SaaS Marketing: 5 Brilliant Strategies for Maximizing Your ROI

Published by Natalie Redman on September 6, 2021

Marketing for any SaaS is essential to do so in this modern world. With so much competition online, it’s necessary to get the word of your business out there for everyone, not just in your own local geography but on a global scale. The beauty of SaaS is that it can be utilized by pretty much anyone around the world if developed and adapted correctly.

There are many different strategies that you can implement in order to boost your marketing and hopefully provide a sweet ROI in the process. In this article, we’ll discuss five brilliant strategies and the benefits that can come with proper strategizing of marketing for your company.

What is a Marketing Strategy Made Up Of?

A marketing strategy contains a number of focus areas that are often referred to as ‘the five p’s’ or the marketing mix. These are product, price, place, and promotion, and the fifth additional element, people. A marketing strategy’s aim is to provide the company’s value proposition as well as any brand messages that the business wants to get across.

It often includes data on customer demographics and helps provide overall growth for the business. According to Forbes, 14% of small businesses fail because of poor marketing and that’s likely because the strategy needed was either wrong in it’s intent or it didn’t even exist.

There’s a real need for marketing in any business and so a strategy is a good way to ensure everything is executed as it should. It also contributes to that ROI you are after when spending your marketing budget. It’s important to learn about SaaS marketing as it tends to be different from most traditional methods used.

1. Focus on retaining your existing customers

Customer retention is key for SaaS businesses because the sales side of this industry can often provide a lot of uncertainty. Even though it’s a huge industry that is expected to be worth $7.4 billion this year, the point at which sales are made can come at sporadic moments throughout the year.

The reason for this is that many of the businesses after your product or service might not yet have the budget to invest in it, or it might simply not be the right point in time for them. With that being said, one of the marketing strategies that can help maximize your ROI is focusing attention on retaining your existing customers. Marketers often say that it costs 5x more to get a new customer than it does to keep an existing customer. Retention can be done in a number of ways such as:

• Offering discounts
• Extra perks or benefits for loyal customers
• Engaging with customers through social media
• Delivering excellent customer support

These are just a few examples of how you can focus on those customers who are already paying for the product or service. Whether it’s a monthly subscription or an annual one, it’s beneficial to have your customers keep using your products and services.

2. Nurture those potential leads for conversion

Nurturing your leads is a marketing strategy that is long-term and will likely help many more leads convert to paying customers. The process of nurturing is one that can take time for some customers and there might be many methods in which you nurture potential leads that come through to your site or perhaps via other mediums like social media platforms, etc.

Email marketing

Taking advantage of your email subscribers list is key to nurturing leads who might be at various points in the sales funnel. Therefore, you want to ideally provide tailored emails to each customer whether it’s a welcome email for signing up to a free trial or a reminder to tell them that an upcoming payment is due.

DMA found that for every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can expect to make an average return of $42.

Build lead profiles

In order for your teams to make the most out of every potential lead, it’s good to make profiles based on the different types of customers you may attract. For example, Canva has a number of subscription options which include business, education, and nonprofits. As such, they need to be catering to their individual needs that will likely be different from one another.

The method you use might be more successful in nurturing leads than others, so that’s why it’s good to have several methods to pick from and trial with those leads.

3. Take advantage of metrics for insight on campaigns

The various marketing campaigns you churn out in order to attract new customers is useful because, without marketing, you limit your company’s potential. Many businesses including those in the SaaS industry, have found benefits when using metrics to provide crucial insights on how campaigns are helping drive traffic and boost sales growth.

For example, a tracking link can provide a lot more insight into how many users are coming from one platform to another. If it were just a normal link, it would be a lot harder to source that information.

Google Analytics and other platforms (like Salespanel) can be great for discovering more about your audience when it comes to demographics and campaign data. You can also study their behaviors, what they engage with and what they don’t engage with. A SaaS marketing agency can also be helpful if you need assistance.

4. Consider raising your prices

With competition for SaaS businesses being fierce, pricing up your product correctly is important. However, there are some factors to consider whereby you may find it beneficial to raise your prices.

You may have started out with lower prices in order to compete with those similar to your product, to begin with. However, if your product is now offering a lot more in the way of value or you’ve been adding updates to your product that offers a lot more than before, bump up the price.

As long as you’re providing a great service, those loyal customers are likely going to agree with the price jump, whether it’s a small or big one. Many of the larger SaaS companies will tend to raise their prices between 5-7% every year when it comes to contracts. This might not be the case for you yet, but it’s a good way of maximizing your return on what you spend for the company.

5. Experiment and monitor different methods

There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to marketing. Some marketing campaigns that your competitors have done in the past, might not be so productive when you do it and vice versa.

Some marketing campaigns may provide a small amount of return whilst one strategy used might be the point at which the business takes off. So with that being said, you can only assume with what data you have beforehand, how well the marketing will do.

It’s good to experiment and monitor each marketing strategy you implement because it helps decipher which ones work best for your business. By experimenting, it ensures the strategies you’re using are going to be the most productive overall.

The Benefits of a SaaS Marketing Strategy

Having an effective SaaS marketing strategy in place can be helpful in many ways. So how can you benefit from utilizing a strategy for your business?

Improved brand awareness

With it taking around 5 to 7 impressions for people to remember a brand, boosting brand awareness is a must. Not only is it important to establish your brand image, it’s also necessary in order to help continue the business growth.

With the right strategies in place, it helps focus more attention on your brand and away from any of the competition.

Increased lead generation

Customer retention, as it’s been mentioned already, is essential for helping continue the company’s financial growth. A well-thought out lead generation campaign is going to help bring customers to your front door, with the hopes that they’ll ring the bell and come in.

With that being said, generating leads will only happen with an effective strategy in place. By hitting the right people with the right content, you’re more likely to see a successful ROI on the money you spend.

Better communication and relationships with customers

And finally, the biggest focus for your SaaS brand is the communication and relationship you have with your customers. If there’s a lack of either, then you can’t expect customer retention to be at it’s best.

With the above strategies in place, you’re able to have a much more personable relationship with your customers. That can help form trust as well as the customer feeling comfortable in asking for more guidance and help from you, should they need it.

From content marketing to nurturing leads, there’s a long list of strategies that you can try out for your SaaS business this year. In order to maximize the money you spend on the business, there needs to be methods to your spending. Finding the right strategies can take time and it’s not often an overnight success.

Think about what your customers want and what those leads need from you in order to convert. Find what works in order to encourage traffic to your site or platform and remember that what might work for one of your competitors, might not work for you in the same way.