Technology start-ups require sound marketing goals as part of the overall business plan. This ensures new business, which is a source of revenue to cover operational expenditure. Startups offering software as a service, SaaS, need to employ a distinct marketing strategy to break into the highly competitive industry.
“At QASymphony, we support software start-ups with testing and management platforms. This enables them to improve efficiency and reduce the development and testing cycles. My name is Reed Gusmus. I am serving as the director of marketing at QASymphony, an award-winning software testing and development company.
We enable SaaS startups, and agile development teams to accelerate their product development and service delivery paths. I believe that software startups require robust digital marketing strategies to achieve growth. These include content marketing, SEO, networking, and strategic marketing partnerships.”
Recognising the importance of content
Content marketing is an essential factor of the digital marketing strategy. It is a smart investment whose value grows with time. It is a far better choice for SaaS startups than direct online adverts. Content marketing can generate value leads that accelerate business growth. Right from the start, your online presence should articulate your value offering to clients. It should work to build your online reputation and grow your good will progressively.
Great content, coupled with a smart SEO strategy expands your potential client base and builds a following. A startup has the unique advantage of having a clean reputation. This can be incorporated into a robust transparency policy that ensures clients and potential markets are acutely aware of the processes and values that drive your business. Transparency also enhances customer loyalty.
Identifying your target market
A software startup must identify their target market and express the value of the service to potential clients. They can create new markets or focus on exploiting an existing niche. Market education serves to inform people about the effectiveness of the service. It may be a service people need but have not taken the time to define and consolidate the service process.
Market education outlines benefits of using the service instead of various mediocre workarounds or overlapping solutions to get the same result. Strive to draw a direct line between the user needs and the service points.
Educating and understanding your clients
Plan to train and educate your clients on all aspects of the service. Successful SaaS products offer outstanding user experiences and interactions. This ensures users get more value from your service. Use various formats to reach out to users and strive to improve their quality of life. A proactive strategy lets you guide the conversation as opposed to waiting for prompts from users. Establish strong relationships with users to experience mutual benefits.
SaaS startups can experience success by focusing on a core service offering as opposed to a blanket approach. Concentrating on a few niche solutions offers more benefits.
Getting feedback from your users
Another great way startups can achieve growth is by providing product demos. By making parts of the software products available to the public, you are letting them test-drive the package and see for themselves what’s on offer. Demos are also an excellent way to receive insightful feedback on the quality of the product and related user experiences. It does not require additional investments since the software products are already built. Feedback obtained from trial users can be crucial in defining the overall direction of the service.
Additionally, it is important to engage users on a continuing basis. Monitor their progress and the impact of your software services to their business. Encourage them to share their milestones and operational successes to augment the positive image of the service.
Offering free trials
Free trials offer an excellent way to engage qualified leads and build a following of interested technical users. Free trial products must follow a shorter time offering. This encourages customers to try them sooner increasing your sales efficiency. A smart strategy is to take away the time constraint on trial products and instead put it on feature modules.
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Pairing up with industry players
Startups can partner with complementary industry players. This enables them to access shared markets and pool resources together for a bigger reach. This also presents an opportunity to offer discounted bundles of services as a promotional package. This serves as an incentive for clients to sign up for your services.
Listening to the Voice of the Customer
Customers play a significant role in guiding the marketing and overall business strategy. At QASymphony, we are ardent about listening to our clients. This ensures we deliver quality products that improve the way they work. It also enables us to map future developments based on exact information received through these interactions. A brilliant outcome of these interactions is the ability to predict key features that the customers will need in the future.
We earn the customers respect by providing innovative solutions before they ask for them. It is therefore essential for a company to have a strong online presence. This includes social media platforms and enables a SaaS business to engage customers on their terms.
The future of SaaS
We believe the future is bright for SaaS. Customers are increasingly moving away from purchasing off-the-shelf solutions. They are looking for options that enable them to pay only for the features they need. The SaaS scene is exploiting numerous opportunities driven by the widespread adoption of digital and mobile technologies.
SaaS is built around cutting edge and agile platforms. This makes it easy to keep up with emergent trends and integrate with other open platforms to deliver superior user experiences. It provides numerous advantages to both the service providers and the end users.
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