8 simple marketing strategies for app and SaaS startups
If you’re an app startup or SaaS business, it’s important to have a solid marketing strategy. Marketing is what brings in new customers and helps retain the ones you already have. In this article, we’re going to give you 8 effective but simple marketing tips that can help increase your conversion rates and bring in more revenue.
Try A/B testing different ideas with marketing emails
If you already have a subscriber base, emails are a great way to test out messaging to see what converts best. You can then apply these learnings to your paid ad campaigns.
Emails allow you to play around with different subject lines, banner images, in-email content, and even button copy. By A/B testing, you’ll get incredibly valuable insights into what works (and what doesn’t), virtually for free. Programs such as Mailchimp allow you to run A/B campaigns relatively easily, or you can invest in larger customer management systems such as Sitecore.
Marketing automation tools like Drip help you automate some marketing tasks while still ensuring quality customer service across all channels by sending personalized communications based on user behaviour data.
Keep your website updated with the latest content
Include a blog section on your startup or app’s website, and make sure to update it regularly.
Blogging is a great way to add value for visitors coming in from organic search results. By presenting yourself as experts on topics related to your field, visitors might be more inclined to sign up for a trial of your product. And by blogging frequently, you’ll also increase your Google ranking, which will bring even more traffic through your funnel.
Just make sure your content is easy to read by using bullet points and short paragraphs and remember to keep your site looking clean and professional with no spelling or punctuation mistakes. Visitors will use your site as an indication of the quality of your product, so it has to inspire trust.
Run a referral campaign
People love free stuff and startups can use that to their advantage. Simply ask existing customers if they know someone else who might be interested in what you have to offer, then send over an affiliate link so any new signups lead to rewards for them. When thinking about startup app marketing strategies, this simple method should definitely be on your list.
Work with influencers or micro-influencers
Similar to referral campaigns, but instead of using your customer base you reach out to influencers and micro-influencers either directly or through a PR agency and ask them to promote your product in return for gifts or payment.
The trick here is to find influencers who are already aligned with the mission of your brand or product, as their followers will be more likely to engage with what you’re offering. And the benefit of micro-influencers is that while they may have a smaller audience, their followers are usually highly engaged.
Offer free trials of your SaaS product
When it comes to offering free trials, SaaS companies are in a unique position, as new customers can help move the needle in terms of recurring revenue. Allowing a potential buyer to test out your offering often comes at little or no cost, depending on the specific product you’re offering, but can result in a loyal customer who might then help spread the word about your product.
Run targeted ad campaigns
Paid ads are incredibly effective because they target potential customers who’ve shown interest in a product or service that’s similar to yours.
By spending money on targeted ad campaigns through Google Adwords, Facebook Ads, Twitter Ads, Reddit Marketing, etc., you’ll be able to reach new people who are already warm to what your app or SaaS is offering, meaning you’re placing your ads in front of the right people.
Once visitors click on an ad, make sure it takes them directly to somewhere where they can instantly fill out an opt-in form or register for updates. This will ensure that fewer potential subscribers bounce during signup, which means higher conversion rates over time.
Fine tune your PPC campaigns
Do you know what your Google ad quality score is? If you don’t, this could end up costing you a lot of money. Consider a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign if your content marketing and SEO rankings aren’t generating enough organic search traffic and leads.
This is where your marketing plan should consider PPC vs SEO, which means that your SEO efforts should be used to help you get top ranks for your top-performing PPC keywords or phrases.
Make sure you’re using the proper keywords, long-tail keywords, and variations to get your links in front of the relevant people at the lowest possible cost-per-click.
Generate leads with social media advertising
People love scrolling through their newsfeeds when they’re bored, so social media is one of the best marketing channels to include in your marketing plan.
Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and a number of other platforms offer targeted advertising, and with options such as static image, video and carousel ads, you can really create something engaging. Plus the ability to break your audience into segments makes social media advertising incredibly flexible.
We hope these ideas help you build a really strong marketing strategy that accelerates the success of your startup app or SaaS product. If you’d like any help implementing your strategy or coming up with more ideas on how best to target the right audience, we’re ready to help. You can get in touch using our contact form.