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10 SaaS Marketing Best Practices

Posted at Oct 22, 2019 4:57:00 PM by THAT Agency | Share

SaaS marketing best practices build a prospective customer's confidence and trust in you. A customer should feel like they can learn from you, utilize your software effectively, communicate clearly, and continue deriving value from doing business with you. SaaS marketing channels vary from online to referrals and even events, but they're not isolated from each other. They're all part of a whole and should reinforce and evidence the strengths of next channel.

SaaS Marketing Best Practices | SaaS Marketing Channels | THAT Agency of West Palm Beach, Florida

1. Create Content

All SaaS marketing channels can take advantage of content creation. Content can serve multiple purposes all at once. It's the core of your inbound marketing strategy. It can help your brand build awareness and engagement through social media. Regular updates increase Google's confidence in your site and cast wider nets into the SEO ocean.

Content also builds trust, builds your brand's online community, teaches about software, increases prospective customers' data fluency, makes your clients appreciate your brand as a thought leader and helps existing customers feel comfortable staying on and upgrading (more on that later). Keep your content creation regular, high quality, and always have a mind to balance topical news and events with evergreen content that will still deliver hits a year down the road.

2. Limit Your Free Trial

It may seem like the longer the free trial goes on, the more time there is for the users to learn it and develop a relationship with you. This ultimately risks wasting more of your time than theirs. A shorter free trial period builds scarcity into the concept. It increases the value in their minds. It lets them know you're not going to wait around forever for their decision. You'll know quickly whether they'll commit or not.

3. Don't Discount

Similarly, discounts can devalue a product or service. A competitor with a higher price and more benefits built in can justify that price. Ultimately, businesses will opt for the better service over the better price. Instead of discounting, be that competitor who builds in additional benefits. SaaS marketing best practices always tell you to add value to the product. Listen to them. Don't subtract the perception of value from it when you can build more value in.

4. Aim for App Integration

The more applications your software can integrate with, the more valuable it is. Learn with programs are most valued and which integrations are most pressing. Look at what your competitors are integrating with and why. Make sure your software can compete in terms of integration or it will have a red flag next to it in the eyes of organizations that rely on those apps.

5. Take Advantage of Review Sites

The quickest way to establish trust will come from third-party review sites. Think about your own personal life. When you purchase something or even go out to eat, chances are good that you'll have checked it out on a review site first. It reinforces your confidence that you're making a good choice. If that's something that we all do to feel safe with personal purchases and restaurants, then it's certainly something the least a business will do to feel comfortable with a much more important and lasting investment. Review sites for SaaS include Capterra, financesonline, Fit Small Business, and G2Crowd.

6. Consider Annual Payments

A better price on a pre-paid annual payment means they're locked in for a year. You won't have to worry about a month-to-month arrangement and you'll be able to project your intake out much further. Not all organizations will opt for this, but it should be one of the primary choices you give them.

7. Avoid Hidden Fees

Lack of transparency is the easiest way to torpedo your SaaS business. SaaS best marketing practices won't mean a thing if you hide something from a client. All it takes it one to find out for the others to start looking, and that can ruin your #1 sales advantage: your reputation.

8. Offer Education

Your content creation is the core of your inbound marketing. It can also fill other roles. Provide education through email courses, white papers and eBooks, and webinars. These can still function as content in your inbound marketing strategy or you can gate content to customers only. SaaS needs to be sold regularly, even to those customers who have already bought it.

Including education helps them feel more in control and knowledgeable. That in turn helps them trust you, will increase the likelihood of referrals, and can lead to their making additional purchases or upgrading their plan. Even clients who are on the fence about continuing will feel much more confident about the value of their investment if you're helping them to learn and understand more.

9. Go to Events

Attend trade shows. Take speaking opportunities (and record them). Show up at the events your best customers invite you to. Depending on your budget, you may even consider creating your own event.

Just make sure your public speaking is scripted, rehearsed, and perfected. The number of leaders who imagine they can wing it and become a rambling mess in front of a crowd is pretty large. Everyone needs some rehearsal to iron out the kinks.

10. Show Your Awards

Let's say your business wins an award or is recognized in a ranking. Share this. Have a press release written up. Create a blog entry around what it means, the effort and passion it recognizes, and why it's important. Display it (reasonably) on your website. Have a section where people can see all the accolades your business has earned. Link each out to the awards site, ranking article, or news piece showing the recognition.

Credit the people who work to make your company what it is, and credit their care and dedication. This lets prospects understand you won't hog credit or override employees, which lets them feel like they're partnering with a business that can communicate well and really listen.

When in doubt, contact THAT Agency for help creating and executing an effective strategy to market your SaaS.

 

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Tags: Marketing Strategy

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