us to supply educational, relevant, and valuable content.
SEO
We live and breathe SEO, and yes, there are experts out there that say it’s too competitive to even attempt and we humbly disagree. SEO is a foundational piece of any digital strategy. You must begin with a keyword analysis when you are conducting your competitive research to lay the groundwork. From there, it is with a great agency partner, that you can find a simple workflow and balance to continue nurturing this important piece.
Your content, website, paid search, and paid social strategy, while all carrying different impacts to the larger picture, should all tie into each other. This simple idea speaks to a comprehensive strategy that you will see quoted quite a bit within our site and content.
Embrace the Power of Freemium
Also known as free trials, this approach brings the user right into the production environment to start playing around. With a strategic onboarding plan and customer-centric approach to collect data that will drive both the evolution of the product and your marketing, freemium is here to stay.
Expansion Through Referral Marketing
Let’s build off of the happy customers we have created. The first step here is to build in customer surveys and health checks so you can begin to compile a bigger picture.
- Who are they?
- How did they hear about you?
- What was their experience like?
- Do they have suggestions for new features or UX?
- Would they recommend your product?
- Is there an incentive to refer folks to your product?
Let’s sprinkle in a few statistics:
- 92% of consumers trust referrals from people they know.
- Consumers referred by a friend are 4X more likely to buy.
- When referred by other customers, people have a 37% higher retention rate.
- B2B companies with referrals experience a 70% higher conversion rate.
Pay Per Click
Remember David and Goliath? The battle can still be won, but the strategy must be precise. By laying down the groundwork above you can architect PPC campaigns that bring you data to evolve on.
An experimental mindset is essential for growth marketing. Even when a test has ‘failed’, a campaign that was implemented with clear goals and metrics can bring back invaluable data that will save you $$ in the long run.
Conclusion
If you are a marketing manager, CMO, and the like, executing within the SaaS industry you deserve a partner that understands your challenges. Our versatile network allows us to hand-select SaaS writers, designers, strategists, and more, to compile a team that is efficient and passionate about your industry. Schedule a chat with us
