Welcome to the 2nd installment of Ask Our Agency.
This series is NOT totally planned, but we figured it’s best to answer the most likely questions that you may have for us. 😎
52% of B2B buyers are “definitely” more likely to purchase from a company after reading its content.
While some SaaS prefer to produce content in-house, some (most actually) outsource this—talking about 84% of the 2020 B2B Content Marketing report respondents.
And when you outsource this to a SaaS content agency like CaaSocio, we’re not jumping right away to make your content strategy plan.
We need to do a deep dive first.
At CaaSocio, we understand the vital importance of taking this extra step to your SaaS business inside out before formulating a content strategy that truly resonates. Book a call with us.
And we explain here why.
What is a SaaS content strategy plan?
Firstly, SaaS content marketing is a subset of SaaS marketing. It focuses on content to promote a product and is all about creating to distributing valuable, relevant, and informative content to engage and educate the target audience.
So, a SaaS content strategy plan is a comprehensive roadmap for tracking the use of content. In most cases, this plan includes your:
- profiles of your target audience
- marketing advantage
- best channels to use
- marketing team that’ll execute the plan
- metrics for tracking the success
And here’s what the content funnel usually looks like:
Why you need a SaaS content strategy plan
Here are several other reasons why you need it:
- It ensures consistency in your messaging and content delivery.
If you want to build trust and credibility, consistency is key.
Consistency in putting out a valuable read—no matter how short or long your content is. And that’s also because customers expect a cohesive message and tone across your website, social media, email campaigns, and any other interactions.
- It keeps you on track.
All content should align with your overarching marketing tactics. Every piece of content you produce should be intentional.
A SaaS content strategy plan helps a bunch here. It acts as a guiding light in the content creation process. So you stay focused on your business goals, avoid creating irrelevant or disconnected content, and create a consistent tone that your audience will love.
- It maximizes your SaaS marketing investment.
It's true—creating content can be costly.
But with a content plan outlined, you can ensure that you allocate resources (time, budget, personnel) more efficiently in every content creation to distribution. And that prevents wasted efforts on content that doesn't align with your goals or doesn't pay off, right? 😊
- It measures success.
When everything content-related is done, monitoring its success is crucial.
With the right metrics in place, teams can evaluate the success of each piece of content they produce—measuring the effectiveness of the content delivery. And when you keep track of your progress, you see if there’s a need to tweak your strategy and optimize your content strategy for maximum results.
Common challenges in creating a strategy for SaaS content
Sure, content strategy is beneficial.
But let’s be real. Content marketing overall is never easy. (Much more for SaaS when there’s no tangible product to present to prospects.) Here are some common challenges faced by SaaS content marketers when doing a content strategy:
🙁 Understanding the “real” target audience:
One of the most important steps in creating a successful SaaS content strategy is identifying your target audience. Creating content that resonates with them is impossible without a clear understanding of your ideal customer.
As much as possible, do it extensively. Which, by the way, is time-consuming.
🙁 Technical complexity:
SaaS products can be complex. And sometimes it's too complex—with various features and functionalities. It’s a SaaS content marketer's job to ensure that you explain these in a way that's understandable to a non-technical audience.
🙁 Competitive analysis:
Typically, when you just started, you don’t have a super clear picture of who your top competitors are. And that’s still forgivable.
However, stop overlooking competitive analysis as you move forward. Assuming your competitors are producing content that provides value to their customers, finding unique angles to differentiate your content is not easy (without proper investigation).
So, what do we [CaaSocio] mean by “Deep Dive”?
Generally, a "deep dive" means a comprehensive and thorough examination or analysis of your SaaS.
✨Note: If you already found the value of outsourcing content, the following explanation is for you. If you haven’t yet, please check out this article: Power up your SaaS marketing by extending your content team
Here at CaaSocio, it’s a strategic call with us—with our founders, who are the Copy Chief and Managing Partner. And we dig deep into the details to get a full picture of your SaaS beyond the surface-level stuff.
But what are the advantages of our deep dive?
- It lets us gather comprehensive information about your SaaS product, the market, and your audience.
- It helps us identify your known gaps in the market and find opportunities to differentiate your SaaS offering through your content strategy.
- It sets the foundation for a sustainable and adaptable content strategy. Because a deep dive helps in uncovering the unique selling points and value propositions of the SaaS product.
- It enables us to understand what sets your product apart. And allows us to highlight these advantages in the content.
- It ensures that the content strategy is optimized for maximum results within the allocated resources.
Also, if you'd like to read the first installment of the series, check out: Ask Our SaaS Copywriting Agency: How Can You Assure the Quality of the Copy and Content For Clients?
“Deep Dive”: the CaaSocio onboarding
From this point forward, we assume you’ve already contacted our SaaS content agency. So, here's what you can expect upon onboarding:
An in-depth strategy/discovery call and profiling
The process kicks off with a deep dive—a discovery call, exploring deep into your SaaS product and audience. As we speak, CaaSocio conducts audience profiling, identifies customer personas, and evaluates competitors. All of these are the star ingredients to craft a tailored strategy.
Preliminary content strategy development and tweaking
CaaSocio formulates a content strategy. But no, it’s not final. We’ll start mapping out themes, content types, and distribution channels. And we’ll present this to you and get your feedback FIRST before actually proceeding to finalize the plan and content creation.
Content creation and optimization
Only after you’re OK with the content plan should we get started. CaaSocio's team creates engaging content aligned with your brand voice. This content is optimized and subject to your review and approval.
Our tips before we get to a call
Here are some useful tips to help you prepare for our talk.
- Know your positioning — even if it’s not yet set in stone:
Before the call, it's crucial to clearly understand your positioning. According to April Dunford, “Positioning defines how your product is a leader at delivering something that a well-defined set of customers cares a lot about.” It doesn’t have to be final, but at least have a tentative position.
And here’s a great piece from Dave Gerhardt.
So, that's the deal. You must know your “theoretical” position from the get-go but it changes while you’re validating your market offer.
- Have clearly defined objectives:
Before the call, please clearly understand your content marketing goals and objectives. Here are some questions you can answer:
- Are you looking to increase brand awareness?
- Do you want to generate more leads?
- Is your website targeting to boost conversions?
- Or is your goal to enhance customer retention?
Having well-defined goals helps us [CaaSocio] tailor our advice and strategies to your specific needs.
- Know your budget:
Understanding your financial situation is crucial. So know your budget. A solid understanding of what you can allocate to your content marketing efforts helps us recommend strategies that align with your financial capacity. And it also helps us to negotiate within the boundaries of what's feasible.
- Prepare a list of questions and concerns:
It's easy to forget important questions or concerns during a call, especially if it's a complex or high-stakes discussion. So, preparing a list in advance ensures that you cover all the key points you want to address.
Deep dive with our SaaS content agency
We know the importance of having a SaaS content plan. So we want it to be as effective as possible. That’s why a deep dive call is necessary before developing your content strategy.
So, have we cleared our approach?
As a specialized SaaS content agency, we are committed to helping you achieve your content marketing goals and boost the success of your SaaS offering. If you're ready to move your SaaS content strategy forward, we invite you to schedule a call with us.
Let's create your content strategy that’ll educate and captivate your audience. Book your call today.
