Can you imagine how life would be without your favorite SaaS tools like Instagram, Gmail, or Spotify? Wait, let me sum it up in one word for ya’ “Disaster.’
No more participating in celebrity gossip, all your emails and important documents at the palm of your hands, and worse, no more market on your doorstep. You have to have to get your lazy bot off your couch and do your shopping.
These tools found their way into our lives and refused to leave. It opened up a myriad of opportunities for us and also ways for companies to reach their target audience in the snap of a finger.
As you know, Saas isn’t something you can see or chew. It is a cloud-based software. It means you cannot use traditional marketing if you want to successfully market your products and get incredible ROI (return on investment).
What do you do?
That’s what I’m here for. Let’s get to it.
What’s Saas Marketing?
Saas stands for software as a service, which means accessing applications on the internet as a service. Instead of installing and maintaining an app, you can access it via the internet “Pronto.”
Saas marketing means creating awareness and advertising your cloud-based software to get to your ideal customers. It’s just explaining what your product does, how it’s different for billions out there, and how it can solve your customer’s problems.
P.S. Do not state a feature without a benefit
People can’t just sniff out the benefits of your product and decide to use it. You must push it out there and make it known to the world.
Since software products are different from traditional products, say “best dad in the world coffee mug,” marketing can be quite a hassle. You need to map out strong marketing strategies and an effective marketing plan for it to work.
Why is Traditional Marketing different from Saas Marketing?
Well, first off, most Sass products are subscription-based products. Since we can’t feel or touch it, it comes with an added challenge of sales and retaining your existing customers. So, the secret to success is to maintain long-term relationships with your customers. Saas products focus on value rather than the product.
Another difference is that Saas is a product that customers use both day and night. It isn’t dependent on time; therefore, its customer service has to be impeccable.
For example, “Let’s say you love animals, and there’s a new documentary of your favorite animals coming up at 9 pm on a Friday. You have been preparing for this all week and couldn’t wait to feast your eyes. Then, all of a sudden, your TV cable shows ” loss in transmission,” ruining your well-planned night.
You remember they have a hotline customer support system. You tried to contact them they didn’t even answer, not to talk of giving you a solution to your problem.”
This bad experience may make you want to check out other cable TV networks.
As you must have deduced from the above story, customer support is a very important factor cos anything artificial tends to disappoint. If your customer service is shitty, people will look for the next available substitute for your product. Don’t forget you have a competitor out there who sells similar products for the exact same price.
How To Create a Sucessful SaaS Marketing Strategy
Below are few Saas marketing strategies that will bring you incredible ROI
Customer research
The first and most important step of a successful marketing plan is to know your target audience. You need to know that no matter how fantastic your product is, “it’s not for everyone.”
Know your ideal customers, who they are, what they do, and how they can benefit from your product. It will give you an insight on how to approach them.
This will also help you craft compelling content that speaks directly to them. It’ll be more like you having a one-on-one conversation with your dream user.
Content marketing
Yes, after knowing who your target is, the next is to reach out to those prospective users and convince them to buy your product. It can be content for B2B or B2C, i.e., Business to Business or Business to customers.
Anyway, it’s much easier to convince a customer to pay for a product they already know they want rather than making a whole business purchase a monthly subscription.
Content marketing is the cheapest and most effective way to reach out to your target audience. It can be in the form of:
- Blogging
- Webinars
- Landing page
- Podcasts etc
Partnership advertising
This is one of the organic ways to reach new unsuspecting audiences. It is a collaboration of companies to reach a common specific marketing goal, which can be improving customer loyalty, growing their customers in a new platform, etc.
E.g., In 2014, Uber and Spotify engaged in partnership advertising. Users booking an Uber ride get an exclusive offer to select a premium Spotify playlist for their trip.
It’s a win-win for both because Uber passengers get to have a feel of a premium Spotify playlist. It may not bring Uber new customers, but at least it helped strengthen the relationship of existing Uber users. The music produced premium and cozy rides.
Free trial vs Freemium
Since Saas is a service product, getting people to trust and buy your product just cos you say “it’s good” won’t work. They need to have a feel of what they want to buy, which is where trials and Freemium come in.
Now, what’s the difference?
Free trials mean giving the user full access to the product for some time. After that, he has to pay to continue using it.
In freemium, you can offer a basic version of the product forever. If the basic version is enticing enough, the user has to subscribe to unlock and enjoy the pro version of the software.
Both the trials and Freemuims are good ways to get new subscribers to your products. It lets your audience know that your product actually does what you say it does. But beware, both have their pros and cons.
Use Amp Emails
The term Amp may be new to you, but it is just a slight twerk from the original email marketing, you know, but with a touch of “convince.”
Picture this: Say Ashrefs (a popular seo tool software company) emails you inviting you to check out their new upgrade in their software subscription.
The thing is, if you’re lazy like me, you’d probably look at the email and get back to what you were doing before checking your email.
But what if the whole plans and prices are there in your inbox, and you can access it all without going to an external site?
“That’s convenience.”
It is exactly what an Amp email does. According to a recent survey conducted by Mail, this marketing strategy converts three times more than traditional email marketing.
Hit Your Saas Marketing Goal in No Time
Saas is the future of tech and will continue to expand, leading to a massive increase in the Sass market. Thus, there is a need to differentiate your products and have a market advantage.
Advertising your SAAS products needs more than just a well-planned strategy. It requires incredible decision-making and appropriate use of tools.
About 87% of successful Saas Marketers achieved their success with a well-planned business strategy, and 30% of them are just through email marketing alone.
You can start today by using the Goatomic email automation tool, and rest assured you will be ahead of your competition in no time.