SaaS Content Marketing: 9 Steps to Success

Staying afloat in the ever-evolving SaaS industry can be quite a challenge. 

And with competitors constantly vying for market share, offering innovative software alone won’t cut it!

How can your SaaS brand distinguish itself from the rest? 

Enter SaaS content marketing — a strategic approach that helps you attract, engage, and retain customers through compelling content.

In this article, we’ll take you through all the SaaS content marketing strategies that can elevate your brand and fuel sustainable growth. 

And because we’ve helped numerous SaaS clients with top-notch content marketing strategies, we know what works and what doesn’t!

Ready to take your business to the next level?
Let’s get started!

This Article Contains

• Why Is Content Marketing Important for SaaS Businesses?
• How to Create a Rocksolid SaaS Content Marketing Strategy in 9 Steps
  1. Define Your Goals and Conduct In-Depth Research
  2. Segment Your Audience
  3. Produce Valuable Content and Optimize It for SEO
  4. Build a Top-Notch Marketing Content Funnel
  5. Distribute Your Content Through Various Channels
  6. Plan a Content Calendar
  7. Personalize User Experience and Engage With Customers
  8. Generate Leads and Nurture Them
  9. Monitor Key Content Marketing Metrics and Measure Performance

Why Is Content Marketing Important for SaaS Businesses?

Content marketing plays a pivotal role in the success of SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) businesses for several compelling reasons:

• Boosts Search Engine Visibility: Implementing an effective content marketing strategy can boost your search engine rankings and attract organic traffic to your site. For example, crafting high-quality content that addresses customers’ problems can help you gain a top spot on the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).

• Increases Brand Awareness and Establishes Authority: As a content marketer, you can establish a strong online presence by consistently producing valuable content. This will not only increase brand awareness but will also help you establish authority and expertise in your field.

• Educates Users and Attracts Prospects: SaaS products aim to address complex problems or specific needs. With content marketing, you can educate your target audience and demonstrate how your solutions can address their challenges. In doing so, you’ll attract prospects who are more likely to convert into customers.

• Builds Trust and Strong Customer Relationships: Creating high-quality and informative content builds trust and credibility. But B2C or B2B content marketing isn’t limited to acquiring new customers — it’s equally valuable for nurturing and retaining existing ones. 
  
  For example, if you offer post-purchase content (such as guides and answers to FAQs), you can foster strong relationships with customers and reduce revenue churn rates.

• Boosts ROI (Return on Investment): An effective content strategy can significantly boost your ROI. For instance, creating evergreen content that attracts organic traffic to your site will reduce your reliance on paid advertising. This can also lower customer acquisition costs over time.

• Gives You a Competitive Advantage: In a crowded SaaS market, content marketing can help you differentiate your company from competitors. For example, producing unique, insightful content can position your SaaS brand as the go-to choice for potential customers.

• Helps You Upsell and Announce Product Updates: Content marketing can be a powerful tool for promoting upsells and cross-sells to existing customers. You can also use it to announce and explain product updates, features, and upgrades.

Clearly, a content marketing strategy can do wonders for your SaaS business.

But how do you implement a failsafe SaaS content marketing strategy?
Let’s find out!

How to Create a Rocksolid SaaS Content Marketing Strategy in 9 Steps

Let’s dive into the proven methods that’ll bolster your SaaS content marketing game:

1. Define Your Goals and Conduct In-Depth Research

Creating a robust SaaS content marketing strategy begins with clearly defining your goals and doing comprehensive research. This involves analyzing industry trends, studying competitors’ approaches, and understanding customers’ problems.

A. Defining Your Content Marketing Goals

When outlining your goals, make sure they’re specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). The common B2C or B2B content marketing goals for SaaS businesses include:

• Lead Generation: Attracting potential customers and capturing their contact information.

• Brand Awareness: Increasing visibility and recognition of your SaaS brand.

• Customer Education: Providing valuable information to help prospects understand your product and its value.

• User Engagement: Encouraging users to interact with your content and stay engaged with your brand.

• Customer Retention: Keeping existing customers informed, satisfied, and loyal.

• Thought Leadership: Establishing your company as an authoritative brand within the SaaS industry.

• Sales Conversion: Converting leads into paying customers.

• Churn Reduction: Reducing customer churn rates through education and engagement.

B. Conducting Research

Doing intensive research lays the foundation that’ll help you craft content that effectively addresses customers’ needs.

Here’s what the process looks like:

• Competitive Analysis: Study your competitors’ content strategies, strengths, and weaknesses. Also, analyze their content performance, including key SaaS metrics like traffic, engagement, and conversion rates. From there, identify opportunities that’ll help differentiate your content.

• Keyword Research: Identify relevant keywords and the search queries that your audience types in the search engines. Use keyword research tools like Ahrefs and SEMRush to uncover high-value keywords and topics. (We’ll cover keyword research in detail later.)

• Industry Trends: Stay updated on industry trends, emerging technologies, and customer challenges. This will help you craft relevant and up-to-date content that addresses customers’ challenges.

• Content Audit: Review your existing content inventory to identify what works, what needs improvement, and what gaps exist in your content library.

• Content Distribution Channels: Research where your audience hangs out online. Also, find out which content distribution channels (social media, email, blogs, forums) are most effective for reaching them.
  

2. Segment Your Audience

Segmenting your audience involves dividing your target customers into distinct groups based on shared characteristics, behaviors, or demographics. 

And why should you segment your audience?
It helps you create tailored content and marketing strategies that address the unique challenges of different customers.

Here’s what the process looks like:

• Define Your Segmentation Criteria: If you operate in B2C, segment your audience based on demographic factors like age, gender, location, income, education, and job title. Also, look at past interactions with your content, such as website visits, downloads, and purchases. And if you run a B2B SaaS company, consider firmographic data like company size, industry, and revenue.

• Collect and Analyze Data: Use analytics tools, CRM systems, and customer surveys to gather relevant data. From there, identify patterns and trends within your audience segments.

• Create Audience Personas: Develop detailed buyer personas — the fictional representations of customers based on real data about existing customers. A buyer persona should include a fictional character’s name, background, challenges, goals, and preferred communication channels.

• Iterate and Update Personas: A buyer persona provides a humanized understanding of your audience — making it easier to tailor content to customers’ needs. As your audience evolves, revisit and update your personas to ensure they remain relevant.

3. Produce Valuable Content and Optimize It for SEO

Now, it’s time to craft content that speaks directly to the unique challenges and interests of each customer segment.

Let’s take you through the process:

1. Generate Topic Ideas Through Keyword Research
2. Develop High-Quality Content That Addresses User Needs
3. Optimize Your Content for Search Engines

A. Generate Topic Ideas Through Keyword Research

If your focus is on growing your brand through organic content, then you should prioritize keyword research.

What is keyword research?
It’s the process of identifying and analyzing terms or phrases that users enter into search engines.

Why is all this important?

After conducting keyword research, you should be able to craft content that aligns with what your audience is searching for. This will attract organic traffic and improve your chances of ranking well on search engines.

To learn more, check out our Comprehensive SaaS Keyword Research Guide. It covers critical keyword components, common types of SaaS keywords to target, how to brainstorm SaaS keywords, and more.

For now, let’s take you through the basics of SaaS keyword research:

1. Brainstorm Keywords
2. Use Keyword Research Tools Like Ahrefs
3. Use Your Google Search Console Data
4. Use Product Reviews and Customer Feedback

I. Brainstorm Keywords

The easiest way to get keywords and content ideas is through brainstorming.

But wait, how does that work? 

Based on your goals, think of basic terms that are relevant to your business or niche. You can even get some ideas from Google Suggest. (Google Suggest is a search feature that provides real-time autocomplete predictions when users type their queries.)

For instance, let’s say you own a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool like Salesforce. Just search for CRM on Google, and you’ll be presented with a couple of keyword opportunities.

II. Use Keyword Research Tools Like Ahrefs

As a content marketer, there are tons of keyword research tools you can use for your content writing needs. In this article, we’ll focus on Ahrefs — a powerful SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tool offering valuable insights into competitor backlink profiles, keyword rankings, and more.

How do you use Ahrefs for keyword research?

Let’s say you own an email marketing tool like Mailchimp. In this case, you can use Ahrefs to search for terms related to your product, like “email marketing tools.”

If you have an Ahrefs account, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Keywords Explorer tab.
2. Type email marketing tools.
3. Click the search button or press Enter:
   

These are the results you should see on your screen:

Now, let’s take you through what these keyword parameters mean:

Keyword difficulty (KD) is a metric that determines how hard it would be to rank for a specific keyword. The higher the KD score, the harder it is to rank for a target keyword.

Here’s how the KD scores are measured in Ahrefs:

• KD = 0-10: Easy
• KD = 11-30: Medium
• KD = 31-70: Hard
• KD = 71-100: Super Hard

Up next, we have Cost per Click (CPC). 

Cost per Click (CPC) refers to the amount you’d have to pay each time a user clicks on your online ad. This means if you had an online ad targeting the keyword “email marketing tools,” you’d have to pay $12 each time a user clicks on that particular ad.

CPC is usually directly linked to keyword difficulty. The more difficult a keyword is, the higher the CPC.

Let’s now take a look at search volume (SV):

Search volume (SV) refers to the average number of times users search for a specific keyword per month.

This means in the screenshot above, the monthly search volume is as follows:

• Global volume: 14K
• India: 4.1K
• The United States: 2.1K
• The United Kingdom = 600
• Pakistan = 600
• And so on…

When you scroll down on the Keyword Explorer section of the Ahrefs tool, you’ll come across SERP (Search Engine Results Page) data.

The SERP data shows you all the articles, pages, videos, images, or other related content that is ranking for a particular keyword. In this case, the content in the screenshot is ranking for the “email marketing tools” keyword.

Why should you analyze SERP data?
This can help you understand the search intent (the primary goal or purpose that a user has in mind when searching for a term or phrase).

In our “email marketing tools” SERP data, most of the content is in the form of listicles. So, it’s clear that users who search for this term are looking for a list of reliable email marketing software.

So if you wanted to target this keyword and address the search intent, you’d have to write a listicle post.

Want to get more keyword opportunities from Ahrefs?
Search for a particular keyword (like email marketing tools) and then navigate to the Matching terms, Related terms, and Search suggestions tabs on the left-hand side.

For example, if you go to the Related terms section, you’ll find some useful keywords to target, such as “email marketing for small businesses.”

III. Use Your Google Search Console Data

Once your content has been published and indexed, you can use Google Search Console (GSC) to identify more keyword opportunities.

But how?

GSC provides valuable information about keyword clicks impressions and clicks. You can just take a look at the keywords your posts aren’t ranking well for and then craft content around them!

To illustrate this example, let’s look at the data for a sample article written for the “SaaS marketing strategy” keyword:

The data in the screenshot shows that the article is ranking for other related terms, like “B2B SaaS marketing strategy.” 

But since the article doesn’t answer the search intent for the related terms, it isn’t ranking well. This is an opportunity for you to create new content around those keywords!

IV. Use Product Reviews and Customer Feedback

Product reviews can reveal all the problems and needs of your customers. Once you have this information, it’ll be easier for you to refine your keyword strategy and targeting.

For instance, let’s look at a review for Canva — a cloud-based graphic design tool:

Source: G2.com

A key term you could pick up from this review is that it’s “difficult to use Canva on mobile devices.”

If Canva was your competitor, then you could create content around mobile-centric graphic design tools. This would help address your ICP’s problems and potentially help you outperform Canva.

While you’re at it, don’t forget to check the reviews of your own SaaS tool. This will give you insights into what potential customers might be looking for in your product.

Another method worth trying is getting keyword ideas through sales calls and surveys. Listen to what your potential customers have to say, and then note down any keyword opportunities.

B. Develop High-Quality Content That Addresses User Needs

Once you have a list of keywords, you need to understand user intent. 

For example:
What are users looking for when they use specific keywords? 
Are they seeking informational content, product comparisons, how-to guides, etc.? 

When you have a clear understanding of user intent, you can generate content ideas. Bear in mind that high-quality content should be informative, accurate, easy to understand, and engaging.

Here are tips on how to craft top-notch content:

1. Understand Your Audience
2. Educate and Solve Problems
3. Maintain Relevance
4. Diversify Formats

I. Understand Your Audience

Conduct thorough research to comprehend your audience’s problems, interests, and questions. Use this knowledge to tailor your content to their specific needs.

For example, Mailchimp – an email marketing tool, has an audience mainly composed of SDRs (Sales Development Representatives) and marketers.

As a result, they realized that many of their customers are interested in creating landing pages that convert. (A landing page is a standalone web page designed primarily for digital marketing or advertising purposes.)

So, the company has a blog titled, “Best Landing Page Examples and Tips.”

Source: Mailchimp

The most important aspect here is that Mailchimp optimized this blog post for conversions. In the conclusion, the company mentions how its email marketing software can help create landing pages that generate leads:

Source: Mailchimp

II. Educate and Solve Problems

Craft content that educates users and offers practical solutions to their challenges. This will position your SaaS brand as a valuable resource.

For instance, Maichimp’s “Best Landing Page Examples and Tips” blog is an educational guide that offers practical tips to people who want to create and optimize landing pages.

III. Maintain Relevance

Keep your content up-to-date and aligned with the evolving needs of your audience.

To give you an example of what this looks like, we’ll explore an article by Zapier — a SaaS tool that allows users to automate workflows by connecting different apps.

Because we live in an AI-driven world, Zapier realized that most of its target customers would be interested in learning about ChatGPT and other AI tools. (ChatGPT is an AI-powered language model designed to generate human-like text based on the input it receives.)

So, Zapier has a blog titled “How to Use ChatGPT.”

Source: Zapier

In the same article, the company covers tips on how customers can use the Zapier tool to connect ChatGPT to different other apps:

Source: Zapier

Noticed something here?
Zapier covered a topic that its potential customers are likely interested in, but also found a relevant way to add itself to the picture!

IV. Diversify Formats

Offer content in various formats like blog posts, videos, webinars, ebooks, and infographics. This will help you cater to different learning preferences.

For example, Salesforce offers content in different formats. To check this out, follow these steps:

1. Visit the Salesforce website.
2. Navigate to the Learning section in the top-left corner of the home screen.
3. Click the By Content Type tab on the left.
   

Source: Salesforce

On the right, you’ll see a list of different content formats, like articles, videos, webinars, and more.

C. Optimize Your Content for Search Engines

Developing high-quality content is the cornerstone of a successful B2C or B2B SaaS content marketing strategy. But if you don’t optimize your content for search engines, then it will likely not reach your target audience.

Here’s how to optimize your content to enhance its visibility in the SERPs:

1. Use the Right Keywords
2. Optimize Meta Tags (Title, Description)
3. Use Descriptive URLs
4. Include Internal and External Links
5. Use Header Tags (H1, H2, H3, H4, H5)
6. Optimize Images (ALT Text, File Names)
7. Optimize for Mobile Devices
8. Prioritize User Experience (UX) and Navigation

I. Use the Right Keywords

Earlier, we explored the best ways to generate topic ideas through keyword research.

Once you have your set of topics, you need to include certain relevant terms in your content. And to ensure your content is comprehensible, don’t stuff keywords or add them randomly.

Want an example of how to add keywords strategically to articles?
Let’s explore Zapier’s article titled “What is a passkey?”:

Source: Zapier

The target keyword in this article is “what is a passkey.”

We looked at the SERP data for this keyword and discovered that Zapier’s article is within the top 4 — which is quite brilliant!

Clearly, Zapier must have added a couple of keywords strategically to boost its rankings. 

To confirm that, let’s look at the number of times they mention a relevant term like “public key” in the article: 

Source: Zapier

As you can see, there are several instances of “public key” in the article, and they were added naturally.

But you don’t always have to add multiple instances of the same keyword to rank. Sometimes, including just one instance of a keyword should do. 

But that’s not all!
You also need to implement other strategies to rank well. This includes optimizing meta tags, using descriptive URLs, and more.

II. Optimize Meta Tags (Title, Description)

Craft compelling and keyword-rich meta titles and descriptions to help search engines understand your content and rank it high on the SERPs.

Let’s look at Zapier’s “What is a passkey?” article again:

Source: Zapier

We used the SEO Pro Extension on Chrome to check out the description of the article, and here’s what it looks like:

In this case, it’s clear that Zapier optimized the title and description tags here with inclusions of the target keyword.

III. Use Descriptive URLs

Create concise and descriptive URLs that include relevant keywords. This will make it easier for both search engines and users to understand the context of your content.

If you take a look at the same article from Zapier (What is a passkey?), you’ll notice that its URL is short and descriptive. 

Source: Zapier

IV. Include Internal and External Links

Incorporating internal links to related content within your website improves navigation and user experience. Meanwhile, adding external links to authoritative sources can enhance the credibility of your content.

For instance, in the “What is a passkey?” article, Zapier added an internal link to its “Best secure messaging apps” post:

Source: Zapier

To help readers understand some terms and concepts a bit better, Zapier added external links to articles that explain what web authentication and public-key cryptography are:

Source: Zapier

V. Use Header Tags (H1, H2, H3, H4, H5)

It’s important to properly structure your content with header tags (H1 for main headings, H2 for subheadings, etc.). Not only will this help with readability, but it will also signal the content hierarchy to search engines.

For example, Zapier used the H1 tag for the title of its “What is a passkey?” blog. In the same article, it used an H2 header tag for the “What devices support passkeys?” heading, and an H3 header tag for the “Apple passkeys” heading:

Source: Zapier

VI. Optimize Images (ALT Text, File Names)

Image optimization includes providing descriptive ALT text for images. This is important for accessibility and helps search engines understand image content. Also, renaming image files with relevant keywords can also improve SEO.

For example, Zapier used a Gmail icon as a hero image in its “How to mute emails in Gmail” article:

Source: Zapier

We checked out the description ALT text for this image using the SEO Pro Extension:

Clearly, the ALT text used describes the image used. As we’ve indicated, this can be useful for accessibility purposes and also help Google understand the images on your articles better.

VII. Optimize for Mobile Devices

It’s important to ensure that your content provides a seamless experience for users on smartphones and tablets. 

Why?
Because mobile-friendliness is a ranking factor. This means you stand a chance to rank higher on the SERPs if your content can be efficiently viewed on various mobile and desktop devices.

What does a mobile-friendly website look like?

To answer that, let’s look at what Zapier’s “What is a passkey?” article looks like on a desktop device:

Source: Zapier

Now, here’s what the same article looks like on a mobile device:

Source: Zapier

The key takeaway from all this?
Zapier optimized its site for both desktop and mobile devices. This provides a seamless experience to users regardless of the device they’re using.

VIII. Prioritize User Experience (UX) and Navigation

Prioritize user experience by organizing content logically. Use clear navigation and ensure that content is easy to read and understand. 

What are the benefits?
A positive UX can reduce bounce rates and improve SEO.

Earlier, we discovered that the Salesforce website offers content in different formats. What you might have realized is that navigating the site is quite easy.

Just to recap, here’s how to view various types of content on the Salesforce website:

1. Visit the Salesforce website.
2. Navigate to the Learning section in the top-left corner of the home screen.
3. Click the By Content Type tab on the left.
4. Select the type of content on the right-hand side.
   

Source: Salesforce

See?
Everything is neat and organized!

Keen to learn more?
Check out our SaaS technical SEO guide to discover some effective strategies to implement and tips on how to audit your website.

4. Build a Top-Notch Marketing Content Funnel

Building a marketing content funnel involves guiding users through different stages of the customer journey — from initial awareness to becoming loyal customers. It ensures that users receive relevant and compelling information at each stage.

We’ll show you how a marketing content funnel works by looking at the articles by HubSpot — a SaaS company that offers a suite of inbound marketing, sales, customer service, and CRM tools.

1. Awareness Stage
2. Interest Stage
3. Consideration Stage
4. Decision Stage
5. Conversion Stage
6. Retention and Advocacy Stage

A. Awareness Stage

At this initial stage, potential customers become aware of a brand, product, or solution — often through content like blog posts, social media posts, educational videos, or other visual content.

For example, HubSpot has an article titled “What Is Inbound Marketing?” covering how inbound marketing works, the best inbound marketing strategies to implement, and more.

Source: HubSpot

B. Interest Stage

As users show interest in your SaaS services, you’d need to provide content that dives deeper into related topics. 

For example, HubSpot covered the inbound marketing topic. Interestingly, it also covered a related topic — the benefits of using CRM systems.

Source: HubSpot

You may wonder:
How is inbound marketing related to CRM systems?

Inbound marketing focuses on attracting customers through relevant content and engagements. Meanwhile, CRM systems track and manage interactions with potential and existing customers.

This means someone who wants to learn about inbound marketing is also likely interested in learning about CRM systems.

C. Consideration Stage

At this stage, potential customers are evaluating different solutions for their needs. They might consume comparison guides, expert opinions, or case studies.

So, this is where you can craft guides comparing your SaaS tool with those of competitors. And, of course, you have to indicate why your SaaS product stands out from the competition.

For example, let’s say a potential customer has heard of the HubSpot Sales Hub (a sales tool that helps sales teams manage, track, and close deals more efficiently and effectively). They might want to compare it with another sales tool such as Salesloft.

Guess what?
HubSpot has an article comparing its Sales Hub tool to Salesloft.

Source: HubSpot

In this particular guide, HubSpot mentions all the features of its Sales Hub tool and those of Salesloft. But the most important thing is that HubSpot highlights why its Sales Hub tool is the best option.

Source: HubSpot

So when readers find this particular guide, it’ll be easier for them to know why they should pick HubSpot Sales Hub over Salesloft.

D. Decision Stage

If you ace the “consideration” stage, your potential customers will want to explore more about your product before they decide to use it. This is where you need to offer content that reinforces the value of your product. 

For instance, you can provide product demos or articles offering tips on how to use your SaaS product.

HubSpot has an article titled “51 Tips for Using the HubSpot Software.” This is a go-to guide for everyone who wants to explore all the tools HubSpot has in store.

Source: HubSpot

E. Conversion Stage

Once users decide to use your product, you should make it easy for them to convert. Provide clear calls to action (CTAs), optimize landing pages, and create a seamless sign up or purchase process.

If you look at the top-right corner of all the pages on the HubSpot website, you’ll realize there’s a “Start free or get a demo” CTA button.

Source: HubSpot

Let’s say a potential customer was reading the “Tips for Using the HubSpot Software” guide and decided to try the HubSpot SaaS tool out. All they’d need to do is simply click the CTA button towards the top-right corner!

F. Retention and Advocacy Stage

After the conversion stage, you should maintain engagement with content that nurtures the customer relationship. For instance, regularly share updates, tips, and resources to help users make the most of your SaaS product. 

HubSpot has a plethora of resources and helpful guides that educate users on marketing, sales, and customer service topics.

Source: HubSpot

The company also built an online community where customers ask questions and engage with professionals.

Source: HubSpot

5. Distribute Your Content Through Various Channels

Want to ensure your content creation efforts don’t go to waste?
Distribute your content to maximize its reach, visibility, and ROI.

But how do you get started?

Share content through channels that are most likely to reach and engage specific audience segments. This means you’d need to identify the preferred communication channels and social platforms for each segment.

Here are the various channels to consider:

1. Blogging
2. Social Media Platforms
3. Video Sharing Platforms
4. Podcasts
5. Email Marketing
6. Ads and Influencer Partnerships

A. Blogging

This involves publishing informative and engaging blog posts on your website. When you take this approach, always remember to optimize your content for SEO to attract organic traffic.

We earlier covered a couple of blog article examples and tips on how to optimize your content for search engines.

B. Social Media Platforms

Share your content on social media platforms like X (formerly known as Twitter), LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. Tailor your content to each platform’s audience and engagement style.

Here’s an example showing a post shared by Salesforce on X:

Source: X (formerly known as Twitter)

Here’s another example showing the same post shared on LinkedIn:

Source: LinkedIn

C. Video Sharing Platforms

Create video content and share it on platforms like YouTube or Vimeo. Videos can include product demos, tutorials, or thought leadership content.

For example, Dropbox (a cloud-based file storage service) often shares useful tips and other video content on Vimeo and YouTube.

Source: YouTube

Source: Vimeo

D. Podcasts

Produce SaaS podcasts that discuss industry trends, insights, or interviews with experts. Distribute them through podcast platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

An example of a SaaS company that often produces podcasts is Salesforce. For instance, it has a podcast titled “The Salesforce Spotlight Series,” which was distributed on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify.

Source: Salesforce

E. Email Marketing

Use email newsletters to distribute content directly to your subscribers. While you’re at it, segment your email list to send personalized content based on user interests.

For example, HubSpot offers a daily newsletter to its subscribers. To learn more about it, access HubSpot’s blog page and click the Newsletter section at the top of the screen.

Source: HubSpot

F. Ads and Influencer Partnerships

Use paid advertising to promote your content on platforms like Google Ads or social media ads. 

How does this work?
When you search for a SaaS-related term on Google, you should usually see a couple of results with the “Ad” or “Sponsored” tag. This shows that the article or content was promoted using paid advertising.

For example, we searched for “CRM software” on Google, and Zoho CRM appeared at the top as a “sponsored” result.

Want to extend your reach in your industry?
It could be worth collaborating with reputed influencers or guest posting on other reputable sites.

Wait… What is guest posting, and what are its benefits?

Guest posting (also known as guest blogging) is the practice of writing and publishing content on another person’s or company’s website. The main goal is to promote your website through backlinks (the links from another website pointing to your website).

Some of the benefits of guest posting include:

• Building authority and driving traffic to your website through backlinks.
• Enhancing brand awareness and visibility.
• Building relationships in the SaaS industry.

And while you’re at it, be sure to identify opportunities to repurpose existing content into different formats. For example, convert a long blog post into a series of YouTube Videos to maximize the value of your content.

6. Plan a Content Calendar

Want to create an organized and effective SaaS content marketing strategy?
Crafting a content calendar can do wonders for you!

A content calendar is a tool that you use for planning, organizing, and tracking the creation, publication, and distribution of content.

Here are tips to help you plan a successful content calendar:

1. Create a Content Calendar Template
2. Plan Your Publishing Frequency
3. Review and Adjust Your Routine

A. Create a Content Calendar Template

Use tools like Trello or Notion to create the template for your calendar. And if you want to create something simple, you can even use a tool like Google Sheets.

Ensure to add important details in your content calendar. This includes:

• Content topics
• Content types (blog posts, videos, infographics, and other visual content)
• Links to files (Google Docs, etc.)
• Task status (e.g., “In Progress,” “Done,” etc.)
• Publication and due dates
• Assigned team members

Here’s an example of a Google Sheets content calendar template by SEMrush (a company that provides some of the best digital marketing and SEO tools):

Source: SEMrush

B. Plan Your Publishing Frequency

Stick to a consistent publishing schedule, be it daily, weekly, or monthly. This will help you maintain consistency, which is crucial for audience engagement and retention.

C. Review and Adjust Your Routine

Regularly review your content calendar to assess performance. Analyze what works and what doesn’t, and adjust your content strategy accordingly. 

When you make the necessary tweaks, focus on topics and formats that resonate with your audience.

7. Personalize User Experience and Engage With Customers

Personalizing content addresses specific audience needs and preferences — making your content more relevant and meaningful. Meanwhile, engaging with customers builds trust and fosters loyalty.

Let’s explore how all this works:

1. Personalizing User Experience
2. Engaging With Customers

A. Personalizing User Experience

The best practices for creating a personalized user experience are:

1. Data Collection
2. Customer Segmentation
3. Content Personalization
4. Email Marketing

I. Data Collection

Gather relevant data about your customers. This can include their browsing history, interactions with your SaaS product, feedback, and demographic information. Employ analytics tools (like Google Analytics, Hotjar, or Mixpanel) to collect and analyze this data.

II. Customer Segmentation

Segment your customer base into distinct groups based on shared characteristics, behaviors, or preferences. This segmentation might include factors like industry, company size, product usage, or geographic location.

How do you get started with customer segmentation?
SaaS tools like HubSpot and Mailchimp have customer segmentation features that could come in handy. 

III. Content Personalization

Create content and tailor it to address the specific challenges and interests of your customers. If you have different customer segments (such as small businesses and enterprises), create content that speaks directly to the unique needs of each group.

For example, Salesforce creates content for various industries, including finance, healthcare, retail, and more. To view this, navigate to the Salesforce home page, click the Learning section at the top, and then select the By Industry option.

Source: Salesforce

The company also segmented its content based on roles, which include designers, developers, salespeople, and more.

Source: Salesforce

IV. Email Marketing

Personalize email marketing campaigns by addressing recipients by name and sending content that aligns with their past interactions or purchase history. Email automation tools (such as Mailchimp) can assist in delivering timely, personalized messages.

B. Engaging With Customers

Some of the best ways to engage with your customers include:

1. Social Media Engagement
2. Live Chat and Chatbots
3. Webinars
4. In-Person Events

I. Social Media Engagement

Posting on social media alone isn’t enough. You also need to actively engage with customers and respond to comments and messages promptly.

Earlier, we explored the importance of distributing content on various channels and used Salesforce as an example. For instance, we showed you how Salesforce shared one of its blog articles on LinkedIn:

Source: LinkedIn

If you go to the “comments” section on that particular post, you’ll realize that Salesforce responds and reacts to the comments posted by users:

Source: LinkedIn

II. Live Chat and Chatbots

Implement live chat on your website to provide real-time assistance to users. Also, consider chatbots powered by AI to answer common questions and provide personalized recommendations.

If you go to the HubSpot website, you’ll notice a “chat” button towards the bottom-right corner of the screen:

Source: HubSpot

When you click on the “chat” button, you can then ask the HubBot (HubSpot’s chatbot) any question. 

Source: HubSpot

III. Webinars

Host webinars on topics relevant to your audience. These interactive online events allow for real-time engagement, Q&A sessions, and in-depth discussions.

For instance, Zoom (a popular cloud-based video conferencing platform) regularly hosts webinars that cover its product features and industry trends.

Source: Zoom

IV. In-Person Events

If possible, participate in or host in-person events, conferences, or workshops related to the SaaS industry. Face-to-face interactions with customers can strengthen relationships and build trust.

8. Generate Leads and Nurture Them

Lead generation is the process where a content marketer attracts and converts prospects into potential customers.

How do you get started with this?

Let’s check out how it works:

1. Create Lead Generation Content
2. Use Email Marketing to Nurture Leads

A. Create Lead Generation Content

Create lead magnets (such as ebooks, whitepapers, or webinars) that provide valuable insights related to your SaaS product. Ensure that your potential customers can access this content in exchange for their contact information.

For example, Salesforce offers tons of long-form guides in exchange for contact information. Here’s a landing page for its “customer engagement trends” report:

Source: Salesforce

On this particular landing page, you’ll notice that there’s a “GET THE REPORT” CTA button at the bottom. This makes it easy for customers to know the action they need to take. 

In other words, Salesforce has a clear and compelling CTA button that can encourage users to download its reports.

B. Use Email Marketing to Nurture Leads

Once you’ve generated leads, segment them based on their engagement, behavior, and interests. From there, use email marketing to nurture them.

For example, send a series of targeted and personalized emails that provide additional value and showcase the benefits of your SaaS product. Use marketing automation tools (like HubSpot or Mailchimp) to send automated follow-up emails based on user interactions and behaviors.

How do you keep track of your lead generation and nurturing efforts?
Integrate your marketing automation tools with a customer relationship management (CRM) system like Salesforce. This helps track lead interactions and provides a centralized platform for managing and nurturing leads.

9. Monitor Key Content Marketing Metrics and Measure Performance

Want to evaluate the effectiveness of your SaaS content marketing efforts? 
Monitoring a couple of key metrics should help.

Here are the metrics you should focus on:

1. Traffic and Engagement Metrics
2. Conversion Metrics
3. SEO Metrics
4. Financial Metrics

A. Traffic and Engagement Metrics

Traffic and engagement metrics provide insights into how well your content captures and retains customers’ attention.

Any content marketer can measure these metrics on Google Analytics 4 (GA4) through these steps:

1. Sign in to Google Analytics.
2. From the Properties list, select the GA4 property you want to analyze.
3. Select Reports from the left menu.
   

Source: Google Analytics

4. Select the Life Cycle section, click the drop-down arrow next to Engagement, and then select Pages and screens.
   

Source: Google Analytics

You should see a couple of metrics on the right, including Total Users, Sessions, Engagement Rate, Average Engagement Time, and more.

Source: Google Analytics

Let’s check out what these metrics mean:

• Total Users: This is the total number of users who visited your site within a specified period.

• Sessions: A session represents a group of user interactions that take place within a given time frame. This can include page views, eCommerce transactions, and other engagements.

• Engagement Rate: This is the percentage of all sessions in which the user engaged with your SaaS website in a meaningful way. GA4 defines an engaged session as one that lasts 10 seconds or longer, has 2 or more page views, or includes a conversion event.

• Average Engagement Time: This metric measures the average time users spend actively interacting with your SaaS website or app during a session.

• Bounce Rate: This is the percentage of sessions that aren’t regarded as “engaged.” In other words, this metric is recorded for any session that doesn’t last at least 10 seconds, doesn’t have at least 1 conversion event, or doesn’t have at least 2 page views.

To view additional metrics on GA4, follow these steps:

1. Select Reports from the left menu on GA4.
2. Select the Life Cycle section, click the drop-down arrow next to Acquisition, and then select User acquisition.
   

Source: Google Analytics

You should see metrics like New Users, Views, and Views per User.

Source: Google Analytics

Here are the explanations for these metrics:

• New Users: This represents new visitors who landed on your site for the first time during a selected period.

• Views: These are the number of page or screen loads.

• Views per User: This represents the average number of pages/screens viewed per user.

So, what’s the best way to improve traffic and engagement on your website?
Focus on producing high-quality, SEO-optimized, and relevant content that addresses customers’ needs. While you’re at it, revise and update underperforming content to make it more relevant and engaging.

B. Conversion Metrics

Conversion metrics measure the effectiveness of content or campaigns in driving users to take a desired action (such as signing up, purchasing, or subscribing).

To effectively monitor these conversion metrics, use analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, marketing automation platforms, or CRM systems.

Here are the key conversion metrics worth tracking:

• Conversion Rate: The conversion rate metric measures the percentage of website visitors who take a desired action, such as signing up for a trial, subscribing to a newsletter, or making a purchase. 

To calculate the conversion rate, divide the number of conversions by the total number of visitors and multiply that by 100.

Conversion Rate = (Number of Conversions / Total Number of Visitors) * 100

• Organic Conversion Rate: This is the percentage of organic (non-paid) visitors who complete a desired action, such as signing up for a trial or making a purchase. The metric helps assess the quality of organic traffic and its conversion potential.

To calculate your organic conversion rate, identify organic traffic using analytics tools like Google Analytics and identify the number of people who completed the desired action (such as purchasing). Here’s the equation:

Organic Conversion Rate = (Number of Organic Conversions / Total Organic Visitors) * 100

• Visitor-to-Lead Conversion Rate: This is the percentage of website visitors who take an action that turns them into leads (such as filling out a contact form or signing up for a webinar).

To calculate this metric, divide the number of leads generated by the total number of website visitors and multiply by 100.

Visitor to Lead Conversion Rate=(Number of Leads GeneratedNumber of Website Visitors)100

• Lead Conversion Rate: This metric focuses on the percentage of leads who convert into paying customers. 

To calculate this metric, divide the number of leads converted by the total number of leads generated and multiply by 100.

Lead Conversion Rate = (Number of Leads Converted / Number of Leads Generated)* 100

• Click-Through Rate (CTR): CTR measures the effectiveness of calls-to-action (CTAs) or the links found in your content. It calculates the percentage of users who clicked on a CTA or link compared to the total number of users who saw it. 

To calculate CTR, divide the number of clicks by the number of impressions and multiply by 100.

CTR = (Number of Clicks / Total Impressions or Views) * 100

• Abandonment Rate: This metric represents the percentage of users who initiate a process but don’t complete it. For example, this could be an action such as abandoning a shopping cart or a sign-up form.

To calculate this metric, divide the number of incomplete processes by the total number of initiated processes and multiply by 100:

Abandonment Rate = (Number of Incomplete Processes / Total Number of Initiated Processes) * 100

How do you optimize conversion rates?

Implement A/B testing to experiment with different CTAs, content formats, or landing page designs. Also, analyze user behavior on your site to identify and rectify any barriers or friction points in the conversion process.

C. SEO Metrics

SEO metrics assess and evaluate the performance and effectiveness of your site’s search engine optimization efforts. They help determine rankings, visibility, traffic patterns, and user behavior.

Let’s explore how you can track these metrics and also dive into other strategies that can help you track additional SEO metrics.

1. Tracking SEO Metrics on Accuranker
2. Monitoring Indexed Pages
3. Optimizing Page Load Speed
4. Ensuring Your Site Is Mobile-Friendly

I. Tracking SEO Metrics on Accuranker

Here’s how to measure SEO metrics on Accuranker — a keyword rank tracking tool:

1. Log in to Accuranker (if you already have an account).
2. Click the Domain section on the left and then select your preferred domain in the middle pane.

You should now see a list of metrics in the Overview tab, such as Traffic Value, Share of Voice, Average Rank, and more.

Source: Accuranker

Let’s take you through what these metrics mean:

• Traffic Value: This is an estimation of the equivalent cost of acquiring the same organic traffic through paid advertising. It’s based on keyword rankings, search volume, and average cost-per-click (CPC) rates.

• Average CTR: This metric represents the estimated average click-through rate (CTR) of all the CTA buttons and links contained in an article.

• Share of Voice (SoV): This is an indicator of how your keywords are performing on the SERPs. It’s calculated by multiplying the average CTR by the search volume to give an overall “market share” in organic search.

• Average Rank: This metric represents the average position of all tracked keywords in the SERPs.

• Above the Fold: This refers to the percentage of tracked keywords that appear in the top search results, which are immediately visible to users without the need to scroll.

Now, let’s explore Accuranker a bit more.

When you scroll down on the tool, you’ll see a list of the “Top Winners/Losers,” representing the keywords that perform well and those that don’t.

Here’s the data for the “Winners” section showing the specific keywords and their rankings, SoV, and CTR:

Source: Accuranker

Let’s now look at other strategies that can help you track additional SEO metrics.

II. Monitoring Indexed Pages

Indexed Pages refer to the number of website pages that search engines have discovered and added to their database.

Regularly monitoring the number of indexed pages can help you understand how search engines interpret your site. For instance, significant drops in indexed pages could indicate technical SEO issues such as crawling errors.

Here’s how to index a web page on Google Analytics:

1. Log in to your Google Search Console account.
2. Choose your website property.
3. Click on the URL Inspection option on the left-hand side.
4. Enter the specific URL in the provided field and press Enter.
5. Click the Request Indexing button to submit the URL for indexing.
   

III. Optimizing Page Load Speed

Google considers page load speed as a ranking factor. So, it’s always important to ensure your website’s pages load quickly to provide a better user experience (and potentially improve search rankings).

You can analyze page load speed by using the Google PageSpeed Insights tool. Here are the steps you need to follow:

1. Go to the Google PageSpeed Insights page.
2. Enter your site’s URL in the box. In this example, we’ll use the URL for Salesforce.
3. Click the Analyze button.
   

Source: Google PageSpeed Insights

You can then choose to analyze the mobile or desktop version of your site. In this case, we’ll focus on the “mobile” version.

Source: Google PageSpeed Insights

So, how do you improve your page loading speed?
The PageSpeed Insights tool offers some recommendations!

To view the changes you could implement:

1. Toggle to the mobile section (there’s typically more scope for improvement on mobile)
2. Locate the Opportunities section.
3. Scroll.

Source: Google PageSpeed Insights

What does this data mean?
If Salesforce wanted to improve its page loading speed on mobile devices, it’d have to apply practices like:

• Reducing unused JavaScript
• Properly sizing images
• Reducing unused CSS
• And more…

IV. Ensuring Your Site Is Mobile-Friendly

With the increasing use of mobile devices, having a mobile-friendly website is essential. You can use tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to check if your site is optimized for mobile devices.

For example, here’s how to check the mobile-friendliness of the Salesforce website:

1. Open Google’s Mobile Friendliness Test tool.
2. Enter the URL in the “URL” box and click the TEST URL button.
   

Source: Google Mobile-Friendly Test

When a site is mobile-friendly, the tool should display a message that reads, “Page is usable on mobile.”

Source: Google Mobile-Friendly Test

To make your life easier, implement technical SEO best practices and conduct a regular SEO site audit. This will ensure your site is optimized for both users and search engines.

D. Financial Metrics

Financial metrics assess the financial impact of your content marketing efforts on your SaaS business. They help you understand how your content contributes to revenue generation and overall financial success.

To effectively measure these metrics, you’d need to use analytics and tracking tools like Google Analytics.

Here are some essential SaaS financial metrics to consider:

• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): CAC measures the total cost incurred to acquire a new customer. It encompasses all promotional, sales, and overhead expenses incurred during the acquisition process.

To calculate CAC, divide the total content marketing expenditure by the number of new customers acquired during a specific period.

CAC = Total Cost of Sales and Marketing / Number of New Customers Acquired

• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV or LTV): Customer Lifetime Value represents the total net profit a company expects to earn from a customer throughout their entire relationship. Your CLV can help you determine if your CAC is worth it.

Here’s how to calculate this metric:

CLV = Average Purchase Value * Average Purchase Frequency * Average Customer Lifespan

• Return on Investment (ROI): ROI evaluates the profitability of your content marketing campaigns by comparing the revenue generated against the costs incurred. 

Here’s how to calculate it:

ROI = ((Net Profit from the Investment – Cost of the Investment) / Cost of the Investment) * 100

• Cost per Conversion: CPC calculates the cost associated with each desired action, such as signing up for a trial, subscribing, or making a purchase.

To calculate CPC, divide the total content marketing costs by the number of conversions achieved.

CPC = Total Cost of Marketing or Advertising / Total Number of Conversions

Measuring these metrics alone isn’t enough. It’s important to regularly analyze them and identify trends, strengths, and areas for improvement.

Dominate the SaaS Landscape With a Failsafe Content Marketing Strategy

Building authority and surviving in the competitive SaaS space isn’t easy, unless you deploy an effective content marketing strategy. 

Well, the good news is that we’ve covered all the tips for building a top-notch SaaS content marketing strategy.

But the bad news is that implementing a SaaS content marketing strategy by yourself can be a bit tricky.

The planning process can be tedious, and crafting SEO-optimized content isn’t a walk in the park. Let’s not forget that measuring performance and key metrics regularly can be quite stressful.

Looking for an easy way out?

Startup Voyager is the answer!

We’ve helped our SaaS clients with effective content marketing strategies that have gained them the #1 position in the SERPs. In fact, we have a reputation for rapidly scaling up organic traffic for our SaaS clients by anything between 4x to 20x in a year!

Ready to build a rock-solid B2C or B2B SaaS content marketing strategy?

Contact Startup Voyager today! 

We’ll help you build an incredible content marketing strategy that drives massive traffic and conversions be it in SaaS, fintech, auto, hospitality, healthcare…the list goes on!