In today’s overcrowded marketplace, it’s become undeniable just how integral a solid marketing strategy is to the long-term success of your SaaS business. However, with such varied opinions regarding what constitutes a top-notch approach to increasing awareness and (hopefully) the prosperity of your business, it’s easy to become hesitant to commit to a specific approach.
Paid? Inbound? Social media? “Smarketing”? The sheer number of options is overwhelming. As we all know, uncertainty is the enemy of progress, so we’ll narrow the list down to three must-haves.
Three elements that should absolutely be a part of your SaaS marketing strategy:
1. Content Marketing
One of the most universally successful ways to get the word out about your company is the use of content marketing. This could take shape within a “free trial” of your product or service, but SaaS content marketing also extends to blogs, whitepapers, ebooks, webinars, podcasts and many other forms of information.
Keeping up on the latest trends in the rapidly growing world of content marketing is a wise move, but the essential concept centers on providing high quality free content for consumers in order to gain their trust, earn their respect, and gently coax them into a sale. It demonstrates your company’s own knowledge and expertise while using online content to lead potential customers to you.
A number of impressive tools have popped up to help streamline the content creation process, making it even easier to incorporate into your existing marketing.
2. Product Optimization
Innovation is key when it comes to staying ahead of your competition, and in some instances, all that it really takes to bring your product to that next step is a bit of course correction. One of the best things you can do to keep your marketing strategy sharp is to regularly consult your marketing metrics and adjust your product accordingly.
For example, user onboarding and offboarding are critical components of product user experience. A solid on-boarding strategy during a free trial period can be a deal-maker or deal-braker as to whether that lead becomes a customer. It's important to regularly map out the process to ensure that the experience is smooth and optimized for success.
Moreover, ensuring that your product is optimized to work on mobile devices is more important than ever, given the omnipresence of smartphones and tablets. It’s certainly worthwhile to conduct research and make necessary any changes to your marketing in order to better serve your customer base.
3. Customer Success
Of course, every company hinges on keeping its customers happy, but some organizations may not realize the extent to which customer success should influence your marketing strategy. Research shows customer service is inextricably linked to revenue, but for SaaS companies, customer success is even more-so.
The customer success philosophy is that your goal is not only to have customers purchase your product, but to make them successful in achieving their desired outcomes - even when those outcomes are outside of your product. What does this have to do with marketing? It’s the most effective kind! Because, when customers are successful with your product AND happy with your service, they willingly become customer advocates, spreading the word about your product everywhere they go. This comes down to the simplest tasks such as good Instagram management, integrating website chatbots for support, etc.
Not sure where to start implementing customer success? One solid option to consider is adopting the customer development model -- an approach that emphasizes the end user as much as the product itself -- and a closer look at key data could even provide deeper insight into future customer success. Whichever route you take, investment in your customers is always smart, as it more clearly than ever has a direct impact on the bottom line.
For more SaaS marketing ideas as well as invaluable insight into how you should approach marketing your SaaS products, check out our new eBook, “Strategic Marketing Tactics for SaaS Companies.”
