It’s 2022 and content is still king. But more and more SaaS companies are failing to recognize the importance of experienced bloggers and copywriters when it comes to driving their marketing operations across the various channels. Let’s take a closer look at Content-Led Growth (CLG) and why you need to invest more to achieve sustainable results.
What is Content-Led Growth?
Content-led growth involves the strategic use of blog posts and content assets to drive leads to business websites, create brand awareness, and allow sustainable business growth. This content-centric B2B Marketing tactic is now taking center stage, with today’s potential customers frequenting corporate blogs and social media platforms before making their business decisions.
Content drives literally everything when it comes to B2B Marketing in the SaaS space today. The modern CMO simply can’t afford to compromise on content quality, because brand damage can snowball and recovery is not always possible. As you can see in the illustration below, Content-Led Growth (CLG) is the only way to go today when it comes to lead generation and brand awareness.
This article will cover all key aspects of Content-Led Growth, including blogging, email marketing, content marketing, social media marketing, video marketing, and product demos. Let’s dive into it.
Blogging Operations
Inbound marketing is extremely crucial when it comes to creating brand awareness and generating new leads. Before getting started, it’s important to define your target audience and understand what topics they would like to read about. These considerations should be merged with the technology you are looking to promote and the most important topics relevant to your specific industry.
Your blogging strategy should ideally have 2 main components:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search Engine Optimization should be the backbone of your blogging strategy. Your editorial calendar should be SEO-centric to target all relevant keywords and to be seen by your specific target audience. Our research has shown that around 75% of your blog posts should be based on SEO research. Keep in mind that it takes around 6 months to see clear results on Google.
Listicles are a great way to create value and engage with influencers.
Thought Leadership for Content-Led Growth
More and more SaaS companies are failing to make an impact because their entire focus is on SEO and metrics from Google Analytics. Don’t ignore Thought Leadership. Ask your CEO or CTO to write once a month and elaborate on your value proposition. Collaborate with strategic partners to publish guest posts and interviews. Around 25% of your posts should revolve around this theme.
Content Marketing
While Blogging will help your SaaS business establish an online presence in the long run, you need to create supplementary content assets for instant impact. These pieces should be gated ones to create more MQLs. It can also be a good idea to promote these content assets via paid campaigns. Just make sure you are hiring talented copywriters and designers for the job.
Aim to create at least a couple of the following on a monthly basis:
- Case Studies – Success stories are the best way to establish brand credibility and address pain points. Interview your clients as much as possible.
- Whitepapers (WPs)– You should be investing in guides and ebooks if your audience is technical. Create value to lure potential clients into your website.
- One Pagers – Blog posts and listacles can also be repurposed into informative one pagers. Just make sure your designer is creating captivating designs.
Have a healthy flow of blogs posts will help you create more content assets. For example, a series of articles can easily be minded and converted into a professional guide. Interview takeaways can be turned into an insightful infographic. The options are unlimited. Also, there’s no risk of SEO cannibalization since the these assets are downloadable PDF files or images.
Promote your gated assets with popups and side menus.
Social Marketing
Creating great content won’t get you far without people distributing it relentlessly on your Social Media accounts. Your LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook accounts should feature your latest content. You should also re-distribute old content and participate in discussion groups with non-corporate accounts. Your marketing team should be proactive and share content on an ongoing basis.
Educate your workers about the importance of social media activity.
More and more SaaS companies are also using their social media channels as a medium to educate potential clients. Think dynamic slideshow posts and live demo sessions (more on this later) with product features you want to showcase. Try incorporating HR updates, company event photos, and spicy employee information to establish an authentic connection with your audience.
Email Marketing
Email Marketing is much more than the random monthly newsletter. It’s about showcasing your best content and distributing it to potential clients. Email sequences need to be more about nurturing and educating readers. They should be short, spicy, and captivating. Besides company updates, you should be including blogs posts, case studies/success stories, and whitepapers in your emails.
A/B test your email subject lines for maximum impact.
Video Marketing
YouTube is owned by Google and you want to be friends with Google to make your content shine. Make sure you have short product videos in all strategic webpages and try to plant some into evergreen blog posts as well. Needless to say, all videos you are creating should be uploaded to your YouTube channel and distributed on your social media pages, ideally with paid campaigns.
Don’t have the budget to work with video agencies? Ask your customer success manager or marketing experts to record short one-minute sessions and showcase the main features of your product. These videos can prove to be extremely valuable to create brand awareness and generate a sense of authenticity around your B2B Marketing operation in general.
Content-Led Growth with BrandSpiker
BrandSpiker is a full-stack B2B Marketing agency that specializes in all aspects of Content-Led Growth. With a team of expert SaaS bloggers, copywriters, and designers, we pride ourselves in prioritizing quality over quantity and creating customized plans for every customer. Our client portfolio includes startups from the cybersecurity, ML/AI, eCommerce, PLG, and FinTech sectors.
The Growth is in the Details
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