How do you make your SaaS business stand out?
19th April 2016
Being noticed in a competitive market
Standing out from the crowd can be a challenge for any business, but in the world of SaaS it’s tougher than most.
Not only is the market highly competitive, with the number of companies rivalling your organisation growing practically by the week, to the end buyer it can often seem like most SaaS businesses are fairly similar.
The truth of the matter is that a lot of SaaS offerings have quite a few common features – and sometimes new market entrants will even copy the benefits of those that are well established. The only way to grow market share is to shout a different message to the competition; one that resonates with your target audience.
Sell solutions, not technology
Unlike traditional software, which tends to target IT or technology decision makers, SaaS is a business tool. This often means that the target audience is not technically minded, nor do they have any particular interest in the product’s specification. These personnel are dealing with bigger problems – customer satisfaction, operational infrastructure, multi-channel demands – and need a solution that can help them build a smooth, profitable business model.
As a result, your company should be going to market with a benefit-driven message that appeals to the emotional side of running a business. Show your target audience how you’re going to make their working lives better, rather than trying to blind them with the science behind your SaaS offering.
How to create a message that stands out from the crowd
In order to differentiate your messaging from the competition, you first need to understand what others are saying. Start by analysing 2-3 of your key competitors: how are their messages similar, and how are they distinctive? Where are the gaps between what they are saying, and what business challenges your SaaS product solves?
Those gaps are important, as they give you a chance to craft messages that aren’t being communicated to the market. However, they must be created in a way that means something to your target audience.
Don’t get tempted to slip into ‘technical jargon’, or to simply list all your product features. At every point, think about how your solution solves key business problems, and base your messaging around the challenges businesses face, and how you can alleviate that issue in order to help them drive profitability.
Finally, the beauty of marketing your product to a prospect audience is that you get feedback, either in the form of engagement rates e.g. email opens and clicks, or direct conversations with interested leads. This information will tell you which messages are resonating, and which aren’t, enabling you to tweak and refine as your campaigns progress.
Build stand-out messaging with Xander Marketing
There’s no short cut with go to market messaging – you need to spend time developing and refining it, in order to maximise your lead generation success. That’s why many companies choose to outsource their marketing activity to a professional agency.
As a SaaS specialist, Xander Marketing is hugely experienced in creating company messaging with a real market differentiator, and using that point of difference to create stand-out marketing campaigns. Get in touch with us to find out more.
