The Software-as-a-Service industry is booming across the globe.
More and more companies are seeing the benefits of switching to cloud-based software solutions, and so there wasn’t a better time to start a SaaS company than right now.
However, just because there are ample opportunities to grow, doesn’t mean that all SaaS companies will succeed – ask any SaaS marketing agency and they will tell you just how hard it can get when you’re trying to break into a competitive market.
So, to increase your chances of success, you must use a range of marketing strategies that are proven to work for SaaS businesses if you want to stand a chance of excelling and winning over customers from other solutions that are out there.
But which marketing strategies should you employ?
Well, to help you get started, we will explore four of the most effective SaaS tactics that are delivering amazing results in 2019.
Produce Top Quality Content
Content is probably the biggest asset that you can have as a SaaS company, maybe except for the product itself.
And even then, without content, you’d have a hard time presenting your product, educating your readers about its features, and showing why prospective clients should choose you over the competition.
SaaS audiences are some of the most sophisticated and educated in the world, and they usually do in-depth research before making a decision, so hype or cheap persuasion strategies are unlikely to generate positive results.
Instead, your best bet is to lay out the reasons for why your product works for a very specific customer – if you can show that you understand his problems and know how to fix them, you can capture the attention of the people that are likely to become your best customers.
According to a recent SaaS industry analysis, the industry is expanding at a rapid pace and will likely surpass 85 billion dollars in revenue this year.
However, that also means that the competitive landscape is becoming more challenging as well, with more options to choose from across industries, so the only sustainable way to stand out from the crowd of solutions is to address the pain points of your audience better than everyone else.
But what type of content should you create?
Well, the decisions regarding the types of content will mostly depend on who you are trying to reach.
You should have a deep understanding of your target audience, including their demographics, biggest challenges, objections, online browsing habits, and anything else that could be relevant.
Then, you will have a much better idea of what topics your content should revolve around, what medium you should use to create it, and where should you post it and syndicate it.
To get your content published on other sites, don’t be afraid to use outreach techniques like LinkedIn bulk messaging to improve the impact that each piece of content can have.
Make the Most Out of Product Trials
Product trials are at the forefront of SaaS marketing, and for good reason.
Since the SaaS sales cycle is typically much shorter than some of the other B2B industries, companies don’t have as much time to nurture their leads, so offering a free trial allows showcasing the product while at the same time forming a closer connection with the prospect and greatly increasing the chances of getting him to convert.
But in order to achieve success with a free trial pricing model, it’s important to follow a few basic rules for setting it up correctly.
First off, it’s important to choose the right length for your trial. You need to find a balance in how long you make the trial, as you want it to be long enough for the prospect to try out the product but not too long because that can remove the urgency to try it.
Many companies have found success with a 14-day trial model, but depending on the complexity and onboarding difficulty of your solution, you may need to extend that.
Some companies offer onboarding consultations throughout the trial and opt to extend the trial for another two weeks manually based on the customer’s experiences and pace.
Another thing to consider is having different plan options – it’s better to have prospective customers commit to a specific plan initially so that you can bill them after the trial period, but you must not overwhelm them and offer just a few different options that cater to different segments of your audience.
Finally, you must make the signup and onboarding processes as easy as possible. Remember that if the prospect runs into any obstacles that he isn’t able to solve quickly, he’s likely to give up on your trial altogether and go straight to the competition.
Get Yourself Listed on SaaS Review Websites
To achieve the best results when promoting your SaaS product, you must understand what the buying process looks like for the people that you are trying to reach.
And for SaaS audiences, that usually involves going to review sites like Capterra and looking up the best-rated products in any given category.
As you might imagine, if your product isn’t listed or if it doesn’t have enough information, many of your best prospects will likely opt for your competitors, which is not a great scenario if you want to sustain the growth of your company.
Therefore, you should make it a priority to get listed on all of the major SaaS review sites and make sure that you stand out from your competitors.
The process itself is pretty straightforward – start contacting those sites and letting them know about your product and why it should be included.
Make sure that you provide an enticing and professional product description that touches on the main pain points of your audience while at the same time meeting the requirements and matching the format of the review directory.
You should also encourage your best customers to leave reviews, as your rating will play a vital role in whether your company is featured.
Make Email Marketing a Top Priority
Every year, some marketer proclaims that email marketing is dead, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
In fact, email marketing stats show the opposite is true – there are more opportunities than ever before, especially if you know how to set up your campaigns the right way.
And for SaaS companies that use a trial-based model to make sales, email marketing becomes even more crucial.
It not only allows you to keep prospects informed as they progress throughout the trial but is also vital for educating them and showcasing all of your product’s capabilities in the shortest amount of time possible.
With a well laid out email marketing campaign, you can map out the entire trial, providing timely and informative tips and guidelines about how to set up your product, use its different features, and find answers to more specific questions that your prospects might have.
Even more importantly, email marketing helps to keep your product and your company on the mind of your prospect, which increases the chances of him actually using your product and seeing it in action.
Once you gain more insights about your audience, you can use that information to segment your subscribers into smaller lists, giving them even more relevant content and getting the biggest ROI possible from every single email that you send out.
Finally, you can mix autoresponder emails with manual emails by encouraging people to reply and give you their feedback or ask questions. This way, your emails will seem more personal and will have a much higher chance of being opened and read.