Marketing your SaaS product
You’ve developed a winning SaaS product (Software as a Service). You’re ready to project it into the consciousness of your target audience. What should you prioritise in order to generate maximum exposure? What exactly is the best way of marketing your SaaS product? We have compiled an overview of what we know to be the most effective methods of stimulating interest and growth. In doing this we pay homage to the wise words of Adam Audette, “Today it’s not about, ‘Get the traffic’ – it’s about get the targeted and relevant traffic.”
SEO Strategy – Why is it important?
There is no debate about it, SEO strategy is vital to the success of SaaS products. But how do you create the perfect SEO strategy and how does it differ from that of other products? Understanding this is key to perfecting the successful marketing of your SaaS product. The primary objective of your SEO strategy is to make your product visible to those who are most likely to want to use it. These include people who are searching for your software (or for software like yours), people who are ready to buy software and those who are searching for related content. Better still, if you can achieve this without being wholly reliant on paid advertising. PPC (Pay Per Click) for example, does not guarantee to direct the right people to your door, yet you fork out either way.
Winning at SEO when marketing your SaaS product
SEO does differ somewhat between business sectors, however Google’s ranking system is consistent, with the top ranking factors being content and backlinks. Optimisation of your content needs to take this into serious consideration. As you read through this article, you may notice a few things. For example, the repetition of a certain phrase, in this instance, ‘Marketing your SaaS product’ (See what we did there?). This is no coincidence, nor is it just a lack of having other things to say. As you will already know, repetition of your keyphrase is absolutely crucial to your SEO ranking potential and needs to feature a specific number of times in your content in order to gain traction. The art is doing it in a way that still allows your content to flow and doesn’t look clumsily wedged in. If you are creating your own content, this is something that you will have to pay attention to.
PR: Become an authority
Producing informed articles and landing them in publications frequented by your target audience is a really good idea. It’s the proverbial killing of two birds with one stone. It creates exposure for your product and also positions you as a voice of expertise in your field. This adds huge value to your business and generates the sort of traffic that is more likely to convert into sales. Consumers like to feel that they are purchasing products which provide the latest technology, efficiency and longevity. This is where the volume and integrity of your content is vital. Incorporating the repetition of key words which explain the benefits of the service to the consumer or B2B customer is central to attracting the right sort of traffic. This is what they are likely to be punching into that search bar and you need to come up with the goods.
Don’t be content with any old content
It is essential to get plenty of content onto your site in order to maximise rankings. This can mean an initial investment in content writing, unless you have the time and experience to do it yourself, which is unlikely given its time consuming nature. It’s important to focus on your list of key words and phrases. Spend some time considering what they are and make sure you consult others for their contributions. There are sites that will help you to do this at no cost, such as Wordstream and Ahrefs. Just watch out for those free trial expiry deadlines! Blitzing your site with relevant content will massively improve your Rankbrain score also. Rankbrain is increasingly important when it comes to search rankings, so spend some time researching how it operates.
Generating positive reviews
Historically, it has been known for some companies to pay people to leave reviews, however this is always pretty obvious and can be a wasted opportunity. It also doesn’t necessarily provide the content required to drive up rankings and visibility because they are usually very generic. Authentic reviews contain the sort of details and key words that will appear in the search requests of potential consumers. A very simple way of achieving this is just to ask directly. Many people are happy to leave a review if they are happy with the product. Another way of generating positive reviews is to incentivise them. One way of doing this is to link it to your free trial period, if you offer one. For example, you could extend a free trial period on receipt of a review. Alternatively, you could offer a discount to new or existing users once they leave a review.
The general gist
To conclude, although the language and audience may differ for marketing a SaaS product, the techniques remain much the same. Focus on delivering key phrases and words but don’t sacrifice readability. It genuinely is possible to do both, and it gives a much better impression if you do. Make sure you incorporate plenty of backlinks and internal links in your content. Everything on your site should be within easy reach with a couple of clicks. Lastly, don’t forget to promote yourself as a specialist and your SaaS app as a product of that expertise.
If you would like more assistance with writing and landing features in key target publications, please get in touch. This is our area of expertise. We deliver informed PR that will transform your SaaS product’s potential. For examples of this, please feel free to visit our Case Studies section and contact us with any questions you may have.
