Strategic Content Marketing:
The Most Important Piece of
the SaaS Sales Puzzle

Poppy Malise
January 4, 2022

We’re not typically the kind of  SaaS SEO agency that likes to put people in boxes but…well who are we kidding? Identifying neatly defined high value target audiences is kind of our thing.

That being said, if you’re reading this article, you likely fall into one of three categories:

  1. You work for a SaaS (Software as a Service) company and are trying to achieve quicker and greater sales.
  2. You’re in SaaS content marketing and are trying to figure out what Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has to do with you.
  3. You’re just a person who loves to read content marketing articles and this one ranked so high on your Google search you couldn’t help but click out of curiosity.

If you fall into one of the first two groups, you’ve come to the right place (if you’re in the third group you may just pick up a trick or two that you can apply in your own industry!).

Creating the right content and marketing it to your highest value target audiences is essential for a healthy SaaS sales cycle, but it’s no easy task. At our SEO strategy agency, we handcraft beautiful brand content that’s supercharged with a powerful SaaS SEO strategy to win you better customers, shorten your sales cycles and lower customer acquisition costs.

When it comes to optimizing your sales funnel, Saas companies have an added layer of work to turn curious visitors into loyal customers: publishing informative, valuable brand content that makes readers love you, trust your service and want to buy.

That’s where we come in!

Welcome to LIVID, we’re a creative SaaS SEO agency producing engaging optimized content backed by powerful strategy that drives your site to the top of Google so you can meet your customers right where they are searching.

TL;DR

Did you already hit your screen time limit for the day? Are you just not a big reader? We get it. Fortunately for you, we’ve compiled a list of “need-to-knows.”

  • Creating focused, informative content is essential for marketing your SaaS, increasing traffic and driving sales.
  • Marketing this creative content effectively with a smart SaaS SEO strategy is the difference between a hidden website and a thriving business brand.
  • Developing a smart SaaS SEO strategy is an ever-evolving, long-term commitment, but our team of expert consultants here at LIVID can help.

If you’d like to cut straight to the chase, you can book an introductory call with us.

Let’s connect.

What Is SaaS Content Marketing and Why Does It Matter?

Saas content marketing

In the world’s history of commerce, SaaS is pretty brand spanking new. While this means your company is on the cutting edge of subscription-based software services, it also means you have a lot of work to do to drive sales.

The SaaS content marketing strategy is different from that of every other industry. To succeed, you need to understand these key differences:

  • Unlike companies selling traditional products, you have the added task of explaining what your product is and why they need it. This is where SaaS inbound marketing comes into play by using content to explain the function and benefits of your services.
  • In addition to publishing great content, you need to make sure the right audience sees it. Using SEO effectively to target high value audiences who are already searching for your services is the best path to success.
  • While your team may be experts on all things SaaS, your customers are probably curious at best. This means every piece of content plays an essential role in educating prospective customers to nurture and shorten your SaaS sales cycle.
  • Reviews are always important, but when it comes to SaaS, consumers especially need to see satisfied reviews from your other customers to fully convince them to take the final step.
  • When it comes to the sales funnel, SaaS companies typically see a more personal, long-term cycle with high acquisition costs compared to other products. Addressing customer interests, questions and risks on each funnel with a smart content marketing strategy will drive better conversion rates throughout the funnel.

All that is to say, SaaS content marketing powered with effective SEO strategy matters. Not only is it your main means of educating customers, but it’s also the best path for streamlining your overall automated sales funnel for maximum conversion.

When customers clearly understand your offering and you over-deliver value in assisting them in understanding and addressing the challenges they’re facing, your SaaS marketing funnel becomes increasingly optimized and can make the difference between visitors briefly stopping by before moving on to your competitors and winning a loyal customer for life.

The Importance of SEO for Your SaaS Sales Cycle

Saas content marketing

Picture this. You just created the best recipe in the world for vegan brownies. We’re talking ooey-gooey-in-the-middle, firm-around-the-edges, no-fail brownies. These have the potential to get you recognized by top bakeries and set you apart as the vegan brownie expert.

You write it down, you publish it and you wait. But… no one ever sees it.

That’s because, no matter how perfect, informative or delectable your content may be, it’s rendered, for all intents and purposes, invisible without proper SEO.

This recipe isn’t the only thing hidden deep in the pages of Google searches. Many SaaS companies focus solely on their content without considering their broader strategy, how to optimize the content to be found in Google and their overall SaaS marketing funnel. With countless other competing SaaS content pages, your site will get pushed deeper into the depths of Google unless you change its course.

That’s where SEO comes in. Our proven SaaS SEO strategy has the power to bring your website higher in the rankings and generate more clicks, traffic, engagement and sales.

But it doesn’t end there.

SaaS companies who utilize strong SEO practices also improve user experience (UX), making it more likely that existing customers will renew, upgrade and share the software with others.

“My Web Developer Has My SaaS SEO Strategy Covered.” - You (Probably)

Saas content marketing

One of the biggest misconceptions when it comes to SEO is that the team building a website knows how to get your site found in Google. Sure, your web designer and developer may know how to make a beautiful site and code it to perfection, but are you sure they know how to make it discoverable?

When web designers or developers say they’re proficient in SEO, they usually mean they can build a fast, technically sound website with great UX and install a few SEO plugins. That’s a good start… but it’s not even close to enough to actually compete for high-value customer searches that you should be ranking for.

SEO is an ongoing process involving developing deep relevance through consistent content publication and building your site with fast code and strong UX is just the baseline foundation.

When Google ranks a website, it’s evaluating more elements than you may realize and is not just limited to backlinks and strong technicals. The algorithm considers the terms you mention in the content, how long people stay on your site, if they click through to other pages, if they hit back and try another search, how long your content is, how many other related pieces of content you have on your site, your CTR from the search results and a number of other factors directly related to your content.

All of this content optimization work isn’t part of the package deal you receive when you build a new website, it takes time, commitment and expertise to drive high engagement rates and develop a truly valuable resource that communicates to Google that you have the most valuable website and piece of content on the web for a given topic.

That’s how a SaaS SEO agency like us can make the difference between a flourishing, discoverable website and an overpriced, invisible digital brochure.

How Do I Build a Better SaaS Sales Process?

Saas content marketing
Get ready for more quality traffic, increased sales and customer retention. Below we break down the step-by-step process for developing an effective SEO content strategy to lower your acquisition costs and shorten your sales cycle process.

Step 1: Deconstruct Your SaaS Brand

The first step in creating an effective SaaS inbound marketing strategy is breaking down your brand into its simplest parts and identifying problems that only your software can address.

Branding isn’t just about getting your target market to select you over the competition, it’s about convincing prospects you’re the best provider for meeting their specific needs. And then living up to that claim. Sure, there may be similar software out there, but compared to the targeted solutions your company offers that clearly address their most pressing pain points, there’s no competition.

How do you prove this? A strategic SaaS digital marketing plan.

Once you deconstruct your brand to its simplest parts, such as niche target audience, key business objectives, mission, vision, unique selling points and brand personality, voice and tone, you can construct a strategy using these key points as a guide to craft content for each segment of your SaaS marketing funnel.

Getting back to the vegan brownie analogy, this is similar to listing out ingredients and cooking instructions so your audience knows exactly what to expect to get the result they’re looking for.

Providing clear ingredients and instructions aren’t just important before they make their commitment to bake (contact you/start a free trial), but they are critical for establishing the necessary confidence to execute the process (buy or upgrade your software) and end up with delicious brownies (solutions that work as expected).

Are you still with us?

The content your business publishes is your biggest brand asset and that’s why, when you partner with our creative SaaS SEO agency, deconstructing and understanding your brand is the first step we take to craft a powerful content marketing strategy.

Step 2: Dissecting Target Market Psychology

As we mentioned before, we’re pretty into target audience research. Understanding consumer behavior is the key to reaching, engaging with and converting high-value audiences into customers.

A great content marketing strategy takes into consideration your target customer behavior and psychology to speak to them on their level directly through your brand messaging. Not only does this attract a high converting audience, it is also relevant and engaging for your existing customers as well.

Another perk of deeply knowing your audience? You’ll use your money more effectively.

Rather than wasting marketing dollars creating content for people who may or may not be interested in your software, dissecting your target market psychology ensures your message reaches the right people and addresses the core motivating factors at each step of your SaaS sales process and their buyer’s journey.

Step 3: Analyze Your Customers’ Pain Points

In addition to learning about your customers’ behavior and psychology, it’s important to also pin down the specific pain points they are facing. This usually means helping them achieve a desired goal or helping them save time and money or often both.

Your SaaS is the solution to these core problems and your brand must speak to these points that are most relevant to their needs. .

Understanding and directly addressing these pain points in your SaaS sales process shows potential customers you understand their needs and have created the best solution for them, which gives them the confidence to buy.

Step 4: Research SEO Keywords

Saas content marketing

Keyword research is one of the most powerful tenets of SEO SaaS content marketing strategy because it gives you insight into what your ideal customers are searching for.

Knowing how many people are searching for your services and what they are searching for is powerful data.

Planning your content based on the keywords and intentions allows you to optimize your content to address your customers’ specific concerns more precisely and to target your highest-value audiences who are most likely to convert.

Not only does enterprise SaaS SEO make your website easier to find, but it also ensures those visiting find what they’re looking for and successfully enter your SaaS sales funnel.

Your SaaS inbound marketing strategy should account for both long and short-term conversion goals. Long-term SEO strategy involves building relevance for your most competitive keywords with higher search volume that can eventually drive a high volume of leads. Short-term strategy involves capitalizing on “low-hanging fruit” search terms with lower search volume to give you quick wins and drive more immediate visitors and sales.

We’ve compiled a separate detailed piece to help you better understand why your SaaS SEO strategy is critical for driving strong organic growth.

By researching keywords and constructing a broader strategy to build focused keyword groups into your landing pages and content marketing, you can maximize your Google ranking potential and achieve your sales goals with less money, effort and time.

Step 5: Learn More About Your Customer Market Segments

There are many angles from which your customers may be searching for a service like yours. It’s critical that your content strategy be able to build relevance within each of these core customer segments.

Instead of acting like a generalist and serving a wide audience, narrowing in on your well-defined market segments will give you a leg up on your competition and position you to convert at higher rates and win better customers.

Dare we go back to our vegan brownie analogy? If you try to market your recipe to brownie lovers, it’s more likely to get lost in the shuffle. But if you take that same revolutionary recipe and market it to vegans who are specifically seeking the best vegan brownies, your relevance and value will immediately rise.

The same holds for SaaS offerings in a narrow market. But how do you find your ideal market segments?

Hiring a talented strategy agency like LIVID is a great place to start! We thoroughly research your market to understand all the angles your customers are searching from to best position your website to rank high for each market segment.

Behind every targeted piece of brand content our saas marketing agency crafts, there is a powerful underlying strategy that is constantly working in your favor to maximize the impact of each article.

This ensures your SaaS business stands out to your customers with high value, engaging content and to Google with strong relevance that delivers just what searchers are looking for.

Step 6: Craft Creative Content for Each Level of Your SaaS Sales Funnel

Saas content marketing

While organic marketing channels like SEO and creative content may be one of our favorite parts of marketing, it’s often ignored by SaaS companies due to its longer-term ROI while developing your positioning.

This is a short-sighted mistake because customers aren’t only leaning even harder on content to educate themselves, but they’re demanding and expecting richer content experiences including 67% of customers who said they rely on content to make a purchase decision.

SaaS content marketing backed with a powerful SEO strategy is all about creating and distributing consistent brand content experiences. This not only attracts prospective customers, but it lowers customer acquisition costs, shortens sales cycle process and increases customer retention.

This content, if written correctly, will show your readers what your product is, how it works and why they need it all while providing the solution and answers they are seeking.

By building content around your customers’ search goals, you not only position yourself as an industry leader but you subtly pre-sell them on choosing your service over competitors without it sounding like a sales pitch.

Step 7: Distribute Your Content to the Masses

Without a smart SaaS content distribution plan, even the most clever marketing techniques fail to yield results. 

The same thought and strategy put into creating your content should be used when distributing it. That means considering what you’ve written, who will read it and where you’ll position your content for maximum viewership and engagement.

Google is hands-down the most popular place for people looking for solutions. Just think about how often you leverage this search functionality in your own life.

Work with an enterprise SaaS SEO agency like us to develop and execute a content distribution strategy that gets your brand in front of customers right where they are searching.

Step 8: Optimize for Conversions

Saas content marketing

You’ve done your research, you’ve created content and you’ve built up traffic, now it’s time to drive sales.

Without a high-converting website or product, you can drive all the right people to your site and still not see the growth you were hoping for. Many SaaS companies will mistakenly assume they don’t have enough website visitors when in reality they actually have a conversion problem.

For SaaS companies, conversion is typically measured as the percentage of your audience who trials your software and also the percentage that then converts into a paying customer.

But you can’t assume free trials will always lead to a conversion. To keep people engaged from start to sale in your SaaS sales process, you need to educate consumers every step of the way with engaging content that makes your solution irresistible.

No matter where your website visitors begin their customer journey, consistently publishing engaging content will always be a powerful factor for driving software trial conversions and sales.

Step 9: Monitor Your SaaS Inbound Marketing Results

By following these steps or having an experienced SaaS content marketing agency like LIVID consistently publish powerful brand content for you, you’re going to be driving increasingly better inbound marketing results.

Now you must track your progress and monitor the monthly results of your SEO and content marketing efforts. Our benchmark for success in demonstrating results is generating positive ROI within 12 months completely covering the cost of our service.

That means you can achieve lasting results that pay dividends for years to come without the burden of long-term costs.

Monitoring your progress is essential to understand which content needs improvement or better distribution, or in the case of your sales funnel, where more content is needed to achieve a more efficient sales cycle.

By using tools such as Google Search Console and Google Analytics, you can identify the best opportunities to improve your efforts and adapt your effort for maximum impact.

The Smarter Way to Drive Sales

Developing the perfect SEO and content marketing strategies for your SaaS company from scratch can waste time and countless resources and wind up not even ever getting you to the first page for critical customer search terms.

Instead, you can jump-start your results by tapping into our decade of expertise developing engaging brand content that ranks our clients on Google’s first page and drives high-value leads.

Partner with our enterprise SaaS SEO agency and gain access to a dedicated team of SEO and content marketing strategists, researchers, creative copywriters, copy editors and professional marketing assistants who have already succeeded in doing exactly what you’re trying to achieve for businesses just like yours.

Taking your SaaS digital marketing to the next level with our powerful service will shorten sales cycles, decrease acquisition cost and increase customer retention ultimately driving more profits.

We have successfully guided dozens of Google inbound lead generation campaigns to sustained profitability within a year and are excited to do the same for you.

Skip the trial and error and get your SaaS content strategy on point today.

Let’s connect.

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