Partnering with a marketing agency for SaaS brands is one of the best things you’ll ever do. These providers are not only great at SEO, SMM, PPC, and other promotional activities, but they are also in tune with the software industry. As such, their expertise can give you a massive advantage in an otherwise competitive SaaS market.
In fact, a great marketing agency can completely turn your business around. They can generate an enormous influx of fresh leads to your site, ensuring that you have enough cash flow to further your development. They can also handle long-term PR, ensuring that your brand builds its reputation the right way.
In this article, we’ll analyze all the benefits you can get from a marketing agency for SaaS, after which we’ll go through some of the most popular services they provide.
5 Benefits of a SaaS Marketing Agency
There are lots of valid reasons to hire an external company instead of performing marketing yourself:
1. Reliable Results
SaaS marketing agencies have extensive experience and understanding of the software industry. They usually have established workflows that they use to expedite results. Whether we’re talking about search engine optimization, paid ads, or some other activity, they have a plan of attack, which they implement for all their clients.
As they already worked with so many brands, they know what works and what doesn’t in this industry. Most SaaS marketing firms have dozens of IT contacts, which is vital when building links and helping social posts go viral. Software companies that would like to do things in-house would need months and even years to create a similar network.
2. Strategic Approach
Even though software companies understand their industry and competitors, they don’t know how to create effective marketing strategies. For example, they might implement a specific tactic or activity and switch to another one as soon as they encounter the first bump in the road. The vicious, repetitive cycle of trials and errors will destroy any minor progress they’ve made over time.
SaaS marketing agencies know what they need to do and how to get there. They create comprehensive strategies tailor-made for a specific client, ensuring optimal results in minimal time. Even if something goes awry, they don’t change tactics on the fly, and, in the worst-case scenario, they might implement minor tweaks to correct the course.
3. Fast Progress
Because of all of this, marketing agencies can deliver results in a fraction of the time that you would otherwise need. Besides having efficient workflows, they also have a veteran team that has been together for several years. Everyone on the staff fulfills a specific role and knows what’s expected from them.
On the flip side, if you were to create an in-house team, you’d need to go through arduous recruitment and training process. Even when you find the right people for the job, they will need to work together for a while to get acclimated. During that time, you’ll have to be satisfied with suboptimal performance.
4. Multichannel Marketing
Another great thing about specialized external providers is that they can implement several tactics simultaneously. These agencies are used to combining optimization, social media, email marketing, referral marketing, and other processes for optimal results. Furthermore, they have experts for each tactic.
In this day and age, multichannel marketing is the only way to promote a business. Companies that would like to replicate this method would have to create teams for all these tactics and then teach them how to work together. This usually leads to employees bumping heads along the way and losing time on unnecessary conflict.
5. Cheap Promotion
On the surface, hiring an external provider is much more expensive than having an in-house team. These agencies usually consider their own marketing expenses when forcing prices, which is why it’s generally cheaper to have an internal team.
Still, the lack of efficiency can easily offset these expenses. It will take you several years to create an effective workflow and for employees to get accustomed to each other. By that time, you’re missing out on a major opportunity to dominate the SaaS market; something that an external provider can help you with.
Most Common SaaS Marketing Tactics
If you’re looking to promote a software business, you can rely on the same marketing tactics all other companies are using. That being said, here is the list of tactics SaaS agencies use to promote clients’ brands.
Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization, more commonly referred to as SEO, is a process of improving your website, its content, and links so you can reach higher spots in Google. Optimization is generally considered the best marketing tactic for conversions, providing a constant influx of highly qualified leads.
Unlike some other marketing tactics, SEO isn’t seen as intrusive. Users bump into your website as they’re looking to solve their issues, making them feel as if they weren’t pitched. This has such a positive impact on their attitude toward your company, often leading to faster decision-making and higher conversions.
Search Engine Marketing
In a way, paid ads are a variation of search engine optimization. People use them to promote software in Google and other search engines, effectively ranking above organic SEO results. Your brand pays each time a person clicks on an ad, which is why this tactic is also called PPC or pay-per-click.
The great thing about search engine marketing is that it’s much more straightforward. Unlike SEO, which needs a lot of time to yield results, paid ads can generate leads overnight. Then again, it’s worth mentioning that not every person who clicks on the ad will be a qualified lead; you’ll also have to pay for a bunch of random visitors.
Social Media Marketing
SMM, or social media marketing, isn’t the best vehicle for promoting a software business. The biggest issue with this tactic is that people rarely use Meta, X, and Instagram to look for SaaS solutions. Then again, some brands manage to use this channel effectively by creating enticing content that gets shared among unsuspecting prospects.
Perhaps the best thing about SMM is that it gives you another outlet for communicating with users. Unlike emails and your website, people can easily strike up a conversation on these platforms and inquire about product features, pricing, and other aspects of your software. You can also use SMM, in conjunction with other tactics, to gain some extra brand exposure.
Email Marketing
Many agencies perceive email marketing as a primary sales tool. Companies use these messages to pitch prospects directly and introduce them to their offer. Then again, you can also use emails to achieve some other goals, for example, to build links during organic SEO outreach.
Most software brands use emails as a vehicle for their newsletters. You can use them to communicate with your fans and let them know about the latest products and product updates. Emails are also fantastic for inviting users to listen to your podcasts, watch videos, attend conferences, and engage in other brand-related events.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a great option for SaaS companies. The marketing approach allows you to utilize other websites and social media accounts to sell your software while providing a fee as compensation. By creating a large network of partners, you can quickly spread your message around and supercharge your sales.
The best thing about affiliate marketing is that it’s so cheap. Aside from creating proprietary software to track sales and paying an outreach team, you don’t have high expenses. You pay per unit sold, which means that you’ll only incur expenses after selling, not before.
How to Approach Your SaaS Marketing?
Besides finding the right SaaS agency to help you out, you also need to formulate your goals. Not understanding your market and target audience can harm you in the long run, making you spend a bunch of money on nothing. The good news is that a marketing agency for SaaS brands can help you create a winning strategy you can be proud of.
Most importantly, you need to decide which tactics to use. SEO and PPC are generally the most reliable methods for promoting software, as well as other digital brands. Other tactics can be used as ancillary support for propelling your main strategy.
Budgeting is another major ticket. As people like to say, you can never spend enough on marketing. So, before you start contacting agencies, we suggest you determine how much money you can spend on this activity. Like with everything else, you should expect some extra costs out of the blue.
By implementing tricks in this guide, not only will you find a great marketing provider, but you can also formulate an effective strategy for your brand.
