According to the latest research, the SaaS industry has garnered more than $591 billion in the year 2023. Content Marketing is essential for the SaaS industry as it is an effective way to engage and connect with potential customers through various forms of content.
While other marketing strategies lie majorly on direct outreach, content marketing is a way that attracts the audience naturally and establishes the brand’s position as trustworthy and credible.
Following is a comprehensive guide that deals with how to do SaaS Content Marketing, why it is important, how it is different from the rest, and various stages of SaaS Content Marketing.
What is SaaS content marketing?
SaaS(Software as a Service) Content Marketing is a strategic marketing approach that is uniquely tailored to cater to the promotional and marketing needs of SaaS products or services.
The main objective of SaaS Content Marketing is to engage and retain a certain set of audiences by providing them with valuable, relevant, and informative pieces of content. This content can be provided in various forms like blog posts, white papers, infographics, e-books, and social media content.
Other content forms like webinars, video tutorials, and case studies can also help in establishing a brand’s credibility and authority and also in increasing traffic and user engagement on your website.
Why is SaaS content marketing important?
SaaS Content Marketing plays a crucial role in the success of any related business. It is essential for driving awareness and engagement for both current and potential customers. It is a powerful tool for building relationships with customers as well as nurturing, generating, and converting leads.
8 Benefits of SaaS content marketing
SaaS content marketing is an important component in any type of marketing strategy and it is also important to measure it’s ROI. From educating the prospects to creating awareness about your brand, everything is done with the help of this. Following are some of the most significant benefits of SaaS content marketing.
1. Educating Prospects
Educating Prospects is one of the major benefits of SaaS Content Marketing. Many SaaS products come with tutorials, guides, resources, and educational videos that can help users in making the most of these products.
Along with this, content marketing can provide information to various potential customers who may not fully understand the use cases and benefits of this software which can help them in bridging the gap between their needs and solutions.
2. Building Trust And Credibility
High-quality content on your website would position you as an industry expert and an authoritative figure. By publishing relevant and informative content with consistency, businesses can establish trust with their audience, allowing them to consider your business for their requirements.
By addressing common pain points, answering the queries of people, and offering actionable solutions to prospects, you can build credibility among your prospects and existing customers.
3. Lead Generation
Lead Generation is one of the most important goals of any marketing strategy. Content Marketing is an effective way of generating leads through various types of content.
By consistently providing relevant and informative content in the form of ebooks, blog posts, webinars, and whitepapers, companies can effectively get the contact information of users and hence generate leads. This can further result in the conversion of leads down the line.
4. Brand Visibility
Content Marketing efforts can effectively help in increasing your brand awareness and visibility across various marketing channels. By publishing content that is SEO-optimized, you can get your blogs to rank higher on SERPs.
With the help of this SEO-optimised content, your brand can reach a wider set of audience and hence get more organic traffic towards your business’s website and expand their brand awareness.
5. Differentiating Factor
Having a solid online presence can be a significant differentiating factor from other competing businesses. By showcasing your unique selling points, authority expertise in the industry, and other insights, your business can stand out among many others.
This differentiating factor would establish you as more trustworthy and credible among your competitors which can engage more prospects and help in more lead conversion.
6. Establishment Of Thought Leadership
With the help of SaaS Content Marketing, SaaS businesses can establish themselves as an industry expert and someone with authority. By sharing valuable industry insights, tips, trends, and best practices, businesses can build credibility and trust among the audience.
This would eventually lead to increased influence and authority of the business and help in generating new leads and gaining new customers.
7. Customer Engagement
SaaS Content Marketing enables businesses to engage and communicate with customers on a deeper level. With the consistent and relevant content that is provided to them for free, businesses form meaningful connections.
Businesses can improve these connections and encourage feedback and interaction from them in exchange for their contact information. This would result in increased lead generation and brand visibility.
8. Cost-Effective Marketing Strategy
SaaS Content Marketing is one of the most cost-effective marketing strategies. In comparison with traditional marketing methods, content marketing is often regarded as a cost-effective method but with a higher Return-on-Investment.
While it may require considerably more time to create and curate content according to the needs and preferences of your target audience, it is important to know that the long-term effects like brand awareness, lead generation, and customer engagement can outweigh it.
How is SaaS content marketing different from the rest?
SaaS Content Marketing is a unique and strategic marketing approach that sets it apart from the rest. Due to the specific nature and dynamics of the SaaS industry, this type of marketing is mainly education-focused. Unlike other marketing strategies, SaaS offerings may include comprehensive guides and detailed explanations.
Along with educational content, SaaS Content Marketing often includes comparatively more technical content than any other industry. Therefore, it becomes important for marketers to balance technical accuracy in a way that the content can be understood by both the technical and non-technical sections of the audience.
Even though SaaS Content Marketing shares some of its principles with content marketing, its in-depth focus on educational content, customer retention, and user engagement sets it apart from the rest.
4 Stages for SaaS Content Marketing
The four stages of SaaS Content Marketing play a significant role in forming a comprehensive strategy for creating engaging and valuable content that is relevant to your audience.
Each of these four stages plays a crucial role in content creation, curation, distribution, and ensuring the relevance of content that would ultimately contribute to your business’s objectives.
1. Topic Research
Topic research is the first stage in SaaS Content Marketing. In this stage, you research the themes and topics that are relevant to your audience.
To understand your audience’s demographics, preferences, and needs, four main tasks are completed.
- Audience Analysis: Audience analysis is the first step in creating content. Understanding the demographics, needs, preferences, and behaviors of your target audience. This would help you in deciding the topic of your content forms.
- Keyword Research: Keyword research is another important part of topic research. Identifying the keywords that your audience is looking for and including them in your content naturally will allow them to easily search for your content and make it rank better on SERPs.
- Competitor Research: Competitor Research is an important part of topic research in which you analyze and research about your competitors. This would help you in identifying gaps in your industry and the areas in which you can differentiate from others.
- Content Ideation: After researching your audience, keywords, and competitors, it is time to brainstorm the topic and content based on the insights gathered.
2. Content Writing
Content Writing is a major part of any type of content marketing. After getting the insights and information about your topic, audience, and keywords, it’s time to write content that is relevant and meets the needs of your audience.
- In-depth Writing: In-depth writing involves providing your audience with comprehensive and detail-oriented information that addresses the topic concerned. This can be done with the use of real-world examples and case studies, especially in the area of SaaS.
- Focusing on User-Intent: User-Intent refers to the purpose behind a user’s query. This mainly includes identifying what your audience is searching for that is related to your topic and tailoring your content according to the needs of users in a way that is relevant to them.
- Plugging in the Product: Plugging in the product means to include and promote your Saas offering in your content in a way that is natural and does not obstruct the main idea of your content. The product should be mentioned in a way that provides value to the audience, yet promotes your product.
- On-Page Keyword Optimization: On-page keyword optimization means tailoring your content so that it is discoverable by search engines. It includes identifying and incorporating keywords into your content naturally and without overstuffing. This would rank the content higher on SERPs and align it with user intent.
3. Content Promotion
The Content Promotion stage in SaaS Content Marketing ensures that your content is delivered to the right audience, gets clicked, and drives traffic to your SaaS products.
This stage has a blend of strategies that involves increasing visibility, building authority in your industry, and driving engagement
- Building Backlinks: Backlinks are links to your content from other websites. Building high-quality backlinks is essential for SEO and building authority. With high-quality website links, your website’s search engine ranking and credibility can be significantly boosted.
- Sharing Content Across Social Media: Social Media is a powerful tool for reaching a wider set of audience. It can be an excellent tool for sharing the content and engaging with the users. While posting content, try to tailor it to specific types of audiences, for example, focusing on professional insights for LinkedIn and images for Instagram.
- Repurposing Content: Repurposing content means presenting the existing content in different forms and types. This would help you in reaching different types of audiences and extend the lifespan of your existing content. This can help share content on social media and repurpose your blogs into infographics.
4. Measurement & Update
In this last stage of SaaS Content Marketing, the focus is on analyzing the content for its effectiveness and performance. This would let you know the improvements required and refine your strategy based on them. This is crucial to know that your marketing efforts are aligned with the objectives and the improvements needed.
- Key Performance Indicators: Key Performance Indicators for any marketing strategy include tracking and analysis of traffic and page views, time on page and bounce rate, conversion rates, lead generation, engagement, SERPs, and customer retention.
- Refreshing Content: Refreshing content for your SaaS content marketing involves updating outdated information, enhancing on-page SEO, adding new insights and information from new case studies and examples, reformatting content according to the latest trends, and testing and experimenting with your strategies.
Creating SaaS content for different stages of funnels
Creating content that is uniquely tailored to various stages of the marketing funnel is essential for creating content that effectively engages your audiences, as well as helps in converting leads. The three stages of the marketing funnel are TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU. Following is a detailed explanation of these stages and the type of content that can be created for each stage.
TOFU (Top of the Funnel):
The objective of TOFU is to attract attention and generate awareness among the audience. The audience targeted in this stage is interested in relevant and industry-related trends but not very familiar with the industry and the services offered.
Following are some of the content types that can be created at this stage.
- Educational Blog Posts: Blog posts should address the common queries, pain points, and challenges faced by your target audience. These blog posts should provide valuable information and insights to your audience.
- Infographics: Infographics are visually appealing images that present valuable industry information and insights in a way that does not directly promote your product is shareable and can get engagement on social media.
- Guides and Tutorials: Providing your audience with comprehensive and detailed guides and tutorials that provide solutions to common problems of your audience will establish you as an industry expert and someone with authority in the industry.
- Videos and Podcasts: Creating short videos for social media and hosting podcasts can significantly boost your engagement along with providing value to your audience. Videos can capture the attention easily and podcasts can provide the audience with industry insights and information.
- Ebooks and Whitepapers: Ebooks and whitepapers are in-depth guides that are focused on specific industry-related topics. Ebooks and whitepapers can be given to your audience in exchange for their contact information, serving as lead generation.
MOFU (Middle of the Funnel):
The objective of this stage of the marketing funnel is to build interest in your audience and establish their consideration. The targeted audience of this stage is people who are aware of their problems and are actively seeking solutions.
Following are some of the content types that can be created at this stage.
- Case Studies: You can showcase real-life examples with analytics of how your SaaS offering has helped businesses in overcoming challenges and achieve success. This would serve as a social proof of your product and demonstrate them as a practical solution.
- Product Demos/Webinars: You can offer live or recorded videos that can feature the description, features, functionalities, and benefits of your SaaS solution. These interactive sessions would allow your audience to understand your product and ask questions about it.
- Comparison Guides: These guides can compare your SaaS offerings with your competitors which would help your audience recognize your differentiators and unique selling points.
- Free Trials: Providing your audience with free trials and demos would allow your audience to have a hands-on experience with your product and an opportunity to evaluate its requirements and fitness for their business.
- Expert Interviews: Conducting interviews and discussions with industry experts and professionals would provide your audience with valuable insights and information about your industry and establish you as an expert.
BOFU (Bottom of the Funnel):
The objective of the bottom of the funnel content is to drive conversion from your leads and facilitate purchase decisions from your audience. The target audience of this stage of the marketing funnel are prospects who are ready to make a purchase decision and are at the point of evaluating their options.
Following are some of the content types that can be created in this stage.
- Customer Testimonials: Authentic and positive feedback from your previous customers or success stories can build your credibility and boost the confidence of your audience in your product.
- Free Trials/Discounts: Limited-time free trials and discounts would incentivize your potential customers to make decisions about your SaaS products by creating a sense of urgency.
- ROI Calculators: With the help of an ROI calculator, you can let your potential prospects quantify the potential ROI that your SaaS product can offer. These can demonstrate the practical value of your product and help them in making decisions.
- Onboarding Resources: Smooth onboarding experiences increase user satisfaction and reduce the bounce rate from your products. With the help of various onboarding resources, you can help new customers get started with your product.
- Personalised Email Campaigns: Send personalized and targeted email campaigns to prospects who have engaged with your content to help them in making their decisions. This can include adding special CTAs to encourage conversions.
8 Types of blogs that perform well for SaaS brands
Following are 8 types of blogs that perform well for SaaS brands and are effective and engaging in gaining leads, visibility, better SERP rank, and improved conversion rates.
- How-tos: How-to guides and tutorials would provide step-by-step guides on completing specific tasks and making the users understand the features and functions of your product.
- Listicles: Listicles have a list of tips, practices, tools, or resources that are relevant to the SaaS industry. These are the easiest types of articles to consume and can cover a wide range of topics.
- Xx Alternatives to (product): These types of blogs offer one of the most common consumer queries: finding alternatives to a product. These blogs perform better and rank better in SERPs as they let consumers compare the features and USPs of all the products.
- X vs Y: What’s Better: This type of blog compares and contrasts two specific products featuring detailed comparisons for prices, ease of use, use cases, and consumer support.
- Case Studies: In Case Studies, you can showcase real-life examples of how consumers have achieved their goals and overcome solutions using your products and help build trust and credibility among your potential customers.
- Product Updates: In these types of articles, you can update your potential consumers about new product features, updates, and enhancements. These posts would highlight your commitment to innovation and consumer satisfaction.
- Behind-the-Scenes: Posting blogs about your company’s culture and behind-the-scenes would offer a glimpse into the inner circle and workings of your company. This would humanize the band and establish a connection with the potential customers on a personal level.
- Guest Posts/Contributors: Guest Posts and contributor articles would feature special pieces from industry experts and influencers. This would bring fresh perspectives and tone to your website that would attract new audiences and enhance the brand’s credibility and trust.
Final Words
In conclusion, SaaS Content Marketing is one of the most engaging and cost-effective marketing options. With the help of a B2B SAAS content marketing strategy, your business can significantly reduce the CAC.
SaaS Content Marketing can be an overwhelming area when you’re just starting. To make things easier for you, Rank Scholars can help you establish your SAAS content marketing strategy for the long term, getting leads and enhancing your conversion rates. So what are you waiting for? Get in touch with Rank Scholars to get quality marketing services and enhance your conversion rates!
Author
Anubhuti is a freelance writer who crafts engaging content. Running on a single cup of coffee, on most days, she prefers books and music over people and loves creating compelling content for you!
