Content marketing for software as a service (SaaS) companies shows no signs of slowing down. About 85% of companies in the SaaS industry regularly post blog content, showing that content marketing is a significant driver for SaaS success.
Having a blog is great, but there are so many more ways for SaaS companies to reach their audiences.
In this post, you’ll learn what SaaS content marketing is and what makes it different than other forms of digital marketing. Next, I’ll get right into the SaaS content marketing tips I’ve learned over the past decade.
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What is SaaS content marketing?
SaaS content marketing is a term to describe when companies in the SaaS industry use content to achieve a goal with their target audiences.
One company might want to gain more traffic. Another business might have the goal of making more money from the traffic it currently has. Each company’s exact goals differ from business to business.
Key differences in SaaS content marketing
Before we jump into this look a forming a SaaS content marketing strategy, it’s good to have a quick background of the challenges these businesses face.
Making what you offer understandable
Explaining what you do at a car dealership might not be that difficult. Most people know that they visit car dealerships to buy a vehicle.
When SaaS companies enter the picture, most offerings require more explanation. That’s why it’s essential for SaaS companies to, for lack of a better term, dumb their content down.
I’m not calling your target audience dumb, but the fact is that most of them won’t know your company as well as you do.
Keeping people coming back
Another key distinction with SaaS content marketing is that these companies typically have business decision-makers as their ideal target audience.
Convincing someone to buy a video game for $60 that they already want? That’s probably not a tough thing to sell.
Now, asking a business to fork over $2,000 on software they’re not yet familiar with from a company they barely know? That’s a whole different ballpark.
Fortunately, SaaS companies can keep customers coming back with great content.
7 tips to form a SaaS content marketing strategy that works
There are many ways to reach your target audience through the power of content marketing. Here’s how SaaS businesses can form a winning content marketing strategy.
1. Benefits over features
A great part of any content marketing strategy, especially when you have a product or service, is to explain features. But if you really want to get your target audience interested, explain the benefits of what your company offer.
If your company’s software automates things, it’s better to explain how these products save time. By using this type of language, you appeal to the emotions and challenges your target audience faces.
2. Let the world hear your brand’s voice
Every content strategy needs a little personality. Your company can do this by creating or using a brand voice. The smartest companies use some type of voice in their content.
If you’re in a serious industry, use a professional voice. If things are a little more light-hearted, you can use a more playful tone. The best tip I have for this SaaS content marketing is to continue writing.
While you never want to directly copy anyone, it’s a good idea to see what or who your target customers are into. Look at influencers or groups your customers follow. Check out the writing style and brand voice of these popular influencers.
3. Know your audience extremely well
Any SaaS business can create content – it’s how well the content creators know their target audience that makes an impact.
From personal experience and as I’ve read in several marketing books: most companies don’t need a huge audience to succeed.
You’ll notice this if you try to launch paid ads to the biggest possible audience. Trying to appeal to everyone in the SaaS marketing world rarely pays off. What does pay off? Knowing your target customers like the back of your hand.
Will this planning appeal to every single person interested in becoming a customer? No, but your business will do far better than normal if you know who you’re creating content for.
You can try this experiment by viewing websites from a few of your favorite businesses. Each company’s marketing efforts and styles are different because these companies have different audiences.
If you visit the website of Tractor Supply Co, you see lots of people working outdoors. This website doesn’t use any wild colors.
Then, visit a website for the popular girl’s clothing store Claire’s. See any differences? This website uses bright pinks and purples, using bigger copy, and more.
4. Create a SaaS content marketing funnel
When carrying out a content marketing strategy, it’s easy for many companies to focus on the “content” part of this term and not so much on the “strategy” part.
I’ve admittedly been guilty of this, especially when I first started creating content online.
Yes, when you’re just starting to create content, I recommend taking a blanket approach. In these early stages, there’s no need to drive yourself nuts about creating perfect content.
However, as you continue your content marketing efforts, it’s imperative to have some kind of marketing strategy in mind. That’s why many smart companies create content funnels.
A marketing funnel typically features content for users at different stages of the purchasing process. Think of the top-of-the-funnel content as a quick-ish introduction with a customer through the computer.
One SaaS company might use video content in its funnel. Another might be posting and sharing a lot of social media content. Wherever most customers interact with or see your content, that’s where the top of your funnel is.
Through this introductory content, you can then move people further down your content funnels. Then, you can use middle and bottom-of-the-funnel content to have people learn more in-depth knowledge of your SaaS business.
5. Mix up your content formats
Doing the same thing every day can get quite boring. However, some companies using a SaaS marketing strategy never mix things up and wonder why nothing’s working.
As you launch your SaaS content marketing strategy, have fun with it by testing out different formats. If you’ve been writing a lot of blog posts, mix up your content creation efforts with a few videos.
Are you tired of trying to reach organic traffic? Set aside $100 or less on a few paid social media ads.
At worst, you’ll learn where your audience is and isn’t. At best, mixing up your content creation efforts could have your business make it big on a new platform.
Remember, as the saying goes: you either succeed or you learn.
6. Keep at least basic search engine optimization in mind
Your company can create quality content every day. But content that isn’t optimized for search engines can mean your SaaS company is missing out on a lot of visitors!
Fortunately, you have a few options these days to improve website traffic by stepping up your SEO game. You have three main options for implementing SEO: learning it yourself, hiring an SEO expert, or paying an SEO company on a per-project basis.
Creating optimized content starts with keyword research. Keyword research means looking into what word or words search engine users use to find your website.
For example, let’s say that you own a business selling video game consoles and games. In that case, keywords like PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo would likely all be keywords of interest because they are relevant to your company.
Interested in the SEO side of SaaS marketing? I recently put together an entire post dedicated to the topic of SaaS SEO!
7. Hone down your focus with content analytics platforms
The great thing about having and using an active content strategy is that it gives your SaaS business amazing data. Checking out click-through rates, visit duration, and similar factors can let you know what content is resonating with your audience.
Instead of guessing what your readers or customers want, you can use your analytic data to know what’s working and what isn’t.
Creating content without using an analytics platform is kind of like driving with a blindfold on and earplugs in. Sure, you’re going somewhere. But you have no idea where you’re going or how close you are to your destination.
Use these platforms to answer some or all of the following questions:
- What content is ranking well in search engines?
- What content gets the most click-throughs?
- What pages or posts are people visiting the longest?
- What content are people quickly clicking away from?
As you can see, SaaS content marketing is an effective way for software companies to reach audiences. Proper content marketing for SaaS companies takes time and effort. However, when it pays off, a SaaS content marketing strategy can take your business to the next level quickly.
Alex Eagleton is a copywriter and digital marketer passionate about helping companies connect with customers. Throughout the past decade, he’s worked with companies including Referral Rock, Connecteam, and Ramsey Solutions. He’s a versatile writer who understands how to align with companies, truly matching their voices and tones.
When he’s not writing, he enjoys spending time with his dogs, reading, and playing guitar.
You can reach him by emailing alex@contentmarketinglife.com.