Content marketing is a force to be reckoned with in the SaaS industry. Don’t believe us? A study by Profit Well found that SaaS brands that implemented content marketing generated over 65% more leads, saw a 10% reduction in churn, and experienced 30% more growth.
The power of content marketing is straightforward. Its efficacy comes from how it establishes authority and bolsters brand awareness while providing value to readers, but succeeding is tough. Just like any craftsman, a marketer has to understand what tools to use for which occasion to best meet the needs of users. You wouldn’t use a hammer when dealing with glass, right?
Good B2B SaaS content starts with understanding your user. To get started in the right direction, read on to learn more about how you can better understand your users and provide them with the appropriate content.
How To Understand Your Users’ Needs
Crafting a well-researched content strategy filled with a range of different types of content should be the first step on any SaaS marketer’s journey, but it all starts with understanding users’ pain points, needs, and wishes.
Here’s how you can better understand your customer base:
Listen to Them
In such a technical niche as B2B SaaS, marketers tend to fall into the trap that they, as experts, know what’s best for their users. Don’t fall victim to this bias tendency. Actively and empathetically listen to your customers through calls, interviews, case studies, and surveys, and ask good questions to gather suggestions on how to improve and understand their pain points.
Create a Buyer’s Persona
Based on the information gathered through listening to your users, utilize what you know to forge a buyer’s persona to capture your ideal customer. This generalization of your audience may seem simplistic, but it goes a long way in helping narrow your marketing efforts to focus on a specific target. Such a focused approach also helps keep things cost-effective and makes your customers feel heard via more personalized materials.
Educate
On top of conversing with users, it helps to give something in return to create a more amicable environment which will lead to more candid and raw insights. This doesn’t have to be monetary. Even sharing an inside tip will suffice. For instance, if you’re conducting a case study, you could offer a personalized consultation session where experts from your company provide tailored advice in exchange for your customer’s time.
Channels to Connect with Users
Having understood what your users want more of, the next hill to climb is knowing how exactly to convey your content so that it reaches the relevant audience. Some of the most common and effective channels include:
Social Media
Social media to the SaaS marketer is such a universally beloved tool that close to 95% of marketers frequently use it for their efforts thanks to its ability to reach large audiences. You can use it in a variety of ways from simply establishing an online presence to actively using it to promote your recently curated content. However, don’t forget to invite readers to contact you through the platform or email.
Third-party Review Sites
Reviews are a great way to demonstrate to prospects that your SaaS solution works and is trusted by actual users (i.e. social proof). That said, reviews aren’t always the easiest to find in the B2B space in comparison to B2C in terms of volume. This is where third-party review sites like Capterra and Product Hunt step in. They serve as intermediaries, allowing reviews of your products to reach a wider audience. If leveraged correctly, they will also provide an opportunity to showcase your solution to more readers and allow you to engage with reviewers seamlessly.
Email marketing is a fantastic way to actively engage with existing users and potential leads to keep your SaaS brand in their minds. You could use emails to promote a case study or e-book that you’ve recently written, keep subscribers in the loop on any relevant SaaS industry update, or even share random yet useful advice. That said, to ensure readers stay subscribed, consider offering an incentive and be sure not to send too many emails!
Types of Content by Use
Last but not least, SaaS marketers must also understand that each form of content serves a different purpose. Here’s a breakdown of the most widely used:
Blog Posts
Often forming the bread and butter of most content marketing efforts, blog posts serve two purposes. First, they are used to provide valuable information (e.g., resolving issues) and insights to readers to establish authority and presence. And second, they’re a fantastic benefit to a website’s search engine rankings if you include the right targeted keywords.
Case Studies
Case studies are powerful tools used to investigate how a solution benefited a particular customer in detail from implementation to result. They convey to potential leads that your SaaS solution actually works by telling a captivating “story” that allows readers to put themselves in the shoes of a real customer.
White papers
White papers are time and resource-intensive pieces of content that establish credibility, expertise, and authority. They require detailed research combined with industry know-how that aims to condense complex topics into digestible insights. That said, they’re also incredibly cost-effective as the data you gather will usually be able to be repurposed into other types of content like blog posts and infographics.
Live Events
Live events such as webinars and conference presentations provide a unique opportunity to showcase your expertise in a real-time setting. But the real value of this type of content comes after the show. Through networking, casual conversations, and Q&A sessions, you’ll be able to interact with your audience on a more personal level and if done right, forge deeper lasting relationships.
Connect with Users Today
With knowledge in hand on how to create B2B content to click with your users, crafting a strategy is the next step. However, it’s important to realize that above all else, experience plays a key role. A loaded gun doesn’t make you a trained hunter after all.
At Brighttail, we provide expertly researched content solutions for B2B SaaS brands across the world. Get in touch with us today to find out how we can take your company to the next level.