Simple engaging B2B SaaS marketing strategies beyond social media
Innovative approaches to product design, workplace culture and finding bolder, more creative ways to market themselves are hallmarks of SaaS companies. Successful CEOs and their teams know that engaging their target audiences with content is a vital part of B2B SaaS Marketing, and many are stepping up their game by leveraging their expertise and leadership styles.
In addition to maintaining active blogs, promoting and connecting across social media sites, many CEOs are going beyond, simply by reaching out and more directly engaging with their target audiences and getting fantastic results.
If you’re ready to take your B2B SaaS Marketing up a level, take a look at these simple, yet powerful ways that CEOs are stepping up their content marketing directly in their networks and communities.
1. Reach Listeners as a Featured Guest on a Podcast
Anthony Casalena, the founder of Squarespace, credits a strategy of content marketing across a diverse spectrum of channels with their success. He says, “As the years have gone by, we’ve become more and more sophisticated on how we present things and how we express ourselves in the company, and you can see that reflected in our ads. You know, we’ve got tons and tons of different channels now, anything from the Super Bowl to podcasts to Flipboard, and it works out really well for us.”
Right now, 21% of Americans listen to podcasts; that’s 57 million people and the same percentage of Americans who are active on Twitter. While many CEOs haven’t even considered the growing popularity of podcasts, Squarespace has been advertising on them, and Anthony himself went on some business-focused podcasts, like Nextmarket Insights, to increase their reach.
2. Talk Up Your Product in a Popular Place
Lifehacker is a wildly popular blog where many tech industry professionals go to learn the latest tips and insights on how to do almost everything better! It is a fantastic place to highlight what your software can do, as demonstrated by Justin Rosenstein, co-founder of Asana. In a series Lifehacker calls “This is How I Work,” Justin cleverly mixes equal parts humble personal insights, lessons learned and straightforward tips for success while mentioning how his software achieves those goals.
3. Use Your Software To Deliver Content
What better way to demonstrate the features, reach or effectiveness of your product than using it yourself in a professional and public capacity as part of your content marketing strategy. Rashmi Sinha, the founder of Slideshare, frequently used the software to share speeches and consulting. Her professional website offers her talks on social sharing, launching a startup, and design principles, all available to click through in Slideshare.
4. Grow Your Network and Your Leads in the Same Place
With more useful features than ever, LinkedIn has picked up speed as a fantastic way to build a robust network and connect with the leaders and changemakers in your industry. LinkedIn Pulse started out as a simple news aggregator but quickly added pieces from key opinion leaders.
There is a lot of buzz across LinkedIn about SaaS companies, and Rob Gonzalez, co-founder of Salsify, is ahead of the curve with an excellent post providing some real talk about how to effectively demo your SaaS product. This platform is a relatively new frontier for the SaaS community, and anyone can post to LinkedIn Pulse, so it’s exactly the right time to establish yourself as a content expert while boosting your B2B SaaS Marketing outreach within your network.
5. Harness the Power of Storytelling with a TED Talk
Tom Hulme is the founder of collaborative innovation tool iOengine. Since their SaaS is in the business of inspiring and energizing, a TED talk was an excellent choice to put a spotlight on their software in a room full of other business leaders with a short talk on “What We Can Learn From Shortcuts.” With valuable insights for the attendees of these events all over the globe, your storytelling reach also extends even further as TED talks are live streamed online, with videos searchable by topic and easily shareable across social media.
6. Find Out What Your Customers Want to Know
Rand Fishkin, CEO and co-founder of Moz, a B2B SaaS for search marketers, told the audience at #SearchLove last May that he makes a point of answering questions on Quora every week. His answers provide valuable insights into SEO while also showcasing his sense of humor and approachable nature. This is an effective way to make sure new followers are finding Rand, his content and his company every day.
You can gain valuable feedback from listening to and answering questions. Make sure your social media and other marketing efforts aren’t falling short by listening to your customer’s pain points and finding out what they want to know.
7. Share Genuine Glimpses of Your Life and Brand
StyleSeat, the leading online booking software for beauty and wellness appointments, is used by over 300,000 industry professionals across the country. Their co-founder and CEO, Melody McCloskey, shares her personal style on Instagram, constantly tagging other brands and engaging people in her vast community. Most importantly, she’s always pointing back to her SaaS platform. She embodies everything Stylesheet represents and reaches 11.5k followers while doing so.
8. Showcase Your Work in Your Local Community
Ben Chestnut, CEO of MailChimp, gave a talk at a Creative Mornings event in Atlanta. Creative Mornings is a breakfast lecture series for creative professionals across all kinds of industries. Ben’s talk about how to “encourage and facilitate” creativity is a valuable topic for SaaS leaders who are always looking for ways to inspire and innovate with their products.
9. Collaborate and Communicate Directly With Other Leaders
David Cancel of Drift and Patrick Campbell of Price Intelligently joined forces to create an eBook on “How to Be a Remarkable SaaS CEO.” They published it in three differently downloadable formats for different devices and used SlideShare to embed it directly into a piece published using Medium.
Medium is an active online publishing platform and community where some of the most innovative and creative ideas in technology, culture, and business are shared and discussed. It’s a smart place to plant and aim useful content at fellow SaaS CEOs. They also promote their ebooks throughout their networks and invite readers to find out more about what their products do.
10. Be a Conversation Starter
Tarkan Maner, CEO of Nexenta, participated in a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) Session in which commenters on the site and via other platforms like Twitter can pose questions and get answers in real time. The value of an AMA goes beyond a Q & A format and often takes on a more candid, conversational tone. Announcing and promoting an AMA Session can be a way to set expectations and bring your content marketing directly to the people you most want to reach.
These successful examples of B2B Saas marketing strategy emphasize the benefits of leading with your expertise, making yourself accessible and talking about topics that matter to your target audience. Anyone can pitch their product, but sharing strengths and expertise by establishing a dialogue with fellow business leaders is powerful content marketing that expands your reach and brings your software into the limelight.
Share your expertise and experiences with elevating your marketing strategy below in the comments.
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