While digital marketing keeps trying to reinvent itself every year, the simple truth is that there are some basic marketing principles that are not likely to change until Elon Musk’s Neuralink becomes the new normal.
What does change year after year is the attention span of our target audience, their tastes in web and app design, and the quality of their expectations? To outshine the competition, marketers in the SaaS space now need to be even savvier than they were back in 2020.
Let’s talk about the dos, don’ts, and need-to-knows that will help make your SaaS marketing strategy a success in 2022.
Do: Highlight Your USP
Most of your customers will begin their relationship with your brand with your USP. They’ll land on your website and come face-to-face with this one sentence that encapsulates what it is you are selling.
If your USP is weak, if it doesn’t focus on the benefits of your solution, and if it is written in a language your target audience doesn’t understand, chances are they will pogo stick right back to their search results page. They’ll feel like they have no choice but to keep looking for a better piece of software.
When writing your USP, make sure to go through numerous versions. Test them out over a longer period of time and tweak them according to the results.
Don’t forget about the importance of design, either. You want it to pop but not be the only thing a visitor sees on the page. Make it stand out, but without being too distracting.
Finli has done a great job in both the copywriting and the design departments. Their brand blue is vibrant enough but not too flashy, and their CTA is simple but effective. The fact that they have added an asterisk into the mix and mention the online equivalent of “open sesame” –“no credit card required” – seals the deal.
Don’t: Forget to Focus on the Customer
No matter what your digital product is and who your target audience consists of, every single lead and customer will want to feel valued and appreciated. As personalization becomes more laser-focused, customers expect to be wowed at every turn.
A major marketing mistake you can make is focusing more on your product than on the end-user. Even if highlighting the features and functionalities of your solutions seems like a good choice, it rarely is. Customers are eager to know which problem you will be solving for them. They care much less about how you will go about it.
Writing for search engines and not real people is another mistake that falls into this category. No matter how important SEO may be, never try to rank at the expense of producing content and copy that your audience will not appreciate.
Take a look at Optimal Workshop and how they put their customers first. Their USP is customer-centric and all of their pages offer a great user experience and place the customer’s needs above the brand’s agenda.
Do: Focus on Branding
Another important marketing element to focus on in 2022 is SaaS branding. Your business should be recognizable across all of the digital and offline touchpoints you offer.
There are numerous elements involved in a good branding strategy. The tiniest element of your presence matters, with some of the major factors being:
- the way you design your logo
- the fonts and colors you use
- the voice you communicate in
- the point of view you express
Use 2022 to carefully consider each of them. Run some A/B tests to determine what your target audience prefers. You may discover that they respond better to a color story you haven’t previously used or that they’re much more receptive to a copywriting tone.
A good example of a SaaS business that has aligned all of its branding ducks is Time Tackle. Their signature blue and green are recognizable and present across their website and social media channels. Likewise, their voice and key messaging match their values and product to the T.
Note: Video Marketing Will Remain on the Rise
Over 80% of marketers agree that video has helped them generate leads, increase traffic and time on page, and convert leads into paying customers.
Video also happens to be the most popular content format on the web, but this stat, although often flaunted by marketers, means very little. After all, you are not in the business of producing YouTube videos or filming viral TikToks.
The trend you should be jumping on is homepage videos. Whether it’s a how-to or a story-based video, it can significantly help you communicate your key message better. Don’t forget: you still need to write some killer homepage copy, as not everyone will want to watch the video.
Elementor has a great demo video, for example. It showcases the builder’s abilities and its interface but isn’t too distracting. It also happens to load fast, which is super important for both UX and SEO. So, don’t forget to optimize your video for both mobile and desktop before putting it live.
Don’t: Forget to Optimize for Mobile
Speaking of mobile, another major marketing mistake you can make is not optimizing your pages for mobile. You need to optimize your site for mobile and all the different screen sizes and devices.
The other version of that same mistake is merely ensuring that your mobile website version loads fast without considering what the page looks like and how someone on the go will use it.
Carefully consider button placement, font size, and element orientation. After all, your goal is not to create a page identical to your desktop but to create a page that visitors find easy to use and easy to convert from. You don’t need to keep all the text or even all the visual elements if they clutter the mobile version and make it more clunky.
Scott’s Cheap Flights, for instance, has a good mobile website. It loads fast, and the central imagery and branding are still on point, but it’s also very easy to use, and you don’t have to angle your thumb in weird ways to click on the CTA.
Do: Start Podcasting
Podcasts were all the rage a couple of years ago, but now they are no longer hailed as the next big thing in marketing. However, podcasting is still seeing a 10% year-on-year growth. A lot of people tune in to them during their commute, while working out or cleaning their homes.
The medium also enables you to widen your reach and connect with your audience in a completely new way. Podcasts are also highly marketable. Simply pushing them via the most popular platforms helps you gain followers and customers without having to lift a finger – other than record the podcast, of course.
Podcasting can also help you establish yourself as an expert and a trusted source of information. We all know that this is another important decision-making factor SaaS customers take into consideration.
Getting started in audio creation shouldn’t be too complicated considering that there are many multifunctional podcast recording platforms that you can use without breaking the bank and hiring an entire production team. Yet, if you’re wondering how to start a podcast that will actually aid your marketing efforts, it’s a good idea to research other audio marketing podcasts before planning your content.
Ad Badger has a great podcast you can both listen to and consider a good example of audio marketing. They’ve been doing an episode a week for over 150 weeks, tackling industry topics and offering some more general advertising advice that their receptive audience appreciates.
Note: Freemium Is Still a Thing
If you want to make marketing your SaaS product easier, consider making it a freemium if you haven’t already. Users love the chance to try out a solution before they commit. If they are also able to use some basic features of the product for an extended period of time, they are more likely to convert to paying, long-term customers.
Freemium products are also a great lead generation tactic and allow you to nurture your leads better. The key is in demonstrating the value of a subscription and showcasing to your free subscribers what they’ll be able to do after signing up for the paid version.
Don’t be pushy, though, as you can easily alienate leads. Those who use your tool sparsely will not want to spend any money on it, so let them be. Focus on more frequent users instead.
A good example of freemium success is Figma, which lets you work on three projects for free. If you only need the tool once, you’ll appreciate the option. But if you’re building a design business, you’ll likely come back for more as soon as you determine it’s viable.
Final Thoughts
SaaS marketing in 2022 won’t be all that different from marketing in 2021. What you can expect to change is the expectations of your customers and the resources your competitors pour into marketing. Both will definitely keep on rising.
Consider our dos, don’ts, and need-to-knows before you roll out your next marketing installment. Hopefully, you will see nothing but growth.
