6 Effective Lead Generation Strategies for SAAS Business
Getting more leads is one of the most important aspects of marketing, yet it is also a very challenging process with how saturated the market is nowadays. Arguably, the challenge is even clearer in the SaaS industry, since the market is relatively niche with a relatively small size. So, how effective your lead generation can make or break your SaaS business.
Here, we will discuss 5 working lead generation strategies in a SaaS environment, and without further ado, let us begin with the first one.
1.Inbound Marketing (Content Marketing+SEO)
Without a doubt, inbound marketing is one of the most effective marketing tactics for SaaS businesses. According to several studies, including Google’s research together with Millward Brown Digital, most B2B purchases begin with a search for information. Meaning, if you can provide valuable, relevant content your potential buyers seek, you can grab their attention.
Inbound marketing is essentially content marketing and SEO: you put your content out there and optimize the SERP ranking so that the content can be discovered. There are a lot of SaaS companies that are successful thanks to some of SaaS marketing agencies. So, what kinds of contents should you develop? Although content marketing is a pretty broad subject on its own, here are a few areas you can focus on:
1.Your Blog
A blog is still a relevant and very powerful tool for SaaS inbound marketing. Not only it will be a designated place where your audience can consume your content, it can also act as the most important aspect of your SEO since Google can easily parse a blog.
2. Technical, In-Depth Contents
While you can include highly technical contents in your blog, you can also offer them as a download in exchange of their information (especially email address). You can use the captured data to start an email marketing campaign.
3. Video Contents
We can’t neglect the fact that most people prefer videos to reading a blog nowadays, even in a B2B environment. A video tutorial or a product demo can help not only in lead generation but also to convince conversion.
You can also share video testimonials as part of your customer advocacy marketing efforts.
2. Optimizing Your About Us Page
Your about us page is the equivalent of your digital storefront. Customers, especially B2B customers, will try to collect all the information they can get before deciding on a purchase, and so you should optimize your about us page to establish credibility.
An about us page is often the shortest and simplest part of your site, but it is also often the hardest to optimize properly. Here are some key ideas:
1.It’s Not About You, It’s About Your Customers
This might be surprising since, after all, the page is called ‘about us’. Yet, we all know how people are more interested in things concerning themselves. You can either be subtle or upfront, but you should address your audience’s needs, problems, goals, and try to answer their questions. Provide information about your existing customer base, the more they can relate, the more they will trust your business.
2. Tell An Exciting Story
Almost every aspect of our lives are centered on stories: either we are consuming other’s stories or creating ours. Tell an exciting story about how your business was formed, your mission, and (again), how you will answer your customer’s issues. Keep it interesting and not overly long.
3. Use Various Media
You can use various media from interesting images, infographics, and video to enhance the visual aspect of your about us page. This is a chance to present your brand: if you want to present yourself as a fun, working partner with your customers, show it visually. If you want to be professional and serious, also show it.
3. Live Chat and Chat Bot
In the past, a sales hotline call was the most important aspect of customer service where customers can get information and answers, while also have been one of the best lead generation methods. A live chat program is today’s equivalent, while newer, A.I.-driven chat bots add automation to the table, giving us a very powerful lead generation method.
There are two main things to consider when utilizing live chat and chatbot as a lead generation method:
- Live, real-time chat can effectively capture visitors’ information in a relatively quick manner. You can do this by asking for a name and email address (don’t ask for too many details) before the chat gets activated. Very few people resist giving their email with this method, while you can also start a relationship effectively with the chat.
- Remember that SaaS is ‘Software as a Service’, and so ‘service’ is an important aspect. A proper live chat (or chatbot) is an excellent way to demonstrate your service excellence by delivering a fast, reliable support.
4. Leveraging and Promoting Content
Above, we have addressed the importance of content marketing within the inbound marketing concept. Content is a very important aspect of SaaS business, and we should even consider our contents as important as the software product itself. Yet, developing contents is just a single step on a journey: content promotion and leverage are equally, if not more important than the content creation process itself.
Besides SEO, LinkedIn is a powerful platform to push your contents. LinkedIn is where the most of B2B prospects are, and so you can effectively build authority on the platform while generating leads.
There also many ways to leverage your contents to attract even more leads. Check out this guide by Oracle that might help you in content leveraging.
5. Encourage Clear Lead Generation Path
More often than not, many marketers fail to generate more leads simply because we don’t help our prospective leads with a clear path. There are four main aspects to consider here:
1.CTA Buttons
Seemingly obvious, but we should have clear, relevant, and targeted CTA buttons on most of your pages without being too hard-selling. Check out these examples to give you some ideas.
2. Form
A comprehensive form is very important to effectively capture your prospects’ information. The main thing to consider here is not making the form too long. Only aim to capture the most important details at first, you can always ask for more details along the way.
3. Offers
Offer something valuable along with your CTA buttons. A free-trial to your software is the most common (and effective) offer you can give in a SaaS environment. You can also offer discounts or valuable contents like white papers, research studies, etc.
4. Landing Pages
Have optimized landing pages for each product, offer, and campaign. Check out this guide by Kissmetrics on how to optimize landing pages.
