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Mary Green 12/21/16 4:49 PM 4 min read

2017 SaaS Marketing Predictions

2017-SaaS-Marketing-Predictions-Blog-IMG.jpgAs the owner or marketer of a SaaS product, you have to stay on top of the latest marketing trends to make sure you are prepared to beat competitors and get a decent sliver of that B2B exposure.

So let’s discuss what SaaS companies need for marketing in 2017.

Readers Will Continue to Be Overwhelmed By Too Much Content

As they learn to accept the fear of missing out, they’ll turn to their favorite content providers for new information, and great finds. Here’s how you can combat this:

  • Always provide stellar content, research the topic, write it, and promote it.
  • Make sure your content kicks ass, seriously reiterations of what’s already out there won’t work. Yes, I am restating the first point here, it’s that important.
  • Build relationships or partnerships with influencers, find out how you can help them and do it, then ask them to share. Better yet, do a project with them to get the exposure.
  • Be consistent, with content, and with curation, email newsletters, social media.
  • Ask your followers to share, and ask them often.

Companies who are doing well with content and promotion: Klientboost, Drift, HubSpot, Moz Whiteboard Fridays, & More.

Content Promotion Efforts Will Adapt

With too much content out there, it’s hard to get any exposure even from the people already following you. Here are a few ways you can improve this in 2017:

Personalize distribution: Only send it to the people on your list that are likely to enjoy it. That means use a CRM that allows you to keep track of their interests, the URLs they’ve visited, and even their positions. Being specific with sharing content, or asking for shares from friends, makes people feel singled out, and encourages them to take action.

Get listed on top curation sites: When anyone can submit to a site, it’s harder to stand out as high quality, for instance, BizSugar. On the other hand, when only trusted curators can submit, such as Product Hunt, content is more successful.

For SaaS companies here are a few places to share your content:

  • Zest.is for marketers
  • Quuu.co for all industries
  • Growth Hackers is well curated
  • Hiten Shah’s email newsletter

Additionally, you’ll want to get into the Slack, Facebook, and Reddit groups that are highly productive, but you’ll have to earn the right to share your content.

Artificial Intelligence & SaaS Marketing

Artificial intelligence is slowly creeping into marketing from the tech industry, and it’s going to make a big difference. Marketers will use it to improve their stats by using the intelligence to decide where to test, what changes to make, choosing a winner, and making other improvements.

We’ll see more products like Reactful come onto the scene, as others implement AI into the tools they already offer. Consider having an optimization platform that allows users to add goals, and automate testing on some levels, perhaps even suggests copy.

One SaaS in particular that matches with another 2017 marketing trend (automation) is Automizy -- an automation platform that uses AI to improve your productivity and results.

We will also see more use of chatbots as the data they have access to allows enhanced personalization and suggestions for what to buy and when.

Social Media Advertising Competition Will Increase

Several startups have begun using Facebook ads to reach their target markets because almost everyone is on Facebook, even B2B markets. Over the next year additional players will enter the market possibly increasing costs for clicks, and requiring marketers to optimize their ads, images, copy, landing pages, and marketing automation.

Based on whether another company acquires Twitter, we could see their ad service take shape and offer increased accuracy that’ll allow marketers to try the service again, or improve their costs to allow for better ROI. Similarly, Instagram and Snapchat will see their network and services grow as their markets as long as their users stay active, and continue consuming.

User Experience Will Be A Differentiator

As several SaaS tools offer similar features, the difference in experience will be a major differentiator for users. Marketers will collaborate with design to improve the user interface, customer service to improve support, and other marketers on their team to achieve customer success.

Video & Livestreaming

Video has always been big, 51.9% of marketers name video as content with the best ROI, meaning it’s amazingly effective.

2017 will only be different in that more people will adopt livestreaming. As a relatively new feature on Facebook, consumers will enjoy and interact with more of these streams, giving companies another place to focus their efforts.

SaaS companies can use video and livestreaming for all of the following:

  • Product announcements
  • Open office hours
  • Show off meetings/parties in their offices
  • Share live support
  • Hold live events

Cross-Device Marketing, Mobile & Better Data

As tablets and smartphones improve the user experience, fewer people are turning to computers to get things done. This puts a significant focus on mobile and cross-device marketing.

New SaaS products like Genius Link are allowing marketers to keep track of the customer/user/visitor experience across their phones, tablets, and computers.

We should see analytics become even more sophisticated as companies improve the technology behind their tools, and more marketers learn how to use these programs.

2017 Predictions Conclusion

We’re sure to see more marketing opportunities than ever for SaaS products in 2017. Some of these opportunities can be guessed, such as those above, but we’re bound to a few surprises as well. What are your predictions for 2017 SaaS marketing?

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