How To Develop A Digital Marketing Plan For SaaS Businesses

Living in a world immersed in technology, we learn that the things we’re used to can quickly become just an item of the past. Handy smartphones replaced bulky mobile phones, and SaaS applications have begun to replace traditional software.

The Software-as-a-Service business model is gaining more traction worldwide and quickly taking over the conventional, on-premises hardware and software development. With lower upfront cost and lower risk of data being compromised, more and more businesses are now using SaaS to get work done.

Building a sustainable SaaS business means having a product that presents a solution to your customer’s problems, a powerful marketing plan, and an effective customer success process.

Now that SaaS is becoming the status quo throughout the business world, there are specific tactics to keep in mind, especially when developing a digital marketing plan. Achieving and increasing brand visibility for your SaaS business is vital.

Digital marketing for SaaS businesses is unique to a certain extent because they do not offer tangible products and their pricing strategies are segmented, but like most strategies utilized for any B2C company with the ultimate objective of converting as many possible prospective customers, it’s data-driven, customer-focused, and engaging. Some strategies work well for some industries, others do not, including the SaaS sector.

How To Develop A Digital Marketing Plan For SaaS Businesses

Digital Marketing for SaaS: Key Factors

Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing includes content marketing, SEO, and social media marketing. With the right inbound marketing tactics such as providing relevant resources and presenting yourself as a problem solver, you can effectively engage prospects during each stage of the cycle.

Marketing your SaaS business can be challenging, with the SaaS sales cycle being remarkably short. The sales cycle for most SaaS products typically lasts only 14 days. That is, from when the customer becomes aware of your SaaS product to when they make a purchase.

With short sales cycles, SaaS marketing is critically unique and different from other types of marketing. To build a competitive advantage in SaaS, you need to get your brand out there and increase visibility.

Marketing Channels

Like any other business, you need to determine which channels are the right ones for your SaaS product. Marketing is evolving and new marketing channels constantly emerge, and it can sometimes be difficult to know which platforms will work best for you. The effectiveness of each channel can also vary greatly according to the business type and industry sector.

The secret is to build your brand on relevant and competitive channels such as blogs, social media platforms, online communities, etc., according to your industry. Discover new marketing methods and gain an advantage against direct competitors through prominent communication platforms.

Customer Experience

CX is a customers’ impression based on the interactions with a business over the duration of their relationship. In SaaS, customer experience means allowing your customers to experience your product, communicating its value, and committing to provide a meaningful solution to their problems.

An exceptional SaaS product must present an excellent level of service and provide value through customer experience. An excellent level of service means getting support whenever required. To acquire new customers and retain existing ones, customer support on various channels is a vital part of any marketing plan. With excellent support available across many different channels, customers will feel more confident about being in a long-term relationship with your company.

You can easily find out what your customers want by simply asking them, such as through surveys. By researching how existing customers interact with your brand online, you can better understand their behavior and needs.

Developing Your Digital Marketing Plan for SaaS

Just like any marketing strategy, you first need to determine your objective and goals. With SaaS, marketers focus more on educating their market to build authority in the field.

1. Target Audience

Have a clear definition of your target user or customer. Identifying your target audience means understanding who they are, what they like, and where you can find them online. By knowing who your audience is, you are able to easily target content to provide value and ideal solutions.

2. Content

Content creation is an essential part of marketing your SaaS. Producing relevant content builds brand authority and visibility. To be effective in content marketing, you need to understand your audience.

Like with any other business model, content marketing for SaaS focus on creating original, innovative, forward-thinking, and relatable content. Quality content is more likely to be shared and therefore reaches more people within your target audience. This could include articles relevant to your target market, eye-catching videos, animation, or infographics that could attract engagement with potential customers. When creating useful content relevant to your target audience, you must consider their identity and usual struggles. Highly relevant and target content encourages engagement, content sharing, organic traffic, and signups. Another strategy is to reach out to other businesses within related markets. Through establishing a relationship with other platforms, you can participate in guest posting and content sharing. This can also drive more potential customers to your site by providing backlinks and valuable content related to your business.

3. Design

Your website’s look and feel are just as important as its functionality. The design of your website can significantly support your online marketing presence. Driving visitors to your site is a top priority, but it's equally important to entice them into continuing to browse through the site. The design and functionality of your website can determine a prospect’s first impression of your business .

Design also plays a key role in other promotional channels used by your SaaS business. Using engaging images throughout social media and email is essential to attract prospects. An image is the first thing your potential customers will notice, so you should consider investing in high-quality designs to support your digital marketing efforts.

4. Communication

In this digital era, customer communications can occur simultaneously, across various channels. There are various ways customers can reach out to you for support and general queries. Providing your customers clear and efficient communication channels at every stage of the buyer’s cycle will help you achieve greater and faster conversion.

Utilizing different communication channels can help build trust as it provides greater opportunity for customer feedback and swift responses to important questions. Aside from common digital communication channels such as email and chats, there are other direct and accessible communication tools such as SMS and in-app marketing that are essential for effective digital marketing and customer experience.

5. Email

Personalizing and segmenting email communications is non-negotiable. This allows you to generate different series of emails for different prospects, and effectively plan your email campaigns. When sending out email communications, always consider where your email subscriber is in the buyer’s journey, and how they found your SaaS business. These considerations will ensure you send relatable and useful messages and send them at the perfect time.

6. Social Media

Social media is a self-sustaining community, and it is available in so many capacities. The number of people that use social media continues to rise as more people seek to be connected to like-minded individuals and businesses. Social media has changed the relationship we have with others and has greatly influenced consumer behavior by building product awareness and providing social proofs. Social media marketing is important for the growth of any SaaS business as it showcases your brand and its offerings while remaining an efficient, cheap, and engaging way to reach your target audience. When done right, social media marketing can be the most powerful force that drives prospects to your site.

..................................................

Many businesses are moving towards more sustainable means of marketing and advertising. Digital marketing helps you have a wider reach, which in turn drives higher-quality traffic to your website that improves engagement and increases sales.

You should recognize how your SaaS product is different from the rest and develop a plan to gain a competitive advantage over many other competitors sharing your target market. The most important principle of SaaS digital marketing is to align your efforts with your product and ideal customer base.