What is the best way to grow a SaaS startup?

Hey there,

Some months ago, I was scrolling Twitter and came across a question that goes like this:

“What's been your number one growth tactic for marketing your SaaS?

In the comment section, there were a lot of excellent suggestions on how to market a SaaS product.

Some of the popular recommendations include:

• Cold email outreach

• Influencer marketing

• SEO and content marketing

• Facebook Ads

• LinkedIn Ads (For B2B)

• Organic social

• Word of mouth

• Affiliate programs

• Referrals from existing customers

• Building in public

This got me thinking about the most effective way to market a SaaS startup. I decided to write this email to share my thoughts on the topic.

Before we continue, here’s a message from this week’s sponsor.

Now, back to the email.

You see…

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to growing a SaaS startup.

Hence, the marketing strategy that worked for another business in your niche could fail woefully if you were to apply it hook, line, and sinker.

This is what I mean…

Let’s say you’re competing with companies like Basecamp, Smartsheet, and Trello in the project management space.

Copying their exact marketing strategy will likely not work for you.

Take Basecamp as an example.

One of their biggest growth levers is sharing contrarian views on social media and elsewhere.

This drives a lot of awareness for their product.

In 2021, they banned employees from discussing politics and societal issues at work.

That sounded strange and counterproductive. 

According to this report, one-third of employees left the company after this announcement.

Some employees even tweeted publicly that they were leaving the company.

And I'm sure that a handful of customers churned because of this.

But guess what?

The company’s co-founders didn’t really care much about the backlash.

Does this mean doing the exact thing would work for another SaaS startup?

I don’t think so.

Here is why...

Over the years, the Basecamp co-founders have built a reputation for being contrarian.

Their audience, followers, and customers know them for this.

Before remote work was a thing, they were one of the first (and probably the only) remote-first company. They even wrote a book about it in 2013 (more than a decade ago).

When Google forced them to pay for an Ad spot for their brand name in 2019, they called them out for it.

My point is…

Contrarian marketing works really well for Basecamp. 

Does this mean it would work the same way for your startup? 

Absolutely No!

Now, let’s look at it this way.

Basecamp, from my analysis, doesn’t invest heavily in SEO.

Would it be fair to say that SEO doesn’t work in that space? 

Absolutely, No!

Let me ask you this?

If you were to market your SaaS startup, would you prefer the Basecamp route?

While I leave you to answer, here is a fact you must know…

You must be comfortable testing new things and ideas when growing your SaaS startup.

While learning from your competitors is okay, don't rely on that alone.

If everybody in your niche does SEO, nothing stops you from doing that. 

On top of that, try other strategies like Paid Ads, Podcasting, Videos, and Influencer marketing.

If your competitors are building in public, you could also do that. 

That said, try other strategies like affiliate programs, cold email outreach, and newsletter sponsorship.

The point is…

To grow a SaaS startup that stands the test of time, you must be active in multiple channels.

While getting results from one channel is possible, diversifying your marketing gives you more leverage.

Of course, I highly recommend that SaaS startups invest in SEO due to its compounding results.

However, the bitter truth is…

• Cold email works.

• LinkedIn Ads works.

• SEO works.

• Organic social works.

• Communities work.

• Influencer marketing works.

• Newsletter sponsorship works.

• And on and on.

This means that…

• If you rely on paid Ads, you’ll miss out on millions of people who don’t know about you via organic traffic.

• If you focus solely on cold email outreach, you’ll leave much on the table with organic social.

• You could lose money and customers from affiliate programs if you leverage influencer marketing alone.

Of course, this might be challenging, especially if you lack the resources to execute it.

That said, you stand a lot to gain by using a multi-channel approach to grow your SaaS startup.

Over to you… 

In your opinion, what is the best way to grow a SaaS startup?

Reply to this email to let me know.

Wishing you a great day ahead.

To your startup success,

Shehu AbdulGaniy 

Founder, Your Content Mart

P.S: If you learned something new from this week’s email, do not hesitate to invite your colleagues and friends to join The SaaS SEO Insights today through this link. Counting on your support 🤝.