No matter how great your SaaS concept is, setting up a business is challenging. Planning for startup growth and setting yourself up to thrive can feel overwhelming, bordering on impossible.
The key to building an SaaS startup that lasts is implementing an amazing growth strategy. This plan will outline the path forward and become the foundation of your sales funnel. Here are five competitive Saas startup growth strategies and why you need one from your first day forward.
Why You Need a Startup Growth Strategy
There are many reasons why you need a growth strategy. First and foremost, it illuminates the path forward for making the business not only profitable but sustainable.
According to the top-rated expert business brokers from Kansas City, a growth strategy is also essential when planning to sell your business. Having a strategy in place increased the value of the business and makes it more appealing for a buy-out.
Whether you plan on focusing your goals on this business for the foreseeable future or building a company you can sell, a growth strategy is crucial for success.
Strategy One: Create Killer Content
Content reigns supreme in digital marketing. Not only does having high-quality content play a significant role in SEO, but it also helps you build value with your audience. When you create content that the audience can relate to or finds useful, they’ll be more open to spending their money with you.
Content also creates various opportunities for generating and capturing leads to put into your sales funnel. In addition to having SEO-proof content, use bonuses throughout cornerstone pieces that invite readers to share their email.
While it doesn’t have a direct impact on SEO, building compelling social media content also has an incredible effect as a growth strategy.
Strategy Two: Use a Freemium or Trial
Implementing a try-before-you-buy option is an effective way to build trust with potential customers. It allows them to dip their toes in the water with no risk before making a financial commitment. As a SaaS startup, the majority of your customers will likely be using your product to fuel their own business; the less risk, the better.
As an alternative to a free trial, offer a tiered, freemium pricing model. Allow for basic usage for free while locking content for premium users. This provides an opportunity to grow with your customers.
Strategy Three: Offer Exceptional Service
Making every customer feel valued is a tried and true way to boost your reputation and capitalize on word of mouth marketing. From day one, make sure your customers know how to use your product and know that they can talk to a human with any questions they have.
Reaching out to offer free onboarding or training opportunities will keep your customers coming back for more while attracting new ones.
Strategy Four: Cultivate Strategic Partnerships
Strategic partnerships are a great way to cross-promote with relevant businesses and boost your sales. This strategy could be implemented in a variety of ways. Reach out to complementary, non-competition businesses and see how you can help each other out or create APIs and integrations with other SaaS tools to add value to your offering.
Working with influencers is another effective partnership strategy to grow your startup. Work with micro-influencers who have an engaged audience in your niche to get the best ROI and conversion rate possible.
Strategy Five: Lifecycle Marketing and Retargeting
Mass emails are no longer effective in converting customers. Instead, focusing on honing in via lifecycle email marketing and retargeting are essential for capturing “the one who got away.”
With lifecycle email marketing, you can target a potential customer in a personalized way that speaks to their location in the sales funnel. For example, someone who clicks through an email to browse options versus someone who partially completes a transaction.
With retargeting, you remind people about the product or service they conveyed interest in. For example, using Google ad integrations to showcase your product on various sites they visit in the days following.
With the right growth strategy in place, your SaaS startup will become an established, thriving business venture.
