The Steps of Content Marketing Strategy for SaaS Startups

For example, take a quick look at any standard SaaS website and you are likely to come across resources section that has ‘knowledge base or content related to their products.’

These informative contents can either be in the form of blog posts or ebooks, and they are actually an important part of the content marketing plan. Also, you’ll need the right Content Marketing tools to get them done effectively.

But, let’s face it: Creating a SaaS Content Marketing Strategy that can convert your website visitors into customers, is the hardest part. A lot of the conventional strategies that people suggest to use don’t even yield half of the expected result.

But, wait. How are your competitors making profits? What strategies are they using for their SaaS content marketing plan?

There definitely is a clear answer to both these questions, and if you want to know what they are, read the post carefully.

Content Marketing Strategy for Software as a Service (SaaS) is one of the major and most important marketing tools that SaaS startups use to attract, inform, and covert customers. The most important element of Software-as-a-Service content marketing is to help potential customers understand your product/service.

How can a visitor become your paid customer if he does not understand how your product works, why is it different, and how it can benefit them?

SaaS content marketing strategy is a great way of helping your target audience to learn about your product, its features, and usability. It bears not much difference with traditional marketing strategies or marketing approach. Instead, it is more cost effective, direct and hassle-free.

You’ve to inform the audience how your software works and why it has the potential to solve their problems. Information and education are critical parts of the SaaS strategy, which is why content is the most important tool you can use to market the SaaS product.

Your target for every visitor reaching your website should be to find ways through which they can stay connected to your website and become paid customers. 99% of the buyers are unlikely to buy your product the first time they reach the site. Hence, you need tricks and tips to stay in touch with them and bring them back to your site.

Step 1: Creating customer-centric and solution-oriented articles

The SaaS startup’s focus must be on customer intent. Because whether it is a lead, new customer or an existing customer, you should provide your audience with prompt information. SaaS companies are creating content that guides the visitors towards the buying process. But a wise way to do this is creating content for each stage of the buyer’s journey. Here’s how you can funnel your buyer’s behaviour in five different stages and create content around it.

Phase I: Product or Service Awareness

Take the first step of content marketing stairs by creating content that can create awareness about your product. Use top keywords, long-tail phrases, write engaging articles, and attract attention. Do everything you can to spread awareness.

Phase II: Lead Generation

Once you’ve created awareness about your product, the next step is keeping the audience engaged with your site, and earning their trust. You can generate leads by developing high-value, free, and informative content.

Phase III: Get the Visitors to Sign-Up

Get the users and visitors to sign-up and try your product. The best way to do this is by offering free trials and letting the users decide if the product is appropriate for them.

Phase IV: Free to Paid Customers

Now that your customers have tried your product, it’s time to convince them to try the paid version. It can be made possible by offering them valuable features and tools within the software.

Phase V: Retain the paid Customers

This could be the toughest, but most important phase. To retain your paid customer, make sure you continue providing them with valuable features, tools, and support. Deliver quality in exchange for money.

Step 2: Creating infographic content for the visual appeal

Customers will remember a visual representation more than a written or audio one. It will stay in their brains longer and help them navigate their way to you SaaS startup. The communication is easier, customers’ understanding of your products will improve.

• Infographics are a compelling communication medium that can communicate complex information in an effective manner.
• SaaS startups are using compelling infographics to create informative content and share knowledge about the product’s exclusive features and benefits.

Step 3: Improve on-site SEO

While content marketing strategy is important, what makes it so is the search engine optimization, means the identification of the most used keywords for your products or services. Not all SEO keywords will generate the same results for your website. If you want to create content that converts, here are a few things that you can do while doing keyword research:

• User Intent is crucial: If you have a SaaS product, you sure have established a rival and competitors. It’s time to look at these competitors and learn what keywords they are using. Also, use Google AdWords to target the specific customer range and win them over by offering what’s missing in your competitor’s product/Solution.
• Search Volume Analysis: Search volume refer to the number of times Google users are typing particular phrases into the search bar. Who wants to build their SaaS strategy around content nobody is searching for? You can use the Google Keyword Planner to find the frequency of each keyword.

Step 4: Customer involvement marketing strategy

This marketing strategy works on the existing customers better by communicating with them regarding new features of your product or service which they haven’t yet tried and encouraging them to do so. Provide them with the solutions for a hassle-free engagement program.

For example, office messaging applications like Slack, Twist, and Microsoft teams repetitively send notifications to users about the recent upgrades, bug fixes, and new features to try. This way, they motivate the buyers to stay on the board.

Step 5: In-app upgrades of applications

As a SaaS startup, another marketing strategy to use is in-app upgrades. In-app upgrades let the users use the app even while it is being upgraded. Now that does not mean that you have to force them to buy those upgrades. Instead, with better analysis of data, your company can ensure which in-app application is best suited for the customer and then educate them about the same by creating content around it.

An in-app upgrade is a great way of fixing the bugs and making improvements, and at the same time, retaining customers by offering them enhanced features. 

For example – Troop Messenger frequently uses In-app upgrades as a SaaS. The weekly updates not only fix the identified bugs and errors but also generate clicks from the existing users.

Step 6: Free trials and extension offer

A SaaS startup marketing strategy must be to offer its customers/ leads a free trial so that customer ‘tries before buys’ your product. Free trials and extension offer for new and existing customers work in a similar manner as creating an inbound marketing content strategy does.

In addition to the free trials, the SaaS startups marketing strategy of offering extensions will become a major amplifier in the customer’s visits and purchase of your product.

A great example of free trials and extension offers can be Troop Messenger, an office chat application. In addition to all the basic features, users can also avail features like Audio Messaging, Video Calling, Instant Messaging, Screen Sharing and live tracking.

Step 7: Referral marketing strategy

After your SaaS startup has gained a desired reach of leads, make your way up to a referral program wherein a customer can refer your product to his friends and that will earn you another customer and premium points to the existing customer. As an excellent content marketing strategy example, referral marketing tactic is something that can generate potential leads for your business.

There may be relatively high growth in the sales of your product after a referral program if only it is executed properly, promoted among the target customers, and deployed well.

A good example of this SaaS Startup marketing strategy is encouraging the existing users to send referral links to their friends and family, ask them to download the application and get cashable rewards.

Step 8: Partnered marketing program

As a startup, you can enter a co-marketing program with another prominent company which offers similar products, or secondary or closely related products. It will help you navigate your co-marketers’ leads or audience, hence, an increase in leads and conversions.

Eventually, this will prove to be a good B2B SaaS marketing strategy. And it will be cost effective.

You can partner with a company having mutual goals, setting partnership tiers, and by developing the co-branding content. Always align with your partner’s expectation and make sure the content you are developing is both relevant and informational.

Step 9: Customer retention: reducing the cancellations

Using the right tools, the SaaS startup can ensure which customer is most likely to cancel the subscription to service. With the predictive analysis, you can find out the reasons behind it and provide the customer with better solutions to make their experience a better one. It will also help your startup to determine which feature of your product or brand is causing the customers to cancel and you can deploy development efforts.

To reduce customer cancellation, the SaaS startup can improvise their services or product to retain the prospective cancellers.

By understanding the user-demand, trending topics, your website can reduce the churn rate and increase the sign-ups.

Step 10: Business networking programs

As another important SaaS Startup growth strategy, the startup will need to widen its network by getting in touch with other marketing events or trade shows or marketing organisations. This will undeniably expand your startup’s horizon.

Take advantage of this outside networking to leverage your SaaS startup’s marketing growing-up after these meetings and events will strengthen the new-built relationship with bigger SaaS companies and with time, you can determine whether the partnered program can be brought in use with these companies.

Step 11: Offer varied payment options

With only a credit card as the payment option, a customer may not be comfortable sharing his card details with a SaaS startup. A marketing strategy, the SaaS company can incorporate different payment options like UPI Payment, PayPal, PayTM wallet, Mobikwik Wallet, PayUmoney.

With the free will of payment to choose from, a customer is likely to purchase your service or product. There’s a reason why offering multiple payment options is considered one of the best practices of SaaS marketing.

There is nothing like ‘One Size fits all.’ If you want to target a varying range of customers, you should offer a varying range of payment options.

From debit to credit cards, direct deposits to online payments, the more options you provide your customers, the easier it will be for them to pay you.

SaaS startup marketing strategies are important to ensure the growth of a SaaS startup and reaching out to customers and conversion will what make the SaaS goals achieve. It is like a smart investment which will yield better results with time.

As your company develop a robust SaaS content marketing strategy, ensure to use tools and the tactics that have been mentioned above. With the right planning, effective tools and analytics, and smart execution, you can reach the target customers and your knock your sales high!