How to have a marketing team of 10 for your SaaS business when you only have the budget for one person
31st October 2017
Making the marketing numbers work
The Forbes Cloud 100 list features the 100 ‘hottest private tech companies in cloud computing’. Figuring that marketing was an important factor that determined their presence on the list, Drift decided to analyse what these 100 firms were doing.
The report ‘Marketing Lessons From the Top 100 SaaS Companies’ studied the size of the marketing team in relation to the total number of employees. This showed that companies had ratios of total staff to marketers of between 18/1 and 23/1.
This may seem quite low, especially if you are in a company of say 10 people where you might struggle to find the budget to bring one permanent marketer on-board. Right now, your marketing is probably being undertaken as an activity shared across a number of people or by one person on your team wearing two or more hats.
The all-round mix of skills that are required to successfully execute marketing is wide-ranging and requires expert levels of knowledge and experience. Even when shared among a number of people, achieving the required standard may be a tall order.
Strategy, conceptual thinking, copywriting, proofing, editing, graphic design, typography and image manipulation are key parts of the process for creating content. Then there’s things like SEM through PPC and SEO, content management, marketing automation systems, social channel integration and perhaps inbound marketing to consider.
A full team of marketers with specialist skills in all the required areas might equate to 10 people. Even if you had the budget for one marketer, you might find it difficult to find someone with a complete range of skills.
So how are successful SaaS companies doing it?
What the relatively low marketer/non-marketer ratio really says, is that once a SaaS business takes off and becomes successful enough to get on Forbes radar, marketing team size and function become more efficient and optimised. Some might say “That’s great. But we’re not going to get on the Forbes Cloud 100 list anytime soon, without access to the skills of professional marketers now.”
This brings us to a key question: How can a SaaS company, with say the budget for one marketer, gain access to the skills and expertise of a marketing team of 10 people?
Outsource!
Outsourcing to a specialist SaaS marketing agency is a really good solution to this problem. When you need to obtain results fast, the specialist processes of agencies and the talents and abilities of an agency team means your SaaS business can quickly close the gap between where your marketing is now and where it needs to be.
An agency team can quickly understand the USP and work with your key messages or create new ones. It can conceptualise and deliver content quickly. It can also execute the marketing campaigns down multiple channels and deliver warmed and qualified leads to your sales function. It also generates, collects and refines the lead database which is the engine that drives further campaigning to future potential customers.
The main roles include:
A strategist
Typically, a marketing manager to think and plan the marketing strategy and manage the team.
Content marketers
Good content marketers are creative and work as part of the team to develop and deliver content ideas. Strong writing skills and developing an accurate understanding of your business and service offer are critical to the role.
Web designers
Good web designers work with the latest tools to deliver websites that meet the latest technical standards. Understanding UX (User Experience) and following best practice for conversion optimisation help convert and turn website visits into clicks.
Digital Marketers
Digital marketers need to be bang-up-to-date Google experts, with complete command of what it takes to succeed in being found through Google with PPC or SEO.
Marketing assistants
The best marketing assistants are knowledgeable and conversant with a range of marketing activities, as well as theories and principles of practice. Likely to be good all-rounders with the ability to follow precise instructions and to be highly conversant with a range of digital systems used for executing campaigns.
Outsource your marketing with Xander Marketing
Xander Marketing works in partnership with SaaS businesses around the world to support growth through new customer acquisition, increasing leads, generating more website traffic and raising industry awareness. If you lack the time, resource or know how to undertake marketing then get in touch and book your free 30 minute consultation.
