A marketing strategy focused on getting your SaaS product in front of the right audiences can be the spark that ignites market-driven growth. But first, your marketing strategy requires an understanding of where your main revenue streams are coming from. A blog posted by SaaStr in August revealed that 53% of growth companies revenue came from outbound sales. In today’s uncertain economic climate, it’s easy to play marketing safe when budgets are lean. But often, being safe leads to falling short of your goals. How can companies continue to use outbound sales while achieving durable growth? In this blog, we’ll share two marketing areas that are critical to prioritize, even in the toughest market conditions.
Building Brand Recognition
In an uncertain market, buyers’ psychology and habits change quickly. Marketers are tasked with adjusting their strategies so they can survive the current downturn and prosper afterward.
But one area of marketing that is often overlooked during a downturn is the need to continue investing in building a brand people can recognize and trust, which requires both visibility and accessibility. This can be achieved in different ways and at a relatively low-cost. For example, increasing awareness of your brand by submitting to speak at industry events (which sometimes can be free) and writing blogs is a low cost and effective way. According to the latest ROI Genome Intelligence study, brands that increased their media investment during a recession saw ROI improvements.
Creating content is a low cost effort. But how can you create valuable content and have it seen by the right people? By understanding your market and the publications that cover it you can find opportunities to contribute articles to pitch to those publications. Having these publications pick up your stories not only gives your work increased credibility, but also increases the likelihood it gets seen by the right buyers and influencers. These articles should be written by an expert with extensive knowledge on the product, industry, and customers. Avoid creating buzzword-heavy blogs targeting SEO that provide no value and will have no lasting impact.
Once you have a good volume of content, increase your brand exposure even further by including blogs and related articles in your email newsletters.
Prioritize your customer relationships
In any economy, protecting consistent revenues is a must. In challenging economic times where budgets for travel and events may have decreased, companies have to be even more selective on who to allocate the most resources to. This means prioritizing your largest customers. Whether meeting on Zoom or flying out for in-person meetings if your budget allows, your relationships with these larger customers should always come first. Listen to feedback and implement their ideas so they feel heard and that their input is valued. Maintaining relationships at early growth stages becomes more difficult as the company grows, so it’s best to develop strong relationships early on in the growth stages. The way to get through challenging economic times and prosper on the other side is to think long term and invest in your brand and relationships with your customers.
SaaStr 2022
Want to learn more about how to create a marketing strategy for your growth company? Expert Marketing Advisors (EMA) Founder, Courtney Kehl and Head of Business Development, Vincent Sanchez will be in attendance at SaaStr 2022 on September 13-15 and would be happy to meet with you and discuss how EMA can help scale your company. Book an appointment with them here.
