The Software program as a Service (SaaS) trade is rising at a fast charge. According to Statista, this 12 months its worth is predicted to succeed in round $124.53 billion worldwide.
Whereas development is good news, it additionally signifies that your competitors is getting stronger. SaaS firms want to maintain up in the event that they wish to stand out, and top-of-the-line methods to remain forward is to faucet into advertising and marketing practices which can be typically ignored by your competitors.
Surprisingly, content material advertising and marketing is without doubt one of the hottest advertising and marketing methods within the wider world, however it usually will get disregarded or—worse—is finished haphazardly within the SaaS house. This shouldn’t be the case.
Given its efficiency at attracting new leads and nurturing existing ones, content material advertising and marketing is an ideal alternative so that you can reply to your prospects’ wants in a novel method.
On this article, I’ll counsel a couple of kinds of content material which can be environment friendly in numerous levels of the client journey, beginning with interactive content material. We’ll additionally concentrate on one SaaS advertising and marketing method that has been considerably forgotten within the digital sphere: direct gross sales.
Let’s dive in.
1. Use Interactive Content material to Supply Customized Options
Creating interactive content material (like quizzes, surveys, polls, and calculators) is without doubt one of the greatest methods to draw new clients and interact them in a dialog. Based on Kapost, interactive content material generates twice as many conversions as passive content material. And round 88% of marketers who use it say that interactive content material helps them stand out from opponents.
Why? Interactive content material is solution-oriented. It faucets into the first want of a median SaaS buyer.
And this, in flip, lets you study extra about your clients (about, as an example, any issues and points they is perhaps going through or targets they’re seeking to obtain). Then you’ll be able to provide them a customized resolution that may cater to their particular particular person wants. In spite of everything, your software program already solves a specific downside—be it organizing workers, organising an accounting system, or serving to somebody shed pounds.
Put merely, whenever you begin off creating interactive content material, you’ll wish to take into consideration the next questions:
- Who’s my buyer?
- What downside am I making an attempt to resolve?
- Which options and options do I provide?
An Instance of Interactive SaaS Advertising
LeadQuizzes is advertising and marketing automation software program that began off as a advertising and marketing company. After repeated success with utilizing quizzes to construct our shoppers’ e mail lists, we determined to show quizzes right into a enterprise in its personal proper. And what higher approach to promote quiz software program than to make use of it to succeed in potential clients among the many goal group {of professional} entrepreneurs and small enterprise house owners.
With this in thoughts, we created a quiz that sought to deal with probably the most widespread challenges within the digital advertising and marketing world: producing leads and gross sales. The quiz focused entrepreneurs and small enterprise house owners within the type of the Facebook quiz ad.
The questions we requested centered on the potential consumer’s current web site visitors, funds, and advertising and marketing goals. Listed here are a couple of examples:
How a lot web site visitors do you obtain monthly?
- 0 – 5,000 guests monthly
- 5,001 – 10,000 guests monthly
- 10,001+ guests monthly
What number of leads are you getting every month?
- 0 – 500 leads monthly
- 501 – 1,000 leads monthly
- 1,001+ leads monthly
Do you provide a reduction as an opt-in in your web site?
Earlier than they received the solutions, they needed to fill out an opt-in kind asking for his or her title, e mail, and quantity. And primarily based on the respondent’s solutions, we provided customized options within the type of the quiz outcomes.
Within the first quiz, outcomes led to a Calendly web page the place a possible buyer may schedule a session as a result of the objective was to accumulate as many early adopters as attainable. (Right this moment, an analogous quiz on the web site leads clients to the touchdown web page that features helpful advertising and marketing suggestions, an trade chief’s testimonial, and a suggestion to enroll.)
That is what labored for us, however if you happen to really feel that customized outcomes aren’t sufficient of an incentive for individuals to share their contact information, you’ll be able to all the time use a lead magnet, equivalent to a free book or low cost, together with the quiz.
What’s the lesson right here?
Primarily based on the customer’s wants and readiness, in addition to your final objective, the outcomes can differ drastically. That’s why your touchdown web page is an important element that may make or break your person’s interactive expertise. That is the place your objective and their want ought to ideally meet.
Median conversion charges for traditional PPC adverts are between 3-6%, in line with Unbounce’s Conversion Benchmark Report. Interactive content material can double this share, whereas an effective landing page can boost it to 27%.
Utilizing interactive content material together with optimized touchdown pages, LeadQuizzes went on to shut 189 shoppers in 2 years and generate $720,000 in annual income. However the highway to that quantity took greater than two steps.
Inevitably, nevertheless, some individuals who have interaction along with your interactive content material and touchdown web page merely gained’t join your software program. That’s life. The explanations could fluctuate: they don’t want it in the mean time, or it doesn’t totally meet their necessities. So how do you retain them coming again?
Construct and launch campaigns shortly. As Jeremy says, utilizing touchdown pages together with interactive content material can produce exceptional outcomes. Unbounce’s drag-and-drop builder permits you to create high-converting touchdown pages with out developer bottlenecks. Read more about how we power your SaaS marketing here.
2. Use “Passive” Content material to Nurture Leads
Round 70% of people who leave your website will by no means come again. Accumulating their e mail addresses utilizing interactive content material is an insurance coverage coverage in opposition to this downside—and a approach to keep in contact. In the event that they’re not fascinated about your product, after all, they’re prone to unsubscribe. So long as they continue to be in your listing, although, you retain the chance to supply them the appropriate reply on the proper time.
Getting access to your potential and current buyer’s inbox is an ideal alternative to construct and nurture a great relationship. Excessive-quality, customized weblog content material lets you assert your self as an trade authority and a pleasant companion to your clients.
However what does make a high-quality weblog content material? According to Single Grain, a few of the most necessary lead nurturing content material practices embody:
- Adjusting content material to your gross sales funnel
- Personalizing your content material
- Utilizing advertising and marketing automation
- Doing follow-ups
Let’s have a look at how every considered one of these practices builds upon the information you’ll be able to collect utilizing interactive content material.
Adjusting content material to your gross sales funnel
Utilizing interactive content material permits you to perceive the extent of buyer’s purchaser readiness, which dictates how “sales-y” your content material must be. For instance, if you happen to sparked a buyer’s curiosity however they didn’t buy your product but, chances are you’ll wish to use content material to coach them. You can begin with fundamental guides and 101-themed posts, and slowly construct up their information to extra particular matters.
For instance, that is the welcome e mail I received after I subscribed for the lead technology instrument. In it, the Oxyleads staff outlines our future communication:
It’s a great instance as a result of they’re setting the expectations by way of the follow-up emails which can be to return (in order that they gained’t appear too spammy), whereas the content material of these emails is predicted to coach you concerning the instrument and persuade you it’s invaluable sufficient to make a purchase order.
Personalizing content material
Personalization is available in totally different types. It begins with staple items, like utilizing a customized topic line that addresses the individual by title. This small element will increase your open charge by as a lot as 50%. It’s additionally necessary to e mail your leads in line with their time zone and site.
However personalization additionally means crafting content material that responds to the individual’s particular wants. A small enterprise proprietor and supervisor in a big company could use your software program. However they in all probability use it otherwise, face separate challenges, and have totally different targets and benchmarks.
Right here’s an instance of an e mail I received from a content material aggregation platform Zest. One in every of their initiatives is creating an algorithm that may show tremendous customized content material for every person contained in the browser. That is one a part of the experiment.
Social Media Lab (from social media administration software program Agorapulse) supplies one other good instance of SaaS advertising and marketing at work. They search to coach their clients by participating experiments. Whereas this e mail is pretty rudimentary (and lacks a easy personalization tweak: my title!) its content material manages to be simple whereas arousing curiosity.
Lastly, right here’s a tremendous instance from Grammarly of personalizing content material in a much less formal method. Each week, they inform me about my writing stats:
However other than inspiring a way of accomplishment with customized insights, this e mail additionally sneaks in a name to motion to improve my plan:
The beauty of producing leads utilizing interactive content material is that it permits you to take the guesswork out of this personalization. By asking the appropriate questions, you’ll be able to perceive your goal buyer’s various wants and issues, and write content material accordingly.
Utilizing advertising and marketing automation
As soon as your e mail listing grows to a sure level, utilizing automation turns into a should. Advertising automation permits you to analyze your leads’ interplay with emails and your content material, and optimize them for optimum impact.
Most significantly, automation lets you ahead the appropriate messages to the appropriate individuals on the desired time, with out having to waste plenty of time doing the whole lot manually. There’s all kinds of accessible advertising and marketing automation instruments that may enable you to scale your lead qualification and nurturing efforts.
Doing follow-ups
How usually you’re going to follow-up will depend on your buyer’s present place within the gross sales funnel. The “hotter” the lead, the extra info they want.
For instance, right here’s the follow-up e mail I received from Oxyleads a couple of days after I spent my free credit:
3. Achieve Credibility with White Papers and Case Research
Whereas white papers and case research are one kind of classical passive content material, they deserve particular consideration in SaaS advertising and marketing. In B2B SaaS, specifically, you’re going to interact with people who find themselves professionals of their trade. And wowing them takes greater than a great advert copy or participating weblog put up. They wish to see credibility and authority.
White papers
White papers are utilized in quite a few fields, however the common definition is an authoritative report that addresses certain issues and offers solutions for them. By way of SaaS advertising and marketing, a white paper represents a theory behind your product or technology. Similar to with weblog posts, its predominant goal is to coach clients and assist them decide.
A high-quality white paper sometimes consists of:
- Construction and size. Whereas a white paper is longer than a weblog put up, it’s nonetheless shorter than an book. It has no less than six pages and might take between a couple of weeks and some months to write down.
- Format and magnificence. A white paper is formal, detailed, and informative, usually written in an “educational” model (i.e., it shouldn’t sound like advertising and marketing, even whether it is).
- Good design. Though the tone is perhaps educational, that doesn’t imply your white paper ought to appear to be a school essay. Compelling design is a should!
The white paper’s predominant goal is to claim your self as a reputable, authoritative resolution and supply of steering. Greater than half of business-to-business entrepreneurs take into account white papers effective marketing tools, and we agree. (Take a look at this pattern of Google’s white paper for a bit inspiration.)
Case research
Case research can even take a very long time, though they’re simpler to assemble than a white paper. Whereas they are often written in an off-the-cuff model, and require solely important info, they nonetheless demand severe analysis.
Nevertheless it’s well worth the laborious work: case studies help convert and accelerate leads, in line with Advertising Charts. A case research may give an enormous enhance to your credibility—individuals mechanically really feel extra assured about your software program in the event that they see you’re working with large manufacturers they already know and belief.
The case research requires your consumer or buyer to be able to reveal their particular, detailed enterprise technique, present you and the remainder of the world their numbers, and show that it was your software program that helped them attain nice outcomes.
However how will you produce case research if you happen to’re only a newbie within the trade? Other than approaching your current clients, it’s additionally attainable to method the trade leaders with fine-tuned chilly outreach. However these customers need to be incentivized to share their enterprise secrets and techniques with you—whether or not it’s going to be a reduction, free subscription, mutual advertising and marketing association, and so on.
4. Use Conventional Gross sales (No, Actually)
It’s all too simple to overlook the facility of 1-on-1 dialog on this planet of digital options. However gross sales are a advertising and marketing method in their very own proper and doing them like in “the great outdated days” could also be simply what makes your SaaS enterprise stand out.
In fact, we’re not speaking concerning the annoying telemarketer calls. We’re speaking about reaching out to the purchasers who’re prepared and extremely possible to purchase your product. Partaking them with every kind of content material we’ve talked about to date provides you with a reasonably clear image of their readiness over time.
Do not forget that we talked about within the first part that LeadQuizzes led some quiz takers on to a Calendly web page? Alternatively, some have been contacted after a lead nurturing e mail sequence. However in each circumstances, the cellphone calls have been extremely profitable and the funding paid off.
Why are conventional gross sales so efficient in SaaS?
They enable you to close a mutually satisfying deal. Positive, you’ll be able to listing your entire software program’s options on the touchdown web page. However presenting them to a consumer personally, explaining how every characteristic performs into their particular targets, is way more efficient. It lets you enhance retention and scale back churn early on as a result of you make certain the purchasers get the whole lot they want of their subscription plan.
Don’t fear that this method will come throughout as aggressive—bear in mind, that is the gross sales half reserved for leads who’re genuinely fascinated about your software program.
Conclusion
Making your title within the crowded SaaS world isn’t simple, however it turns into simpler whenever you understand that your advertising and marketing technique stems from the precise nature of your product. As you’re constructing software program, construct it with the person in thoughts. You wish to make issues easier and simpler for them. SaaS advertising and marketing is all about speaking these ideas to the purchasers.
Content material advertising and marketing and direct gross sales are a unbelievable approach to really empathize and join along with your buyer. As soon as that occurs, you construct a mutually useful relationship during which lets you develop your product and keep forward.
