Dropbox, a cloud storage company, grew a staggering 3900% in a span of 15 months! And no, that’s not a typo. The American company managed to double its user base every three months between 2008 and 2010. But how? This viral success can be credited to a brilliant marketing campaign.
It’s no secret that people love free stuff. For years businesses have used freebies to entice customers. Free products establish a positive image of the company and also inspire loyalty. And unsurprisingly, this retail marketing strategy translated well in the SaaS world. Using this knowledge, Dropbox created a viral referral program in a market that was already swarmed with cloud storage competitors.
While marketing may not be at the forefront of your SaaS development, a strong multi channel marketing strategy is essential to stand out from the competition. Moreover, the failure rate of SaaS startups is high. In fact, nearly 92% of SaaS companies fail within the first three years regardless of growth and funding.
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A well-researched marketing plan can help you keep your head above the water in a challenging market. Whether your current strategies are failing to drive desired results or you want to ramp up your efforts, you’ve come to the right place.
12 Ways Your SaaS Marketing Efforts Are Falling Short
In this post, we’re sharing certain marketing mistakes restricting growth and costing valuable opportunities. Take a look.
1. Not Offering Free Trial
As previously mentioned, customers like free products. Why not take advantage of that? You can gain customers’ interest by offering a free trial of your product.
A user may be hesitant to purchase your product, but they are more likely to sign up if it doesn’t cost a thing. This is especially beneficial if your competitors aren’t offering free trials.
If the customers are satisfied with the trial, they are more likely to switch to paid versions. Free trials are a highly effective way to gently coax your customers down the conversion funnel.
2. Not Paying Attention To Branding
Branding is an often-overlooked core component of SaaS marketing. A brand identity driven by buyer personas is indispensable. In addition to being easily recognizable, a strong brand also inspires trust and improves conversion rates.
Since visuals play a vital role, consider collaborating with talented graphic designers to come up with logos and illustrations for your brand. Apart from being memorable, these graphics should also accurately represent your unique brand identity.
Branding also involves a clear and consistent tone of voice. Furthermore, high-quality content creation is another important factor, which is discussed in the subsequent sections.
3. Underutilizing Inbound Marketing
A crucial part of branding is offering value to your prospects. This is where inbound marketing comes into the picture. Rather than an exclusive sales-focused approach, which can feel intrusive, you can attract prospects by creating relevant content.
Content marketing is an excellent way to get the word out without explicitly preaching your product. High-quality content not only attracts prospects to your website but also encourages them to stay. We urge you to share your expertise in the form of well-written think pieces, brief blogs, infographics, and so on.
Moreover, instead of churning out content just for the sake of it, your focus should be on quality. From data-driven posts to expert interviews, make sure your strategy is a good mix of different styles of content.
In addition to curating high-quality content, you also need to work on its discoverability. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plays a key role in indexing and ranking your pages. If you want your content to show up in relevant search queries, then it’s time to pay attention to SEO.
From keyword research to link building, your brand requires a well-rounded SEO strategy in place. Remember, there is no such thing as overnight success when it comes to SEO. Implementing white-hat techniques consistently is the only way to climb up the rankings on search engines.
4. Undervaluing Email Marketing
With the commotion of new platforms and tactics, it’s easy to dismiss the efficacy of email marketing. But wait! Email marketing continues to be a reliable channel to connect with customers and nurture long-term relationships.
If you are questioning whether email marketing is worth your time, let us clear your doubts. There are over four million email users across the world, which is more than any social media platform.
From reaching new prospects to upselling existing customers, emails are a powerful asset in your marketing arsenal. It would be best to adopt different tactics to grow your mailing list. You can add a pop-up sign-up form, linking sign-form on social media, and using partially gated content are some ways you can build your list.
As far as the email content is concerned, it’s imperative to share high-quality and relevant content. Solely sharing promotional emails often leads to your content being marked as spam or high unsubscribe rate. That’s why it’s better to stick to non-promotional marketing content 90% of the time.
Personalizing is another aspect that can make your emails stand out. From addressing recipients by their name instead of generic salutation to sharing customized content, start taking a personalized approach.
Many brands make the mistake of sending consecutive emails over a few days and then radio silence. A consistent schedule is paramount to keep your brand alive in the subscribers’ minds. We are not implying that you need to send an email every week, but you can share a few emails every month. The frequency depends on specific marketing goals.
Read More: Top 5 B2B Email Marketing Strategies
5. Underestimating Social Media
It would be an understatement to say that social media has changed the face of marketing. And that’s why your brand cannot afford to underestimate the power of social media.
Since there are several social media platforms out there, the first step should be identifying the most relevant platforms. LinkedIn offers valuable opportunities to establish credibility and generate leads.
Facebook is a good place for creating a community for your brand. You can create a private group where customers can share their experiences with your products and leave reviews. Such a community also gives users an opportunity to interact with each other and network. Besides creating a community, Facebook Groups also allow you to gather valuable customer feedback and tap cross-selling opportunities.
For many brands, Twitter has become an extension of their customer support. Similarly, you can use Twitter to create brand awareness as well as resolve issues.
6. No Presence on Online Directories
While paper directories aren’t relevant anymore, don’t forget about online directories. G2 Crowd, SoftwareWorld, Capterra, SoftwareAdvice, PCMag, FinancesOnline, and TechnologyAdvice are a few popular software review websites.
Listing your products on these directories and encouraging customer reviews can influence the purchasing decision of future prospects. Initially, you can start with the free profile and then upgrade to PPC models to further your reach.
7. Neglecting Video Marketing
A video is a versatile tool that your brand can utilize in multiple ways. You can produce long-form tutorials and informative videos for platforms like Youtube and Facebook. On the other hand, short product videos should be advertised on various social media platforms.
It’s no secret that social proof does wonders for SaaS companies. Rather than written testimonials, which may come across as inauthentic, how about establishing your credibility with video testimonials? The best part is that these videos don’t involve any production cost. You can ask customers to shoot a review on their phone. I’s easy, relatable, and genuine.
8. Dismissing Newer Channels
Other than established blogs, emails and social media, testing out newer channels can help you create a distinct brand identity. Currently, podcasting is all the rage. In fact, over a third of podcast listeners make purchase decisions based on podcast advertisements.
Not every person is keen on reading detailed blog posts. Starting a podcast for your niche could be another way to share useful content with your target audience. Unlike written content, podcasts can be consumed while driving, working out, cooking, or virtually any task.
The conversational nature of podcasts makes them more personable. With a podcast, you can create a unique brand identity as well as foster deeper connections with your audience.
Don’t have the first clue about producing a podcast? Fortunately, platforms like Anchor have made it incredibly easy to produce, distribute, and promote podcasts.
Apart from starting one, you can also consider appearing as a guest speaker on well-known podcasts in your niche.
9. Targeting Everyone
Whether you are developing a social media strategy or curating blogs, targeting everyone isn’t helpful. Identifying and defining your target marketing is crucial for marketing success. From putting together focus groups to conducting surveys, there are many ways to find your target audience.
Scrap a one-size-fits-all approach and segment your audience on the basis of budget, goals, needs, problems, and other relevant metrics.
Will cold calls or social media marketing help convert a prospect? There is no cookie-cutter solution. Identifying and segmenting your target audience will enable you to find the correct approach to boost conversions.
10. Poor Website UX
If you are directing prospects to your website, then a poor user experience won’t cut it. Take this as a sign to optimize different aspects of your website to ensure a seamless user experience.
11. Not Creating Comparative Content
An abundance of choice is a wonderful privilege but can also feel confusing. What if you simplified decision-making for your customers? Instead of entirely relying on the customer’s discernment, you can steer them in the right direction with comparative content.
This involves comparing your products with the competition in a blog post, infographic or any other content format. It’s a subtle way of highlighting the benefits of your product.
12. Not Participating in Online Forums
Participating in online forums can help you further establish authority in your niche. From answering questions on Quora to engaging in subreddits on Reddit, start building your credibility as an industry expert. The more you answer, the more visibility your brand will gain.
When you’re answering questions, refrain from blatantly promoting your product, which undermines your authenticity. Instead, focus on providing value. The goal should be helping your target audience, not product promotion.
The Bottom Line
In today’s business landscape, creating an amazing product is not enough. Adopting suitable marketing strategies is crucial to build brand awareness and ultimately sell your product. That being said, B2B SaaS marketing isn’t particularly a piece of cake. We encourage you to put together a competent marketing team that’s capable of making your organization stand out in this highly competitive marketplace.
Though the aforementioned tips are valuable for refining your marketing strategy, remember that there is no such thing as a ‘one-size-fits-all’ strategy. It’s important to stay on top of the newest marketing channels and continue testing different strategies for the best results.
Written By Stefan Smulders:
Stefan Smulders is a SaaS Entrepreneur | Bootstrapped to €3M ARR in just 1year | Founder of Worlds safest software for LinkedIn Automation Expandi.io | Vegan | Father
