Why Inbound Marketing is so Important

The changing landscape of marketing has led to drastic changes in the skillset of contemporary marketers. No longer is there a requirement to be bombarding prospects with offers and specials that are supposedly “just for them”. This has seen a rise in the need for an SEO consultant.

The world has moved on and the changing digital landscape has meant that customers are changing too. Their demands are different, as is their behaviour. The internet and social media has meant that people and businesses now interact in vastly different ways to what they did 20+ years ago. And the ease of access to information makes it more difficult to gain a competitive advantage.

Outbound marketing used to be the way for the big companies as they would regularly reach out to prospects in the hope that a small percentage would take the bait. This involved cold calling and relentless advertising to almost force the attention of the consumer.

Inbound marketing is different and it is more about making consumers do the work, seeking information about your business as a relationship builds. It is about gaining the customers attention through relevant and informative information pieces in an attempt to improve their experience.

Gaining a deeper understanding of the specific customer prior to purchase will aid in the purchase experience. Consumers now find businesses through search engines and social media and having the appropriate mechanisms in place is therefore pivotal. An SEO consultant will ensure that a site is designed to maximise the rate of discovery, or impressions, for a business.

There are 3 key reasons as to why this is so important in the digital, modern world.

Changing Customer Needs

Customers now demand a higher standard of service but it can be difficult to do so, especially with the reduction in face-to-face interactions for sales people. This is where the magic of inbound marketing comes to life.

Because inbound marketing is designed around the customer discovering your business and then learning about it, businesses get a head start on the type of customers that are reading their material through Google Analytics.

Should a site be optimally designed, the customer will then be presented with an opt-in email sign up to which the company gains further information. As the relationship then develops through email and messages, the organisation is able to create a customer profile and therefore when it comes to the purchase stage, the customer is treated in the appropriate manner.

The Internet and Social Media

As was touched on previously, people and businesses now interact very differently than they used to. With the majority of interactions happening online, either through social media or other sites, it is important that consumers are reached out to with relevant and information content.

People are willing to share helpful information with their online community of ‘friends’ and this increases the opportunity for businesses. Without quality online content, the reach of all marketing efforts is significantly reduced and will likely force a given company to resort to the customer un-friendly outbound marketing. With an SEO and marketing consultant, quality content can be ensured and presented in the right places to the right audience ultimately maximising reach.

Information and Mass Media

This is the point that ties in both the increased customer needs and social media community. As information is so easily accessible and the distribution of advertising through social media channels is so easy, people believe that they are now well informed about everything.

This makes it really challenging for marketers to get their point across unless the content is compelling and original. Inbound marketing is all about providing quality, original and readable content to engage consumers and draw them in. getting consumers engaged will then increase the chances of them providing your organisation with personal details for tailored marketing.

How to Decide on Your SaaS Marketing Strategy

Knowing where to start is always difficult. How will you structure your SaaS marketing strategy comes down to your pricing, market, expertise of your team and a myriad of other factors. Will you settle with an inbound, content driven strategy, try to make one of your content pieces go viral, go with a direct response marketing, of perhaps a combination of all?

While you may hope that your software would sell itself, unfortunately, that’s not how it works. You need to build a solid strategy, based on actions with measurable impact.

First, there are a few things you’ll have to take into consideration about your customers.

B2C vs B2B

Your approach to your SaaS marketing strategy will vary when dealing with B2C (business to customer) or B2B (business to business).

B2B customers are more likely to have a deep expertise in their activity and have more specific needs in terms of what problem they need to solve. You won’t have to use laymen’s terms with them, and your content should be professional yet informative. The B2B customer also seeks to have a very close relationship with your brand (and people in your business), so keep that in mind.

B2C customers, on the other hand, can be novices or have intermediate-level skills in your type of service. Why do these customers need your service, and why should they choose you over others?

That is a common issue for the B2C customer, so your content should inspire them to choose your brand and service with content that is a bit more personal. At times, a little humor would help as well. Above all, make sure you are always making an emotional connection as b2c, high emotion, utility and easy of adoption leads to viral growth.

Content Marketing Institute compared B2C vs B2B content marketing tactic usage, and found that ebooks are a valuable tool for B2B sales, while B2C is better focused on social media campaigns and blog posts.

Of course, social media campaigns are still a great tool for B2B as well – consider creating an ebook and then promoting it on your social media.

While considering your marketing strategy, it’s also helpful to keep in mind that the value you deliver to your audience needs to be consistent over time. Not only prior to the sale, but also after. Consistently helping your users with content will eventually increase your SaaS customer lifetime value.

Customer type

Before you can start selling SaaS, you have to tailor your SaaS marketing strategy to your customer type!

Very small businesses (VSB)

This is the very small business. VSBs can range anywhere from two to 50 employees, so approach them with this in mind:

• Most VSBs have a small budget, so they won’t have several thousands of dollars to spend on your service. The way you structure your sales and marketing campaign, should reflect the ROI expectations
• VSBs may tend to favor a freemium plan with a low-cost monthly or annual fee
• Many VSBs will focus on instant ROI and want to see the immediate value they get for their money
• There is likely to be only one key decision maker responsible for purchasing decision

SMBs

• Small to medium businesses employer fewer than 250 employees
• The SMB are likely to have a bigger budget than the VSB, but it must grow as a business in order to survive, so your service needs to facilitate and encourage that growth.
• However, like VSBs, SMBs often opt for freemium or low-cost plans for an easily accessible service
• Show your SMBs the value of your service – how will it benefit them and save their time?
• The decision making process is likely to involve more than one person, and therefore your marketing needs to be tailored for numerous decision makers
• Establish a relationship of trust, and make sure you follow up and use other best practices for SaaS customer success

Enterprise

• These are the big players, with thousands of employees. Oracle, for example, and have a much bigger budget than SMBs and VSBs.
• Enterprises are not concerned with growing the way SMBs are, but with maintaining their position and value. Their survival is not at stake (in the short-time frame anyway)
• Tackle enterprises using Account Based Marketing or ABM – strategic business marketing that treats each company as its own market, heavily focusing on that one account.
• For effective ABM, as with all customers, you need to know your target audience. Do your research on numerous decision makers and tailor your content to all.
• Look into the company structure and the core players, if possible. Really familiarize yourself with these details.
• Choose the right social media platforms. Enterprises tend to favor LinkedIn for its focus on professional connections and business updates.

How price points determine SaaS marketing

Consider your target audience in tiers, as the great thing about SaaS is that you can target all customer segments depending on the depth of use of your solution, all different tiers will have its own pricing structure for your users. Let’s go back to the example of VSBs, SMBs, and Enterprises. Devote a certain budget for each one.

Average annual contract value (ACV) below $1000

For a customer with an annual contract value below $1000, your pricing will be approximately less than $100 a month.

• Focus on web-based sales. You will generate less revenue from this kind of customer, so adopt a low-touch sales process that will save you time and money normally required for outbound sales development reps
• Choose low-cost marketing methods, particularly content marketing. Create informative blog posts, and interesting social media posts that are relatable and shareable
• While content marketing will help establish a relationship with your customers and build your brand awareness, keep in mind that there’s a lot of competition out there, so your content has to consistently make a connection with your audience
• Another option is paid advertising, and ideally, it’s best to use a combination of content marketing with organic social media and paid advertising. Paid advertising via Facebook ads, Google ads, Instagram ads, and more is designed to pinpoint your ideal customer, and it’s quite effective

ACV above $1000

On the other hand, for a customer with an annual contract value above $1000, you will have a bigger budget to work with.

• Rather than a low-touch sales process, opt for more direct selling.
• Stay in touch and follow up regularly, using a combination of email, phone calls, other web-based options (Skype and Google Hangout, for example) and face-to-face interaction,
• Create a lasting connection with this kind of customer with a close, nurturing relationship.
• Embrace ABM and adopt a high-touch sales process with exclusive content and tools.

In a Nutshell

To decide on a SaaS marketing strategy, you need to know your target audience. Do your research, foster relationships, and choose your content and channels carefully, while delivering value before, and after the sale.

Consider your customers based on business size, their needs, budget and sales cycle duration. Then, tailor your SaaS marketing strategy and sales approach accordingly – preferably using a combination of inbound and outbound process.

4 Beginner Tips on How to Start Selling SaaS

Using SaaS appears simple enough at first glance – and if only selling SaaS was simple as well. So how do you go about selling SaaS? That’s something that many companies and vendors tend to struggle with, and it’s not hard to see why.

Most of us have anywhere between 5-10 software subscriptions or more, and the average consumer shies away from getting more than they feel they need. When selling SaaS, you need to set yourself apart from the rest and build a good relationship with your customers and earn their loyalty.

Fortunately, we have some tips to help you get started on the right path to selling SaaS. We’re going to take a look at how to establish a real connection with users and turn them into devoted, loyal customers.

But before we go into the tips, there’s something to keep in mind.

Who are your customers?

What kind of person does your service benefit? Create a buyer persona for your customers, and keep that in mind throughout every step of your sales SaaS strategy. Once that’s done, move on to these tips to create your strategy for selling SaaS.

1. Show customers the benefits, not just the features!

Put yourself in the mind of a potential customer for a moment. You’ve seen ads for a particular software, and it looks interesting, but you have to do some research before you make a decision.

Of course, before you make a purchase, you need to know how that software is going to benefit you and suit your needs.

Purchasing a subscription is only worth it when it makes a positive impact in the buyer’s life, so showing that positive impact will help sway prospects to become customers.

Show value, not just features!

Contrary to common practice, it is much more effective to tell customers what the product does for them, the customers, rather than focus on the many features of the product.

It seems like common sense, but if you’re well-versed in all the features of your product, you might forget that everyone else is not. Get to know your potential customers, what they want in a service, and then show them the unique benefits that only your software can offer.

Instead of using demos as a mini-training session, use them to show these benefits to the customer. Pinpoint those features that are particularly useful for the average user, and make sure to highlight them. Once a user signs up for a trial, make sure to restate these benefits throughout the trial.

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2. Sell SaaS through loyalty by establishing emotional connection

Loyalty and emotional connections are easier to build on a human level. That’s why most people prefer to speak to a person rather than a robot, so make sure your company has a personable approach to customers.

Always follow up!

Don’t just sign up prospects for a free trial and leave them alone. Follow up with them, as often as you can. As soon as you can, send them an email, or give them a phone call if you have access to a phone number.

When sending them an email, make sure there’s a human element to them, especially in the sender’s address.

Think about this one for a moment. Are you more likely to open and respond to an email from the sales or marketing department of a company, or an email from someone with an actual human name?

The human element here is vital. Customers are more likely to be interested in a company or service recommended by someone they know, so make sure you have an affiliate program in place.

The importance of an affiliate program can’t be understated. Offering bonus features or a temporary discount for users who refer friends and family can do wonders for your company, and make sure to promote these offers often. That’s how Dropbox gained thousands of customers!

Dropbox offered any user who invited a friend to join 500 MB of free storage. Users took advantage of the offer, of course, and Dropbox went from 100,000 to 4 million registered users in a mere 15 months.

Is your software in the form of an app, or does it have an app that supplements the website? Don’t forget to promote and maintain the app. Ideally, you would want the app to go viral, but don’t leave that to chance. Do all you can to create a viral app – it’ll be great for your SaaS sales, too!

The more a customer can emotionally connect with the software, the more likely they are to use it often and recommend it to friends and family. That’s how you make successful SaaS sales.

3. Revamp your email campaign

Don’t email your customers once and then forget about them, or email them every once in a while out of the blue. Customers need to know that you care, that they are important to you, and that needs to be apparent in your email campaign.

Be consistent!

After your initial follow-up, make sure you’re sending enough emails on a regular basis. One or two a week is effective. You don’t want the customer to forget about your company or service, so keep in touch with them.

Wondering how to increase customer lifetime value? Take steps to retain your customers. Make your emails interesting and create engaging subject lines that will compel your customers to open them.

Test your subject lines to see which ones perform better. Do your users like emojis in the subject lines, or are they put off by them? What kind of language makes customers more likely to open an email?

Within the content of the email, you also need to have a call to action in each one, so your customers don’t just skim the email and then forget about it, and your company.

4. Make sign-up as easy and smooth a process as possible

Getting the interest of prospect users is only half the battle. Once they’re on your site or app, make sure your interface is user-friendly and easy to navigate. Free trials are a great option, but be careful.

Make sure signing up for a free trial is as easy and hassle-free as possible. A potential customer may be interested in your service, but off-put by needing a credit card just to sign up for the free trial.

To avoid that kind of situation, consider allowing sign-ups without the need for credit cards. Once the trial ends, simply prompt the user to purchase a subscription if they enjoy the service.

A user who is confident about the benefits of a subscription and has seen them first-hand will happily reach for their credit card, and that’s a lot better than making a prospect reluctantly submit their credit card information, or turn away altogether because they’re not sure it’s worth their time and effort!

How long are your trials? Some companies offer 30, 60, or even 90-day free trials, but is that really a smart move? Shorter trials tend to perform better than long ones.

14 days is long enough for a free trial. Making it any longer poses the risk that these users forget about the service entirely, or decide it’s not worth it, never actually becoming customers (hence you need a robust onboarding strategy for your SaaS).

Or worse – they sign up for a 60 or 90-day trial, use the service as much as they need, and cancel their account as soon as the trial is over, because they’ve already gotten all they need out of the service.

Make the sign-up process as easy and smooth as possible – users will appreciate it, and it will give them more time to focus more on the benefits of the service.

These 4 tips are what you need to get started as a beginner to selling SaaS, but they’re far from the only effective ways to increase your SaaS sales.

It may not be an easy process at first, but we have plenty of more information available to you on our blog, including the 4 best practices for SaaS customer success.