The SaaS (Software as a Service) market is a rapidly expanding industry. There are plenty of new SaaS companies launching each and every day. This means that SaaS companies need to work harder and smarter to stand out in a saturated market. Creating a working growth strategy can be quite the challenge for software companies, yet it remains one of the most crucial parts of running a successful SaaS business. The SaaS market is projected to become an estimated $160 billion industry, which is double where it was five years ago.
As a business, you can learn a lot from SaaS growth strategies and apply them to your own marketing strategies.
Increased Focus on Content Marketing
Although content marketing benefits all types of businesses, this is especially true for SaaS companies because it will set them apart from the rest of the crowd. If you take a look at any SaaS startup, you’ll see that they feature a blog that mainly answers the questions of their customers. This adds more value to their websites, and keeps users coming back for more. It also boosts their organic traffic because their blog posts show up on search engines like Google. So not only does content marketing help your website’s traffic, it also helps your SEO efforts. You’ll be hitting two birds with one stone!
For example, you could be a social media management platform that also runs a blog on your website all about social media marketing. Your blog posts answer the questions that your target audience might have about social media marketing. But you also serve a secondary purpose; marketing your own platform/product. The blog will usually outline a step-by-step guide on how to solve the particular problem using their platform, complete with links that get the user into the onboarding process.
You should employ this strategy with your own business. Think about what types of questions your target audience might have and answer those in a blog post, or several. These content pieces will position you as an authority in your market, setting you apart from your competition. Be sure to include a call to action in each of your posts to increase the chances of gaining leads. You can also include a comments section to encourage engagement from your customers that can provide invaluable information of your audience’s pain points, which will then give you more ideas for content!
The “Freemium” Model
What does freemium mean? Freemium is a marketing strategy where platforms will offer free and paid versions of their software. Freemium is the “free sample” of the digital SaaS marketing world.
Dropbox is a well known example of using this method; Dropbox will give you a limited amount of space using a free account, but have bigger storage solutions behind a subscription. This is the “limited feature” model of freemium.
Another company that does this is Spotify. They have a free version that has ads and limited options, whereas the paid version of Spotify has no ad interruptions and no limits. Spotify is what we call the “limited feature” model.
The benefit of the freemium model is that it incentivizes the user to upgrade to the paid version. The free version might allow them to do basic things, but hopefully, once they get a taste of what you have to offer, they will want more. Either way, they will be in your sales funnel where you can upsell them with new features or upgrades.
Offering customers a free trial of what your business has to offer has been one of the oldest marketing strategies in the books. Just think about how Costco offers its customers free samples of food throughout their store. Another example many businesses use is the “guarantee” that their product will deliver said results or claims or the customers get their money back. The Freemium strategy is a similar idea.
This strategy instills interest and builds trust in your potential customers, both very important aspects of keeping your business running.
Referral Programs
Referral programs are like an upgraded version of word-of-mouth marketing. Companies like Airbnb and Uber use referral programs with great success, which often rocket their growth within a short period of time.
Referral programs reward your customers for passing along your business to the people that they know. Many studies show people are more likely to purchase something that is backed by their friends or family. This makes referral programs especially lucrative for businesses.
A referral program needs to be as easy on the customer as possible. Make it a no-brainer for them to refer their friends, and offer them valuable incentives on both sides.
Social Media
If you haven’t thought about getting your business on social media, you should. Having a social media presence is important even if you aren’t a SaaS company because of one simple fact: your customers are on it. Social media should be leveraged on all platforms as a tool to collect direct feedback from your target audience.
Retargeting is one social media strategy SaaS companies are utilizing. This allows you to show ads on social media that target potential customers who might have viewed your products online but didn’t commit to a purchase yet. Studies show that retargeted ads are more likely to be clicked than regular ads, and they will also be shown to what is known as a ‘warm’ audience.
Takeaway
There are many more SaaS growth strategies out there. You can use the three strategies mentioned here as a jumping off point to revamp your marketing strategy. Find out what strategies benefit your business and elevate your position in your specific market. SaaS companies face brutal competition in the market, which makes it crucial for them to use only the best strategies that deliver results. When you do implement these models, be sure to keep track of their performance and metrics and continue to optimize them for the best results. You can thank us later!
Author’s Bio
Colin Hegarty is a content writer for BreezeMaxWeb that helps businesses showcase their brand through enticing copy. When he’s not working, you can find him playing net in a local beer league or biking around the city.
