As a scaling SaaS business, you may have come to a point where your SaaS marketing strategy needs to be revisited. Maybe everything you’ve done up to this point has plateaued. Maybe they aren’t moving the needle fast enough. Or you haven’t been able to dedicate the resources to invest in marketing. Whatever the situation, you’ve identified the need to invest in marketing to take your business to the next level.
So, what should you focus on? It would be easy to provide you with recommendations you could find elsewhere, but that wouldn’t provide you with meaningful direction. Rather than focusing on tactics alone, let’s look at the high-level considerations you should make when forming your SaaS marketing strategy.
Focus on Acceleration over Addition
Growth requires a balance of new subscribers and keeping current customers happy. While retention and upselling have their place in your SaaS marketing strategy, new subscribers can take the lead. (Retention can be supported with the addition of customer success roles added through SaaS recruiting.) So, what’s a good approach for new subscribers? More importantly, how do you get them faster?
A fundamental part of marketing is tuning. Much like A/B testing, you’ll be able to look at what you’ve been doing and identify what worked and what didn’t. Then, you take what worked, refine it even further based on data (for example, tailoring messaging based on audience information, location data, and more), and dedicate more resources to reach more of that audience. It’s a cyclical process designed to produce better results each time.
Consider what you’ve done thus far in your SaaS marketing strategy, then weigh what has worked and what hasn’t. Think about putting more resources toward tactics that have created leads and opportunities. Even if it’s a small step at first, it’s a step worth taking. Doing this first creates a foundation for your marketing that supports reliable results, allowing you to layer in other marketing tactics and test them for viability.
Assess Your Market and Industry
By this point, you’ll have a strong picture of your market and will have an understanding of what people are looking for. But maybe you haven’t had the resources or time to focus on delivering the message of your solution through the many channels available. Once you have a foundation in place for what works well, you can start exploring other opportunities.
Each platform is different. Whereas the market for one product might be significant, the market for another might be much smaller and more specific. Where does your SaaS platform fit in? All companies should engage in SEO research to understand how people are thinking about and searching for solutions, but if you’re in a crowded market with competitors, researching, developing, and implementing a keyword strategy is critical.
Just as critical is an investment in paid search, promoted content, and other online advertising that drives traffic to your site or landing pages to capture leads. Content offers are a great way to convert site visitors — ebooks, white papers, studies, and recorded webinars are offers people will provide their information to receive.
If you’re a SaaS business that generates leads from trade shows, remember to balance your preparations and expenses for the trade show itself with what happens after. You must have a solid follow-up in place, such as building out your sales team, building out content to nurture leads at every stage of the SaaS sales funnel, or implementing an automation platform with well-crafted workflows.
Always Learn From Your Resources
First, learn from your subscribers. Your website and platform are generating data every second. Learn from it. Analyze it and take action where results are strong and where data reveals opportunities. Talk to your subscribers, too — not only to maintain strong relationships but to secure referrals and identify upsell offers. Market to the audience you already have in addition to new subscribers. You’ll learn more than you might realize, and you’ll be able to put that knowledge to use for growth.
Finally, learn from your business partners. Debt financing lenders are much more than just lenders — we’re advocates for your success. Accelerating sales and marketing efforts is a strategy SaaS companies use debt financing for often, and with success.
River SaaS Capital Can Fund Your SaaS Marketing Strategy
As established SaaS lenders, we provide customizable alternative financing options and leadership mentoring through our partnership-first approach. We’re here to help you grow while letting you retain your independence and supporting your vision for the future of your SaaS business. Learn more about our expert funding solutions for SaaS companies at every stage here.
If you’re ready for the next stage of growth, contact us below to learn how we’ve helped other companies use debt financing for their SaaS marketing strategy.
