SaaS (software as a service) is as busy as Grand Central Station. This field is bustling with ideas and developing further by the minute. 2023 is supposed to be the best year yet for SaaS, and what’s to come in the future is only to be imagined.
Working with software and offering it to customers as a service had its own quite different aspects when it comes to how to do business and especially when it comes to marketing. In its essence, SaaS marketing holds the basic marketing principles to attract buyers and create more revenue.
However, it needs to be looked at differently and deserves special attention since it can’t be done through the techniques and principles already known to the marketing world. It follows an entirely different business model. Saas belongs predominantly to the digital world, so it mainly draws its wisdom from digital marketing.
No worries, we’ve compiled a list of the best and most effective marketing tips for your SaaS products to help you boost your business in 2023.
Five easy SaaS marketing tips for 2023
Since it’s a relatively new field and most of what you know about marketing cannot apply to the SaaS world, looking at some marketing techniques people, have successfully used in this business to improve their sales is helpful.
Here are the most successful ones.
Use SEO and content marketing.
Using Search Engine Optimization for your website and e-business is not news and is certainly not easy. In most cases, you will need help to do it. Hiring a professional SaaS SEO Agency would be the best solution for maximum results.
SEO optimization means typically escaping the `notorious` page two on Google and landing on page one, or even better, among the top three choices. This always entails quality SEO content on your webpage and content marketing. Not only good content but also optimized content that will catch your customers’ eye.
You won’t be the first to do this and won’t beat your competitors. Your only hope is to create better-quality SEO content. Content that offers unique perspectives that are attuned to your brand.
There are several ways you can do this. These are your key issues to cover in a b2b marketing strategy.
- Blogs
- Case studies
- Ebooks
- Video content
- Free Courses
In addition to this, consider the following:
- make sure your targeted keywords are aligned to produce more traffic for your website
- pay special attention to your metadata (meta titles and meta descriptions). They must be updated and optimized, and created so that they boost traffic
- all other pages associated with your software, like blogs or landing pages, must do the same as well
The competition in this area is growing by the minute, and being creative and unique in SEO is becoming harder and harder. So asking for professional help is very important.
Create leads through free trials.
Who doesn’t like free stuff? Imagine being able to try out that toy before buying it as a present. And then if you don’t like it or it’s too loud, you decide not to buy it. But if it turns out great, you take it, right?
Have you ever taken a free shampoo sample and returned it for the actual bottle? Or a free first aerobics lesson to decide it’s right for you and you want to sign up for the month.
Well, for SaaS products, this is possible and easily doable. Free trials are easy to establish and take little time, money, or energy. That’s why they should be a must and a solid option in your SaaS marketing strategy.
More than simply offering a free trial is required. It would be best if you made it very visible to the potential customers in any way possible. Please include it in your emails, make it part of your home page, landing pages, etc.
Free trials are what stand between your product and new leads. Before that trial, you’re in unknown territory, and people are doubtful about investing in something they have yet to try. So by letting them use your software as a service for a while, you’re letting them get to know the product and its quality and lead them to decide if it’s the right thing for them.
You have nothing to lose. Customers will either decide to go forward with buying, or they don’t. At this stage, it won’t cost you anything. Could you ensure clear boundaries and rules on what is accessible and how long? As long as customers are well aware of this, it will be much easier to move forward after it’s over. This also avoids any misunderstandings and possible dissatisfaction once the trial is over.
Stimulate usage
Getting your leads to a free trial is only the first step. If they are passive after signing up, i.e., they don’t use the service, it’s doubtful they’ll buy the product.
People sign up for all sorts of things just because they’re free. The next step is to make sure they use it. Or I am even better, leading them and showing them how to use it.
The key here is to be very subtle but persistent. If you overdo it and are obnoxious about it, you can deter the potential customer from sealing the deal.
Something as simple as a ‘welcome email’ and some initial tips and tricks on how to get going can be a great way to start encouragement. You could email them a week or two later, “How do you like it so far? Have you tried this feature?”
Also, could you lead them to follow your brand on social media for extra information and ideas on using the software?
In-app user prompts another way to push your leads to try the service.
The objective here is to stimulate users to try out as much as they can while it’s still free. In this way, they can experience the quality of your service and be willing to invest some money in it.
Less is more
Offering fewer options and choices in your SaaS product might sound counterintuitive, but it’s one of the techniques already proven to work mightily in SaaS marketing.
Creating clear, outlined, user-friendly software that leads you through the software flawlessly is essential and is used as a marketing asset. Too many features, choices, and items distract the customer from the main reason why they even landed on your page in the first place. A complicated website or service can be overwhelming and easily lead potential customers to give up on your product.
Minimalism is a concept that is now very appreciated in SaaS brand marketing. This entails a simple layout, colors, and fonts, all incorporated into a well-structured web page that uploads quickly and is intuitive.
Minimalism in SaaS marketing now applies to the webpage and software layout and is also used in terms of content. A minimalistic content strategy for SaaS brands means reusing and repurposing old content instead of constantly creating new. This leads to having less but better content which will serve its purpose.
Could you spread the word around?
Yes, people tend to ask for referrals before buying a product or a service, and it’s ‘word of mouth’ from friends and family that will most likely make them invest in something. People ask for referrals from the people around them and online, on forums, social media, and group chats. How often have you read something like, “I’m thinking about buying this product; has anyone tried it? What’s your experience?”
So, it would be best to tell them it’s a product worth buying; they want to hear it from someone who’s used it. But this doesn’t happen as spontaneously as you might think. People are getting busier and more distracted by the minute, and even though they’re using a service and are satisfied, they still need to talk about it in their free time.
So please make sure that referrals happen by giving people discounts, free trials, and other incentives for loyal customers willing to spread the word.
When this is taken further, it turns into affiliate programs, where affiliates get commission or payment, becoming your brand ambassadors.
In Summary
Marketers can still connect with customers and increase revenue even in a changed landscape: invest time and energy into knowing your customers and adjust marketing strategies accordingly to ensure a relationship of loyalty and retention.
