n Smart Strategies for SaaS Client Acquisition

It’s getting harder to close deals in the SaaS market as budgets get tighter and markets are more competitive. It’s important to develop customer acquisition strategies which target the right audience and encourage them to act.

Many brands focus on top-funnel (to build relationships and brand awareness) and bottom funnel (to close deals), ignoring the crucial customer acquisition stage that moves people along the buyer journey. We’ve all been guilty of it.

If you want to effectively bridge marketing and sales, you must develop strong strategies for customer acquisition that work. We can help. Let’s first talk about customer acquisition.

What is Customer Acquisition?

In essence, customer acquisition is the process of attracting a new clientele. It is a marketing function but traditional marketing tactics tend to focus on audience engagement and brand awareness. Customer acquisition is focused more on the audience that already knows you and convincing them to act (e.g. signing up for a demonstration, downloading an ebook, joining your mailing list, etc.).

What do you need to implement successful customer acquisition strategies?

You need the right tools, infrastructure and execution skills to be successful in creating strong customer acquisition strategies. You need the following to get started:

• Personas and Ideal Customer Profiles: Without a clear understanding of your audience, their needs, and the problems they are trying to solve, you will find it difficult to persuade them to move forward. It’s important to clearly document both ICPs as well as personas. See our handy guide for both.
• The Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), is the cost of acquiring a new client. The formula for CAC is Total Acquisition Costs/Number of New Customers. It is crucial to know your CAC to determine how effective your marketing efforts are and to see how you can lower it.
• Customer Lifetime Value: This is a measure of how much value each customer has brought to your business over the life of their relationship. The formula for CLV is Average Purchase Value x Frequency of Purchases x Customer Lifespan. Understanding CAC and CLV will help you better understand your strategy and improve your ROI.
• Measurement infrastructure. No matter how clever your strategies, you need to have a system that allows you to measure your efforts. You must also know what metrics to measure. Make sure you have the right tools and infrastructure to achieve this.

You can check if you have already documented this information to make sure it’s accurate before you implement these strategies.

7 Smart SaaS customer acquisition strategies

Here are some tips on how to maximize your conversions and reach the right people.

Create quality content to optimize search engine optimization.

SEO was the cornerstone of marketing for many years. However, as Google’s algorithm changes and AI alters the way people search for information, old SEO strategies might not work anymore. It’s crucial to have an EEAT acquisition strategy these days.

• You might have noticed that each keyword is filled with articles that repeat the same information. People are eager to hear from those who have had real-life successes, failures and lessons. Share your own personal experience and perspective with your audience to add value.
• Expertise is always in demand. Share your professional tips and insights with your audience to gain credibility and educate them.
• Authoritativeness: Although there are millions of people claiming to be experts in their field, not everyone is a real authority. The more links you get to your website and the higher the authority score, the more respected you will be.
• Trustworthiness: People will want to know if your website is worth engaging with. Make sure you have covered all your bases, including site security. Also, be transparent about who you as a company are to build trust.

If you are looking to improve your EEAT to acquire new customers, make sure to serve your audience the most valuable content and to give them clear instructions on what to do next based on that content.

Tip: Provide high-quality content with downloadable templates, guides, and toolkits to help people solve problems or accomplish tasks more efficiently. Use data storytelling to show your expertise and results. You can use Answer the Public to find out what your audience is most interested in. Then, you can think of the gated content that you could create to address those questions.

For more information on how to effectively communicate with your audience, you can also read SEMRush’s in-depth analysis of the EEAT .

For example, our Guide to Building a Brand Strategist is the #1 most popular content piece that has generated the most conversions.

Pay-per-click (PPC), or paid search, is a great way to find the right audience.

PPC is a good strategy as long as it’s done correctly.

• You should research the best keywords to use. See our guide on how to find the best keywords in your campaign.
• Create landing pages that are effective. They should be mobile-responsive and well-designed.
• Consider your audience’s most active times. Schedule your ads to run at those times.
• Test everything A/B. Try out different formats of ads, keywords, creatives, etc. See what resonates.

Start with a simple test to make sure your money is being used effectively.

Make sure that you are using the correct tools to track your campaign’s success.

3) Engage your audience through organic social media.

Social media can be a powerful tool to promote your content, engage with customers and encourage them to act. If you invest in high-quality SEO content, social media is a great way to reuse that content. You can do it in a variety of ways.

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  Create an tip series.
  
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  Share smart hacks
  
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  Inform people about your brand.
  
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  Solve problems by showing them the solution.
  
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  Video is a great way to get people’s attention.
  

The social media is also a great way to tease content that’s been gated. Share previews and snippets to encourage users to visit your website to download your templates, guides, toolkits.

Tip: People don’t just judge your tool or service when deciding whether they want to work together. The people behind the scenes can have a big impact on their decision. Follow these tips on how to promote your culture and people via social media.

Freshbooks, for example, uses Instagram to educate and entertain their audience. Each post provides high-quality content.

4) Convert using paid social media.

Paid social media is an excellent way to increase the reach of your guides, tips, and tools. Follow best practices.

• Select the right platform. LinkedIn is the best social media platform for SaaS customers acquisition.
• Ads that are unique will stand out. Attention-grabbing copy, design, CTAs and more are all necessary. You should also consider the format of your ad (e.g. carousel image, video, static image). ).
• Find the right audience. LinkedIn offers helpful templates for audience.
• Make it easy for your audience to convert by creating landing pages optimized for conversion.

Tip: Partnering with influencers can help you increase your visibility and credibility among your audience.

Email is a great way to engage people.

You have a list of potential customers on your email. It is therefore one of the best channels to acquire new customers, but it also requires a good strategy. Remember: The goal is to convince people to move forward and keep your brand in their minds.

• Segmenting your list will help you to target different audiences.
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  Customize the content.
  
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  Launch drip campaigns with high-value content that provides relevant education.
  
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Email subscribers are interested in your brand and are therefore more invested in what you offer.

You can ask your subscribers what they want to see. This will not only make them feel heard and seen, but also help you to give them what they want. We found that our subscribers prefer content with real-life examples of marketing. We were able to better tailor our editorial mix in order to meet their needs. You can find more ideas in these 10 tips for improving your SaaS Email Marketing.

6) Ask your network for recommendations.

Referrals will always be one of the most effective ways to gain new customers. A customer’s co-signing increases your credibility. Using a variety tools, you can gain referrals both directly and indirectly.

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  Ask them directly. This also applies to clients with whom you have a long-standing relationship. )
  
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  Create a referral programme that offers both existing and new customers benefits (e.g. discounts, freebies).
  
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  You can ask your customers to submit online reviews, or to submit directories and other online databases.
  
• Create compelling case studies to tell a compelling story.
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  Post testimonials on multiple channels.
  

Tip: Email is an excellent channel for engagement. You can send customized emails to your most satisfied customers asking them to refer others. You can include easy links and special incentives to make referrals easier. )

Exemple: Case studies can be a great way to show social proof. Especially when you have impressive results. Hubspot is a good example of this by sharing simple, short success stories from customers on Instagram.

Attend events to convince people in real life.

Meeting and converting customers in person has always been a powerful way to engage with them. In a world post-pandemic, you have more engagement opportunities than ever before, since you can host online and offline events.

• Consider your business goals and then choose the event type that is most appropriate. There are now more options for every budget. A multi-day event, a webinar, a conference, a trade show, an online event, e-learning, promoting your local community, etc. A simple series of “in conversation” videos with industry leaders is an easy way to engage your community.
  
• Partner with or sponsor other brands in order to attend their event. By being a featured speaker you will gain visibility and credibility.
• Create teaser campaign announcing the event you will be attending (or your participation in it). You can increase your visibility and start conversations even before the event.

Tip If you are hosting an event in person, you should film as much as possible. The event will have a second chance online, and the information you share can be shared with even more people.

Hubspot is a good example. They share highlights, event recaps and conversations on their YouTube channel. Inbound is the biggest conference they hold each year.

Improve your Customer Acquisition Strategies over Time

As you learn more, gather new insights, and iterate your strategies, they will continue to evolve.

• Make sure your value proposition is accurate. Brands struggle to effectively communicate their identity and what they offer. Our free brand messaging template will help you to create a compelling value proposition and message.
• Audit the competition. You need to know what they are doing if you want to be competitive in your field. You can use our guide to evaluate your competitors to find out how they are presenting themselves and why.
• It’s crucial to stay flexible. Market conditions, trends, and technologies are constantly changing. Focus on learning with every new strategy.

We know that it is not always easy to keep up with everything. You may need a partner to help bring your strategy to life. Follow these tips to help you find a partner agency with the expertise that suits your needs. You can also start by looking at our FAQs, or contact us directly.

Subscribe to our podcast a href=”https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/best-story-wins/id1677193546″>em>Best Story Wins/em>/a> for more tips and insights into customer acquisition. Subscribe to our The Best Story Wins Podcast to get more tips on customer acquisition.

The article 7 Smart Strategies to SaaS Customer Acquiring first appeared on column five.

Author: Katy French