02/01/24
Author: Florencia Corazza
12 min reading
MarketingStrategy
Today’s B2B SaaS market has become quite overcrowded. As such, businesses need to invest their time and resources into standing out and capturing the attention of their target audience through B2B SaaS marketing.
However, adding these efforts on top of everything else on your plate can be, to say the least, overwhelming. But don’t worry! I’m here to lend you a hand 😉. In this piece, I’ve put together 15 amazing B2B SaaS marketing strategies that are bound to boost your conversions and attract new leads.
Let’s dive in!
Table of Contents
Fasten your seatbelts, everyone! These are my top picks for crafting a successful B2B SaaS marketing campaign:
As I mentioned before, differentiating your business from the competition is key nowadays. That’s why, first and foremost, you should work on your overall brand identity and the elements that make it up, such as your particular color palette, imagery, logo, etc. But what you also need to define is your “Unique Selling Proposition,” or “USP” for short. This is the statement you choose to embody that sets your products and your brand apart from others.
To determine your USP, you need to put yourself in your potential clients’ shoes —they’re trying to find a B2B SaaS company that speaks to their needs, saves them time and money, and, most importantly, helps them achieve their goals. To ensure they pick you over other options out there, you need to convey you can do exactly that while emphasizing your USP —that distinctive, exclusive benefit they’ll get only from your brand.
A strong branding strategy, together with a clear USP, sets the stage up for future success, building a robust, trustworthy, and recognizable identity that makes a good impression and stays on your clients’ minds for a long time.
Many prospects will first become acquainted with your business through your website, and you know what they say: first impressions matter!
As such, having a curated and professionally designed website is an essential B2B SaaS marketing strategy. Some key aspects to keep in mind while getting started include making your site easy to navigate and user-friendly, and setting it up in a way that answers the following questions for your clients: “Why is this business my best choice?” and “How can they help me accomplish my goals?”
Additionally, to really drive the point home, you can enhance your website by adding video testimonial pieces from past clients, vouching for your work and narrating their positive experience partnering with your brand as we do:
Testimonials let potential clients hear the benefits of working with you from real people who were once in the exact situation they’re in now. They’re an excellent tool to make your business feel trustworthy to newcomers!
Although it may seem more appropriate for B2C businesses, social media is a powerful tool for B2B SaaS marketing as well.
Many key decision-makers within your target audience will be asking questions and engaging with colleagues on social media. So, these platforms represent the perfect opportunity to answer those questions and get in contact with your audience, creating content that establishes your thought leadership and expertise.
What’s more, you can use your social profiles to share valuable and engaging pieces with them, such as social media videos, blog posts, or infographics.
In addition to keeping in touch through social channels, you can step up your B2B SaaS marketing strategies and organize webinars or live events to let your audience get to know you and your brand on a more personal level.
These events allow you to talk face-to-face (or screen-to-screen) with those coveted prospects and build meaningful relationships with them while also showcasing your products or services in-depth and sparking conversations about them and their benefits.
To make your web or live events more attractive, you can host giveaways or offer discounts on your products for those who attend. I mean, who doesn’t love a nice 15% coupon or a free trial?!
While we’re on the topic of tempting offers, another go-to B2B SaaS marketing strategy that can elevate your company is to provide your prospects with free trials and demos of your products and services.
Doing this allows your potential clients to experience and try out your offerings before committing any resources. Moreover, it helps them see its benefits with their own eyes.
It’s very common to request credit card information to acquire a demo, but if your main goal is to acquire more leads, I strongly suggest you steer clear of this practice. Most people are hesitant to provide this type of sensitive data, so only asking for their name and email can encourage them to take action.
SEO is the cornerstone of successful marketing efforts. Wonder why? Well, it’s mainly because it helps you organically attract qualified leads who are already searching for the solutions you offer. Moreover, it boosts traffic and builds your authority, increasing your chances of being ranked at the top of the SERPs.
When optimizing your content for search engines, it’s vital to take some time to research the keywords you want to rank for. I know this can be tricky because, as a SaaS business, you probably belong to an incredibly specific niche, so the keywords related to your solutions aren’t always what potential clients are looking for.
To solve this problem, you just need to try and create content that tackles your audience’s pain points. After all, they’re more likely to discover your business while searching for their problem instead of your solution, so put yourself in their shoes once again and brainstorm what keywords they’d use.
As with any industry, good content is at the heart of successful B2B SaaS marketing because it’s the key to educating your prospects, establishing thought leadership, and showcasing your expertise.
Whitepapers, eBooks, blog posts, and video content are all examples of pieces that can help you achieve just that, giving your audience the information they desire (and, as a B2B business, you know they usually want a lot of information!) while also subtly promoting your brand. The trick here is not to pitch a product or service directly —the content should be entertaining and educational, and only hint at how you can be of help.
Take, for example, this explainer video production by Kevel. In just over a minute, it directly addresses their clients’ pain points, explains their solutions, and includes a CTA to try out a demo of their product:
I know that one of the main goals of B2B SaaS marketing is to retain customers for a long, long time. And while attracting new clients is always good, maintaining and fostering your current relationships is a must!
Nowadays, B2B relationships need to be dedicated and feel more personal, instead of detached and strictly business-y. Otherwise, you’d be just like any other business out there. So, to establish meaningful relationships, you can create loyalty programs and develop client-specific strategies that make your customers feel they’re taken care of every step of the way.
However, I know this may feel impossible when you have a number of different client relationships to juggle. But you can try out CRM software to make this task easier without losing your characteristic human touch, keeping track of all customer interactions and needs.
I’m sure that, at one point in your business journey, you’ve felt that you can’t really put your product or service into words that do it justice. This is really common for SaaS businesses, as their solutions aren’t tangible and are often so complex they can be difficult to convey in layman’s terms.
One way to solve this problem is to leverage the power of visual content to simplify what your business is all about. Just as any video marketing agency will be quick to tell you, what may be difficult to put into words can easily be demonstrated through how-to videos or tutorials, for example.
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You can upload these pieces to your business YouTube channel and social media profiles, include them as part of the bundle of products clients get when they make a purchase, or make them pop up when a customer launches your software for the first time.
While I always prefer tactics that grow businesses organically, paid advertising is a B2B SaaS marketing strategy that can yield great results quickly due to the control you have over it.
That’s because a paid ad campaign lets you choose the specific demographics you want to target as well as when you want to target them, like around the holidays or a meaningful date for your niche. Make sure to do thorough research on the keywords you’ll be using, as they can make or break your campaign —you need to choose keywords that people will be searching for to discover your brand!
Lastly, I strongly advise you to set a budget before you start. Paid ads can get really expensive really fast, so keep track of your spending and make sure you’re not investing more than you’ll be earning.
Account-based marketing (ABM) is a very popular B2B SaaS marketing strategy because instead of throwing your net into a sea of leads, you’re targeting specific accounts you want to partner with.
To be successful at ABM, you’ll first need to develop your ideal customer profile. Afterwards, research what businesses adapt to this profile, and make a list of them and the key decision-makers behind them.
Then, it’s time to get in touch through LinkedIn and cold calls with them. I also suggest you engage with them through comments or sharing valuable content with them on social media beforehand, so you’re not pitching your products directly on your first-ever interaction.
Newsletters are wonderful to keep your clients up-to-date with your business, new product launches, live events, and any other piece of information you want to share with them.
In my opinion, the best way to go about newsletters is to promote them as a source of valuable resources and updates without expecting anything in return. Your customers are probably bombarded with emails every day, so try to advertise your newsletter for its value to the subscribers.
You can encourage people to subscribe during the user onboarding process or simply set up a CTA on your website’s landing page.
Referral marketing can be a great aid for your B2B SaaS marketing efforts. After all, in the B2B world, word-of-mouth recommendations are a very powerful tool.
Investing in referral marketing is also a way to thank your loyal customers for their vote of confidence. If you’ve been doing a good job, then chances are they’re already recommending your brand to their colleagues, so why not give something in return as an incentive for them to keep doing it?
You can offer discounts, free subscriptions, premium features, extended usage, or anything else that your existing clients will find attractive and won’t break the bank for you in the process.
Who hasn’t felt FOMO when Black Friday or Christmas comes around, and every business is promoting some amazing deals? I know I have!
Leveraging time-limited discounts or special features can speed up the decision-making process and encourage customers to make a purchase. So, set up a beginning and end date for your promotions, and make sure to advertise them on your website and all social media channels. This is also a great opportunity to try out paid advertising and ensure you’re reaching the perfect target audience!
Any winning B2B SaaS marketing campaign has to be tailored to the target’s pain points to be effective. After all, you can only offer top-notch solutions through the right marketing methods when you know exactly what problem your clients are trying to solve.
By constantly keeping up with your audience’s pain points, you can launch new products and features that address their specific needs. Additionally, you can craft messages that speak directly to them, acknowledging their problems and letting them know they’re being heard.
Not to toot my own horn, but as far as curating and launching a winning B2B SaaS marketing campaign, you won’t get better strategies than these!
Of course, to get those craved positive results, you’ll not only need to invest time and money, but you’ll also need to be patient and wait until your efforts bear fruit. I know it’s not easy, but if you follow my advice, I’m sure you’ll reach your goals sooner rather than later.
Now, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get to work! I’m sure you’ll do an amazing job 😉.
A skilled writer, translator, and co-editor for our web and blog content. As a self-defined "wordsmith," she’s talented in adapting the latest marketing news into all kinds of digital formats. If she’s not watching the latest Sci-Fi show on Netflix, then can find her tending to her perfectly reasonable number of plants.
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