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Cem Bulut

How do you reach out to SMBs as a SaaS tool?

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Hi guys, As a digital SaaS tool, how do you communicate with somewhat traditional SMBs that are not digitally transformed completely? -Which channels seem to be more effective? -How does wording and narrative affect the process? -Which lead generation methods have you observed to work? Thanks!

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Ian
Responses in line below. 1. I've found social media as well as private groups to be the best way to connect with others. Talk about how your SaaS product solves whatever problem a person has. Paid media is another option, but it's important to have robust analytics and ensure you're making more than you're spending. 2. Be clear and concise in your explanation. Many entrepreneurs get too granular or lost in the weeds. A prospective client won't know the nuances of a product like the founder - so it's important to keep it simple. 3. COSLR.com is my product and works great. It's self-fulfilling in the sense that I can message prospective clients and demo the utility of the product within the sales process.
Cem Bulut
@coslr Thank you! I guess social media and private groups can create the 1:1 talk feeling so it pays off. I checked the website and will definitely try COSLR, seems great, thank you!
Sven Radavics
Brand partnerships, referral marketing and SEO are my goto for reaching SMBs as a new SaaS tool. With the use of ad blockers and browsers like Brave it's hard for new companies to buy themselves an audience anymore.
Cem Bulut
@sven_radavics Thanks! These are great channels to attract the right audience. Do you manage SEO in-house or is it outsourced?
Sven Radavics
@cem_bulut Right now it's inhouse and I've got a couple of tools that if I didn't have them, I wouldn't be able to manage. We're just a small startup raising a pre-seed round.
Cem Bulut
@sven_radavics That's great. We're more or less at the same stage. Could you recommend any tools for this?
Ibán Ríos
That's a great question Cem. We do also have a SaaS and we target SMBs through networking, linkedin, paid search and paid social. Anyway, I'm willing to see what others do :)
Cem Bulut
@iban_rios Thank you for your answer! Are you able to reach micro and small businesses through Linkedin? I have this perception that most of them are not on the platform, excluding startups for sure.
Ibán Ríos
@cem_bulut yes, we were able to reach micro and small businesses, but it is true that not all of them are over there. In our case, we do target SMBs that have a website, so it kind of makes sense for them to be on LinkedIn, right? Anyway, to be honest, in my experience SMBs are hard to get onboard with a SaaS solution :)
Cem Bulut
@iban_rios Hahaha yeah, it is totally a challenge. Happy to hear Linkedin is a channel to consider though, thank you!
Iuliia Shnai
We tested different channels including: - Linkedin automated campaigns - Email automated campaigns - Paid Google ads - Linkedin reach via posts My personal favorite is Linked for this type of SMB that you describe. I think also why Linkedin is good because you can find them by roles and reach different segments and compare.
Cem Bulut
@iuliia_shnai Thanks! Linkedin is a bit surprising to me and I will definitely look into it after your comment.
Iuliia Shnai
@cem_bulut I think it worth to look for this specific audience. The downside of it, is there are not so many early adopters which you can find through the Reddit, PH or Facebook groups even. But for us the people were really open for interview which I reach cold via Linkedin.
Marin Smiljanic
Our two main ones are LinkedIn and email marketing. Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator along with something like Hunter for lead generation has worked pretty well for us. For automated email campaigns I suggest a tool like Woodpecker. So far we haven't run a lot of ads, but if the product is completely self-service and easy to set up, I imagine it's a great option.
Cem Bulut
@marin_smiljanic Thank you for your answer! I'll definitely look into Linkedin and Woodpecker. We're also using email marketing, and since the product is self-service and easy to set up, paid advertising. How big is your sales/growth team who work on cold reach and emailing? Do you think a significant investment is required there?
Marin Smiljanic
@cem_bulut We work with a marketing agency (they're way more than that, but that's a separate topic), along with myself and a part-time sales guy.
Sefa Sarıkaya
Very nice question, looking forward to answers 🙌 We do paid advertising with catchy keywords to generate leads.
Cem Bulut
@sefasarikaya Thanks! Paid advertising is definitely one of the most effective ways, while I'm also looking forward to explore what to do for more efficient conversions and create awareness for their needs in digital.
Suhas Bhat
You need a strong sales team to do it. You need humans to talk to another human being who are usually traditional folks. Interaction is the key
Cem Bulut
@socialbhat It is a challenge acquiring without going out to field. That might be the way to do it, but it's also costly at the early stages.
Suhas Bhat
@cem_bulut hire a college student,who would want to intern and learn and earn. You will get better info than any analytics would provide. Personal selling works anyday.These relationships are gold. You will get more customers in that age group from word of mouth. I know if this digital age lot of founder miss of inperson sales team.
Suhas Bhat
@cem_bulut another question whats your marketing budget?
Xu Geng
Do you think that the word of mouth is slow but good way? At the very early stage of the company, the budget is not enough for paid ads.
Cem Bulut
@xgeng666 Yeah, word of mouth, or an incentivized version of it, referral marketing bring organic and sustainable growth. On the other hand, you need customers and their feedback to find product-market fit faster so that you can shape your product roadmap as well as earn money of course. So I think marketing should get significant budget at the early stage as well, while the alternative channels to paid marketing should be experimented. So I'm also looking for those alternative channels to try out. We're trying cold mailing, social media reach etc. I'd like to hear what you think.
Xu Geng
@cem_bulut I agree what you mentioned about quickly adapted based on the customer feedback. But not sure if cold mail is a good idea. Many of users may just ignore these emails.
Cem Bulut
@xgeng666 Yeah, mailing have a certain conversion rate for sure. It's not as targeted as paid, while not as expensive.
Clement Surry
have you tried micro-influencers?
Cem Bulut
@clement862 It's on our agenda but we've not tried it yet. Do you think it is helpful for such target audience?
Clement Surry
@cem_bulut if you hit the right influencer only. Probably good to see if there are any or else move on.
Kamal Prasat Somasundaram
The best channel for user acquisition I encountered is partnerships & regional content marketing along with SEO(although it's a long-term strategy). The best channel for retention is hands down, WhatsApp!
Cem Bulut
@kamalprasat Thank you! Partnerships are really an effective way as far as I have experienced. WhatsApp is also on the rise for a long time in terms of customer success.
Kit Fach
I would really lean into micro-influencer marketing. Much like my company your message to SMB/VSBs is look you don't have time to waste trying to figure out stuff that's not in your main area of business. Having other SMB people on youtube/tiktok demonstrate how easy it is for them to run ads even without knowing anything would be hugely helpful. Most people know they should run ads but don't know where to start so just focus on smaller YouTubers in the business space who people look to for help getting their digital presence set up and then they can reach your target customers. Also using messaging like "Look Facebook/Google want to incentivize you to spend more money, not make better ads, we have proven templates to help you easily set up and scale ad campaigns even as a total beginner!" Google is famous for giving horrible advice to people when it comes to ads so lean into that and you can be the helpful company whose on their side.
Cem Bulut
@kit_fach Thank you for your detailed answer! These messages completely fit with the value proposition, meanwhile most of VSBs are not even aware of the value of digital marketing, I wonder you sense the same problem in terms of SEO and blog. Micro influencer might be a great channel to consider actually, I'll look into it. Thanks a lot!
Shreyanshi Gupta
One of the best ways to reach out to SMBs as a SaaS tool is through email marketing. By providing valuable content and targeting your audience with relevant subject lines, you can cultivate relationships and build trust.
Cem Bulut
@shreyanshi_gupta1 Strength in content is crucial in email marketing, right? Do you have any recommendations on tools or ways to generate leads for email marketing?