According to the latest 2022 data, there are around 30,000 SaaS companies and approximately 14 billion SaaS customers, with the U.S. having the largest proportion of those companies at around 60%.

Furthermore, based on past growth and revenue trends, the Saas market is predicted to reach a value of $307 billion by the year 2026.

It’s no surprise, then, that SaaS companies are seeking new and innovative ways to leverage marketing to their benefit. With such a competitive market, effective marketing strategies that help SaaS businesses stand out from all the rest are essential. 

If you are looking to grow your SaaS company and expand your reach to keep up with the market and competitors, the actionable tips below can help.

1. Identify Marketing Growth Goals and KPIs To Track

The first step in developing any new marketing strategy should be identifying your goals. Without clearly outlining goals and objectives, your marketing could end up missing the mark or straying off-course.

Once you have identified your goals and objectives, it’s then crucial that you identify key performance indicators (KPIs) for measuring your success. Utilizing metrics is essential if you want to ensure you are staying the course and on track to meet your goals. 

Some important SaaS metrics and KPIs to track include:

• Customer retention;
• Conversions;
• Lead generation;
• Search rankings.

2.  Analyze Competitors and Market Trends

If the goal of your growth-focused marketing strategy is to stay competitive, part of your strategy should include analyzing and monitoring your competitors. 

In-depth market research can help you identify what your competition is doing and what is trending in the market so you can make sure you are doing the same to stay relevant. This includes studying keywords, search rankings, backlinks, and overall online presence. 

However, market research isn’t just good for identifying what the competition is doing currently, it can also help you identify trends so that you can make predictions about what might be trending in the future. And this allows you to come up with new ideas that can help you get ahead of the market and leverage future trends before anyone else does. 

3. Create Engaging and Relevant Content 

“Content is king” is a saying that will never get old, because content is one of the best ways to drive customer engagement. Thus, SaaS content should be a primary focus of your marketing strategy.

Your goal should be to create the most compelling and engaging content possible. Don’t just focus on the in-depth details of your product and its features — dive deeper to create content that connects with your target customers. Relatable content that goes above and beyond to show customers the outcome and benefits of using your product is crucial. 

With SaaS products, one of the best ways to do this is by creating compelling and helpful video content. But you can also leverage press releases, blogs, landing pages, social media posts, and email content. 

4. Don’t Skimp on Email Campaigns

Speaking of email content, email campaigns are still a powerful way to reach your customers. Social media might be one of the best methods for B2C marketing. But with B2B and SaaS marketing, email campaigns are still essential. 

However, the key to making your email campaigns the most effective is to send emails at the right time. It doesn’t matter how well-thought-out your email campaign is — if it isn’t being sent at the right time, your customers might miss it.

The three best days to send emails are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. And according to industry trends, the best time to send SaaS emails is between 2 and 3 pm. However, these times may vary after testing with your unique SaaS audience.

5. Deliver a Superior Customer Experience at Every Touchpoint

Another key element in any growth-focused marketing strategy should be to ensure you are delivering a quality customer experience at every point in the process. This includes before, during, and after acquisition. 

When you focus on delivering superior customer experiences at every stage of the process, you are more likely to gain loyal customers that will be happy to work with you again in the future. This can significantly improve customer retention and help you grow your SaaS business. 

6. Have a Quality SEO Strategy

The key to any marketing strategy is creating awareness, and SaaS marketing is no different. One of the best ways to reach your target audience and create more awareness of your product and your company is to utilize search engine optimization (SEO).

The primary focus of SaaS SEO should be utilizing relevant keywords to increase organic traffic to your site by earning top rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs). Performance marketing, like PPC and affiliate marketing, can also help drive traffic, but the cost of performance marketing is on the rise.

SEO is something that will continue to draw traffic to your site when you can’t continue to pay for performance marketing. 

Ultimately, you want to create keyword-optimized content that increases your search visibility by putting you in front of customers who are specifically searching for software, searching for software like yours, and are ready to purchase said software. 

7. Leverage Customer Testimonials and Reviews

Using reviews and customer testimonials as a form of marketing is a great way to encourage new customers to buy your product. It’s always helpful when a customer can see that previous customers were satisfied with their purchases. 

Using customer testimonials and reviews can:

• Boost your credibility;
• Help improve your brand reputation;
• Inspire new customers to experience similar use cases;
• Increase awareness of your company and your product.

8. Boost Your Social Media Presence

Social media marketing is a must today, even for SaaS companies. Everyone is on social media, and a significant chunk of customers specifically use social media to learn about new brands and products. 

By capitalizing on social media marketing trends, you can significantly boost your brand’s awareness and offerings. Some of the latest trends in social media marketing for 2022 include:

• Limited-time content (ephemeral content);
• Short-form video content;
• Livestreaming;
• Podcasts;
• Influencer content.

9. Implement A/B Testing

Every marketing strategy needs a testing phase. You need to test your SaaS marketing throughout the marketing process to check for effectiveness. If you test and realize something isn’t working, you can make adjustments rather than waiting until the campaign is over to find out it didn’t perform as you’d hoped it would. 

A/B testing, also known as split testing, is when two or more versions of a piece of content are created to see which one performs better. From there, you can take the one that did the best and move forward with that, or you can continue to play around with variables in your strategy until you get the desired results. 

10. Plan and Pace for Long-Term Growth

A key element of any growth-focused marketing strategy that not many companies think about is planning ahead for when your strategy works. Know what to do when you actually experience growth. 

Managing sudden business growth can be challenging if your SaaS company is unprepared. If you can’t handle the increase in demand for your product, the influx of new customers, and the potential increase in costs, it could end up tanking your business. 

So in addition to creating a marketing strategy for the now, it’s also important to create business strategies for the future in case your marketing strategy is a success. 

Wrapping Up

There is significant growth expected in the SaaS market in the coming years, and the best way to stay ahead is to start working on effecting growth-focused marketing strategies now. You don’t want to wait only to find your business getting left behind by all the other companies that did their due diligence.

If you want to stay competitive, you have to be competitive by getting started early. However, keep in mind that the world of marketing is ever-changing and evolving. So part of your marketing strategy should be continually checking in with the market and trends to make changes and updates as needed. 

By consistently updating your marketing strategy to meet changing trends and demands, you can constantly be in a state of attracting new customers to grow your business, which is the key to long-term growth.