If you’re thinking, “last year was great, but I want to supercharge the coming one,” then we’re thinking along the same lines. I’ve spent more years than I can count consulting some of Denmark’s and the UK’s top SaaS B2B startups on their digital marketing and collected the key strategies for success you need to start thinking about, if you want to take your growth to double or triple-digit numbers (let’s think big here, okay?).
Let’s dive right into it – here’s what you need to consider when you’re solidifying your new year’s plans:
1) Find the right platforms FOR YOU
It’s no secret that what works for our friends in B2C seldom is the blueprint for success in B2B, especially when it comes to SaaS, where companies often provide highly specialised services targeted at a very specific user group. With Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Bing, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat, Tik Tok and all of the other platforms to choose from, it can feel a bit overwhelming when it comes to the wealth of possibilities to nail.
The best way to find what works for you is to think about your target users, their daily habits and what pain points they’re trying to solve. Are they googling the best way to organize a shift schedule? Are they browsing LinkedIn during their lunch breaks looking for inspiration for managing their customer success teams better? Or what else is it that is keeping them awake at night? Ask them if in doubt!
2) Think beyond the CPA
Find the platforms that get you 1) the highest amount of leads, 2) best quality leads and 3) have a CPA in line with your customer acquisition KPIs. Keep in mind, however, that getting leads in at your ideal CPA is half the battle. You also need to make sure to identify which channels perform best when it comes to booking meetings (or getting SALs – Sales Accepted Leads, as it’s most commonly referred to). To go even deeper, qualify the leads based on those meetings with the level of potential revenue they might end up bring in (these are called Sales Qualified Leads, or SQLs.)
Finally, keep an eye on which ones actually end up becoming your customers and focus on the channel that they came through, because that way you’ll be certain that the channel in question isn’t only providing you leads at a good CPA, you’ll also know that they are high-quality leads worth spending your time on.
3) Use channels innovatively
Brand awareness building is fantastic and a great thing to do, but the reality of the matter is that often in startups and scaleups there is a huge amount of scrutiny when it comes to costs per lead and putting the last cent towards those lead generation goals. That means that brand awareness and the upper funnel can get overlooked.
Have you considered that you can use the same platform in different ways with different messaging at varying stages of the funnel? With the right copy and message, you can easily get those Google Ads search ads to focus on the discovery and browsing stage. As long as your next new customer finds you, it doesn’t matter that they didn’t do so in the customer journey(s) you had planned and envisioned.
4) Get the pricing right
Now, you’ve lead your prospective customer down the funnel, they’re on your website ready to submit that lead gen form and they’re thinking “I can’t believe I’ve not found this earlier and what’s better – it’s surprisingly cheap.” Some of the most important work you should be focusing on this year is making sure that the price is right.
Whatever model you use – subscription, one-time fee or licenses per user, make sure that your pricing reflects what you need to be making to meet the bottom line, but also everything else. Make sure to consider what else there is on the market and what your USP is in terms of competitiveness across the board, not just when it comes to price. It doesn’t always pay to be the cheapest, when for example, you provide higher levels of support that the customer will happily pay for.
5) Get your whole team onboard
Whatever your title, it’s your role to make sure that once your plan is in place, it is communicated properly, because there is no such thing as overcommunication when it comes to leadership. Whether you are working together with a single intern or you have a huge roster of people in different roles, it doesn’t matter – everyone needs to understand the WHY of your digital marketing strategy and know the numbers/KPIs/OKR’s inside out.
Explain what role each platform plays in your strategy, how you’re getting your inbound and outbound to work seamlessly, what your funnel looks like and make sure that the whole team is fully behind it. What good is getting amazing paid Facebook ads out there, when your Facebook page is a mess and hasn’t been updated for a month? Everyone needs to be on the same page, otherwise even the best strategy will result in nothing.
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