There are so many different SaaS content marketing strategies that could potentially work. The problem is actually choosing the right ones that will work for your business.
In this post I am going to walk you through:
- 6 strategies that get results.
- Breakdown the pros and cons of each.
- Give you the “Bottom Line” for each of the 6 strategies outlined.
What Are the Best SaaS Content Marketing Strategies?
I want to start off by expressing how important content marketing is for SaaS products. Paid ads can help you scale your customer acquisition process, but content marketing is going to be the bread and butter for creating raving fans that turn into loyal customers.
Let’s get started with 6 strategies.
1. Show Customer Success Stories
In SaaS one of the most efficient ways to attract new, high value customers is through customer success stories. This is even more true the more complex your product is. For example, if your SaaS product is a very simple WordPress plugin you may not need to show full blown customer success stories in order to bring in new customers. However, if your product is a complicated website builder for WordPress showing customer success stories is one of the most effective ways to sell your product.
Bottom Line: Eat your customers complexity at every point in the sales process and beyond. Showing tangible wins that customers are having is a highly effective way to do just that. It proves that your product works and it gives people confidence that they can get similar results.
2. Video Tutorials of Your Product in Action
Video tutorials can work for any type of SaaS product. This statistic about video consumption is just a slice of proof that video is important. However, I want to point out that not all videos are created equally. A poorly made video, from the content perspective, can actually hurt your marketing and sales efforts. On the flipside, a well structured, informative, and benefit driven video can drive massive sales for your product.
The differences between a good and a bad product video tutorial are subtle.
Let me give you an example…
Bad = An 18 minute screen share video that has no plan and echoey audio. The video starts with no context, no end goal, and no overall benefit as to why someone should even be watching this video in the first place.
Good = A 7 minute screen share video with someone on camera for the introduction with crisp and clear audio. The video starts out with a benefit driven 20 second intro that hooks the viewer. Following the introduction is a well thought out and structured video showing the viewer how to easily achieve a desired result using their SaaS product.
Obvious difference isn’t?
Bottom Line: If you’re going to make video product tutorials for your SaaS, do them right.
3. Written Tutorials of your product in action
Written tutorials are very different then the video ones because there is a much higher level of detail that has to go into them. It is easier to explain something that is visual via video than in writing. When it comes to writing you have to include things like screenshots, gif video clips, image captions, and just more overall context to the entire situation.
However, written product tutorial content is a great way to show images of your product and it allows for different traffic channels to promote your content. For example, written product tutorials can be turned into a blog post which can be found via search engines, an email broadcast to your list, a support article that can be searched by your customers, and more. Also, updating an out of date written post is much easier than updating a video. The only real way to update a video is to reshoot it. With written content all you have to do is change some text and images.
Bottom Line: Having a mix of written product tutorials can be very helpful. This is where you have to be a savvy marketer and determine which ones would be better as written instead of in a video format.
4. Creating Free Courses
Creating free courses is a great way to build authority and trust within your niche. The courses don’t need to be about your products directly but they can help bring value to people in your niche. This is a long term play that can work out quite nicely if done right.
Here are a couple examples:
Picking the course topic is easier than you think. If your software helps people with cold email outreach you could create a free course about how to master cold email outreach. This course would allow you to serve your audience directly and indirectly.
Courses can serve a couple of purposes.
- If you have a complex product it is a great place to do a deep dive of your product and how to better use that product.
- These are often huge sales drivers for people who are highly interested in your product that are towards the end of making up their mind about what product they are going to purchase.
Bottom Line: Free courses are a phenomenal way to generate leads, build authority, and ultimately grow your SaaS business. If you’ve toyed with the idea of making one, just get started on it.
5. Webinars
Doing live webinars is one of the best ways to directly teach people about your product. You can showcase your product in real time without having to worry about the distractions of social media and everything else.
This is one of the most tried and true ways of selling anything online. I will have to admit that this one has been overplayed by the make money online guru crowd, but for good reason. They convert at a very high rate.
Convertkit hosts live webinars all the time that showcase the power of their tools and how other people are succeeding using them.
Side Note: Webinars are NOT the same as livestreams on social media. In fact they couldn’t be further in opposites from my point of view. Webinars are closed environments free of distraction. Social media live streams are bombarded with distractions from every direction. Are social media streams a great place to make noise? Yes, but not the best environment for selling.
Using webinar software like WebinarJam, LiveWebinar, Demio, GoToWebinar or something else will give you total control of the environment from a selling perspective but will more importantly allow you to serve your customers and potential customers far better.
Bottom Line: Webinars are effective. Don’t shy away from them. If you have a complex product find a way to incorporate them into your marketing and commit to figuring out how to make them valuable.
6. Written Content About Your Industry
There are all kinds of different types of written content but writing content about your industry can be a major driver of growth for your SaaS. The type of content that I am referring to when I say “industry” content are:
- SEO driven articles about more general topics in your overall industry.
- “How to” style types of posts that aren’t directly tied to your product but are related to questions and problems your ideal customers face.
- Performing case studies about your industry.
These content types are the ones that can drive significant growth because they can increase the top end of your customer funnel. Implementing this strategy doesn’t always feel like the quick win or the best use of time. However, if you let these actions compound they can make a massive difference to your business.
Here are some examples of great written industry content in the SaaS space:
Bottom Line: Creating industry content can be a massive growth driver and audience builder. It will take time to build, but the benefits will be worth it.
Wrap Up
And that’s going to wrap up this post on the 6 content marketing strategies that work for SaaS. There are so many more content marketing strategies that you can implement today, but the 6 outlined above are the most tried and tested ones that have generated the best results for me.