The software as a service, or SaaS, industry has continued to rapidly grow well into 2020. According to Gartner, a global IT, and marketing research company, SaaS products are expected to produce $104.7 billion this year.
With this high rate of production, SaaS companies need to adjust their marketing plans or risk a lower level of exposure to consumers.
To really stand out, your SaaS marketing efforts need to focus on the future of the customer and how your SaaS platform can resolve their problems. In this guide, we’re sharing ten tips that will equip you with knowledge on how to generate a significant online presence. Here’s how to create a SaaS marketing plan that works:
- Offer free SaaS trials
- Revamp your CTA
- Provide easy sign-ups
- Build an online community
- Try referral SaaS marketing
- Host webinars
- Focus on content marketing
- Display your reviews
- Use SEO
- Optimize PPC campaigns
1. Offer free SaaS trials
Free trials are a cost-effective way to gather customer feedback on your product and customer service efforts. They allow customers to try your product and see if it is the right fit for them.
You might begin to see an increase in your SaaS product’s paid conversions if the free trial was successful at providing them value. To add, you can also gather customer opinions on your product at the end of the trial period.
These opinions can help you adjust your product and marketing strategy based on the suggestions you receive.
2. Revamp your CTA
Your call to action, or CTA should always be clearly stated on the pages of your website. Regardless of your intended CTA, the customer should be frequently reminded of it while browsing your website.
Researching your customer base can help you understand how your customers would like to engage with your product- making it easier to structure the CTA towards them.
Need CTA inspo? We rounded up 107 call to action examples here!
3. Provide easy sign-ups
This is simple: It is important to make sure your sign-up process is as quick as possible. A prolonged process with too many steps can deter customers, especially if they were not entirely committed to your product in the first place.
Don't let any customers get away at this stage. Make sure your marketing plan includes easy, pain-free sign-ups.
4. Build an online community
Creating a private group on an online social media platform or in Slack can help current and prospective customers network with each other while discussing your product. This tip works best after developing a substantial user base.
Current customers can use this platform boast about it, showing the prospective audience how they could benefit by buying into your services.
To add, this is a great place to build your brand’s platform by collecting user feedback and discussing any changes to your SaaS product. Unstack uses its Slack community to connect users with each other, with our team, and to collect this feedback.
Not sure what your first step should be? Check out our full guide: How to Build an Online Community.
5. Try referral SaaS marketing
With typical referral programs, you provide customers with some form of promotion in return for referring you to a friend or colleague. The referred individual will also receive the same, or similar, promotion when investing in your product.
This method is great for increasing company growth and maintaining customer satisfaction.
Promotions may consist of discounts, extended free trials, or extra storage depending on your services. You should adapt your promotions depending on your target customer’s individual needs.
6. Host webinars
Integrating webinars into your SaaS marketing plan is an effective way to reach a large audience in a short period of time.
Essentially, webinars are a non-intrusive way of marketing your service while developing customer interest in the process. The key here is non-intrusive. Your webinars topics should go beyond demos of your product; you want to offer your target audience something worthwhile. That way, presentations allow for a creative display of product or business information while addressing the value it has to your customers.
And remember to plan for webinar marketing to get as many high-quality leads as possible.
7. Focus on content marketing
Any SaaS marketing plan that’s going to work needs a strong content strategy.
To begin seeing real growth, you need to create content specifically targeted to what customers are searching for. To do this, you should research your ideal customer and create a persona for them.
Once you understand the customer a bit better, you can focus your SaaS marketing strategy on developing valuable and keyword-optimized content.
You should plan for how you are going to see the customer through to conversion after initially grabbing their attention. Providing additional advice in exchange for contact information is a great way to keep customers interested without seeming pushy.
8. Display your reviews
Past customer reviews enhance your SaaS marketing plan by showing new customers that you are a reputable service to work with. They show your company’s credibility while potentially attracting new leads.
Re-posting positive reviews on your social media pages help to expand your credibility. Additionally, you may ask customers who have reached out to you privately to post on your website’s review page.
Both methods give new customers an idea of what investing in your service would look like—making them more likely to consider choosing your product.
9. Use SEO
Focusing on search engine optimization, or SEO, for your website will help bring leads into your sales funnel and build your ranking on Google. With a higher ranking, your company no longer has to worry about buying ads for particular search terms.
To achieve great SEO for your site, you need to understand your primary audience and the keywords they are searching for.
Using backlinks and running A/B tests are two ways to help improve your domain authority while gathering insightful pieces of data. From here, you are able to make data-driven decisions that reflect your customer’s needs and provide them with the most value.
Check out our SEO for startups guide for more ways to grow your traffic!
10. Optimize PPC campaigns
In the event that you are not generating ideal organic site traffic, you may want to consider using a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign. Be sure to research your keywords before diving into your PPC campaign.
You want to make sure you are paying the lowest-cost per keyword while still getting in front of your target audience.
Finally, you should also continuously monitor your ad quality score. Many companies make the mistake of investing in a high-ranking keyword at high costs without seeing optimal ROI rates.
Use your SaaS marketing plan to grow your business
Now that you have this information, it’s time to get started. With these tips, you can create a SaaS marketing plan that helps you get more traffic, convert more visitors, and nurture more leads—all to grow your business.
For additional tips on building a SaaS marketing plan that works, feel free to contact HookLead and explore how we can accelerate your growth using Unstack!
About the author
Zack Hanebrink is the co-founder of HookLead, a SaaS marketing agency located in Charleston, South Carolina.