B2B SaaS Marketing in 2024: A Founder’s Humble Guide

As a founder navigating the ever-evolving landscape of B2B SaaS marketing, you’re constantly bombarded with advice and trends. But what truly sticks when you’re bootstrapping, hustling, and dreaming of unicorn status? I always wished I had someone to tell me what to do for quick results. Fear not, fellow entrepreneur, for this guide cuts through the noise and delivers actionable insights for mastering B2B SaaS marketing in 2024:

The Google April 2023 reviews update: From Feast to Famine

Remember the good old days when a few well-placed keywords could catapult you to the top of search results? Those days are gone for SaaS marketing, my friend. In August 2022 and again in April 2023, Google unleashed a wave of SERP feature updates, showing fancy “Knowledge Panels” and “Featured Snippets” front and center, pushing our organic traffic further down the rabbit hole. Gone were the days of relying solely on a handful of blog posts. We now need an SEO strategy worthy of a black belt, and fast.

Don’t Sleep on Reviews: Why Capterra & G2 Matter

Forget the old days of trusting just a friend’s recommendation. Today, B2B buyers rely on independent online reviews from platforms like Capterra and G2. Here’s why they matter for SaaS Marketing:

• Credibility Boost: Positive reviews build trust and showcase your product’s value. They’re like testimonials on steroids.
• Search Superpower: Reviews with relevant keywords improve your search ranking, making your solution easier to find.
• Stand Out from the Crowd: Positive reviews highlighting your strengths help you win against competitors.
• Feedback Loop: Reviews offer valuable insights to improve your product and address customer concerns.
• Advocate Factory: Turning happy customers into reviewers creates brand advocates who sing your praises online.

Pro Tip: Be proactive! Encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews and respond to all feedback, building trust and transparency.

How did we get reviews?

We did this using a survey to ask the right questions to calculate a user’s Net Promotor Score (NPS), an important metric in measuring user satisfaction levels. If users gave us a positive NPS then we asked wat they liked about the software and asked them to leave us an honest review. We obviously did not ask this of the haters.

The results of the survey were very interesting. People either absolutely loved our product, or hated it with a passion. We did additional research and realised that:

• The haters were users who were forced to use our software by their superiors and there were additional politics at play within the company itself. They didn’t have a problem with our software being bad, it was simply that they were using it reluctantly because they were told to. Most people hate change!
• The lovers of our software were the vast majority, especially those who were instrumental in buying it. Anyone who used the software on a daily basis generally loved it.
• The improvers were mostly positive but were good at suggesting workflow and process improvements which we promptly fixed. These people tended to have a background in UX design and were instrumental in helping us improve.

If users gave us a positive NPS then we asked wat they liked about the software and asked them to leave us an honest review.

Remember, online reviews are your digital word-of-mouth. Make them count!

The Fickle Nature of the Passing Trade: Why Website Visitors Can Be a Double-Edged Sword for SaaS Marketing

So, I switched gears from direct sales and adverts for SaaS marketing and embraced the world of “passing trade,” focusing on website visitors. But let me tell you, these folks are a mixed bag. Sure, they might be drawn in by an informative blog post or a relevant headline, but converting them into loyal customers? That’s a whole different story. They’re impulsive, price-sensitive, and have shorter attention spans because they’re simultaneously checking out your competitors. It takes high-quality content, laser-targeted messaging, and a sprinkle of SEO magic to turn these browsers into buyers.

Content is King (but SEO is his Advisor):

Our competitors have marketing departments churning out 10 blog posts a day! We can’t compete with that but can create 10 exceptional posts a month.

• Stop the fluff, start the strategy: Research keywords, understand user intent, and create content that answers their questions and solves their problems. Think “ultimate guides,” “data-driven insights,” and “actionable tips.”
• Befriend Google: Optimize your content for relevant keywords, but don’t forget readability and user experience. Think like a human, write for humans, but sprinkle in some SEO magic.
• Quality over quantity: Focus on in-depth, valuable content that establishes us as thought leaders.
• Utilize AI: AI such as Chat GPT and Google Bard (or latest offering Gemini) are fantastic at helping you plan blog posts, get a structure and start writing but always always put your living, breathing spin on everything you do. AI is not a human and humans still don’t warm it. It’s up to you to add warmth and that genuine edge to your content.

Backlinks: Building Trust and Authority:

• Guest posting: Become a regular on relevant industry blogs and websites. Offer your expertise, showcase your knowledge, and earn a valuable backlink in return.
• Community engagement: Don’t just lurk, participate! Answer questions, offer insights, and build relationships on forums, social media groups, and online communities. Get noticed, earn mentions, and attract backlinks naturally.
• Partner up: Collaborate with complementary businesses for guest posts, joint webinars, or co-created content. Share each other’s audiences and build backlinks together.
• Toxic links: Don’t forget that toxic backlists are incredibly harmful to your backlink strategy. Use a tool like SEMRush to find toxic back links and upload them to Googles disavow tool so Google doesn’t count them against your domain score check out the disavow tool below.https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/2648487?hl=en

Embrace the Power of YouTube in SaaS Marketing:

• How-to videos: Showcase your product in action or help with videos dedicated to answering the questions your target audience searches for! Create engaging, informative videos demonstrating how to use your product’s key features and solve common pain points.
• Explainer videos: Simplify complex concepts and product functionalities through visually appealing explainer videos. Keep them concise and engaging, ideal for short attention spans.
• Case studies: Bring your training success stories to life with video testimonials from satisfied customers. Let them share their experiences and the positive impact your product has had on their organization.
• Embed strategically: Don’t just create videos, integrate them seamlessly into your blog posts. Embed them at relevant points to enhance understanding, boost engagement, and improve dwell time.

Remember, SaaS Marketing is a Marathon, Not a Sprint:

• Track, analyze, adapt: Don’t expect overnight success. Monitor your website traffic, engagement, and backlinks. See what’s working, what’s not, and adjust your strategy accordingly. We use SEMRush to keep an eye on traffic, keywords, backlinks etc. Use tools such as hotjar.com to monitor user experience and remove friction from their sign up journey.
• Learn from the competition: Analyze their content, backlinks, and marketing tactics. Find their weaknesses and exploit them with your strengths. Remember, even Goliath had an Achilles heel.

This is our B2B SaaS marketing reality check, and it’s a doozy. It’s easy to be distracted with making your product great but without users, you won’t survive. But with the right content strategy, some SEO savvy, a healthy dose of backlink hustle, and the power of engaging video content, we can turn this passing trade into a loyal following. Let’s not just compete, let’s dominate the organic lane. After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it sure wasn’t built with paid ads alone. Time to get our content muscles pumping and hit record on that camera!