B2B Marketing for SaaS

Introduction

Marketing is a huge platform that requires complete dedication, perseverance and ability to learn, for hitting the right goals at the right time with the expected results. Products’ promotion and selling, all depends on a wholesome marketing plan.

But when it comes to selling ‘Software as a Service’ (SaaS), marketers get the heebie-jeebies.

If you too fall into this category of marketers, then this article is going to give you the boost you need. This article tells about how B2B SaaS marketing is different from other kinds of marketing and some techniques to focus on. Before that, let us know about B2B SaaS.

What is B2B SaaS?

B2B SaaS is the short form for business-to-business Software-as-a-Service. Many B2B companies use software for various purposes like accounting, gauging market growth, CRM (customer relationship management), increasing productivity and other business-related work.

The B2B SaaS market is evolving in a much higher rate and all that are said about it today might get out-dated by tomorrow. Therefore, SaaS marketing can be highly profitable and unpredictable at the same time. If done in the right way, your SaaS company is going to earn millions but a unchanging marketing plan can put your company is losses.

How is B2B SaaS Marketing Different from Other Type of Marketing?

SaaS marketing needs a much strategic and stronger marketing plan because SaaS marketing is tougher than any other marketing type.

Is it though? How can you say so before accumulating the distinct features of SaaS marketing?

If you are preparing a marketing plan, then you first need to understand the basic difference between SaaS marketing and any other kind of marketing.

• Selling a service and not a product
  The first and the foremost thing that you have to remember is that you are not selling a product rather you are selling a service. A SaaS marketing plan focuses on providing the most updated versions of the services. Therefore, a SaaS company gives more priority to expert developers and programmers.
• Smaller sales cycle
  Generally, B2B marketing involves a large and complex sales cycle. But in case of B2B SaaS marketing, it has a much smaller sales cycle. Companies look for solutions; they research about them, watch a demo, get convinced and buy. It’s that simple. You don’t have to organize expensive events or fancy wine tastings to convince your customers.
• Customer retention is a serious thing
  SaaS marketing focuses more on customer retention than customer acquisition. Research has shown that huge amount of revenue comes from just a fraction of the current SaaS customers. A minor increase in customer retention can result up to 15 times increase in profit. Therefore, customer retention is a critical subject in SaaS marketing.
• More the information given, merrier the customers
  Selling ‘Software as a Service’ can be strenuous if customers are not given the exact and proper information. Huge part of the crowd will find it quite difficult to understand the services you offer. Therefore, an essential part of SaaS marketing is delivering content in a much precise manner for the customers to get hold of it.
• Good service will sell itself
  The most important factor that shapes the SaaS marketing plan is the effectiveness of your software service. Therefore, SaaS companies put huge amount of their time and money in modifying and improving their services according to the changing times and demand of the market.

After acquiring knowledge about the basic differences between SaaS marketing and any other kind of marketing, you are probably sure of what to focus on and how to prepare a marketing plan for your SaaS company.

B2B marketing strategies for SaaS

Some specific marketing strategies have proven to be helpful for B2B SaaS marketing that can suit the ever-changing digital market.

• Succinct and Supreme App Portfolio
  Too much information about the software can make your customers confused. To make them understand properly, you need to prepare a short but informative content about the app. After they show interest, plan on getting them more engaged with your software and then try to expand the services offered by it.
• Captivating SaaS offerings
  Companies are constantly looking for digital solutions. They need to get properly convinced with the services your software offers. Therefore, try to explain the perks of what you are selling, how they are unique and why they should invest in your software.
• Pull Marketing with customer-centric solutions
  The specific customer-centric solutions offered by your software, according to your target audience, are essential for pulling or attracting the customers towards your app.
• Free Trial
  Adding a ‘free trial’ to your software is the most customer-engaging factor. Customers love when they are asked to take a free trial and understand the working of the software. In this, they learn to get familiar with the app and get convinced at the same time.

B2B SaaS Companies to Learn from

There are many SaaS based companies getting revenue in millions and successfully winning in the digital market race.

• ATLASSIAN ( On boarding add-ons into marketplace)
• MICROSOFT ( Cloud Solution Provider resells the cloud services)
• XERO ( Turns expert accountants to resellers)
• SHOPIFY (Strong affiliate marketing)
• DROPBOX (Incentivizing customers for engaging more customers)
• SLACK (Coverts the free customers into paying ones)

Conclusion

Software as a service is an ever evolving market because of the increasing dependency on inline services. The SaaS market can be considered as the most competitive market in today’s world.

But don’t worry! The marketing techniques mentioned above can be helpful even when the market is undergoing change. So, stop blabbering about how difficult it is to run a SaaS company and start preparing the perfect marketing strategy for the same.