There is a growing need for SaaS services as businesses look to improve their functions in this digital technology era. According to Statista, utilization of SaaS applications averages at 56% worldwide in 2023. This figure is bound to rise, especially in the post-COVID era, with education and healthcare sectors among the top drivers of the increasing adoption of SaaS products worldwide.
As SaaS application usage increases, SaaS companies now have a task to fight for a share of this lucrative business in a continually flooded arena. One major element is vital for standing out from the competition: creating a marketing strategy that allows for effective promotion of your SaaS products. This helps achieve your business’s main objectives of increased lead generation and demand for your products and, ultimately, growth and success for your venture.
Effective marketing strategies for SaaS businesses
Besides facing stiff competition, SaaS companies deal with complex products that require them to keep the clients subscribed, which poses a unique challenge. This calls for improved efforts to effectively and clearly show your clients why your products are the answer to their needs. We discuss below different marketing strategies that SaaS companies should incorporate in their plan to take their businesses to new heights.
SEO
SEO plays a vital role in the success of your inbound marketing efforts. What SEO does is help you outdo the rest of your competitors to place you at the top of the search engines? This is a place where your SaaS business is clearly and easily visible to potential clients searching for your kind of services. And reaching the right people is what you need to catapult your business to success.
For your SEO strategy to breed results, you need to focus on the right SEO elements. For starters, focus on keyword research to understand the popular phrases that people are using to search for SaaS products. This will come in handy in guiding you to find topics for content that will add value for your customers.
In addition, make sure that you have improved your on-page and off-page SEO. Use the target keywords not only in your content but also to optimize meta descriptions, title tags, URLs and more. Also, enhance the off-page SEO through link building and promoting your content on other platforms. Don’t forget technical SEO, such as improving the user experience, optimizing page loading speed, and more.
Free trials
Offering free trials of your products is a good way for your potential clients to have a ‘feel’ of what your product offers before committing to a paid plan. And it goes without saying that it becomes easier to convert such leads to paying customers. SaaS businesses with free trials in their marketing efforts enjoy a good conversion rate. According to this report, 18.2% of opt-in free trials and 48.8% opt-out free trials from organic traffic convert to paid customers. However, you need to be strategic about your free trials. You have the option to choose between:
- A free trial where customers don’t have to commit to a subscription
- A paid trial where they pay a fraction of the subscription fee for a limited time
- A freemium where you allow basic features for free
Compare the upsides and downsides of each to make sure that you settle for the one that suits your goals. Moreover, keep in mind that your primary focus is to make sure that a good number of the people using free trials convert to paying customers. You can do this by making the sign-up process simple and offering support and useful resources during onboarding and the duration of the trial period. Utilize live chat software on your website to personalize communication with your customers to generate more leads and sales. In addition, subtly emphasize on the value and benefits of your products that they stand to gain.
Paid advertising
The advantage of paid advertising is that it helps you get where you want faster with improved results. A good example to try is PPC, which you get to pay when visitors click on it. With a good strategy, PPC gives a quick traffic boost and helps get to the top of the search engine result page faster. Contribution from a digital marketing agency can come in handy here. Working with digital marketing agencies for advertising solutions such as PPC helps create data-driven and well researched campaigns that yield a higher ROI. You also benefit from expert management and analysis for your ads to ensure that you keep improving and getting better results.
Another paid advertising strategy that drives success is working with influencers in your niche. Influencer marketing allows you to leverage the trust and credibility of influencers to reach their followers with your message. This meets an audience that is already engaged and targeted, increasing the probability of driving quality leads and traffic.
Referral program
It is common to see people asking for reviews about different products and services online. This is because most people trust the experience of others when considering making a purchase. Referral marketing allows you to leverage your existing customers’ experiences to entice new ones into your customer base. This provides a cost-effective and faster way of gaining customer trust and acquiring new customers.
However, referral marketing can only be a challenge with a well-planned referral program. Make sure that you have made it easy for your customers to refer your business to others. In addition, make the incentives that come with each referral clear. Also, be sure to make your rewards attractive to entice more people to join. Most importantly, make sure that your products deliver what they promise. You would have a hard time convincing your customers to refer other people if they have had a nasty experience even with the incentives. As per the referral marketing statistics, referral marketing can significantly boost sales when implemented correctly.
Email marketing
Email marketing is among the oldest forms of marketing that is still effective in lead generation in this digital era. It also ranks high in returns with an impressive ROI of $36 for every $1 spent on average. And with billions of email users checking their emails daily, email gives you a powerful channel to get your message in front of your potential customers.
For better results, personalizing your emails is your friend. It helps enhance engagement and connect with your customers at a deeper level. You can use names, location, age, recent searches, and more to create emails that speak to the clients. In addition, share valuable information such as educational resources, incentives and offers that can benefit the recipient and the like.
Moreover, you want to make sure that you are making your work easier with email automation. Also, use segmentation to create different target groups to help you send relevant content to the receiver. Moreover, make sure that you don’t give everything away to encourage your customers to visit your website. This increases the click-through rate.
Conclusion
Adopting strategic marketing solutions is an effective way to bring more business your way to achieve growth for your SaaS business. Start by working on your SaaS SEO to increase visibility and drive organic traffic. You can also use paid advertising to fast-track this process. In addition, give a taste of your products through free trials to positively influence a buying decision. Lastly, leverage the power of email marketing to talk to your customers personally and referral marketing for social proof.
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