How To Get Your First 100 Customers for Your SaaS Product

Summary

This video explores strategies to acquire the first 100 customers for your SaaS product. It emphasizes starting customer outreach before building the product, creating a landing page for collecting emails, and validating interest through surveys. Key marketing strategies include launching on product discovery websites, organic content creation, SEO, cold outreach, partnerships, and paid advertising. It stresses the importance of adapting tactics based on where the target audience is found and includes links for additional resources on building a SaaS business.

Takeaways

• 🌟 Start marketing your product before building it to gauge interest and collect emails for future communication.
• 📋 Create a basic landing page with a headline, copy, and email opt-in to start building your audience.
• 📝 Attach a survey to your landing page to gather more information about your potential customers.
• ☎️ Conduct customer research by reaching out to interested users to understand their pain points and market potential.
• 🚀 Use product discovery sites like Product Hunt, Hacker News, and Indie Hackers to gain initial traction.
• 🔍 Focus on organic content and SEO by creating blog posts, videos, and other helpful content to build authority and attract customers.
• 📈 Leverage social media platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube for organic reach and engagement.
• 📞 Consider cold outreach via emails or calls to potential users or decision-makers to sell your product.
• 🤝 Partner with existing SaaS products for co-marketing opportunities to expand your reach.
• 💰 Explore pay-per-click advertising on platforms like Google, Facebook, Snapchat, Pinterest, and TikTok to target your audience effectively.

Q & A

What is the best time to start acquiring customers for your SaaS product?

The best time to start acquiring customers is before you even start building the product. You should create a basic landing page with an email opt-in to begin collecting email addresses, which can help with validation and building an audience for your launch.

Why is it important to collect email addresses before launching a SaaS product?

Collecting email addresses allows you to build a list of potential customers to contact when you launch or pre-launch. It also provides validation by showing interest in your product and helps with customer research.

How can you validate your SaaS product idea before launching?

You can validate your product by creating a landing page with an email opt-in and attaching a survey to gather information from potential users. High sign-up rates and survey responses can indicate a strong interest in your product.

What are some platforms where SaaS founders can launch their product for discovery?

Founders can launch their product on platforms such as Hacker News, Indie Hackers, Product Hunt, relevant Reddit threads, Facebook groups, and Quora, depending on where their target audience is.

What role does organic content and SEO play in acquiring customers for a SaaS product?

Organic content and SEO are crucial for building authority, driving traffic, and attracting potential customers. This includes creating blog posts, videos, or social media content that targets relevant keywords and platforms.

What are the benefits and challenges of focusing on organic content for customer acquisition?

Organic content can provide long-term, sustainable growth and authority, but it requires consistent posting and can take time to see results. It’s important to experiment with content that works for the target platform.

How can cold outreach help in acquiring customers for a SaaS product?

Cold outreach, such as cold emails or calls, can help by directly reaching out to potential customers or decision-makers at companies. This method can be particularly useful for SaaS products that require a more personal, sales-driven approach.

What are some examples of marketing strategies SaaS founders can use for paid advertising?

Paid advertising strategies include Google Search ads, Facebook ads, Snapchat, Pinterest, and TikTok ads. The choice of platform depends on where the target audience is located.

Why is Google Search advertising often a popular starting point for SaaS marketing?

Google Search advertising is popular because it allows for highly targeted keyword-based ads. If someone is searching for specific product types (e.g., 'budget planner'), you can reach customers who are already looking for similar solutions.

How can partnerships benefit SaaS customer acquisition?

Partnerships allow you to collaborate with existing SaaS companies, creating co-marketing opportunities where both companies promote each other. This can extend your product's reach and credibility.