This Is the SMARTEST SaaS Marketing Strategy I’ve Ever Seen… 🤯
Summary
TLDRIn this video, the speaker shares insights on effective content marketing strategies for startups, particularly for those with low annual contract values. They recount their experience with 'spraying and praying' and introduce a structured approach based on Eugene Schwarz's five levels of awareness from his book 'Breakthrough Advertising'. The speaker provides practical examples of content creation for a hypothetical CRM called 'bump', emphasizing the importance of targeting the right audience level in the marketing funnel. They suggest starting with solution and product awareness for early-stage startups and highlight the value of content marketing beyond just driving traffic, as it serves as education for potential customers. Finally, they advise against focusing on content marketing for those who haven't yet secured their first 10 customers, as it may distract from more immediate marketing needs.
Takeaways
- 💡 Content marketing can be a cost-effective way to acquire new customers, especially for startups with low annual contract values.
- 📈 The speaker emphasizes the importance of having a strategic approach to content marketing, rather than a 'spraying and praying' method.
- 📚 The concept of the 'five levels of awareness' from Eugene Schwarz's book 'Breakthrough Advertising' is introduced as a framework for content strategy.
- 🔍 The five levels of awareness are: unaware, problem aware, solution aware, product aware, and most aware.
- 🚀 For early-stage startups, focusing on content that addresses 'solution aware' and 'product aware' audiences is recommended, as they are closer to making a purchase decision.
- 📝 Examples of content ideas at different awareness levels are provided, such as articles on organizing sales leads for the 'problem aware' level.
- 🔎 'Solution aware' content might include articles comparing different CRM systems, with the startup's product included as an option.
- 🤔 'Product aware' content involves creating 'versus' articles that compare the startup's product with competitors, which can be effective once the product has some brand recognition.
- 🏆 'Most aware' content is targeted at industry insiders and experts, who might be potential partners rather than direct customers.
- 🚫 Founders who have not yet acquired their first 10 customers are advised not to focus on content marketing, as it may be a distraction from more immediate sales efforts.
- 📅 An upcoming event, 'Microcom Remote', is mentioned as a resource for early-stage marketing strategies and networking with other bootstrap founders.
Q & A
What was the main issue the speaker faced with their previous startup's content marketing strategy?
-The speaker was 'spraying and praying' with their content marketing, meaning they lacked a clear strategy and were not targeting specific topics or audience segments effectively.
What is the key marketing strategy the speaker discusses in the video?
-The key marketing strategy discussed is overlaying content ideas with the five levels of awareness outlined by Eugene Schwarz in his book 'Breakthrough Advertising'.
What are the five levels of awareness mentioned in the video?
-The five levels of awareness are being unaware, problem aware, solution aware, product aware, and most aware.
What type of content should be created at the 'unaware' level of the content strategy?
-At the 'unaware' level, content should target broad general keywords and topics, such as 'how to get more business' or 'how to be a better salesperson'.
What is the purpose of creating content at the 'problem aware' level?
-The purpose is to address the audience's realization of a problem they face, such as organizing sales leads, and provide solutions or tips that can lead them to consider using a CRM system like the one being marketed.
How should content be crafted for the 'solution aware' level?
-Content at the 'solution aware' level should inform people about the existence of software that can solve their problems, such as comparing different CRM systems and including the marketer's product in the comparison.
What is the significance of 'versus' content in the content strategy?
-'Versus' content is used to compare the marketer's product with competitors, highlighting its advantages and differences, which is particularly effective when people are already searching for the product name.
Why is it recommended to start content marketing with 'solution aware' and 'product aware' levels?
-Starting with these levels is beneficial because they target people who are already looking for a solution to their problem and are more likely to convert into customers soon.
What is the role of 'alternative to' content in the content strategy?
-'Alternative to' content is used to attract people who are searching for alternatives to popular products, leveraging the brand equity of well-known competitors to draw attention to the marketer's product.
Which Founders should not focus on content marketing initially, according to the speaker?
-Founders who have not yet acquired their first 10 customers should not focus on content marketing initially, as it can be a distraction and the payoff from content marketing takes longer to materialize.
What is the main takeaway for early-stage startups regarding content marketing?
-Early-stage startups should focus on content that targets people who are already searching for a solution to their problem, as these potential customers are more likely to convert quickly.
Outlines
📈 Content Marketing Strategy for Startups
The speaker shares their experience with content marketing in a previous startup, emphasizing the importance of a strategic approach rather than a 'spraying and praying' method. They introduce the concept of the five levels of awareness from Eugene Schwartz's 'Breakthrough Advertising' as a framework for content creation. The speaker explains how to apply these levels to content marketing, starting from 'unaware' to 'most aware', and provides an example of how to create content for a new CRM product called 'bump' at each level. The focus is on targeting the right audience with the right content to drive conversions and sales.
🎯 Targeting the Right Audience with Content Marketing
In this paragraph, the speaker discusses the importance of targeting the right audience for content marketing, especially for early-stage startups. They suggest starting with 'solution aware' and 'product aware' content to attract customers who are actively looking for a solution and are closer to making a purchase. The speaker also touches on the potential of 'alternative to' content for leveraging the brand equity of competitors. Additionally, they provide guidance for when content marketing might not be the best focus, such as before acquiring the first 10 customers, and instead suggests other marketing channels that could be more effective in the early stages of a startup.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Content Marketing
💡Low-Cost Acquisition
💡Levels of Awareness
💡Eugene Schwartz
💡Tiny Seed Gathering
💡CRM (Customer Relationship Management)
💡Solution Aware
💡Product Aware
💡Most Aware
💡MicroCom Remote
💡SaaS Playbook
Highlights
The speaker discusses the challenges of content marketing in acquiring new customers, especially with low annual contract values.
Content marketing was initially used as a strategy to drive traffic to the website without a clear strategy.
The speaker introduces a smart content marketing strategy based on the five levels of awareness outlined in Eugene Schwarz's book, 'Breakthrough Advertising'.
The five levels of awareness are: being unaware, problem aware, solution aware, product aware, and most aware.
The content strategy involves overlaying content ideas with these five levels of awareness and focusing on the right level in the funnel.
The speaker shares a personal anecdote from a Tiny Seed Gathering event where founders discussed marketing strategies.
An example is given for a new CRM called 'bump', detailing the kind of content that might be created at each of the five awareness levels.
At the 'unaware' level, content should target broad keywords like 'how to get more business'.
In the 'problem aware' stage, content should address how to organize sales leads and close more deals.
For the 'solution aware' level, content might include lists of top CRMs or comparisons of different CRM systems.
At the 'product aware' level, content should focus on what makes the product unique, such as 'bump versus HubSpot'.
The speaker suggests starting content marketing with 'solution aware' and 'product aware' levels to target those already looking for a solution.
Content marketing is recommended for those who already have some brand recognition and are looking to educate potential customers.
The speaker advises against focusing on the 'most aware' level initially, as these are usually industry insiders.
For early-stage founders, content marketing should be approached with the understanding that it takes time to see results.
The speaker recommends that founders without their first 10 customers focus on outbound marketing rather than content marketing.
Content marketing is described as one of the five major marketing channels in the speaker's book, 'The SAS Playbook'.
The speaker promotes an upcoming event, Microcom Remote, focused on early-stage marketing strategies.
Transcripts
I wasted thousands of dollars and
countless hours developing content for
my last startup I was looking for
lowcost methods of acquiring new
customers especially because our annual
contract value was pretty low in the
early days and so content marketing was
a way of driving eyeballs to the website
problem was I was spraying and praying I
was looking at any topic dealing with
email marketing cuz we were an email
service provider and I had no real
strategy in today's video I'm going to
tell you about one of the smartest
marketing strategies I know and it's the
key to un locking your success with
content marketing and if you stick
around till the end I'm going to tell
you which Founders shouldn't worry about
content marketing at all after finally
figuring my way out with drip and having
a lot of success in exiting that
business I developed an actual content
strategy at a Tiny Seed Gathering so
tiny seed is the accelerator that I run
for SAS bootstrappers and we were doing
a kickoff event and some of our Founders
were sitting around a table one of them
asked how do I Kickstart My marketing
efforts people thought content marketing
was great for him so the ideas started
flowing but towards the end he had made
a bunch of notes taken them all down he
was kind of shaking his head and he said
all this sounds great but where do I
start so I sat down and on Hotel
stationary I still have the piece of
paper I broke down all the different
content ideas and I bucketed them into
the five levels of awareness that Eugene
Schwarz lays out in his book
breakthrough advertising we're going to
dive into the levels as we get into the
video but briefly the five levels are
being unaware problem aware solution
aware product aware and most aware and
so the key to this content strategy that
I laid out is overlaying your content
ideas with these five levels of
awareness and then choosing the right
level or levels in the funnel to focus
on and other people have talked about
this over the years I know some folks
over at powered by search for example
have talked about levels of awareness
with content marketing it's not a Brand
New Concept but to take it and apply it
to practical content ideas in an example
I think could be really helpful so all
this Theory obviously can be a bit
abstract so let's just take an example
you're in the early days of developing a
Content strategy for your new CRM called
bump let's run through the kind of
content you might create at each of the
five levels so we'll start with least
aware and move to most aware so at
unaware which is level one people are
kind of oblivious that they have a
problem at all so you're going to be
targeting super broad General keywords
you might create articles like how to
how to get more business
entrepreneurship here's how to be a
better salesperson or do better sales
demos at the next level of awareness
being problem aware folks are thinking
wow I have a lot of leads and I'm having
a tough time organizing all of them so
you might create pieces of content
around how to organize your sales leads
how to close more deals by staying
organized how to use software to help
you close leads five tips to closing
more sales deals one of those tips is to
use your software bump right any of
these you can imagine someone coming to
your website to find out how to close
more deals or be more organized and that
could lead them to sign up for a CRM the
next level is solution aware and so
solution aware content is for people who
know that there is software out there
that could solve their problem so you
might create content around what are the
top five crms what are the cheapest 10
CRM systems what's the best CRM for XYZ
industry you would of course include
bump as one of the items in these lists
or mention it at the top or the bottom
and get email optins and there another
angle here too there's also alternative
to types of Articles where you state how
bump is an alternative to different crms
but I'll explain those in a minute now
at the next level of awareness these
folks are product aware people know your
product bump exists but they don't know
everything about it so this is where you
can do versus content right you can say
bump versus HubSpot create an article or
a piece around that bump versus
close.com bump versus Salesforce a lot
of people create versus articles you
really only want to create them when
once people are searching for your
product name because without that
they're not going to find these pieces I
guess the other time you could do it you
put it in the footer is when people find
out about bump and they do genuinely
want to know the differences between
your product and Salesforce or hub spot
or close but in that case it is less
about content marketing per se and it's
more about educating your prospects
another ankle you can take is if people
are not searching for bump your product
name you create alternative to articles
so this is where you say alternative to
HubSpot alternative to closeth
alternatives to Salesforce and you're
trying to essentially piggyback on their
brand equity and people searching for
alternatives to those products and you
can go even one level deeper which is
like product detail content right so
integrating bump with twilio or with
zappier building your lead list with
bump like what if you're so popular and
you have an actual brand at this point
you can try to rank for people who are
trying to accomplish a task with your
specific software and finally in the
most aware level this is mostly people
who are experts in the space so this
might be someone who is a CRM consultant
and they know everything about all of
the crms in the space or perhaps it's
the founder or an employee of one of the
crms in the market so realistically if
you're going to Market to this segment
often times you're looking to get
agencies or Consultants to become
partners with you because if they're
going to choose between 5 10 15
different crms and they're going to
bring C customers then you can Market to
them as partners so now let's Circle
back to the Tiny Seed Founders question
from the beginning of this video where
do I begin at which level should you
start creating content if you are in
your early stage if you're an MVP if you
have 10 20 50 customers you need content
that will help you get conversions and
get you sales you want to create content
for people who are already searching for
a solution to their problem because
they're looking to buy soon and then you
want to show show why your solution is
the best fit for them so in this case I
would start with solution aware people
already know what they're looking for
and then as you get a bit of brand
recognition you can start with product
aware or you can do honestly the
alternative two pages pretty early so
really solution and product aware are
where I would start you're starting down
deep in the funnel because if you start
at the top of the funnel with unaware
people it might take them years to
convert or to ever need a CRM or they
may never need a CRM so while there
might be more traffic to those articles
they're worth much less to you and the
reason I wouldn't typically start by
focusing on those who are most aware is
those are usually industry insiders and
if you're trying to recruit Partners
fine but if you want to get the broader
community and get individual customers
most individual customers will not be
most aware until they've used your
product or used many products and tried
them out and so that that product aware
and that solution aware level is where I
think the sweet spot is for your first
pieces of content and keep in mind even
if you're not doing content marketing if
you're running ads if people are finding
you through Word of Mouth they are going
to wonder what's the difference between
bump and Salesforce they're going to ask
themselves that question and so Building
Product and solution aware content isn't
just marketing it's actually education
for people who are considering buying
your product in a minute I'm going to
tell you which Founders shouldn't worry
about creating content at all before I
do that I want to let you know about
microcom remote it's focused on early
stage marketing November 1st and 2nd of
201 23 from 11:00 a.m. to 2: p.m.
Eastern talks include the bootstrap
startup marketing checklist hiring a
copywriter and how to hire one that
doesn't suck building sustainable
customer acquisition funnels SAS email
marketing plus founder by founder
sessions where you get to meet other
bootstrap Founders just like you head to
microcom remote.com it's very
inexpensive I highly encourage you if
you've never attended one of our remote
events you should check it out all right
so which Founders shouldn't worry about
creating content at this point or diving
into content marketing if you don't have
your first 10 customers yet I think that
content can be a distraction right now
you're trying to scratch and Claw and do
whatever it takes with outbound
marketing you want things that go
quickly right so you want to do cold
Outreach you're going to be in the
forums you're going to be talking to
folks content takes a long time and
while I wouldn't say it's a terrible
idea to do in the early days realize
that every hour spent creating content
is going to pay off in five 6 8 months
and when you're trying to get your first
10 customers and prove that you've built
something people want and are willing to
pay for often times you want something
that's going to work in the next few
weeks content marketing is just one of
the big five marketing channels that I
lay out in my book The SAS Playbook but
there are obviously other ways to get
your product in front of more people and
if you want to add an additional
approach to your marketing tool belt
you'll want to watch this next video for
seven more SAS marketing strategies that
your competitors might be using to beat
you
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