{"id":887,"date":"2017-05-31T12:18:03","date_gmt":"2017-05-31T12:18:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/?p=887"},"modified":"2019-12-17T14:25:43","modified_gmt":"2019-12-17T14:25:43","slug":"saas-marketing-lessons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/ro\/saas-marketing-lessons\/","title":{"rendered":"35 SaaS Marketing Lessons I Wish I\u2019d Known 20 Months Sooner"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>When I started as a rookie marketer at SaaS startup Scoro two years ago, I had no digital marketing experience whatsoever.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>All I had done was feasting on marketing blogs and podcasts for the previous two months. I was so into digital marketing that I thought I knew everything.fa<\/p>\n<p>As I soon found out, the SaaS marketing world turned out to be a lot more versatile and exciting than I\u2019d thought.<\/p>\n<p>But you know what\u2026 It all worked out.<\/p>\n<p>Better than my 21-year-old self could possibly have imagined.<\/p>\n<p><strong>During my last two years as the Digital Marketing Manager at Scoro, we\u2019ve:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Increased the number of monthly leads by over 300%<\/li>\n<li>Built our blog readership from 1.6k to 32k monthly organic visitors<\/li>\n<li>Published tens of new landing pages and hundreds of ads<\/li>\n<li>Grown into a team of full-stack marketers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_873\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-873\" style=\"width: 376px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-873\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/giphy-copy-4.gif\" alt=\"saas marketing lessons\" width=\"376\" height=\"288\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-873\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/search\/jessicardi\/\">Image source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>However, I\u2019ve got some big news.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Today is my very last day working as the Digital Marketing Manager at Scoro.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Looking back, I wanted to share the key learnings on SaaS marketing that I\u2019ve discovered on this two-year journey, 35 of them to be exact.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS marketing strategy \u2013 key learnings<\/h2>\n<p>When I joined my first SaaS startup two years ago, there was no all-encompassing marketing strategy in place.<\/p>\n<p><strong>So we started by\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Defining our buyer personas<\/li>\n<li>Finding out who\u2019s our high expectation customer \u2013 the people who enjoy your product\u2019s most complex and differentiating benefits<\/li>\n<li>Thinking what are our potential customers\u2019 pain points that our product\u00a0could solve<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #1:<br \/>\nFind your High Expectation Customer<\/h2>\n<p>There\u2019s an amazing article on the <a href=\"http:\/\/firstround.com\/review\/what-i-learned-from-developing-branding-for-airbnb-dropbox-and-thumbtack\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">High Expectation Customer<\/a>\u00a0by Julie Supan who\u2019s worked for Airbnb and Dropbox.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re unsure how to answer the following questions, chances are that you\u2019re struggling to position your SaaS product in the market.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_879\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-879\" style=\"width: 639px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-879\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/customer-personas.png\" alt=\"customer personas saas\" width=\"639\" height=\"422\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/customer-personas.png 1400w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/customer-personas-300x198.png 300w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/customer-personas-768x507.png 768w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/customer-personas-1024x675.png 1024w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/customer-personas-100x65.png 100w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/customer-personas-759x500.png 759w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 639px) 100vw, 639px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-879\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">You need to know who&#8217;s your customer\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/firstround.com\/review\/what-i-learned-from-developing-branding-for-airbnb-dropbox-and-thumbtack\/\">Image source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #2:<br \/>\nKeep true to your target audience =\u00a0don\u2019t try to sell to everyone.<\/h2>\n<p>Even though we had defined our buyer personas, it sometimes happened that our marketing activities got derailed and we were trying to serve a larger audience than we should have.<\/p>\n<p>This led to delivering low-quality leads to the sales team. Fortunately, in the quickly adaptive environment of a SaaS startup, we were able to quickly recover.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_891\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-891\" style=\"width: 521px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-891\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/high-quality-leads.png\" alt=\"saas leads\" width=\"521\" height=\"260\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/high-quality-leads.png 800w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/high-quality-leads-300x150.png 300w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/high-quality-leads-768x384.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 521px) 100vw, 521px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-891\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Focus on high-quality leads<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Seriously \u2013 the more we worked on defining our target audience, the higher ROI we saw across all marketing channels.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #3:<br \/>\nYou absolutely must know your UVP and mission statement<\/h2>\n<p>Unique Value Proposition (UVP) is a brief statement that describes your product\u2019s benefit to the customer while differentiating you from your competition.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the utmost reason why anyone should buy your SaaS product.<\/p>\n<p><strong>You should also be clearly aware of why your startup exists in the first place.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Test your mission statement by following this framework \u2013 do you know your target customer, your product\u2019s benefits, and the key differentiating element?<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_893\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-893\" style=\"width: 439px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-893\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/saas-uvp.png\" alt=\"saas uvp\" width=\"439\" height=\"279\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/saas-uvp.png 640w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/saas-uvp-300x191.png 300w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/saas-uvp-100x65.png 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 439px) 100vw, 439px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-893\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Try to create your SaaS product&#8217;s UVP \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/firstround.com\/review\/three-moves-every-startup-founder-must-make-to-build-a-brand-that-matters\/\">Image source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Translated into a mission statement, the result will look like this:<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_894\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-894\" style=\"width: 389px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-894\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/saas-value-proposition-example-1.png\" alt=\"saas value proposition example\" width=\"389\" height=\"282\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/saas-value-proposition-example-1.png 640w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/saas-value-proposition-example-1-300x218.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 389px) 100vw, 389px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-894\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Example from Google \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/firstround.com\/review\/three-moves-every-startup-founder-must-make-to-build-a-brand-that-matters\/\">Image source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>If you\u2019re unable to clearly identify your core value offer, you\u2019re going to struggle when developing future marketing messages and organizing big campaigns.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, your entire team will feel demotivated when working without a clear mission.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #4:<br \/>\nKeep true to your mission statement<\/h2>\n<p>Once you\u2019ve set your SaaS company\u2019s mission statement, you should actually act by it.<\/p>\n<p>Offering potential customers a big discounts or trying to keep employees happy with nice office perks isn\u2019t going to cut it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Today, with tens of thousands of SaaS products in the market, the key differentiator isn\u2019t your product\u2019s features, it\u2019s your branding and mission.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You should regularly ask \u201cWhy does our company exist other than to make money?\u201d \u2013 knowing the answer will also make it easier to communicate your product\u2019s value to the user.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.mindtitan.com\/?utm_source=aggregate&#038;utm_medium=paid-ads<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_941\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-941\" style=\"width: 645px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mindtitan.com\/?utm_source=aggregate&amp;utm_medium=paid-ads\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-941\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/mindtitan-chatbots-1024x187.png\" alt=\"ai agency\" width=\"645\" height=\"118\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/mindtitan-chatbots-1024x187.png 1024w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/mindtitan-chatbots-300x55.png 300w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/mindtitan-chatbots-768x140.png 768w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/mindtitan-chatbots.png 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 645px) 100vw, 645px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-941\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This is a sponsored post from a brand I believe in.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #5:<br \/>\nIt\u2019s all about growth<\/h2>\n<p>Looking back at the past 24 months, I wish I\u2019d focused even more on growth. I feel like we occasionally got stuck in doing the same things over and over again just because they worked.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_924\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-924\" style=\"width: 381px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-924\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/giphy-1-1.gif\" alt=\"saas marketing \" width=\"381\" height=\"286\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/giphy-1-1.gif 800w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/giphy-1-1-300x225.gif 300w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/giphy-1-1-768x576.gif 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 381px) 100vw, 381px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-924\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Don&#8217;t get stuck with the existing process \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/\">Image source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>However, the biggest increase in our marketing results has come from constant optimization and new ventures.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key takeaway: Be constantly on the lookout of new ideas to improve your lead flow and increase conversion rates.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #6:<br \/>\nYour growth plan needs to include clear actions, not just nice numbers<\/h2>\n<p><strong>It\u2019s not sufficient to just write down the anticipated numbers, you also need to know how to achieve this growth.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The way I\u2019d set up a SaaS marketing strategy is by setting up growth goals, e.g. 10% growth every month and then contemplating how this growth will be achieved.<\/p>\n<p>The growth plan should be created by a large team of people (from marketing, sales, product teams), each contributing their knowledge and ideas.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #7:<br \/>\nThere are multiple ways to increase sales<\/h2>\n<p>Here\u2019s a graph by <a href=\"https:\/\/klientboost.com\/cro\/conversion-funnel\/\">KlientBoost<\/a>, illustrating how every stage of your SaaS conversion funnel is converting at a different rate.<\/p>\n<p>In the end, only a handful of website visitors become paying customers.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_898\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-898\" style=\"width: 409px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-898\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Conversion-Funnel-illustration-03-1.png\" alt=\"saas marketing funnel\" width=\"409\" height=\"355\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Conversion-Funnel-illustration-03-1.png 690w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Conversion-Funnel-illustration-03-1-300x261.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 409px) 100vw, 409px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-898\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">SaaS marketing funnel \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/klientboost.com\/cro\/conversion-funnel\/\">Image source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>If you want to grow your MRR by, let\u2019s say, 10% every month, you have two options:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Optimize the conversion rates of your conversion funnel stages<\/li>\n<li>Get more people into your conversion funnel<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It\u2019s up to you to choose which path you prefer (usually, it\u2019s the combination of both).<\/p>\n<p>However, the choice should be intentional and every action you take driven by your SaaS company\u2019s long-term marketing strategy.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #8:<br \/>\nFailure = Winning<\/h2>\n<p>There\u2019s a simple correlation between the failings and gains in your marketing team\u2019s work.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The more you fail, the more you\u2019ll also grow. That\u2019s because you\u2019ll be testing a significantly larger number of new tactics.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Failure = Testing = Winning<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_899\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-899\" style=\"width: 256px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-899\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/giphy-5.gif\" alt=\"failure\" width=\"256\" height=\"192\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-899\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Glad we tried \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/\">Image source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>While many of our ideas didn\u2019t work out as expected and cost us some leads and budgets, I\u2019m glad that we tried.<\/p>\n<p>Many experiments also turned out to be great success and helped us increase the number of monthly leads (and sales results).<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #9:<br \/>\nDon\u2019t optimize for leads. Optimize for growth.<\/h2>\n<p>Speaking of results and sales, you should be aware that new leads do not necessarily translate into more sales.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Leads \u2260 Sales<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You can get thousands of low-quality leads, but if none of them converts into paying customers, you\u2019ll soon be out of business.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_882\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-882\" style=\"width: 371px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-882\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/giphy-4.gif\" alt=\"failure gif\" width=\"371\" height=\"185\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-882\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This is why you fail \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/\">Image source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>When I started managing Scoro\u2019s AdWords account and working with PPC agencies, I discovered we were targeting lots of keywords irrelevant to our product.<\/p>\n<p>While these keywords brought in leads at acceptable CPA (cost per acquisition), they never ever converted into buyers.<\/p>\n<p>After we cleaned up our campaigns, we started getting more qualified leads.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key takeaway: Measure the number of qualified leads you get from every marketing channel, not just the overall lead count.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #10:<br \/>\nTrack the right metrics<\/h2>\n<p>The more I\u2019ve spoken with successful SaaS marketers, the more I\u2019ve grasped the importance of tracking the right marketing metrics.<\/p>\n<p><strong>So what are the right SaaS marketing metrics you should track?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I would suggest that you select 3-5 key marketing metrics that you use for decision-making and only then build a list of supporting metrics.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_870\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-870\" style=\"width: 639px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-870\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/saas-key-metrics.png\" alt=\"saas key metrics\" width=\"639\" height=\"320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/saas-key-metrics.png 800w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/saas-key-metrics-300x150.png 300w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/saas-key-metrics-768x384.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 639px) 100vw, 639px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-870\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Define 3-5 key metrics<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>These 3-5 key metrics should be directly tied to your company\u2019s growth, thereby they could be:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Increase in MRR<\/li>\n<li>Cost per acquisition per\u00a0paying customer<\/li>\n<li>Average lifetime value<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The CPA per lead could be a secondary metric that you use to evaluate the performance of marketing campaigns.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, your SaaS metrics really depend on the product you\u2019re selling. Maybe none of the metrics I just mentioned makes any sense with your particular strategy.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #11:<br \/>\nTrust in your LTV<\/h2>\n<p>Until recently, I had never thought of the customer lifetime value as a key metric to SaaS marketing strategy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>However, your average users\u2019 LTV can easily predict how much you should be willing to pay for leads and paid customers.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You should opt for the CPA to be 3 times lower than the LTV, meaning for every dollar you put in your SaaS machine you&#8217;re getting 3 out.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_900\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-900\" style=\"width: 455px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-900\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/CaC_Payback-2.png\" alt=\"saas payback model\" width=\"455\" height=\"327\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/CaC_Payback-2.png 607w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/CaC_Payback-2-300x216.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 455px) 100vw, 455px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-900\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Look for a reasonable LTV \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/blog.profitwell.com\/the-complete-saas-guide-to-calculating-and-reducing-cac\/\">Image source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>However, I\u2019ve seen many SaaS companies struggling with this paradox: Once they find a marketing channel with a positive ROI, they keep limiting their budgets.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #12:<br \/>\nOnce you\u2019ve found the perfect growth channel, use it to its full potential<\/h2>\n<p>Most of the successful SaaS marketers I\u2019ve talked with aim to find marketing channels with a positive ROI and then use them to their maximum capacity.<\/p>\n<p>For example, if the avg. CPA for a paid customer on AdWords is $1,2k and the LTV of that customer is 10k, it would make sense to extend your marketing budget as much as possible to grow faster.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Once you&#8217;ve found a profitable marketing channel, increase the\u00a0resources spent on it. E.g. if you&#8217;re happy with your <a href=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/ro\/facebook-ads-cost-and-bidding\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Facebook ads CPC<\/a>, increase your Facebook advertising budget.<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_875\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-875\" style=\"width: 604px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-875\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/saas-growth.png\" alt=\"saas-growth\" width=\"604\" height=\"302\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/saas-growth.png 800w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/saas-growth-300x150.png 300w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/saas-growth-768x384.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-875\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Put your money where the growth is<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #13:<br \/>\nSegment your LTV by marketing channels<\/h2>\n<p>Not all of your SaaS marketing channels bring identical leads.<\/p>\n<p><strong>You can conduct an analysis on different lead segments and see what\u2019s the average LTV across different channels, countries, and other customer segments.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ll find it a lot easier to evaluate whether a marketing channel has a positive or negative ROI.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ll also avoid keeping some poorly performing campaigns running and won\u2019t close the ones with a high potential due to generalizing.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #14:<br \/>\nKnow when to say \u201cWe tried but failed\u201d<\/h2>\n<p>Working in SaaS marketing has also taught me a couple of lessons about sunk costs.<\/p>\n<p>In terms of marketing, a sunk cost is a cost that has already been incurred and cannot be recovered. And often, it makes us want to keep pushing a failing marketing incentive in the hopes of it starting to work.<\/p>\n<p><strong>In SaaS marketing, it\u2019s especially important that you notice the budget-draining projects early on, before they exhaust your budgets and resources.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Train yourself to be the wake-up-call for the entire marketing team whenever it happens.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_906\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-906\" style=\"width: 357px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-906\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/giphy-1.gif\" alt=\"wake up call gif\" width=\"357\" height=\"204\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-906\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Be the wake up call \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/gifs\/audrey-hepburn-breakfast-at-tiffanys-holly-golightly-c38OANpRdDft6\">Image source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Here\u2019s an easy litmus test for uncovering low-performing projects.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ask your team: &#8220;If we could devote our resources (time and budget) on a different marketing project, would we?&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re able to name some ideas with a bigger potential, that\u2019s where you should focus.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #15:<br \/>\nPrioritize based on numbers and data<\/h2>\n<p>A couple of days ago, I read a <a href=\"https:\/\/conversionxl.com\/no-shouldnt-use-visual-editors-testing-tools-rant\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">blog article<\/a> by Peep Laja where he mentioned that many marketers prioritize their website A\/B tests by the ease of implementation, not the possible gains.<\/p>\n<p>Let me repeat it&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Often, marketers choose their projects by the ease of implementation, completely ignoring the data.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Guilty as charged.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_867\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-867\" style=\"width: 405px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-867\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/giphy-2.gif\" alt=\"guilty gif\" width=\"405\" height=\"228\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-867\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">I&#8217;m working on it :p <a href=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/gifs\/florsounds-flor-3o7btUg31OCi0NXdkY\/\">Image source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Where you spend your time and resources should be directed by data, not your gut feeling or comfort zone.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #16:<br \/>\nSet up a strong lead tracking system<\/h2>\n<p>If I could turn back time, I\u2019d travel back to 2015 and set up a comprehensive lead tracking framework.<\/p>\n<p>Customers have so many possible touching points with your ads\/content and take so many different actions before converting.<\/p>\n<p>And if you\u2019re unable to track all of it, you\u2019ll have no idea of what actually works.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_874\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-874\" style=\"width: 507px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-874\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/consumer_journey2.jpg\" alt=\"saas customer journey\" width=\"507\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/consumer_journey2.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/consumer_journey2-300x129.jpg 300w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/consumer_journey2-768x329.jpg 768w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/consumer_journey2-1024x439.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 507px) 100vw, 507px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-874\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">You should be able to track this journey \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.impactradius.com\/blog\/customer-journey-matters-affiliate-marketers\/\">Image source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>So looking back, I\u2019d draw up a customer journey map and start using tools like HubSpot, Mixpanel, and Kissmetrics in the early phases of SaaS marketing.<\/p>\n<p>Using those tools is crucial to understanding how our leads and customers interact with your ads, content, and the SaaS product.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">Content marketing \u2013 key learnings<\/h2>\n<p>When I joined Scoro, one of my first tasks was to create a content marketing strategy and start publishing articles that would translate into sales.<\/p>\n<p><strong>In the past 20 months, we\u2019ve grown our blog\u2019s organic traffic from 1.6k monthly visitors to 32k visitors\/month.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>That\u2019s a 1,843% growth.<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_872\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-872\" style=\"width: 605px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-872\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/blog-organic-traffic.png\" alt=\"saas traffic growth\" width=\"605\" height=\"106\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/blog-organic-traffic.png 1500w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/blog-organic-traffic-300x52.png 300w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/blog-organic-traffic-768x134.png 768w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/blog-organic-traffic-1024x179.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 605px) 100vw, 605px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-872\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Our blog\u2019s 20-month growth curve<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>However, the fastest growth has happened in the past 11 months while we grew our traffic from 6k\/month to 31k\/month.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_595\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-595\" style=\"width: 542px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-595\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/organic-traffic-chart.png\" alt=\"organic traffic growth chart\" width=\"542\" height=\"304\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/organic-traffic-chart.png 1400w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/organic-traffic-chart-300x168.png 300w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/organic-traffic-chart-768x431.png 768w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/organic-traffic-chart-1024x574.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 542px) 100vw, 542px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-595\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A chart from Moz\u2019s organic traffic report<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In fact, I wrote an in-depth article on the SEO hacks and content marketing tips we used, you can read it here:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/ro\/growing-organic-blog-traffic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">From 1.6k to 31k Monthly Blog Visitors in 20 Months \u2013 How We Did It<\/a><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_907\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-907\" style=\"width: 555px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-907\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/content-marketing-blog-article.png\" alt=\"saas marketing lessons\" width=\"555\" height=\"335\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/content-marketing-blog-article.png 1400w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/content-marketing-blog-article-300x181.png 300w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/content-marketing-blog-article-768x463.png 768w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/content-marketing-blog-article-1024x618.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 555px) 100vw, 555px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-907\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Recommended reading<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>So how did we achieve the nearly 2,000% growth?<\/p>\n<p>And how can you replicate the success in your SaaS startup\u2019s blog?<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #17:<br \/>\nGive instead of taking<\/h2>\n<p>As a general rule, SaaS companies aren\u2019t non-profits.<\/p>\n<p>This means that every presentation, gift or blog article ever made should translate into sales.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s true, but don\u2019t take it literally.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Before you can take, you should learn to give.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>So instead of contemplating your masterplan on how to get everyone buying your product&#8230;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_901\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-901\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-901\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/giphy-3.gif\" alt=\"saas marketing lessons\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-901\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Think about creating\u00a0value instead of getting it \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/gifs\/mr-burns-5nFShZWwq3fdm\/\">Image source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Think instead how you could provide value to your target audience.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #18:<br \/>\nDon\u2019t publish content for the sake of publishing<\/h2>\n<p>WordPress users produce about <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.com\/activity\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">84.3 million<\/a> new posts and 41.8 million new comments every month.<\/p>\n<p>The top 1% of these posts are read by 99% of the readers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>If your goal is to create content that\u2019s engaging people and will ultimately help to increase your SaaS product sales, you can\u2019t just publish any content.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When I joined Scoro, the company was buying articles from an agency in the US. These articles were a content marketer\u2019s nightmare \u2013 600 words long texts lacking any actionable advice.<\/p>\n<p>As you may have guessed, nobody read nor shared those articles.<\/p>\n<p>Only after we started creating high-quality and SEO-aware content, did the leads start to pour in.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_905\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-905\" style=\"width: 513px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-905\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/scoro-blog-in-2015.png\" alt=\"scoro blog in 2015\" width=\"513\" height=\"381\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/scoro-blog-in-2015.png 1458w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/scoro-blog-in-2015-300x223.png 300w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/scoro-blog-in-2015-768x571.png 768w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/scoro-blog-in-2015-1024x761.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 513px) 100vw, 513px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-905\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scoro blog in 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #19:<br \/>\n\u201cQuality vs. Quantity\u201d is a wrong approach<\/h2>\n<p>After managing Scoro\u2019s content marketing strategy for two years, I\u2019ve learned that while consistency is the key to success, so is the quality of the articles.<\/p>\n<p><strong>So what are you to do: Choose the quality over quantity or vice versa?<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_885\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-885\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-885\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/QUANTITY-QUALITY.png\" alt=\"quality vs quantity\" width=\"540\" height=\"270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/QUANTITY-QUALITY.png 800w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/QUANTITY-QUALITY-300x150.png 300w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/QUANTITY-QUALITY-768x384.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-885\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aim for both<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong> Actually, you should aim for quality and quantity.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>When given a choice \u2013 take both.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After publishing 2 articles per week for a short period of time, we decided to cut it back to 1 article\/week and focus on publishing content with higher value, while maintaining the weekly schedule.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #20:<br \/>\nAwesome content will get the attention it deserves<\/h2>\n<p>I\u2019ve heard so many marketers complain \u201cWe\u2019re publishing high-value content, but people just won\u2019t find nor read it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s so untrue!<\/p>\n<p>Take this blog you\u2019re currently reading. It\u2019s only 4-5 months old. However, all the previous three articles have been widely shared and read.<\/p>\n<p>How? \u2013 <strong>By being packed with value.<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_908\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-908\" style=\"width: 605px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-908\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/aggregate-blog-example-1024x662.png\" alt=\"saas content marketing\" width=\"605\" height=\"391\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/aggregate-blog-example-1024x662.png 1024w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/aggregate-blog-example-300x194.png 300w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/aggregate-blog-example-768x496.png 768w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/aggregate-blog-example-100x65.png 100w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/aggregate-blog-example.png 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 605px) 100vw, 605px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-908\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Even new blogs can succeed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Of course, there are the \u201csuperstar\u201d blogs that have accumulated large readerships and can now enjoy even their mediocre articles getting thousands of shares.<\/p>\n<p>And of course, it also depends on luck to some extent \u2013 will people notice and pick up your articles.<\/p>\n<p><strong>However, if you\u2019re just starting out, you need to work hard on writing content that\u2019s on par with the very best articles on a similar topic.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the only surefire road to building a popular blog.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #21:<br \/>\nPublish original content &amp; research<\/h2>\n<p>While high-quality content can help build an engaged audience and expand your marketing funnel, it\u2019s the original research that can bring you near-magical results. \u2728<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s an example by Ahrefs: an <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/how-long-does-it-take-to-rank\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">article<\/a> based on original research and measuring how much time it takes to start ranking well on Google.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_869\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-869\" style=\"width: 561px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-869\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/ahrefs-article-1024x644.png\" alt=\"saas content marketing\" width=\"561\" height=\"353\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/ahrefs-article-1024x644.png 1024w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/ahrefs-article-300x189.png 300w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/ahrefs-article-768x483.png 768w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/ahrefs-article.png 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 561px) 100vw, 561px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-869\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">You should really read it, it\u2019s great<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>High-quality and actionable research articles get picked up by other industry blogs and will become widely shared.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s exactly the kind of attention you need on your SaaS product.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_910\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-910\" style=\"width: 415px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-910\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/ahrefs-saas-marketing-1024x830.png\" alt=\"ahrefs saas marketing\" width=\"415\" height=\"336\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/ahrefs-saas-marketing-1024x830.png 1024w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/ahrefs-saas-marketing-300x243.png 300w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/ahrefs-saas-marketing-768x623.png 768w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/ahrefs-saas-marketing.png 1068w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 415px) 100vw, 415px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-910\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">People love high-value original content<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Now that you\u2019re all excited about conducting original research and publishing an epic blog article, I\u2019d also like you to consider the next rule&#8230;<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #21:<br \/>\nMeasure your content marketing ROI<\/h2>\n<p>The ROI of content marketing is different from say, paid advertising, in that it\u2019s not as clearly measurable.<\/p>\n<p>Content marketing can be perceived as a top-of-the-funnel tactic that\u2019s attracting new audiences without necessarily converting them into leads.<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s just fine.<\/p>\n<p><strong>If you can prove that content marketing is supporting your marketing funnel and eventually, sales, it\u2019s definitely worth pursuing.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>However, I\u2019m a lot more\u00a0sceptical about eBooks, webinars, Twitter chats, and other similar large-large content formats.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not saying they\u2019re not working, especially if you\u2019re an established company with a large marketing team, like Marketo.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_902\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-902\" style=\"width: 558px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-902\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/marketo-ebooks-1-1024x528.png\" alt=\"marketo ebooks\" width=\"558\" height=\"288\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/marketo-ebooks-1-1024x528.png 1024w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/marketo-ebooks-1-300x155.png 300w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/marketo-ebooks-1-768x396.png 768w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/marketo-ebooks-1.png 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 558px) 100vw, 558px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-902\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marketo has tens of eBooks on marketing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>However, when we calculated the benefits we got from publishing and promoting eBooks and thought what else all those resources could have brought us in terms of leads and sales, it was a lousy deal.<\/p>\n<p>As eBooks didn\u2019t have a positive ROI in the case of our SaaS marketing strategy, we focused our time and effort on other activities with a higher ROI.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #22:<br \/>\nDo guest blogging only if you have a clear goal<\/h2>\n<p>You\u2019ve probably heard all the marketing influencers tell that you should be <a href=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/ro\/guest-blogging\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">guest blogging<\/a> to acquire high-quality backlinks and get more website traffic.<\/p>\n<p>Well, that\u2019s only halfway true.<\/p>\n<p><strong>While guest blogging can certainly help you get quality backlinks, it isn\u2019t necessarily worth your time.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For 10 hours of your marketing team\u2019s time, what has more value:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Writing a top-notch guest blog post for a popular blog and giving away all your rights to the content.<\/li>\n<li>Writing a 10x SEO-optimized article for your own blog, getting all the branding benefits, and later thousands of organic visitors.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Tim Soulo has written <a href=\"http:\/\/bloggerjet.com\/guest-post\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">guest posts<\/a> for tens of marketing blogs.<\/p>\n<p>In his experience, writing a guest post in a top blog brings you about 100 website clicks.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_876\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-876\" style=\"width: 401px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-876\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/01-traffic-guest-post.jpg\" alt=\"saas content marketing\" width=\"401\" height=\"401\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/01-traffic-guest-post.jpg 650w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/01-traffic-guest-post-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/01-traffic-guest-post-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/01-traffic-guest-post-125x125.jpg 125w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 401px) 100vw, 401px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-876\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Avg. clicks from a guest post \u2013 <a href=\"http:\/\/bloggerjet.com\/guest-post\/\">Image source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The key takeaway here is that you shouldn\u2019t be writing guest posts for the sake of driving traffic to your website.<\/p>\n<p>Rather, write guest articles to establish your brand as an industry expert and build relationships.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #23:<br \/>\nBuild relationships with other blogs<\/h2>\n<p>T<strong>here\u2019s another awesome benefit to guest posting that you could aim for: the relationships you build.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When we got started with <a href=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/ro\/facebook-advertising-hacks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Facebook advertising<\/a>, I wrote a guest post on AdEspresso\u2019s blog titled<a href=\"https:\/\/adespresso.com\/academy\/blog\/6-facebook-advertising-hacks-to-know-before-first-campaign\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> 6 Facebook Advertising Hacks I Wish We Had Known Before Launching Our First Campaign<\/a><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_909\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-909\" style=\"width: 460px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-909\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/adespresso-article-1024x677.png\" alt=\"adespresso article\" width=\"460\" height=\"304\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/adespresso-article-1024x677.png 1024w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/adespresso-article-300x198.png 300w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/adespresso-article-768x508.png 768w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/adespresso-article-100x65.png 100w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/adespresso-article-759x500.png 759w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/adespresso-article.png 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 460px) 100vw, 460px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-909\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Guest blogging can also be a good idea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The collaboration didn&#8217;t end there.<\/p>\n<p>They asked me to become a regular contributor, which in turn led to new guest contributions in the top marketing blogs such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/contentmarketinginstitute.com\/2017\/03\/promote-blog-content-facebook\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Content Marketing Institute<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.socialmediaexaminer.com\/6-facebook-remarketing-tactics-that-work\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Social Media Examiner<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/copyhackers.com\/2017\/05\/36-facebook-ad-hacks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Copy Hackers<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/adespresso.com\/academy\/blog\/landing-page-mistakes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">AdEspresso<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.kissmetrics.com\/emotional-marketing-to-facebook-ads\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kissmetrics<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Later, I was able to include Scoro\u2019s marketing tactics as examples in my articles, getting us lots of quality backlinks.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #24:<br \/>\nBuild relationships with other SaaS brands<\/h2>\n<p>If you take a good look at brands and people featured in blog articles, they\u2019re often the same across the web.<\/p>\n<p><strong>That\u2019s because those people and brands have built relationships with each other.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For example, my latest article in this blog featured SaaS marketing hacks. When compiling the article, I also interviewed some successful SaaS marketers.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_848\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-848\" style=\"width: 547px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-848\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/saas-marketing-hacks-1024x572.png\" alt=\"saas marketing\" width=\"547\" height=\"306\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/saas-marketing-hacks-1024x572.png 1024w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/saas-marketing-hacks-300x167.png 300w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/saas-marketing-hacks-768x429.png 768w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/saas-marketing-hacks.png 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 547px) 100vw, 547px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-848\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Collaborate with other SaaS brands<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After I\u2019d published the article, those marketers also helped to promote it and shared the article with their audience.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s another example of collaboration of Venngage, Aggregate blog, and Copy Hackers \u2013 we partnered on an <a href=\"https:\/\/copyhackers.com\/2017\/05\/36-facebook-ad-hacks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">infographic and blog article<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_854\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-854\" style=\"width: 537px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-854\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/infographic.png\" alt=\"saas infographic\" width=\"537\" height=\"358\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/infographic.png 1002w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/infographic-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/infographic-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/infographic-360x240.png 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 537px) 100vw, 537px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-854\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The result of our collaboration<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>If you\u2019d like to read more about how we grew Scoro blog\u2019s organic traffic and which SEO tactics we applied, read this article: <a href=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/ro\/growing-organic-blog-traffic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">From 1.6k to 32k Monthly Blog Visitors in 20 Months \u2013 How We Did It<\/a><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">Paid advertising \u2013 key learnings<\/h2>\n<p>Paid advertising is an integral part of most SaaS marketing strategies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Even if you\u2019re lucky to be driving sales with \u201cfree\u201d marketing activities such as content marketing and social media marketing, you can use the paid ads to accelerate your SaaS startup\u2019s growth.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At Scoro, we focused mainly on two PPC channels \u2013 Facebook and Google AdWords \u2013 and combined them with some smaller paid lead sources (review sites, display ads, LinkedIn ads, etc.)<\/p>\n<p>Paving our way to a solid PPC strategy wasn\u2019t always the easiest challenge.<\/p>\n<p>Luckily, we also had many small victories on our journey that made us want to test even more new ideas.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_845\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-845\" style=\"width: 407px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-845\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/giphy-1-copy-5.gif\" alt=\"saas growth\" width=\"407\" height=\"305\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-845\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">New lead!! \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/gifs\/\">Image source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>However, it wasn\u2019t always as sunny in the PPC land.<\/p>\n<p>When we got started with Facebook advertising, we failed to attract any new leads.<\/p>\n<p>Why?<\/p>\n<p>Because we were targeting a cold audience and trying them to sign up for a free product trial right off the bat.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #25:<br \/>\nMost people don\u2019t care about your salesy ads<\/h2>\n<p><strong>The cold hard truth about your SaaS product is that most people just don\u2019t care enough to buy it.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you set up a Facebook ads campaign targeting a Saved Facebook audience (based on people\u2019s location interests), and show them an ad like this\u2026<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_911\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-911\" style=\"width: 345px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-911\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/scoro-facebook-ad.png\" alt=\"saas facebook ad\" width=\"345\" height=\"376\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/scoro-facebook-ad.png 856w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/scoro-facebook-ad-276x300.png 276w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/scoro-facebook-ad-768x836.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 345px) 100vw, 345px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-911\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">When you present a sales message&#8230;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Most people will be like&#8230;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_912\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-912\" style=\"width: 290px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-912\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/giphy-6-copy.gif\" alt=\"saas marketing on facebook\" width=\"290\" height=\"290\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-912\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">People don&#8217;t care about your sales offers \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/gifs\/\">Image source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>They\u2019ll never click on your ad nor sign up for the free trial you\u2019re offering.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s because you\u2019re serving your sales pitch too early in the sales funnel, asking for too big a commitment.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_866\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-866\" style=\"width: 551px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-866\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/saas-marketing-funnel-1024x878.png\" alt=\"saas marketing funnel\" width=\"551\" height=\"473\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/saas-marketing-funnel-1024x878.png 1024w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/saas-marketing-funnel-300x257.png 300w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/saas-marketing-funnel-768x658.png 768w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/saas-marketing-funnel.png 1400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 551px) 100vw, 551px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-866\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Know when&#8217;s the right time for your offers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In the Awareness stage of your marketing funnel, focus on educating and helping your target audience instead of jumping right on the sales pitch.<\/p>\n<p>Read more tips and hacks in this guide on <a href=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/ro\/saas-facebook-ads\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SaaS Facebook advertising<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #26:<br \/>\nTarget sales messages on remarketing audiences<\/h2>\n<p>One of the a-ha moments we had regarding our SaaS startup\u2019s paid advertising happened when I set up our first segmented retargeting campaigns on Facebook.<\/p>\n<p>To the people who had previously visited our landing pages about Project Management Software, this Facebook ad made a lot more sense:<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_914\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-914\" style=\"width: 396px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-914\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/scoro-saas-ad.png\" alt=\"scoro saas ad\" width=\"396\" height=\"398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/scoro-saas-ad.png 870w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/scoro-saas-ad-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/scoro-saas-ad-298x300.png 298w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/scoro-saas-ad-768x773.png 768w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/scoro-saas-ad-125x125.png 125w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 396px) 100vw, 396px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-914\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Now the free trial offer makes a lot more sense<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>When delivering sales messages to Facebook Custom Audiences of past website visitors, we finally started to see some positive results.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key takeaway: Start by attracting cold audiences with soft-sell ads and organic reach. Then, create paid remarketing campaigns targeting people that already know about your SaaS product.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #27:<br \/>\nSegment your remarketing audiences<\/h2>\n<p>Once we had set up our Facebook remarketing campaigns, we started looking for ways to optimize them.<\/p>\n<p><strong>One of the best ideas we had was to segment our website visitors into several groups.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This way, we were able to create more personalized marketing messages, depending on which exact landing page our audience members had visited.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_904\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-904\" style=\"width: 637px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-904\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/remarketing-for-saas-.png\" alt=\"saas remarketing ads\" width=\"637\" height=\"319\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/remarketing-for-saas-.png 800w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/remarketing-for-saas--300x150.png 300w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/remarketing-for-saas--768x384.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 637px) 100vw, 637px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-904\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Segment your remarketing audiences<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Instead of delivering the same offer to everyone who had visited our website in the past 30 days, we only targeted our ads on the visitors of specific landing pages and blog articles \u2013 the people who were most likely to start a free trial.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, our average Facebook marketing CPA decreased by 80% while the number of total conversions grew.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #28:<br \/>\nGood design is paramount<\/h2>\n<p>In the past 12 months, I\u2019ve spent a lot of time on creating, managing, and optimizing both Facebook ad and AdWords campaigns.<\/p>\n<p><strong>One key thing I\u2019ve learned is that design matters. Big time.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve tested tens of different <a href=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/ro\/facebook-ad-design\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Facebook ad designs<\/a>\u00a0as that&#8217;s one of the key elements that makes the biggest difference in Facebook campaigns\u2019 performance.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_878\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-878\" style=\"width: 424px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-878\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/scoro-facebook-ad-ab-tests.png\" alt=\"facebook ad testing\" width=\"424\" height=\"442\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/scoro-facebook-ad-ab-tests.png 976w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/scoro-facebook-ad-ab-tests-288x300.png 288w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/scoro-facebook-ad-ab-tests-768x799.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 424px) 100vw, 424px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-878\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">We really tested lots of different variations<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Learning to design basic visualizations isn\u2019t as difficult as you might think. Start with a tutorial of Illustrator or Sketch and soon, you\u2019ll be able to create all your SaaS company\u2019s ad designs.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;d like to learn more about A\/B testing your ads, see this <a href=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/ro\/facebook-ad-ab-testing-rules\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">guide on Facebook ad testing<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #29:<br \/>\nDon\u2019t leave the PPC strategy (entirely) up to your marketing agency<\/h2>\n<p>Having worked with several PPC agencies, here\u2019s what I think:<\/p>\n<p><strong>No PPC agency is as invested in your SaaS company\u2019s growth as you are. That\u2019s simply not possible.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yet even though the agencies aren\u2019t always perfect and answering your emails as often as you\u2019d like, you still need them.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a tough relationship.<\/p>\n<p>95% of the time, hiring a PPC agency won\u2019t immediately bring the results you\u2019re hoping for.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_915\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-915\" style=\"width: 461px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-915\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/change.gif\" alt=\"change\" width=\"461\" height=\"260\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-915\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">It&#8217;s not as simple \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/\">Image source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Now, the way I imagine the perfect SaaS-agency relationship goes like this:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Your in-house team sets the long-term and monthly PPC strategy<\/li>\n<li>Your PPC agency sets up the ad campaigns (writes the ad copy, designs ads, sets up the campaign structure)<\/li>\n<li>Your in-house team regularly reviews the paid ad campaigns and asks for small changes and optimization<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Key takeaway:<\/strong> Even when working with world-class PPC agencies, you should still review your ad campaigns on a regular basis and contribute new ideas for improvement.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #30:<br \/>\nKeep testing new (and old) marketing channels<\/h2>\n<p>Even though you\u2019ve found your top-performing marketing channels, there may be even better ones out there.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, the paid advertising channels that didn\u2019t work in the first place could deliver good results the second time you try.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Set up a dedicated monthly \u201ctesting budget\u201d for experimenting with new marketing channels. There\u2019s a chance you\u2019ll uncover a hidden gem.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>SaaS marketing\u2013 general learnings<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #31:<br \/>\nDon\u2019t let your growth slow down<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Once you\u2019re in the frenzy of month-over-month growth, do your best not to let it slow down.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Trust me, it will be hard to get back on the train later.<\/p>\n<p>Be constantly on the lookout for small tweaks and improvements that either bring more people to your marketing funnel or help to increase the conversion rate at different stages of the funnel.<\/p>\n<p>However, remember that if you write month-over-month growth into your marketing strategy, you also need to add how you\u2019re going to do it.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #32:<br \/>\nKeep your eyes on the road instead of competition<\/h2>\n<p>Scoro is a project management solution and guess what\u2026 There are hundreds of different project management tools out there.<\/p>\n<p>However, none of these tools does all the exact same things as Scoro.<\/p>\n<p><strong>While you might feel the urge to copy your top-performing competitors\u2026 You should work in proactive mode rather than reactive.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Adjusting your goals and marketing tactics by perceiving your competition will get you derailed quickly.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_880\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-880\" style=\"width: 424px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-880\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/giphy-7.gif\" alt=\"saas competition\" width=\"424\" height=\"318\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/giphy-7.gif 800w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/giphy-7-300x225.gif 300w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/giphy-7-768x576.gif 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 424px) 100vw, 424px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-880\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Don\u2019t get derailed by competition \u2013 <a href=\" https:\/\/giphy.com\/gifs\/nycgifathon-3osxYtiRqaapsxT7nW\/\">Image source<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>There\u2019s no single SaaS product in the world that would have 100% matching audience and solution with yours.<\/p>\n<p>Or if there is, maybe you should rethink your UVP (unique value proposition).<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #33:<br \/>\nListen to your customers<\/h2>\n<p>When marketing a SaaS product, it\u2019s incredibly easy to get caught up in the industry jargon and emphasize the wrong product benefits.<\/p>\n<p><strong>That\u2019s why you should devote at least 5% of your time on learning what your customers think, how the interact with your product, and what are their core problems.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yes, you really should reach out to 5-10 customers every three months and conduct survey in the meantime. You could also listen to the sales calls, read customer support emails, and check analytics to see how people use your product.<\/p>\n<p>Listening to your customers helps to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Realize you product\u2019s top benefits<\/li>\n<li>Improve your marketing messages<\/li>\n<li>Uncover missing \/ unnecessary features<\/li>\n<li>Discover how to keep your customers happier<\/li>\n<li>Improve your product\u2019s UX<\/li>\n<li>Reduce churn<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #34:<br \/>\nThink of your customers as people, not numbers<\/h2>\n<p>You sign up for a free SaaS product trial and for the next 12 months, your inbox is going to be flooded with their marketing emails.<\/p>\n<p>Sounds familiar?<\/p>\n<p><strong>More emails and push notifications \u2260 more customers<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_861\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-861\" style=\"width: 572px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-861\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/saas-marketing-emails.png\" alt=\"saas marketing emails\" width=\"572\" height=\"286\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/saas-marketing-emails.png 800w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/saas-marketing-emails-300x150.png 300w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/saas-marketing-emails-768x384.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 572px) 100vw, 572px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-861\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Find the perfect balance between emails and sales<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Don\u2019t forget that your leads are real people and respect them by sending them only the marketing messages that are truly relevant to them.<\/p>\n<p>A couple of <a href=\"https:\/\/outfunnel.com\/lead-nurturing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">lead nurturing<\/a> emails is all good, but if you lock them into your marketing funnel forever, sending them irrelevant content every month, you could damage your brand instead of getting more customers.<\/p>\n<p>Respecting your customers also applies to every other aspect of your SaaS strategy \u2013 sales calls, support emails, product developement \u2013 don\u2019t forget it\u2019s the customer you\u2019re building the SaaS product for.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">SaaS Marketing Lesson #35:<br \/>\nKeep reading and learning<\/h2>\n<p>When interviewing new potential marketing team members, I always ask what blogs and magazines they like to read.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s one of the key indicators whether a person\u2019s passionate about marketing.<\/p>\n<p>There are so many insightful articles and resources on SaaS marketing. Just to name a few:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.intercom.com\/new-book-intercom-on-starting-up\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Intercom on Starting Up eBook<\/a> by Intercom<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/conversionxl.com\/saas-conversion-optimization\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Beginner\u2019s Guide to SaaS Conversion Optimization<\/a> by ConversionXL<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/firstround.com\/review\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The entire blog of First Round Review<\/a> by First Round<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/hiten.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The best SaaS newsletter I\u2019ve seen this far<\/a> by Hiten Shah<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_881\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-881\" style=\"width: 547px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-881\" src=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/saas-weekly-1024x435.png\" alt=\"SaaS weekly newsletter\" width=\"547\" height=\"232\" srcset=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/saas-weekly-1024x435.png 1024w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/saas-weekly-300x128.png 300w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/saas-weekly-768x326.png 768w, https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/saas-weekly.png 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 547px) 100vw, 547px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-881\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">SaaS weekly newsletter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>If you\u2019re managing a SaaS marketing team, you could schedule the \u201creading hours\u201d to every second Friday and make it a habit to share new tactics and ideas with the team.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">What\u2019s next?<\/h3>\n<p>As I said at the beginning of this article, I&#8217;ll be leaving\u00a0Scoro as of June.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s both sad and exciting to be leaving.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m planning\u00a0to take a looong vacation, go travelling, and devote even more time to reading and learning. I\u2019ll also be working on some freelance projects.<\/p>\n<p>In the long term&#8230; Who knows&#8230;  <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>See 35 SaaS marketing lessons that will help you make the right decisions and grow faster.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35,11,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golden","category-growth","category-in-depth"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>35 SaaS Marketing Lessons I Wish I\u2019d Known 20 Months Sooner - Marketing Fix blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/karolakarlson.com\/ro\/saas-marketing-lessons\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ro_RO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"35 SaaS Marketing Lessons I Wish I\u2019d Known 20 Months Sooner - 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