In the past 7 years, the software as a service (or SaaS) industry has grown by approximately 500 percent!
The industry is growing rapidly, but how is your business doing? Do you need help scaling and expanding your reach?
If you said “yes” to these questions, your marketing strategy might be part of the problem.
Here are 10 SaaS growth marketing hacks to try today.
Hack #1: Give Your Customers ROI Proof
If your target customers are hesitant about investing in your software, it’s up to you to show them that they’ll get a return on their investment.
To do this, you need to provide ROI proof with tools like testimonials and case studies.
Testimonials — both written and video — build trust and verify that your product is effective.
Case studies provide even more detail and show potential customers exactly how your software works and why it can provide an impressive return on investment.
Hack #2: Study the Competition
For those who aren’t happy with the speed at which their business is scaling, it’s important to look at your competition.
Check out other SaaS companies that sell similar products to yours and compare marketing strategies.
What are they doing that you’re not? What tactics can you implement to reach more people and generate more sales in your marketing plan?
Remember, the goal is not to directly copy your competitors. Instead, it’s about learning from them and making informed decisions for your business’s strategy.
Hack #3: Identify Your Buyer Personas
Buyer personas are fictional characters that represent members of your target audience.
Identifying buyer personas will make it easier to remember whom you’re trying to reach with your marketing materials. As a result, you can develop more targeted and effective strategies.
To identify buyer personas, start by researching your existing customers.
Where do they work? What position do they hold within the company? What kinds of challenges do they face?
Use this information to develop buyer personas and create marketing materials that cater to them.
Hack #4: Presell Before You Sell
Preselling is an excellent way to validate your SaaS idea and determine whether or not it’s a good one — before you invest a ton of time and resources into building and scaling a business.
Preselling also provides tangible proof that your product idea is a good one.
This practice can help you to find investors and partners more easily. It also allows you to gain user feedback and learn ways to improve your product before launching it.
Hack #5: Get More Social Traction Than Your Competitors
There’s no denying the power of social media when building a business — including a SaaS business.
If you can outperform your competitors on social media, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to outperform them when selling your SaaS product.
Make sure you’re posting on various social media platforms — especially sites like LinkedIn that are geared toward professionals who might benefit from your services.
Respond to those who engage with your posts, too, and monitor analytics to see which types of posts receive the most attention.
Hack #6: Build Trust with Potential Customers Early
The sooner you build trust with your target audience, the more likely they will think of your brand and check out your product when they need software like yours.
Social media marketing is a powerful tool for building trust. You can also write blog posts or create videos that provide helpful tips and encourage your audience to see you as an expert in your field.
Hack #7. Run a Free Promotion or Giveaway
Everybody loves a giveaway. If you struggle to gain traction on social media or stand out from your competitors, consider running a free promotion or giveaway.
Free promotions and giveaways encourage people to engage with your brand on social media or take specific actions like signing up for your email list.
These results can also increase brand awareness and help new people learn about your software.
Hack #8. Drive Traffic from Related Channels
To increase your website traffic, use related channels to encourage people to check out your site.
For example, you can write guest blog posts for other relevant sites or post articles on LinkedIn. You could also create a YouTube channel and post videos regularly — with links to your website included in the video description.
Hack #9. Use Remarketing for Lead Generation
Remarketing — targeting customers based on previous behavior — is an effective way to maximize the returns from your paid advertising investments.
The following are some specific ways to use remarketing for lead generation:
- Create a remarketing list for every stage of the sales funnel
- Create separate landing pages for remarketing efforts
- Create remarketing lists for email subscribers
You can also run limited offer remarketing campaigns to create a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out) and encourage people to check out your software.
Hack #10. Use a Data-Driven Approach
Let data guide all your marketing decisions, whether you’re creating buyer personas or drafting a new social media post.
The following are some of the most important pieces of data to track:
- Organic website traffic
- Customer acquisition cost (how much it costs to win a paying customer)
- Signups and activations
- Signups to paid conversions (for products with a freemium plan)
- Churn rate (percentage of customers who stop subscribing)
- Net promoter score (likelihood people will recommend your software)
When you collect data and monitor it consistently, it’s easier to see what works and doesn’t. This allows you to maximize your resources and saves you from wasting time and money on tactics that aren’t effective.
Try These SaaS Growth Marketing Hacks Today
You can take various steps to scale your SaaS business, from showing proof of ROI to using a more data-driven approach.
Keep these SaaS growth marketing hacks in mind to create an effective plan to expand your business and increase sales.
Need more help building your SaaS brand and standing out from the competition? Contact us at HookLead today to get a proposal.