B2B SaaS marketing is a highly difficult space to compete in. With the number of great software out there for B2B companies, having the correct marketing strategy is vital to your company’s success.
Today we’re going to be sharing how you can create an effective marketing strategy that will put your software on the map and allow you to compete in this space.
What Is B2B SaaS?
Most of you reading this article will probably already know what B2B SaaS is, but it doesn’t hurt to see the exact definition before we get into this guide. So here it is…
B2B SaaS stands for business-to-business Software-as-a-Service. Basically what these SaaS companies provide is some type of service that B2B companies will find useful, such as outsourced accounting services. Typically these services would take care of things like accounting, office productivity, etc.
3 Go To Market Strategies for B2B SaaS
1. Understand your strengths and weaknesses
Firstly you need to know exactly what you’re marketing. Of course, you know what your software does, but you need to be aware of more than just that to be successful. You need to assess not only your software’s strengths and weaknesses but also your own.
For instance, if you’re an extrovert who’s good at making connections then you should look into direct marketing; giving customized pitches for your software to people directly and winning them over.
If you aren’t a big wordsmith then come up with a way to show off your software’s features in a more visual way. Form a marketing strategy that you’re comfortable with, and one that plays to your strengths rather than weaknesses.
This is why nobody has a one-size-fits-all marketing strategy that will work for all B2B SaaS. Every software, and every person leading that software, are different. So your strategy needs to be unique, taking into account what makes you different.
2. Develop a buyer persona
Next, you need to figure out your branding and buyer personas. You’ll need both in order to launch a successful campaign. Your branding persona is what you’re selling, whereas your buyer persona is who you would like to sell it to.
Building your brand persona may take a lot of time but will be worth it in the long run. Some things you need to keep in mind for your brand persona include:
- Have a unique visual that you can use cohesively across everything that relates to your brand. Stick with the same fonts, have a distinctive logo, and pick out your brand colors. In fact, according to one study, a signature color can increase brand recognition by 80%
- Your message and writing style should also be cohesive across all platforms. Use the same tone of voice, and keep in mind your brand’s “personality” when you’re crafting content whether it be for social media or a blog post for your website.
- Consistency, as you may have noticed with the previous two points, is key. No matter what you choose to be your brand persona, stick with it. Your brand needs to stay strong for people to learn to recognize and trust it.
And as for your buyer persona, it is half hypothetical and half data-based.
On the one hand, you can hypothetically draft up your buyer persona based on the kind of customer you want to attract. And especially in the beginning, this might be the way to go.
But as you receive more and more clients, and learn more about them, you can begin to create a buyer persona that is partially based on data that you’ve gathered from them. What sort of challenges have they been facing? What industry are they in? How did they respond to your pitches? Etc…
3. Choose your marketing channels
And lastly, choose which marketing platforms you want to focus on. This could depend on what you think you could manage more easily, or what you think would suit your software the best. But either way, choose the things you want to focus on.
Some examples are…
Social Media Marketing – Social media is a huge force in promoting anything nowadays, so you may choose to market largely through platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter.
But if you do choose to pursue this type of marketing then you should be aware of the time commitment you’re getting into. And make sure to choose a platform that houses large amounts of people from your target demographic. Or else you’d just be wasting your time.
Paid Marketing – This is a great option if you have a slightly larger budget because obviously, it can get pricey. But the good thing about paying for ads is that some B2B SaaS companies won’t be willing to pay, or at least not as much as you, and it can be used as a strategy to get ahead of the competition.
Some great examples of paid marketing would be hiring influencers to promote your software, running google ads, or paying for ads on your chosen social media platforms.
SEO Marketing – Search engine optimization can make or break your marketing strategy. And it is the one type of marketing that you absolutely shouldn’t neglect. Because SEO determines how successful you can be online, and in today’s business climate, online traffic is one of the biggest factors in making money.
So make sure that all your content is search engine optimized before you even start marketing it. And don’t forget to make sure any social media platforms you have are optimized as well. SEO needs to be a focus across the board.
