Software as a Service (SaaS) companies have a ton on their plate. Their products and services require a lot of education for their prospects, so between prospecting, educating, and onboarding, there isn’t much time left over.
They spend much time keeping up with the industry and perfecting their services. It's easy to see why making web content is not their top focus.
But, when you consider that SaaS companies that use content marketing report up to 400% lead generation growth, it is a strategy that needs to be prioritized.
Creating new content can seem unimportant now. But, it is essential to educate your prospects and stand out from your competitors. In this blog, we go over why SaaS companies need a content marketing strategy and what you can do to nail it.
5 Reasons You Need SaaS Content Marketing
SaaS companies create software that solves their target audience’s pain points. That means your audience should be ready to go straight into a demo to learn more, right?
Unfortunately, we all know that is not the case.
Prospects still want to understand why your software is the right choice for them and how the features make you a better choice than your competitors. One great way to do that is through content marketing. Here are 5 benefits you can achieve with a dedicated content marketing strategy.
1. Improved SEO and Increased Organic Traffic
One big reason SaaS companies should consider content marketing is to boost their SEO.
Keyword research shows what terms people use to find your products. It also shows what questions they ask and who your online competitors are. This research will guide your content marketing strategy. It will help you create content that focuses on the words your potential prospects used to search for your services. Not only will this bring more people to your website, it brings more qualified traffic, with people who are already doing research on what you offer.
Here’s an example of how this could work in practice.
Let’s say you’re an industry-leading SaaS company, like Hubspot, and you’re looking at a keyword report of some of the biggest questions people are searching for in regard to CRMs. By creating content answering those questions and putting it on your blog, you’re providing a helpful resource for those searching for answers.
If your content is useful, relevant, and unique, your page will start to rank in search results for everyone asking that question. This will then lead to more people visiting your website — eventually adding more contacts to the top of your funnel through educational resources and leaving you with an opportunity to nurture them towards a sale.
2. Speak Directly to Each Awareness Stage
For good reason, the sales department prefers prospects who are informed and ready to make a purchase. People ready to take action need less nurturing, less communication, and less time to close. 
But sales also know that not every prospect is in that stage. This is where your content marketing strategy will help.
By continuously creating content, you can write blogs, case studies, landing pages, and even produce events or webinars for specific audiences. You can tailor your content to help them learn about your products. This will nurture them until they are ready to buy.
Let’s look at a classic marketing funnel — Attract, Engage, Convert, and Nurture.
The way you would talk to a prospect in the “Attract” stage and the “Convert” stage is completely different. One requires more basic knowledge of the products and services, while the other may be more interested in discussions about things like payments and onboarding.
With a content marketing strategy, you can create content that speaks to each awareness stage directly.
3. Social Media
For SaaS companies, finding social media content can be time-consuming. Your products may not look as good as a physical product would (who wants to look at screenshots?), and your organization can only do so many culture posts.
When you create content, you now have timely information. You can share it with your social media followers. It's likely the information they hoped for when they followed you. While social media posts do have a limited lifespan, this content can also be updated to make it more timely, and reshared on social media.
Let’s take a look at an industry example. Hootsuite, a social media scheduling tool, focuses on creating and repurposing their content and sharing it to their social media accounts. This resulted in a content piece receiving 5,000 monthly organic visits skyrocketing to over 900,000 monthly sessions.
4. Product Education
Another result of good content marketing is that you can educate your audience about your product. You can do this in many ways. You can highlight new or unique features. You can focus on the benefits customers get from using your product. Or, you can discuss how different people use your product. It’s like giving your prospects a demo before the demo.
Let’s look at the blog you are currently reading. At 1 Bold Step, our website focuses on our core services. These include our fractional marketing team and strategic plans. However, by actively creating content as part of our own content marketing strategy, I can write about a specific marketing tactic (content marketing) and speak directly to an audience that I know could benefit from this information (SaaS companies).
5. Lead Generation
Finally, the last and (probably) most important reason to consider content marketing is to generate more leads. A content marketing strategy can ultimately generate leads in several ways, with many of them listed above.
By ranking higher in search engines for specific phrases and questions, you can bring more people to your website and convert them into leads. When speaking to the different awareness stages, you give info to prospects. You may not have been marketing to them before. Adding more about your products can show specific industries, job titles, and company sizes why your product will help them. This will make more people want to chat with your company.
Steps to Nail Your SaaS Content Marketing Strategy
Now that we know the benefits of content marketing and why SaaS companies should include it in their marketing strategy, how do you get started? Here are the steps to take your content marketing to the next level:
1. Learn About Your Prospects
SaaS marketing is often misunderstood. Prospects that find your company by researching their challenges may not be ready to jump right into a demo. They need nurturing.
Learn more about your prospects. Figure out what questions they are asking, what solutions they are considering, and what has been holding them back from deciding. Use the information you find and create content around those items.
2. Define Your Messaging
The first step to creating a content marketing strategy is to define your messaging. In this exercise, you will examine what your company's values are, why you exist, and how you serve your customers. By understanding all of these items, you can ensure that your writing is clear, consistent, and a good reflection of your brand. This is true no matter who is writing.
Consider a brand story exercise to get started on defining your messaging.
3. Conduct Keyword Research
Earlier, I mentioned the SEO benefit of a content marketing strategy Now, it’s time for keyword research to get the most out of your content. Using SEO tools like SEMRush and inputting your main products and services to find all the related keywords and questions asked about those products.
When conducting keyword research, the most important takeaways will be to figure out that the keywords you are focusing your content around have a high enough search volume to make the effort worth it (this number is relative), and that the keyword difficulty is low enough that you have a chance to rank for those keywords.
4. Start With an Editorial Calendar
Now that we have conducted our keyword research, you have to put it to work. Taking your list of the keywords that represent the best opportunity for ranking, create a list of potential content pieces you can create for those keywords. This can include blogs, landing pages, gated content, or even updates to current pages on your website.
The goal is to have a content plan based on your SEO findings, and a cadence for how often you need to create content to meet your SEO KPIs.
Starting with a new content marketing strategy or refreshing an old one can seem like a daunting task, but you don’t need to go at it alone. Click here to learn how you can add a content marketing strategy to your 12-month marketing plan.
