One of the most important nuances of SaaS marketing is the idea that you are marketing on multiple layers to multiple people at once. In fact, the best SaaS companies take time to consider layered buyer personas, which we write about in more detail here. Considering multiple potential solution-researchers and buyers as you create your content strategy is especially important in a B2B setting, because the individual person who is engaging with your marketing — or even your free trial — is not necessarily the decision-maker who will green-light a subscription to your solution company-wide.

Developing a functioning SaaS solution that has actual buyers is no small feat! You’ve ideated, developed, tweaked, de-bugged, and all-around shined up your SaaS product, and it’s ready to market. It’s ready for the world to see. You are eager to roll it out and watch sales climb. To get there, you’ve got to assemble the best marketing team you can find. Whether you’re hiring an independent firm or you’re piecing together the team, it’s good to know who your players should be. Cover all bases with each role and choose effective, cohesive, and teamwork-oriented people. You will rely heavily on their expertise, so choose wisely!

You’ve probably heard it said that a business should allocate roughly 10% of its revenue to marketing. It’s a rule of thumb so often cited, it feels like gospel — but is it? For SaaS companies, this number is usually a lot higher, especially in the startup phase, when you’re not yet known in the market and you’re actively building out your organization and brand. Within the first three years of its lifecycle, a typical SaaS company will actually spend 80-120% of its revenue on marketing, leveling off at about 40-50% by year five. This is drastically different from a traditional business model.

Organizing your SaaS marketing efforts into campaigns allows you to track, report, analyze, and pivot, using specific audience segments and messages. In this article we will go through the best practices you need to know to set up effective campaigns in general; then we will get into four specific SaaS marketing campaigns you can implement now to start: 1) attracting new traffic, 2) getting people into your free trial, 3) converting them into paying customers, and 4) nurturing them into sharing your solution with others. Let’s begin with the foundation - your business goals.

Building a buyer persona is foundational to everything in marketing. Quite simply, the purpose of any marketing content, no matter the form or platform, is to connect with a person. Right? Starting your SaaS marketing strategy with a look at the specific types of people you’d like to connect with will massively strengthen your marketing and sales results. In an environment where we are striving intensely for specific KPIs, and keeping a close eye on marketing spend versus reward, it is essential to make sure you are reaching the right people in the first place.

Communicating with your leads and customers by email is important because it guides them through the experience of your brand and helps you gather data that ultimately improves their experience within your sales process. The key to successful SaaS email marketing hinges on the individualization of your automated campaigns that nurture users from the point of pre-trial, to free-trial, all the way to subscription of various levels. Here we talk about how to become effective at the process and the importance of individual engagement with users.

There are three major phases to marketing for Software as a Service. The first is to get your lead into your funnel and interested in signing up for a free trial. The second is taking them from the free trial into a paid membership at the highest possible level. The third phase is keeping that customer and moving them towards higher levels of membership when and where it makes sense for them. Beyond that, it helps to continue engaging that customer/user community so that they share their delight with others to bring them into the first phase, starting the process over again.

World-famous marketer and entrepreneur, Neil Patel warns that SaaS marketing is a different beast, and suggests that a great product and amazing customer service are the pillars of SaaS success. He’s right, and in the B2B space, SaaS marketing gets even more specific. Let’s explore the most important nuances and get you on the right track for B2B SaaS marketing.

People are searching for answers to their most pressing problems, and your app or software solution may be exactly what they’re looking for. But, how do you ensure your solution gets found by the right prospect at the right time? Implementing SEO best practices for Software as a Service (SaaS) is a crucial step in SaaS marketing. By understanding your audience, conducting specific keyword research and organizing your content into pillars and clusters, you give your solution a fighting chance to appear high in organic search results.