Inbound marketing strategies are a perfect fit for Software as a Service (SaaS) businesses looking to scale within a digital marketplace. Your target customers are likely to be digital natives who are comfortable purchasing services online and are familiar with the benefits of the subscription-for-access model. This gives you the opportunity to create a hard-hitting marketing plan based on the value of your service, reaching out to your target audience, and nurturing your leads until they are ready to convert. The same strategy can also be used to reduce churn among existing customers. Here are 10 steps to success in digital inbound marketing:
1. Test The Best Conversion Approach For Your Platform
Not all of your potential customers will take the same path towards conversion. Some will sign up for a subscription the first time they visit your website – your ‘golden customers’. Others may prefer to book a demo or trial period before committing to a longer subscription, and some customers may want to contact your team directly for questions before they decide either way. Other customers expect a free or ‘lite’ version of your product so they can assess its value (e.g. HubSpot, Trello). Testing different conversion scenarios and approaches can reveal what resonates most with your audience, so that you can get your CTAs (calls to action) and offers right. A good way to do this is A/B testing using different landing pages, sections of your website, email marketing, and ad campaigns. Carefully track metrics such as signup rates, demo requests, subscriptions, and engagement levels for each option to identify the one that drives the most conversions.
2. Create Comparison Content
Digital subscription customers often review two or more similar services before making a purchase decision in an informal ‘competitor analysis’ process. Although subscription services are still popular, subscription fatigue is a growing factor in some sectors, making customers choosier. A good way to help them make a decision in your favour is to focus on comparison content with your main competitors – e.g. “HubSpot vs Mailchimp”, “Spotify vs Apple Music”. These types of articles, e-books, and landing pages are good at capturing consideration stage visitors who may have already done some initial research, and also help to instil confidence in decision-makers researching their options. Use your content to highlight your platform’s unique strengths and benefits while also being courteous, factual and transparent about your competitors.
3. Use Targeted LinkedIn ads
LinkedIn is one of the most effective advertising platforms for quickly reaching decision-makers. With robust and versatile targeting capabilities, you can target your adverts at the specific industries, company sizes, locations, and job roles that align with your ideal customer profiles/buyer personas. LinkedIn advertising is great for lead generation campaigns and for promoting premium gated content. Inbound leads can be nurtured further along the sales funnel either through LinkedIn or by email marketing, with content that highlights how your platform solves unique business pain points and delivers long-term value.
4. Create ‘Top Of The Funnel’ Content
Top of the funnel (TOFU) content is an important part of content marketing for SaaS businesses. TOFU is designed to attract and engage customers who are just starting their journey by considering a problem or challenge they need to overcome – i.e. customers at the ‘awareness’ stage. The purpose of this content is to raise more awareness, provide value, get your business name out there, and start building trust without being too salesy. For instance, if your platform improves team productivity and collaboration, your content should explore ways that customers can streamline their workflows and boost productivity, and maybe improve data security, without necessarily mentioning your platform explicitly. This can position you as an authority in your market and help you gather contact details through on-page forms. Start with a blog and expand the content in more depth with a gated e-book in exchange for an email address and/or phone number.
5. Use Video To Demonstrate Your Platform
Video is a powerful medium for SaaS content marketing, and can be used to demonstrate how your platform looks and works on different screen sizes and devices. Publish videos that show the platform being used in real-world scenarios, such as on the shop floor, in the warehouse, or in the office, to give your target customers an intuitive understanding of how it can support them in their own work and life. Short platform demonstrations, customer testimonials, and even explainer videos work well to engage potential subscribers. These videos can be embedded directly onto your website, published on your YouTube channel, or shared across social media and email campaigns.
6. Invest In Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising
As an overwhelmingly digital-focused market, SaaS vendors frequently benefit from heavy investment in PPC advertising to reach high-quality leads and increase brand visibility to their target audience. SaaS keywords tend to be highly competitive on PPC platforms, which drives up the cost per click and cost per acquisition rates. Instead of purely targeting the most competitive keywords, therefore, get creative with your choices, focusing on long-tail keywords that align with your specific audience’s intent and the features of your platform. While the costs of PPC can deter some businesses, be aware that a well-targeted campaign will usually translate into a higher ROI over time, with better lead quality and more conversions.
7. Overcome Long Sales Cycles With Marketing Automation
Depending on your contract terms and sector, some SaaS purchase decisions involve a long sales cycle, often requiring multiple touchpoints before a lead converts. This can cause a problem for SaaS vendors with a small number of employees and limited customer service and sales resources. To streamline this process, you should invest in an agile marketing automation platform to help nurture and score your leads automatically. A platform such as HubSpot will allow you to manage and integrate all your digital marketing channels within a single dashboard, and equip your internal stakeholders with the resources they need to follow up leads and progress sales.
8. Publish a High-Performing Pricing Page
If you are doing your job correctly, your ‘prices’ page should be one of the most visited locations of your website! It also plays a critical role in informing and converting potential customers. Time spent designing a pricing page that is clear, transparent, and aligned with your customer expectations is, therefore, time well spent. Clearly explain your different pricing tiers and offers, list the features included in each subscription, and make sure that prospects can quickly understand the value of your platform so they can make an informed decision.
9. Use Customer Reviews And Testimonials
Social proof is an effective way of selling subscription-based software, as well as building credibility in a competitive SAS market. Use customer reviews, testimonials, and case studies liberally throughout your website, blog articles, social media platforms, and gated content. Ideally, use reviews from customers similar to your target market to make them relatable and compelling, including measurable results (e.g. cost or time savings, ROI, etc), to make your success stories more realistic.
10. Educate Your Target Customers
Ultimately, education, not sales, is the beating heart of inbound marketing. The goal is to bring someone from a position of not knowing a thing about your platform to the stage where they want to sign up for a multi-year subscription, and hopefully recommend you to their friends, family, and colleagues while they’re at it. It therefore pays dividends to invest in your content: write (or outsource) detailed professional articles, publish high-quality e-books, record video tutorials, and respond to comments on social media to address challenges and provide solutions, for free. This nurturing approach will help boost your brand authority and credibility over time, increasing organic traffic and conversions.
Find out more
Get in touch with one of the inbound marketing specialists at JDR today to find out how you can use digital channels to your advantage to scale your business this year.
