When your business is entirely digital and mostly B2B, it is important to have an intensive and effective digital marketing campaign. Companies that offer Software as a Service (SaaS) products often have to deal with stiff competition and need to establish a good online presence. Establishing a good online presence will help with SaaS Lead Generation.
As most services are subscription-based, they also need to maintain a good relationship with customers over the long term.
Saas lead generation is one of the biggest challenges these companies face. They don’t have a big real-life presence and most business owners are unaware of the range of services offered. It can be difficult to attract enough SaaS leads to keep the business afloat and profitable.
Start with Setting Goals
Goal-setting is an important aspect of any marketing plan. It provides clear targets for your marketing campaigns and also helps you determine if you’re on the right track.
For example, if you set a goal to achieve a specific percentage of leads within a six-month time frame, you can plan a campaign accordingly.
If you don’t reach that target in six-months, you might need to optimize your campaign or change your target.
It is important to define effective goals. Many business owners and marketers set their standards too high or too low.
They have vague goals and targets that can’t be tracked well, which can lead to a lot of confusion. SMART goal-setting is the best way to create the right targets. It stands for:
- Specific – Make sure your goal is well-defined and specific. For example, 10% improvement in SaaS lead generation in 1 year is a defined, specific target.
- Measurable – Make sure your goal can be measured and tracked by the tools available to you. For example, you can track website visits and conversion rates through analytics software.
- Achievable – Don’t set your goals too high as they can do more harm than good. The purpose of goals is to motivate you and unattainable goals can be pretty disheartening.
- Relevant – The goals should be relevant and important to your business growth. Don’t focus on goals that don’t directly contribute to your business and make sure they’re realistic.
- Time-Based – Always provide a specific timeline within which you need to complete the goal. If you don’t have a specific timeline, it will be difficult to have a clear marketing strategy.
Once you have set the right goals, creating effective marketing campaigns can become much easier.
Set the Right Foundation For SaaS Lead Generation Through A Website
SaaS businesses rely heavily on their website to promote products. It makes sense to invest in a good-quality and efficient platform for the best results. No marketing campaign can thrive without a solid website underneath. Search engines only rank high-performance websites at the top of their SERPs.
People online will also judge the brand based on the quality of the website. If the site looks outdated and doesn’t perform smoothly, people will turn away from the brand. Here are some things you need to be focusing on while creating a website:
- Load Times – Google values website speed and load times. The search engine has the Page Speed algorithm to find the best performing websites. Good load times are essential because people expect it from the websites. Online users expect a website to load in either 2 seconds or less.
- Website Structure – The website should have an easy-to-use structure. Menus should be organized according to the priority of service or product. This ensures users don’t have to spend time searching for what they need. Good website structure also helps search engine bots crawl.
- Responsive Website – A responsive website is a site design that adapts to different screen sizes and devices easily. This website looks great on mobile, desktop, and tablets, which makes it essential for the modern world.
- Once you have a great website, it is easier to stack successful marketing campaigns on it. The website also has a positive impact on your company’s reputation.
Excellent Content Campaign
Content is the backbone of inbound marketing. Great articles and unique information draw people to your website. SaaS companies have ample opportunities to create stellar content that stands out in the crowd. There are many ways to approach content marketing, including:
- Providing Information about the Software – Many business owners are unfamiliar with SaaS systems. Even people who are tech-savvy need detailed information to work with new software. This provides ample opportunity for content. You can create introduction pieces, how-to articles or videos, walkthroughs, and tips and tricks articles.
- Long Form Content – Long-form content attracts more links and enjoys higher rankings on the SERP. Make sure your content pieces are at least 2,000 words in length. Longer, informative articles also lead to more conversions.
- Experimenting with Different Mediums – It’s a good idea to experiment with different content mediums. Videos, podcasts, infographics, etc., will enrich your marketing campaigns by a considerable margin.
Also Read, 5 Effective Content Marketing Tips For E-Commerce Business.
A good content marketing campaign helps you earn the customer’s confidence and establish authority. Make sure you have pair great content with focused promotional campaigns. You can use your social media platforms to promote the content.
A Look at the Process
An effective lead generation prices can help you gain more revenue and visibility. Make sure you have a functional system in place for the best results. This process usually includes:
- Building traffic through various marketing campaigns like social media marketing, SEO, content marketing, etc.
- Converting the traffic to leads by providing curated content, white pages, discounts, a free trial.
- Nurturing leads through an excellent email marketing and engagement campaign.
Consistent lead generation strategy will help you get better results over time and contribute to company growth. It also provides a very reliable flow of revenue.
Author Bio:
TERRIE S. WHEELER, MBC, is the founder and president of Professional Services Marketing, LLC. For nearly 30 years, TERRIE has provided law firm marketing services and worked with individual lawyers to help them hone their personal networking and relationship building skills.
Optimize your Website for SaaS Lead Generation
Your website is one of the most crucial inbound marketing tool you have. Think of your website as a strong SaaS lead generation tool. That said, you need to pay close attention to the details and nitty-gritty of your online presence.
Include these three elements on your website to improve your SaaS lead generation capacity substantially.
Short, Catchy CTAs – Not the ones that are too long, such as “Yes, please contact me”, and definitely not the ones that are too generic, such as “Learn more”. You need clear and relevant CTAs strategically placed on all key landing pages on your website. CTAs should be in the form of buttons and verbs instead of links that state nouns. If it’s an e-book you want visitors to download, ideal CTAs could be “Access the FREE e-book”, “Download now”, and so on. Additionally, the color and shape of the CTA button deserve your attention, too.
Personalized Offers – Motivate website visitors to continue their path to conversion once they land on your page. Do this through a personalized offer they cannot easily reject. Create product-centric offers such as white papers, special reports, and case study downloads or allow them to access a limited time discount on your SaaS product. Just something to spur on their interest.
Contact Forms – Qualify website visitors into leads by encouraging them to fill in a form. The form on your website should be long enough for you to collect necessary information, and short enough to not let the visitor lose interest.
Provide Valuable, Actionable Blog Content
B2B buyers start their research on any search engine with generic keywords and then gradually zero down. This means your audience is looking for valuable content before they search for products.
Give them a fair reason to land on your website, engage with your content, and take further steps toward conversion.
By blogging consistently and about topics that are important to your target audience and not to your business, you will increase your credibility and your customers will trust you more.
Marketing statistics from Hubspot say that 43% of people confess to skimming blog posts as opposed to reading them word after word. The lesson here is to include visual breaks in your blog posts (images, infographics, and videos) giving your readers the motivation to stick throughout the post.
Guest Post Your Way to Quality Leads
Submit guest posts on websites that have a high Domain Authority and a reader base that happens to include your ideal prospects. Quality backlinks from authority websites are gems for your SEO strategy. These websites have active readers who regularly engage with their content.
And, their reader base is your pool of high-quality prospects. Attract them to your website through actionable, engaging, and thought inspiring guest posts. Here is a four-step process for you to follow-
- Create an excel sheet of relevant websites with audiences that might benefit from your SaaS product. Filter them by whether or not they accept guest posts.
- Analyze your SaaS product and decide a few aspects that might benefit the audiences most.
- Create thoughtful, actionable, and engaging content around these topics and present solutions to their everyday challenges.
- Create an offer or discount only for the audiences of the target guest post website.
This way, you bring in qualified, high-quality leads to your site. Tap into newer audiences through regular guest posting. It’s a greatway of lead generation for SaaS.
Invest in Premium Reports / White Papers / Research Material
Most SaaS businesses require website visitors to provide their email address and a few other bits of information before they can access a report or a white paper. You can take this strategy a step further.
We are talking about “gated content”. Invest in relevant, paid research material from the likes of Gartner, or conduct a survey or research of your own by hiring freelance analysts.
Now, create your best marketing material- a report or white paper that your readers will hardly find elsewhere- one that solves a pressing challenge for them.
In exchange for access to this premium piece of content, you can ask your visitors for more than their email address. Because the content piece is worth so much more.
In the sign-up form for gated content, feel free to include in-depth questions about your visitors, how they found you, their interest in your services, and so on.
The result? You will have a further refined list of prospects that you can use to guide conversions. It’s a great way of getting high quality leads.
Create That ONE Video For your SaaS Product
FAQ sections are obsolete. Replace your product’s FAQ section with a video that outlines everything your SaaS offering is about. This demo video can be repurposed into a PDF for that fraction of your readers who’d prefer to read about your product.
Videos are fast becoming a booming content format today. Create a video showcasing product features and answering any questions or concerns your viewers may have.
Source: http://www.e2msolutions.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Sample-Graph.jpg
Videos can break the ice and help you initiate discussions and engagement with your visitors. Product explainer videos can help you generate 33% more leads as per this report.
Get creative and create a video that falls in line with your brand voice, branding, and marketing tone.
Enhance your Social Presence
As a SaaS business looking to get high-quality leads, create a complete business profile across platforms such as Google MyBusiness, Facebook, Instagram, and so on.
Include as much information as you can about your product, what your business stands for, your core internal values, etc. The power of social media in this digital age is undeniable.
Get ready to attract leads through all channels as you push relevant content to each platform, regularly. A strong social presence enriched with customer reviews, company location, contact details, and product info will go a long way in bringing you high-quality leads.
Leverage LinkedIn
Since most SaaS products are B2B offerings, LinkedIn plays a special role in your inbound marketing strategy. LinkedIn drives a majority of traffic to blog sites and websites, especially for B2B businesses. Therefore, the platform has lately become a top choice for B2B marketers.
Publishing relevant and valuable content on LinkedIn will help you attract prospects and spark conversations with them. Invest in LinkedIn ads to target professionals who satisfy your buyer persona.
Create LinkedIn Sponsored Content by repurposing your best blog posts, reports, and so on and embed these with rich media such as videos, infographics, etc.
LinkedIn is a goldmine of prospects for all B2B ventures. Experiment with the platform and measure the results it brings to you.
Source: https://financesonline.com/uploads/2018/12/Screen-Shot-2017-08-17-at-2.06.12-PM.png
Final Words
The gist of SaaS inbound lead generation lies in content. Create a robust and strict content schedule to consistently push out relevant and top-quality content pieces to all channels that work for your business.
Polish your website landing pages and redesign it if the need be. Your website should reflect your brand image, brand voice, and values. Attract leads through frequently updated offers, free trials, discounts, and so on.
Inbound marketing works for SaaS businesses like a charm. You only need the right strategy and the right execution to make it happen. Hopefully, these lead generation experts gave you some relevant insights.
Author Bio:
Justin Kemp is working as a Jr. content writer and blogger with Ranking By SEO. He can be seen blogging about digital marketing, SEO, SMO, PPC, etc.
