Is SaaS marketing different from other types of marketing? Yes! While marketing something that has a physical presence itself might be hard, imagine marketing something that is not physically present and is dynamic in nature or something that only a handful of B2B companies might show interest in? SaaS marketing is definitely challenging! But, inbound marketing, when done right can come in handy. Inbound marketing is versatile and the cost for acquiring customers is less. Marketing mistakes are inevitable, considering things like complex planning process, getting the content right, converting, lead qualification etc. But, you need not really worry. There can be nothing smoother that inbound marketing, if a few mistakes are avoided. Here in this blog we have pointed out a few mistakes that need to be avoided when it comes to SaaS marketing:
Content that does not please your audience:
Content is king! Remember, you are marketing for a SaaS company. The blogs, demos, tutorials, case studies, vendor comparisons etc. should be considered when you put together your content strategy.
What does it mean if you see a decrease in quality leads? It means that one or many elements of your content strategy is/are not working out. It means that you might want to review the positioning of your content.
If your content is not resonating with visitors, it probably means that you content is not targeted in such a way as to interest your buyer personas. This might want you to audit your content, understand the problems that your personas might face, and add more useful content assets.
As you might know, ideal buyers of SaaS organizations are B2B. This implies that the campaigns are likely to be targeted towards CTOs, CMOs, or other decision makers in the same categories. Your content should be persona-targeting and you should make necessary changes based on the vendor, the solution's nature, and niche.
Now that you know how important it is to produce relevant content, keeping in mind your buyer personas, the next thing is to map the content correctly all through the buyer's journey. It is possible that your prospects might lose interest or get stuck if the information to solve their challenges is not provided to them at the buying stage. Mapping buyer's journey clearly is what SaaS companies should do to avoid prospects to get stuck. This can be done by understanding their needs and have content that is relevant. Give the information that they might be looking for and take then closer to a decision. Nurturing your leads to decide can be a cup of tea, if you have supporting content!
To sum up, ideal content:
- Should be persona-targeted
- Address the buyer's problems, that your organization would help to solve
- Should address the right buyer's journey stages
Choosing features over benefits:
One thing that affects the way you explain your products and also your visuals is choosing features over benefits. If you choose to give importance to the features of your products more than your benefits, consider your marketing efforts useless! Your product might have awesome features, but challenge-relevant values are to be highlighted to help your buyers get to know why and how your services are beneficial to them! You might already know that you should focus on the benefits instead of the features, but ultimately you end up showcasing your features more prominently. Having a features page is definitely not wrong, but flip things up to showcase the benefits more. All communications and marketing efforts are to be focused on showcasing how you product can solve the buyers’ problems.
Now, take for example, you have a SaaS software for Accounting and one of the features is that the expenses are categorized automatically. Now, instead of showcasing that straight away, put yourself in the shoes of your target user and question yourself as to how such categorization will benefit you or facilitate your work!
Pointers to keep in mind in order to ensure that benefits are focused more:
1. Dig into each of your features. See if you can get the answers for:
- Is it going to save your personas some money?
- Is it going to address their problems and facilitate their work?
- Is it time-saving?
2. List the features of your products and explain the benefits of each feature. Sell by highlighting the benefit of each feature.
3. Connect the features with your buyer personas’ goals and needs. Your campaigns and marketing communications should always show the benefits under the spotlight.
4. Lastly, remember, what people want is the outcome, not your tool! Analyze your existing customers’ feedbacks to understand more on how your product is helpful to them. Their grievances can help you in improving and becoming better!
In a nutshell:
- Focus on
- The benefits
- The desired outcome
Just telling your audience that your product is right:
Try showing your audience why your product is best for them instead of just telling them that yours is the right choice. Just telling makes it harder for them to spot the advantages of using your product, how you product will solve their problem, and why you are better than your competitors. This might push them towards your competitors! Either this, or you might get leads that are not qualified to become your customers. This problem could worsen if your trial is not optimized to convert leads into paid customers.
The solution for this is show, don't just tell. Show it in your platform's website, screenshots, and videos. Today, when design is very important, it is obvious that your buyers would want to see what platform they are going to use! Show your SaaS product in action. Visuals in the form of videos, images, charts etc. are vital.
Not generating qualified leads:
Inbound campaigns work towards generating qualified leads. You marketing team should pass high-quality leads to your sales team. Lacking such alignment might lead to consequences. There will be higher churn rates.
So, what is lead qualification? Putting the concentrate name tag on a lead that is a good fit for your product. A qualified lead is worth nurturing and following up. So, the leads that are qualified should be nurtured by marketing. You should address their challenges and bring them through, until they consider buying! This is the point where you should hand them over to the sales team. So, it is important to have a sales team and a marketing team, that are well-aligned.
In conclusion, SaaS marketing can be challenging and requires expertise as it is a competitive space. Planning adequately can help you!