Lead generation is the process of attracting and converting strangers into prospects who have indicated an interest in your company's products and services, while helping you develop a sales pipeline. In the last few years, the buying process has evolved so much that marketers need to find new ways to cut through the noise and reach the more empowered buyers.
SaaS companies must now focus on establishing an approach to marketing that emphasises on their unique values and learn to build deeper relationships with their target customers. To keep up with new online consumer trends, brands are putting more focus on digital lead generation channels.
A dry pipeline is the sales team’s worst nightmare and to avoid that, your business needs to stay focused on lead generation and find consistent sources that will generate sales-qualified leads. In this blog, we’ve compiled a list of the most effective lead generation channels for SaaS companies, that will help you fuel customer acquisition and business growth.
Attract, engage and nudge leads through the sales funnel with content marketing
Content Marketing is a widely used lead generation tactic that consists of producing informative and authoritative content which aims to nudge your prospects through their purchasing cycle. Content will not only complement your organic SEO efforts, but it will also provide your customers with the guidance they need to overcome challenges and learn about your services in a broader sense.
Create content that is interesting, helpful and valuable and addresses the core problems of your target audience, while providing solutions, beginning to build that initial relationship and attracting and sustaining online engagement for leads down the road.
Examples of content you can produce are blogs, cases studies, pillar pages, eBooks and white papers that will not only attract visitors to your website, but will allow you to showcase your experience and expertise. You can also gate your premium content by creating optimised landing pages, providing the content as a download in exchange for the lead’s contact information.
Email Marketing is still one of the most-effective marketing channels
Email has been around for years and is still one of the most effective channels. It is a fantastic way to reach a targeted audience. In fact, in the SaaS sector, email opt-in is one of the most important channels to use, because it can allow you to marry your marketing automation efforts and your CRM.
In order to succeed with your email marketing, you need to offer something valuable to attract email newsletter subscriptions. This usually comes in the form of helpful content, special discounts, freebies and limited-time offers. It’s crucial to build an understanding of your audience’s needs and goals.
Through marketing automation tools, you can segment your customer data and schedule your emails, creating content that systematically nurtures prospective customers through the sales funnel.
Use Online Paid Advertising to reach a new wider audience
Paid online advertising can help your SaaS company reach a wider audience, generate more web traffic and ultimately capture more leads. Targeted adverts can also help you promote your premium content across different social media channels. Pay-per-click and LinkedIn advertising typically works best to fuel your B2B lead generation efforts.
Google Ads will allow you to target prospective customers based on their search intent. This means that Google will enable you to create and run ads across the web, making them discoverable to their audience when they are looking for specific products or services. The better your ad campaign, the more clicks you generate, and the greater your probability of obtaining new leads.
It is no surprise that LinkedIn is a go-to SaaS social network. You can harness the power of the world’s largest professional network by leveraging the advertising opportunities available on LinkedIn. LinkedIn allows you to tailor your offers to the right demographics. Instead of using keywords, LinkedIn ads uses demographics like job title, industry and seniority to target content to the correct users.
Use webinars to position your SaaS company as a thought leader
Your SaaS company exists to meet a particular need of your target customers. You know enough about the challenges that they face and how they can address them. So why not provide this valuable information through a series of webinars? Webinars will not only educate prospective customers and position your company as a thought leader, but it will also allow you to generate interest in your services.
Software Trials and Demos
Would you buy a product or a service without being convinced of the value it will bring to you?
As a SaaS company, it’s crucial that you effectively communicate the benefits of your service and persuade prospects that it’s worth the investment. Where feasible, SaaS companies could offer demos and free trial periods to help prospects understand the benefits of the service they offer and let the product sell itself.
Live demos can give your sales team the opportunity to highlight certain challenges that your prospects face and how your software can help in those cases. Demos work especially well for multi-featured applications, which could be overwhelming at first. Following the demo, once people understand how service will help them, you can even offer them a free trial, so that they can get a feel of the system themselves.
Referrals
One thing that you should never underestimate is the power that your existing clients can have on your lead generation efforts. Your happy customers are your best brand advocates. For a prospect, it’s a social proof that someone like them had similar issues and that your service solved it for them. Referrals and customer case studies are a gold mine for B2B SaaS lead generation.
Conclusion
Lead generation is all about consistency, building a long-lasting efficient strategy across many different channels and combining all these tactics together to achieve the best possible results for your SaaS business.
Are you looking to deliver rapid growth throughout your business with a high-performing, sustainable lead generation strategy and focus on revenue growth with a high-converting sales process that delivers exceptional value?
Find out how r//evolution can help your SaaS company delivers integrated customer acquisition strategies to maximise profitability and revenue.
