What is SaaS Marketing? Definition and Guide

SaaS marketing
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Introduction

You may know about different marketing tactics and realize that some are worthwhile by selling physical products. But do you know about SaaS marketing? Do you know how it changes the B2B model of businesses? Many businesses or individuals depend on SaaS products to reach their business goals.

Today, I want to share the SaaS marketing style and why it has grown gradually in recent years. I will highlight the advantages.

And how to market SaaS products to your prospects and what metrics you should know. Before going forward, you should understand what SaaS marketing is and why it is growing.

What is SaaS marketing?

SaaS products

SaaS marketing is a marketing approach in which the marketers focus on promotion and collecting leads for subscription or recurring-based products. It builds a long-term relationship with the client.

SaaS stands for Software as a Service, and mainly, products related to cloud-based software or tools are included in SaaS. These types of software help other businesses or companies.

For example, an IT firm or individuals requiring software to perform their operations.

One of the examples of products offered by SaaS to any blogger or website owner is SEO—other examples include Keyword tools, landing page builders, and others.

These tools can help any business or individual website in the long term. It can help them to beat the competition. That is why they are always in demand. And people pay a monthly or annual subscription to use these tools.

Physical products receive one-time purchases, while SaaS products are based on a monthly or annual fee. The main goal of a marketer in this field is to provide satisfaction through their products.

It will build trust, and their prospects will use the product for a lifetime.

Why is SaaS different from marketing?

SaaS is different

If you notice SaaS products, you will find it is a B2B model that relies upon other businesses. SaaS products receive regular updates and extra functionality.

It improves customer experience, so they do not move to other products. The updates provide them with a more reliable and user-friendly experience and increase trust in security.

Marketers promoting their products and grabbing leads do not want to lose customers. If their prospects find an alternative solution, it can affect their business.

So, apart from the traditional marketing style, the goal of this business is not to lose leads or existing customers.

Marketers promote cloud-based software, enterprise solutions, tools, and applications in these marketing tactics. It can help other businesses like IT or consulting firms.

Marketers build long-term relationships with their clients and suggest other products and offers.

Key Takeaways

  • Understanding the Customer: In SaaS marketing, it’s crucial to understand your customer’s needs and pain points.
  • Value Proposition: Clearly articulating the value proposition of your SaaS product is key. 
  • Customer Retention: SaaS marketing doesn’t end with acquiring a customer but also providing excellent service and continuous engagement.
  • Data-Driven Decisions: Leveraging data for decision-making can significantly enhance the effectiveness of your SaaS marketing strategies. 

How do SaaS companies do marketing?

There are many ways to promote SaaS products, but the motto of this marketing should be acquiring leads. This technique can convert as future clients pay for a subscription.

Before launching any product, you should know about the target audience. Also, what solution can you provide them so they can trust your service and consider it in the future?

Follow the following marketing strategies to grab more trustworthy prospects for your SaaS products:

1. SaaS email marketing

email marketing

Email marketing is one of the practical and high-converting marketing techniques. It is quite popular with online marketers. If you have a list of prospects, you can send emails promoting the new and updated products.

You can send personalized emails to unique opportunities for interaction and resolve their questions for better understanding.

Try sending reminders and a cycle of emails to grab more open rates and attention from your clients. Explain the usage, testimonials, and whitepaper of your product.

It will help your customer know what it is and how it can help their business.

2. Try offering a free trial

SaaS trial period

Always try to give customers a trial period and check whether the product suits their business. If they find it useful, they will convert to a subscription-based customer and can use your products long-term.

The goal of the trial period is to know whether your product meets the customer’s requirements. Also, you will get to see if it is worth the money.

3. Take help from the third person

SaaS influencer

You can take the help of influencers or third-party resources that can influence people to purchase your product. YouTube is one of the best places for sponsored products.

Here, well-known YouTubers with large subscribers can promote your products for some money. Influencer marketing is growing day by day because people trust famous personalities.

Instagram can also help in influencer marketing, where 3rd party person introduces your target audience and gives them an idea using your brand.

4. Incorporate content marketing

SaaS content marketing

Content marketing can help in getting more targeted customers to your business. It is helpful in SEO and for any business website or landing page. If people come to your products through searches, the chances of conversion increase.

Get the idea of your peers and know the trending keywords to rank higher on search engines. Customers will automatically visit your website and purchase products when you build a brand reputation through content.

5. Know your customer’s feedback

SaaS feedback

When a customer buys a product from your business, please don’t ignore them afterward. Instead, get feedback from them about their user experience. Know what technical issues they are facing and what updates they need.

You should know what customer loves and hates about your product. And you can update your products for better performance. Provide the support and knowledge base of your product.

What are the metrics related to SaaS marketing?

While marketing SaaS products, you should know some metrics to measure customer success. It can help you to manage your budget and track your revenue for your business.

1. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

This metric estimates how much a customer spends in your business during their lifetime. It is a vital factor to know. Because it can help you to decide how much you should spend on acquiring customers to be profitable.

To calculate CLV, you should know about some other measures like:

  • Average purchase value: This can be calculated by dividing a company’s total revenue in one year by the number of purchases from the same period.
  • Average purchase frequency rate: Calculate it by dividing the number of sales by the number of unique prospects in that period.
  • Customer value: To calculate this, multiply the average purchase value by the average purchase frequency rate.
  • Average customer lifespan: Calculate it by averaging the years a customer continues to buy from your business.

Finally, to calculate Customer Lifetime Value, multiply customer value by the average customer lifespan.

2. Customer Churn

Customer Churn or attribution is the rate at which customers stop taking your products or services. In the SaaS industry, retaining a customer is less expensive than acquiring a new one.

So, it is an important key term for SaaS marketing. So, identify and nurture the most valuable customer to save money and increase revenue with increased CLV.

According to Harvard Business Review, it is found that acquiring a customer can cost between 5 to 25 times more than retaining the existing one. Also, a 5% increase in retention rate can boost the profit between 25% to 95%.

3. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

The cost of acquiring a customer for your business is Customer Acquisition Cost. Suppose a company spent $ 10,000 on marketing in one year and received ten customers. Then, the CAC is $1000. The less CAC, the better profit any business can make.

4. CAC-to-CLV ratio

This is the ratio of Customer Acquisition Cost to Customer Lifetime Value. This number should be small for any SaaS business to generate more profit.

Provide information to your customers to establish a strong relationship

The whole SaaS marketing depends on communication. The information or data you can provide to new and existing customers. No matter how strong your product is, you cannot acquire customers if you do not provide information.

A blog is one of the best ways to provide information about your product. You can link with a Call-to-Action button so anyone wanting to try your product can read the detailed information.

It will boost the conversion rate and clear customers’ doubts.

Apart from a good landing page, it would be best to introduce a blog section to your leads. Take the example of Hubspot and Buffer. Their SaaS product page includes their blog page.

And anyone can know more about the product before trying or buying it.

FAQ

What is B2B SaaS Marketing?

B2B SaaS marketing refers to the SaaS (Software as a Service) companies that sell their products to other businesses. 

SaaS marketing works by understanding the unique needs of business customers, creating value propositions that resonate with them, and using various channels to reach and engage these customers.

What is a SaaS Marketing Strategy?

A SaaS marketing strategy is designed to promote a SaaS product and attract, convert, and retain customers by targeting audience identification, value proposition development, content marketing, SEO, email marketing, social media marketing, and customer retention strategies.

Are SaaS Companies Profitable?

Yes, SaaS companies can be highly profitable. 

However, the profitability of a SaaS company depends on factors like the product’s value proposition, the effectiveness of its marketing and sales strategies, its pricing model, and its customer retention rate.  

Many SaaS companies may operate at a loss initially during their growth phase. Still, they can become profitable over time as they scale and optimize their operations.

What are Some SaaS Marketing Companies?

Here are the top 5 SaaS marketing companies:

  1. Single Grain
  2. Bay Leaf Digital
  3. SimpleTiger

Conclusion

SaaS products are beneficial for small or big businesses and enterprise solutions. The marketing tactics for SaaS businesses are different from other business models.

Because here, you need to care about customer lifetime value. Marketers provide them with subscription-based products to run a long-term business.

Also, they have to update the products and offer their existing customers. If you can learn about their needs and how to build a brand, you can succeed in the SaaS business.

More Resources:

How To Use Email Funnel For Your Marketing?

Marketing Plan: Create A Marketing Plan In 5 Simple Steps