SaaS Inbound Marketing Starter Kit

SAASINBOUND MARKETING

STARTER KIT

MARKETING BASICS

ACQUISITION

CONVERSION

RETENTION

Get ‘em

Persuade ‘em

Keep ‘em

ACQUISITION GOAL:

- Getting people to engage with your web presence

Good acquisition:

- Getting potential customers to visit your site

Bad acquisition:

- Getting irrelevant visitors who become low-quality leads

Acquisition cost:

- The money you have to spend to get a visitor.

ACQUISITION ● Blogging● Micro-blogging● Social media ● Data sharing ● Public relations● Search Engine Optimization (SEO)● PPC● E-mail campaigns● Affiliate marketing

ACTION ITEMS

CONVERSION

GOAL:

- Getting online visitors to perform a desirable action

Typical conversion actions:● Download a whitepaper

● Sign up for a newsletter

● Sign up for a free trial

● Sign up for your service

● Sign up for your service and actually pay for it

CONVERSION

Conversion goal:

- A page on your site which users reach when they convert (thank you page)

Conversion rate:

- What % of your visitors performed the conversion action

Conversion funnel:

- Path of conversion actions that leads to a desired outcome

CONVERSION

● Doing a better job at acquisition

● Optimizing landing pages

● Optimizing download/signup process

● Improving demo/trial offer

● Improving demo/trial experience

● Offering a free/introductory plan or

improving existing one

ACTION ITEMS

RETENTION Definition: Getting visitors to…● Keep in touch with you● Perform more conversion actions● Pay you more money

Benefits of good retention:● Increases lifetime value per customer● Reduces churn● Builds a community● Increases customer satisfaction

7xCOST TO RETAIN

1 CUSTOMER

COST TO ACQUIRE 1 CUSTOMER

IT COSTS 7 TIMES MORE TO ACQUIRE ONE CUSTOMER THAN IT DOES TO RETAIN ONE

RETENTION ● Product blogs

● Newsletters

● Sales calls

● Proactive customer support

● Microblogging

● Networking with existing customers/

prospects on social networks

ACTION ITEMS

CONTENT

CORE ASSETS + ROADMAP

ACQUISITION CONVERSION RETENTION

MARKET POSITIONING

MESSAGING

CONVERSION AND RETENTION

ACQUISITION

WHAT WE’LL GAIN

1. We’ll know how to price our product, how to present it on your site and what kind of trial/demo is

most appropriate

2. We’ll know which search terms to focus on in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay-Per-

Click (PPC)

3. We’ll know exactly what to write about in our corporate site, blog and other content channels

4. We can focus our efforts on the markets, products and packages that have highest revenue

potential

MEASURING SAAS MARKETING ROI

WHAT WE SHOULD TRACK (WEB ANALYTICS)

● Number of visitors and visits to your site

● Traffic sources (which sites visitors are coming from)

● Popular content

● Bounce rates (% of visitors who left your site immediately)

● Conversion (% of visitors who completed a desirable action)

HOW TO MEASURE MARKETING ROIActual revenue metrics:

● Per online visitor acquired● Per lead● Per new customer

Translating CLICKS to CASH will allow us to know:● Our acquisition cost for visitors from each online channel● How much money we made off visitors from each channel● Which channels to focus on● How much to spend on each channel

MARKETING FINANCIAL MODEL: LIFETIME VALUE / CUSTOMER (LTV)

TOTAL REVENUES PRODUCT PER PERIOD TOTAL RELEVANT VARIABLE COSTS

NUMBER OF CUSTOMERS

NUMBER OF PERIODS THEY REMAIN CUSTOMERS

LTV (LIFETIME VALUE PER CUSTOMER)

Lifetime Value represents the amount of CASH Adcade will add over the course of time, by

acquiring one customer.

FORMULA

MARKETING FINANCIAL MODEL: LIFETIME VALUE / CUSTOMER (LTV)

$30,000 REVENUES PER MONTH $10,000 SERVER COSTS & SUPPORT

300 CUSTOMERS

24 MONTHS

$1,600 LTV

EXAMPLE

TRANSLATING LEADS TO CASH:VALUE PER LEAD (VPL)

LEAD TO SALE CONVERSION

VPL

EXAMPLE

LTV

2% CONVERSION

$32

$1,600

FORMULA

TRANSLATING CLICKS TO CASH:VALUE PER VISITOR (VPV)

VISITOR TO LEAD CONVERSION

VPV

EXAMPLE

LEAD TO SALE CONVERSION

FORMULA

LTV

4% CONVERSION TO LEADS

$1.28

2% CONVERSION TO SALES

$1,600

SIDE NOTE: So if we’re paying $1 per click for SEO or PPC, Google is getting 78% of our profits.

BLOGGING, SOCIAL, AND SEARCH

ACTION ITEMS AND MEASURING ROI


BLOGGING SOCIAL SEARCH

THE WORD

SPREADING THE WORD

GETTING FOUND

Creating content that causes prospects to engage

Creating a buzz and networking with prospects

Ensuring prospects find you on search engines


YOUR WEBSITE

BLOGGING

BUZZWORDS

PRODUCT BLOG / PAGES

MICRO - BLOGGING

ACQUISITION

SOCIAL

SOCIAL NETWORKS

POPULARITY SITES

MEDIA SHARING

PUBLIC RELATIONS

ACQUISITION

SEARCH

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

(SEO)

PAY PER CLICK ADVERTISING

(PPC)

ACQUISITION

SEO, PPC, social networks, PR and Twitter will generate traffic to our site.


YOUR WEBSITE

BLOGGING

BUZZWORDS


MICRO - BLOGGING

ACQUISITION

SOCIAL

SOCIAL NETWORKS

POPULARITY SITES

MEDIA SHARING

PUBLIC RELATIONS

ACQUISITION

SEARCH


(SEO)


(PPC)

ACQUISITION

Blogs and PR help SEO by attracting links; SEO drives traffic to our blogs.

TRAFFIC

TRA

FFIC

LINKS

LINKS


YOUR WEBSITE

BLOGGING

BUZZWORDS


MICRO - BLOGGING

ACQUISITION

SOCIAL

SOCIAL NETWORKS

POPULARITY SITES

MEDIA SHARING

PUBLIC RELATIONS

ACQUISITION

SEARCH


(SEO)


(PPC)

ACQUISITION

Blogs and PR help SEO by attracting links; SEO drives traffic to our blogs.

TRA

FFIC

TRAFFIC

CONTENT


YOUR WEBSITE

BLOGGING

BUZZWORDS


MICRO - BLOGGING

SOCIAL

SOCIAL NETWORKS

POPULARITY SITES

MEDIA SHARING

PUBLIC RELATIONS

SEARCH


(SEO)


(PPC)

Blogs build readership, and gradually bring qualified visitors to your site.

AC

QU

ISIT

ION


YOUR WEBSITE

BLOGGING

BUZZWORDS


MICRO - BLOGGING

SOCIAL

SOCIAL NETWORKS

POPULARITY SITES

MEDIA SHARING

PUBLIC RELATIONS

SEARCH


(SEO)


(PPC)

Possible retention channels - Product blogs, Twitter, and Social Networks

RE

TEN

TIO

N RE

TEN

TIO

N

RETENTION

HOW IT WORKS:

INVESTMENT REQUIRED:

● Research the blogosphere, find a good niche subject● Start writing 2-5 posts per week on the subject● Read and comment on 50 leading related blogs● They’ll reference your blog => traffic● Plan your posts to include key SEO keywords

BLOGGING: COMPANY

● Setting up the blog:○ On Blogger/TypePad – a few hours○ Medium – a few hours

● Writing min. 2 posts / week (~1-4h / post)● Reading & commenting on other blogs (~2h / week)● Responding to comments (~1-4h / week)

MEASURING ROI:

+ (Total blog visitors and subscribers * % who visit the website * VPV )

+ (% contribution of blog readership to purchase * purchases from blog readers * LTV )

+ (% contribution of blog subscription to purchase * purchases from blog subscribers* LTV )

FORMULA

HOW WE CAN DO IT

HOW WE CAN DO IT

BLOGGING: COMPANY

SUBJECTS THAT INTEREST A BROAD RELEVANT AUDIENCE

253 COMMENTS FOLLOW AUTHOR

Jobs: Adcade is looking for a Sr Product Manager

PRODUCT AD

RSS FEED & TWITTER FEED

SUBSCRIPTION SUBJECTS THAT INTEREST A BROAD RELEVANT AUDIENCE


SUBJECTS THAT INTEREST A BROAD RELEVANT AUDIENCE


It is a MUST the author engages with commentators

Recycles traffic back to social pages and blog

Constantly promote our

products

Important to build individual following’s as well as the company’s

Great engagement practice and sign of company growth

HOW IT WORKS:


BLOGGING: PRODUCT

● Setting up the blog:○ On Blogger/TypePad – a few hours○ Medium – a few hours

● Writing min. 2 posts / week (~1-3h / post)● Responding to comments (~3-6h / week)

MEASURING ROI:

+ (Total website visitors landing on blog * VPV)+ (% contribution of blog readership to purchase *

purchases from blog readers * LTV)+ (% contribution of blog & newsletter subscription to

purchase * purchases from subscribers* LTV)

FORMULA

● Usually written by product team, embedded in site● Start writing 2-5 posts/week - product news, tips, etc.● Aim at retaining existing contacts & cross-selling● Focus on subjects users search for => SEO traffic

HOW WE CAN DO IT

HOW WE CAN DO IT

BLOGGING: PRODUCT

CHOOSE A PRODUCT THAT INTERESTS YOU

● PROD 1● PROD 2 ● PROD 3● PROD 4● PROD 5

LINKS TO HELP CENTER PRODUCT CONTENT

RSS FEED & TWITTER FEED SUBSCRIPTION

Important to promote additional products and

product specific content

Promote Help Center content and any other

knowledge base material


FOCUS ON PRODUCT FEATURES AND BENEFITS




Product content should focus on the problems they solve

Recycles traffic back to social pages and blog


HOW IT WORKS:


SOCIAL (MICRO-BLOGGING): TWITTER

● Write a good bio (1-2 hours)● Build a group of followers (ongoing)● Read Tweets and Direct Messages from

colleagues/prospects (~1h/day)● Tweet/Retweet 5-15 times a day (~1h/day)

MEASURING ROI:

+ (Total website visitors originating from Twitter * VPV)+ (Blog visitors originating from Twitter * % who visit the

website * VPV )+ (% contribution of Twitter interaction to purchase *

purchases from followers * LTV)

FORMULA

● Post 140-character “Tweets” several times a day● Can be personal (“what I’m doing, check this out”) or

corporate (“our news, events and offers”)● Follow people from your industry, they’ll follow you● Use (sparingly) to drive traffic to blog and offers

HOW WE CAN DO IT

HOW WE CAN DO IT

HOW IT WORKS:


SOCIAL: FACEBOOK

● Recurring graphic design/minor web development● One-time effort to build initial fan base● Core content (from your blog, etc.)● Somebody to post regular updates & reply● For ~1000 users – 2h /day● For ~5000 users – hire a part-time student

MEASURING ROI:

+ (Website visitors originating from Facebook * VPV)

+ (Blog visitors originating from Facebook * % who visit the website * VPV)

+ (% contribution of Facebook interaction to purchase * purchases from fans * LTV)

FORMULA

● Get people to “Like” it (1000+ and we’re in business)● Generate frequent updates to make it spread virally● Natural to connect your Page to your blog● Advanced: Facebook application => viral acquisition

HOW WE CAN DO IT

HOW WE CAN DO IT

HOW IT WORKS:


SOCIAL: LINKEDIN

● Writing a good company profile (a few hours)● Getting your team to build connections (ongoing)● Activity on existing groups (~2h / day)● Managing your own group● < 500 connections – 4h /day● > 500 connections – hire an agency

MEASURING ROI:

+ (Website visitors originating from LinkedIn * VPV)+ (Blog visitors originating from LinkedIn * % who visit

the website * VPV)+ (Direct leads from LinkedIn * VPL)+ (% contribution of group membership to purchase *

purchases from group members * LTV)

FORMULA

● Build company profile with the right keywords● Make noise and post content on large existing groups● Start a group, invite your team’s connections● Attract more members, post compelling content● Advanced: LinkedIn advertising, searching for leads

HOW WE CAN DO IT

HOW WE CAN DO IT

HOW IT WORKS:


SOCIAL: GOOGLE +

● Writing a good company profile (a few hours)● Getting your team to build connections (ongoing)● Activity on existing groups (~2h / day)● Managing your own group● < 500 connections – 4h /day● > 500 connections – hire an agency

MEASURING ROI:

+ (Website visitors originating from Google+ * VPV)+ (Blog visitors originating from Google+ * % who visit

the website * VPV)+ (Direct leads from Google+ * VPL)+ (% contribution of group membership to purchase *

purchases from group members * LTV)

FORMULA

● Build company profile with the right keywords● Make noise and post content on large existing groups● Start a group, invite your team’s connections● Attract more members, post compelling content

HOW WE CAN DO IT

HOW WE CAN DO IT

HOW IT WORKS:


SOCIAL: YOUTUBE

● Create the videos (endless hours)● Create a profile and channel (a few hours)● Manage your channel (~2 hrs. / week)● Make new friends (one-time effort + ~2 hrs. / week)● Network, comment on other videos (~1 hr. / day)

MEASURING ROI:

+ ( Website visitors through YouTube * VPV )

+ ( % contribution of video views to purchase * purchases from viewers * LTV )

FORMULA

● Upload short videos – demos, presentations (<100MB)

● Create company profile and your own channel● Add videos to your channel (your own + others)● Make lots of friends● Invite them to see your videos, comment on theirs

HOW WE CAN DO IT

HOW WE CAN DO IT

HOW IT WORKS:


SOCIAL: PUBLIC RELATIONS

● A full-service PR agency costs $6-15K p.m.● Just media list/editorial calendar can costs ~$4000

p.a.● Just following up on PR can cost ~$1000 p.m.● Writing a PR/article by a professional costs $200-600

MEASURING ROI:

+ (Website visitors through industry sites that covered you or published your articles * VPV)

+ (% increase in direct traffic growth * VPV)+ (% contribution to SEO efforts * website visitors

through SEO * VPV)

FORMULA

● Get a media list of industry journalists● Write press releases – customer wins, new products● Distribute to media list and follow up aggressively● Do editorial calendar research on your industry press● Submit vendor articles

HOW WE CAN DO IT

HOW WE CAN DO IT

SOCIAL COMMITMENT DAY / WEEK

COMPANY BLOGGING~ 4hr / day

Read / Comment on 10 related blogs

PRODUCT BLOGGING

TWITTER

FACEBOOK

LINKEDIN

YOUTUBE

PER DAY PER WEEK

2 - 5 posts (~20h/wk)


~ 4hr / day


2 - 5 posts (~20h/wk)

Read / Comment on 50 related blog

Follow new prospects (~1h/day)Read Tweets from prospects (~1h/day)

Tweet/Retweet 5-15 times (~1h/day)

Follow new prospects (~5h/wk)Read Tweets from prospects (~5h/wk)Tweet/Retweet 25-75 times (~5h/wk)

Post regular updates & reply (~2h/day)Recurring graphic design (TBD)

Post regular updates & reply (~10h/wk)Recurring graphic design (TBD)

Activity on existing groups (~2h/day)Managing your own groups (~1h/day)

< 500 connections – 4h/day

Activity on existing groups (~10h/wk)Managing your own groups (~5h/wk)

< 500 connections – 20h/wk

Network, comment on other videos (~1h/ day)

Manage your channel (~2 h/wk)Make new friends (~2 h/wk)

PER MANAGER

HOW IT WORKS:


SEARCH: SEO

● A full-service SEO agency costs $200-1000 p.m.● Or, buy just technical site optimization and DIY:

○ Find your top search terms and how you rank today

○ List yourself in directories, indexes and search engines

○ Improve site structure, add keywords to existing content

○ Do PR, blogs and add resources to your site

MEASURING ROI:

+ (Total website visitors originating from search engines * VPV)

+ (Blog visitors originating from search engines * % who visit the website * VPV)

- (Visitors from search engines before SEO program * VPV)

FORMULA

● Optimize site to prevent SEO roadblocks● Find 5 -10 search terms to focus on● High-profile terms – big, competitive, low conversion● Long-tail terms – small, non-competitive, high

conversion● Build landing pages with search terms in titles & text● Attract incoming links with the terms in the alias

HOW WE CAN DO IT

HOW WE CAN DO IT

HOW IT WORKS:


SEARCH: GOOGLE ADWORDS

● A PPC agency costs ~$150-300 p.m. for small budget● Set AdWords budget: $500-1000 p.m. is reasonable● Even if you use an agency, you’ll need to invest in:● Keywords research, reviewing/writing ads (~4-8 days)● Meetings and reports (~3h / week)● Auditing and monitoring the campaign (~2h / week)

MEASURING ROI:

● ROI is simple: Number of visitors * conversion to purchase * LTV

● Check conversion, bounce rate and ROI per keyword● Find your few “gold keywords” and get rid of the rest● NEVER bid more than 70% of Value per Visit

● Use Keyword Tool to find all relevant search terms● Prioritize – for enterprise SaaS, use 50-100 terms● Divide into groups and write good ads for each group● Build relevant landing pages with strong call to action● Start advertising, test conversion and optimize

HOW WE CAN DO IT

HOW WE CAN DO IT

SEARCH: PROJECTIONS

$X / DAY

$X / DAY

$X / DAY

$X / DAY

$X / DAY

$X / DAY

IMPS / DAY CLICKS / DAY IMPS / WK CLICKS / WK

+

(Based on keywords you found relevant and Google Adwords daily potential reach estimates)

IMPS / MO CLICKS / MO

SEARCH: SEO LANDING PAGES

1. Connect with intent: Offering a user what they expect

2. Resolve (initial) user query: Answering their initial query

3. Engage the user: Sending user signals to search engines

4. Drive further user engagement (if necessary): Additional signals to both users and search engines.

First engagement scenario: Content should be created with specific intent in mind, with headlines, and/or

graphic headers that are obvious, short, surrounded by adequate white space. And

the content must be specific enough to inspire a user's attention.

PRIMARY HEADLINE FEATURING TOP PERFORMING KEYWORDS

CONTENT

Users won't have time to read, but they will make a quick decision on whether the

format they review matches an expectation.

Users have short attention spans, and most have a preconceived expectation of what they should find, not matching that initial expectation can equate to a quick

"back click.".

User’s should be able to perform a quick scan above the fold to answer who, what and why?

SHARE All content should be shareable.

CTAObvious steps from landing pages to conversion or core information – is a better user experience = better potential rankability.

SOCIAL ADVERTISING

TARGETING AND GENERATING TRAFFIC

SOCIAL PREDICTIONS

FACEBOOK

LINKEDIN TEXT

SPEND/MO REACH/CAMPAIGN

IMPS/MO CLICKS/MO AVG CPC

LINKEDIN DISPLAY

TWITTER

KPI/MO

per quarter cpm per quarter(in & out of network)

(rough estimate)

(This data should be based around test campaign data)

IF YOU LIKE WOULD LIKE TO LEARN MORE

PLEASE EMAIL ME!

Mike Zarcone

[email protected]

THANK YOU!

SaaS Inbound Marketing Starter Kit

Marketing

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