So, you’ve built your B2B SaaS and now want to ramp up your marketing efforts.
Normally, when we’re thinking of how to get people interested, we think of lead generation. Direct advertisements and sales pitches can help convert cold audiences.
But according to Adobe, only 4% of the market is ready to buy right now.
So, how do we market to the rest?
Demand generation is the process of providing value to the market, before focusing on customer acquisition. If you can generate demand, the leads and sales will follow.
Ready to discover what goes into building a lethal demand generation engine?
Good. Let’s begin.
Understanding the Basics of B2B SaaS Demand Generation
Before your market can buy into your product and its solution, they have to become aware of their problem.
A well-executed demand generation strategy will attract cold audiences by making them aware of a problem they weren’t already aware of.
Demand Generation in the SaaS Sphere
To keep this simple, let’s say your SaaS is a CRM for small businesses. One feature might be that when the client has a missed call, the CRM will automatically text the caller back a minute later.
Most small businesses owners aren’t aware that missed calls are a problem. For them, they might be busy at the time of the call and they can just call them back later.
According to a study from MIT, contacting a lead within 30 minutes, instead of 5 minutes, drops the contact rate by 100x.
That’s the problem you’d be revealing: the small business owner is burning cash by not instantly replying to leads.
Without these realisations, it’s hard to generate demand for your SaaS and nurture people through the decision-making process.
Demand Generation vs. Lead Generation: The Differences for B2B SaaS Companies
Demand generation and lead generation seem like they’re the same, but they’re not.
Demand generation is designed to increase brand awareness, grow your audience and provide value to the market.
Some of the most popular ways to generate demand are:
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for top-of-the-funnel content
- Collaborating with other businesses owners so their audience can discover you
- Organic social media posts
The purpose of lead generation, on the other hand, is to turn strangers into prospective customers via demos or trials.
Common lead generation methods include:
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for bottom-of-the-funnel content
- Paid ads which encourage cold leads to schedule a demo
- Email marketing (both cold emailing and email newsletters)
While they’re both different, the best SaaS marketers will use both demand and lead generation to experience rapid online growth.
Step 1: Laying the Groundwork for SaaS Demand Generation
Before we get into creating a top-tier demand generation strategy for your SaaS, there has to be a strong foundation.
Having a deep understanding of your audience and market is crucial when growing a SaaS. If you get this wrong, everything else fails.
Identifying and Positioning Your Target Audience for Maximum Impact
Successful demand generation for a B2B SaaS starts with knowing who you’re talking to. Identifying your target audience and understanding their pain points allows you to craft messages that connect with them.
This isn’t just about knowing their industry. You’ve got to let them know that you’re one of them.
Creating Detailed Buyer Personas
Buyer personas, in simple terms, are fictional, detailed descriptions of your ideal customer. They help you visualize who you’re targeting, making it easier to craft your demand generation campaigns.
By understanding the specific characteristics, challenges, and goals of your customer profiles, you can create content and strategies that solve customer problems.
Start by researching and collecting data so you can understand them better. Look for information such as:
- demographic information
- behaviour patterns
- deep insights into their decision-making processes
Use the findings from your research as the basis of your demand generation strategy.
Researching and Understanding Your Competition
Knowing your competition is just as crucial as understanding your audience. By looking at what others in your space are doing, you can identify gaps in their strategies and opportunities for your SaaS to grow.
When undergoing competitive analysis, focus on their
- offerings
- marketing tactics
- customer feedback
This information can give you ideas about what type of content you should create as part of your demand generation strategy.
The Art of Brand Positioning Within the B2B SaaS Industry
Brand positioning is a long-term strategy. That doesn’t mean it’s something you should ignore though.
In fact, having a strong brand is arguably the strongest lever you can pull in your SaaS business.
For example, Salesforce can charge premium prices, simply because of their reputation in the market. Even if another SaaS comes along, it’s hard for them to dethrone Salesforce because their brand is so strong.
An effective demand generation strategy will develop your brand because you’re helping the market without selling to them.
Step 2: Creating an Effective Content Strategy
Developing a Robust Content Marketing Strategy
Content creation is one of the strongest forms of inbound marketing for B2B marketers. This isn’t just about churning out blog posts or social media updates for the sake of it though.
Your goal is to not just help people find you, but to also reveal problems they’re experiencing.
Build the relationship through valuable content, so when they’re ready to buy, they feel like they already know you.
Top-of-Funnel Content to Educate and Engage
Top-of-funnel content is your broadest content. It’s here you want to focus on educating and engaging your audience.
Example of content at this stage include:
- blog posts
- infographics
- long and short-form videos
Remember, the aim is to create a strong first impression. By providing value upfront, you’re laying a foundation for a relationship that could eventually lead to conversion.
This approach helps in gently guiding prospects down the funnel, making them more receptive to your middle-funnel messaging.
Middle-of-Funnel Content for Interest and Consideration
As prospects move deeper into the funnel, your content needs to evolve. Middle-of-funnel content is designed to pique interest and nurture consideration.
Common examples of content at this stage includes:
- case studies
- webinars
- detailed guides
They offer more specific insights into how your solution can solve their problems, subtly steering them towards making a decision.
Step 3: Content Syndication and Distribution
The goal of a strong B2B SaaS marketing strategy is for you to be seen on the multiple channels where your target audience spends their time. Be strategic and leverage each channel’s strengths so you can be discovered by your ideal clients.
Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one the strongest marketing channels for B2B SaaS businesses.
Search engines favor authoritative websites which drive traffic to relevant content. Blog posts with topical relevance allow you to share insights, trends, and solutions which can attract potential leads.
Aim for visibility when users type in certain keywords which are most relevant to your brand.
Technical SEO involves conducting regular audits on your existing pages to identify and fix any site issues, such as slow loading times, crawl errors or broken links.
If you’re looking to build trust, SEO is one of the highest ROI SaaS marketing strategies available to you.
Influencer Marketing Campaigns
Collaborating with other business is a strong form of demand generation for SaaS.
Influencers in your space already have your ideal customers. Instead of trying to get them individually, this strategy attracts them in batches.
Examples include sponsoring a podcast, or being interviewed as part of a blog post.
Here’s a simple 3-step framework for influencer marketing:
- Find your ideal influencers
- Send them a message to see if they’re open to a simple partnership
- In exchange, you can pay them and/or you can introduce them to your audience
Influencer marketing is a powerful tool in business development as one individual can have a huge impact in your SaaS marketing strategy.
Remember, you don’t just want clicks. You want to be creating demand by providing real value.
Social Media Posts
Organic content on social media is a prime example of B2B demand generation.
Start by re-purposing your existing content into long form videos. You can also turn these videos into short form videos, and extract audio to create a podcast.
Popular platforms include:
- YouTube (for long form and short form video content)
- Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok (for short form video content)
- Spotify and Soundcloud (for audio podcasts)
Repurposing one long form video is an way to extend your organic reach without doing a lot of extra work.
The algorithm on each of these platforms behaves differently, so don’t forget to consistently test new ideas.
Step 4: Advanced B2B Demand Generation Strategies
The Role of Retargeting Ads
If someone has consumed your content and gotten value from it, your demand generation engine works.
But if you want to maximize your marketing efforts, retargeting ads are a valuable resource for marketing teams who are mainly focused on revenue growth.
For example, after someone reads one of your aricles, you can retarget them through ad platforms like Google Ads. This is where Have landing pages setup
However, you can retarget lost prospects through ad platforms like Google Ads. It’s about reminding them why they checked you out in the first place.
These are people who have already shown interest in your brand or service, so the cost associated with digital ads is worth it and recapture their attention.
Website Visitor Identification
If you want to extract as much value as possible through your demand generation efforts, website visitor identification can give you valuable insights.
It’s a powerful digital marketing strategy which allows you to:
- collect data about your prospects and customers
- nurture prospects through targeted ad campaigns
- assess the performance of your existing content
- increase the customer lifetime value of existing customers by reselling to them
Think of website visitor identification as a hybrid of demand generation and lead generation. You’re capturing the traffic you drive to your site without actively seeking customer acquisition.
On top of that, it’s a process where the marketing team also supports the sales process. Warm prospects get pushed to the sales team, where they can make phone calls to qualify them.
The sales team can also encourage prospects to buy if they’ve shown increased activity on your site.
At Club Modena, we identify your anonymous B2B website visitors so you know who’s visitors your site.
This acts as a bridge between demand generation and lead generation: you know who your audience members are, but you haven’t explicitly asked them for their contact details.
Conclusion: Scaling Your B2B SaaS Company via Demand Generation
As a B2B marketer in the SaaS space, your goal is to not just generate leads but to create a demand for your product. This means going beyond the basics and employing a variety of strategies to engage, nurture, and build relationships with your target audience.
For B2B SaaS companies looking to grow, demand generation marketing for your SaaS is just the beginning of the customer journey.
At Club Modena, we turn anonymous companies who visit your website into qualified leads (without them filling out a form or contacting you).
If you’re a B2B SaaS company who wants to turn their site traffic into a steady stream of high-quality leads, book a discovery call below.