W hy your SaaS Marketing Sucks

(and some smart things you can do about it)

Rand Fishkin | Founder & CEO

Bit.ly/saasmarketingsucks
Many SaaS Companies Plateau or Die
Because…

They Cannot Affordably Acquire New

Customers Above Their Churn Rate
“You must not only
acquire new customers,
but you must acquire
them at an increasing
rate that outpaces
your increasing
churn.”

- Joel York

Via Chaotic Flow

Why Does Marketing Hold Back So
Many SaaS Companies’ Growth?
(and what can we do to overcome that?)
 Your Customers Have
#1 No Incentive to
Amplify
Being a high-
quality,
useful
product isn’t
enough.
 Having a
lovely,
effective,
minimalist
design isn’t
enough.
 Social proof and
smart CTAs may help
convert visitors,
but won’t help you
earn visitors.
 Ways SaaS Products Earn
7 Amplification from Customers &
Sharing Users
is inherent to the product’s value proposition
#1

#2 Your site/product provides a high-value customer

community
#3 The product makes your customers look good to their own
audience
#4 Content on your site consistently fires emotional
triggers that encourage amplification

#5 Users financially benefit from sharing (but not in

sleezy/inauthentic ways)
#6 Your product or content targets a highly-likely-to-share
group
#7 Your company regularly engages in press-worthy activities
 Your Marketing
#2 Overvalues First
Exposure
 SaaS Marketing Mythology

Step 1: Build a Great Product

Step 2: Get on PH/HN, or run ads

Step 3: Customers! $$$! Funding!

This is a long
process,
with many steps
Yay! You made it to the top of PH &
received 15,000 visits + 500 email
signups

But, only ~0.01% of people are

looking for email verification APIs
that day 
 Every day, a few dozen
people search for this (and
don’t find you)
Loads of searches for
your service, but none
of these people can
find you 
They visit lists
like this (but
you’re not here)
They ask friends
+ colleagues
(who’ve never
heard of you)
They rely on
existing
providers
They lean on
social proof
from their
networks
 Known & loved?
Welcome to
Profitville.

New to a market?
Via Wordstream This happens.
 Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, & display ads all
work the same way

Via Resolution
How to Win at Digital Advertising

Step 1: Earn brand exposure w/ your target

audience
Step 2: Get >1 organic visit (or social
engagement)
Step 3: Advertise to those who already know +
like you
If you only play Or here
here (first (decision
exposure) time)
You’re gonna have a bad
time 
 Startup Marketing Reality

Step 1: Get known + trusted by your

audience
Step 2: Grow a presence across the
channels they use to find solutions your
product solves
Step 3: Be visible throughout their
discovery, consideration, and decision
 You’ve Been Sold on
#3 Chasing Growth Hacks
Hack-Chasing Usually Leads to
Death Before Success
Crap
Hack Hack Hack Hack
.

Via ProStart
You’re Fighting the “Law of Shitty Clickthrough
A Rates”
lot of exploitable,
short-term “growth hacks”
start here

And end here

Via
Andrew Chen
 Great Marketers Focus on
Flywheels (systems that scale w/
decreasing friction)
 Earn Links +
Amplificatio
Promote via Grow social,
n
Social email, RSS, & WoM
Channels channels
Push to email Content
Grow Domain
+ RSS
subscribers
Marketing Authority

Publish
Flywheel Earn Search &
Referral
Content
Traffic
KW Research +
Rank for More
Industry
Competitive KWs
Intuition
 Amplify +
Promote
Earn Press Run Ads Targeting
Coverage Cookied Visitors

Expand
Pitch Media PR+Ads Social
Following
Craft Stories
Flywheel Slowly
to Draw Convert Fans
Coverage + Followers
ID Sources of
Refine Ad+CRO
Customer
Processes
Influence
 Reach Out w/
Direct+Indir
Capture Cookie Site
ect Emails
Visitor Visitors & Email
Info Opens
Host Booths, Events + Run Hyper-
Personalized
Dinners,
Parties Sponsorship Ads

Sponsor +
Pitch to
Flywheel Improve CRO +
Sales Process
Present
Uncover Customer
ID Events w/
Connections &
Customer Targets
Affinities
 Amplify

Create Amplify

Hard at first,
Create but gets easier Convert

(& more
Find
profitable) with Convert
scale

Find Learn & Apply

 Growth Hacks
Can Accelerate a Flywheel
 Earn Links +
Amplificatio
Promote via Grow social,
n
Social email, RSS, & WoM
Channels channels
Push to email
If lack of social Grow Domain
+ RSS
promotion is Authority
subscribers
causing friction
in your flywheel, Earn Search &
Publish
HACK away! Referral
Content
Traffic
KW Research +
Rank for More
Industry
Competitive KWs
Intuition
 Hacks aren’t necessarily
evil, spammy, or without
value.
They can be useful when
applied to a sound marketing
strategy.
Find a Balance Between Long-Term
Investments & Short-Term Hacks
Long-Term
Short-Term Hacks
Investments
Pay (in time/$$) as
High upfront costs
you go
Slow to show ROI
Can Show Fast ROI
Earn customers while
you sleep Effort In = Links Out
Low Risk
Often High Risk
(PR/legal/etc)
 The Formula for Marketing that
Will Work for Years to Come:

Scalabl
Strategi Long-Term Hacks to
e
c + Flywhee + Investment + Remove
Roadmap s Friction
l
 You’re Ignoring Your
#4 Easiest-to-Reach
Audience
easier to
reach
Know you personally (& would happily meet for
coffee)
Know of you, like you, & follow your work
closely
Are already connected to you via email
Already follow you on social media channels
Have visited your website at least once
Have heard of your company (and can recall it)
Are in your target audience and reachable via
FB/GG ads
harder to
It’s Foolish to…
easier to
reach
Know you personally (& would happily meet for
coffee)
Know of you, like you, & follow your work
closely
Are already connected to you via email
Already follow you on social media channels
Have visited1)your website
Lack any at least once
strategy to
Have heard increase the size
of your company of these
(and can recall it)
groups
Are in your target audience and reachable via
FB/GG ads
harder to
easier to
reach
Know you personally (& would happily meet for
coffee)
Know of you, like you, & follow your work
closely
Are already connected to you via email
Already follow you on social media2) Not
channels
targeting
Have visited your website at least once
these people
Have heard of your company (and canfirst
recall it)
Are in your target audience and reachable via
FB/GG ads
harder to
easier to
reach
Know you personally (& would happily meet for
coffee)
Know of 3)
you,Aiming 100%
like you, of your
& follow your work
closely tactics at only these
Are already connected to you via email
groups
Already follow you on social media channels
Have visited your website at least once
Have heard of your company (and can recall it)
Are in your target audience and reachable via
FB & GG
harder to
But Rand…
Ben & Dan didn’t start MailChimp
with…

Oh dang… They totally did.

Alex & Max didn’t start Grammarly
with…

Oh dang… They totally did.

Jeremy didn’t start Yelp with…

Oh dang… He totally did.

Dharmesh & Brian Didn’t Start Hubspot
with…

Oh dang… They totally did.

easier to
reach
Know you personally (& would happily meet for
coffee)
Know of you, like you, & follow your work
closely
Are already connected to you via email
Already follow you on social media channels
Have
Pro visited your website
Tip: Having a lotatof
least once
target
customers in your
Have heard of yourcompany
personal
(and network
can recall it)
makes EVERY PART of marketing + sales
Are in your target audience and reachable via
easier.
FB/GG ads
harder to
 Your CRO Process
#5 Misses the Big
Picture
 Global Maxima

Local Maxima
Uncovering
why most
qualified
customers who
Incremental testing of visit don’t
headlines, colors, layout, buy &
pricing, etc. addressing
 Early Stage:
Build a community
& recruit folks
excited about your
product.
 Later Stages:
Once you have real
people signing up
for your product,
you can learn more
about them
 A few dozen
emails & names
give you a
treasure trove
of info about
your customer
targets

Now we can find

more people like
this!
Interview or
survey this
audience to
ID their
clones.
Then we can identify traits that
separate right prospects (who’ll use
& love our product) from wrong
(those who won’t).
 Ideally You Want to:

A: Identify right customers

B: Find what/who influences them

C: Clone, expand, & repeat

My Favorite
Process:

Boom.

And Shakalaka.

From Conversion Rate Experts’ case study

 Didn’t try the Tried, but Tried & loved
product didn’t love it the product

What do you think What made you try What made you try
the product does? it? it?
What objections did What objections did
What would make you you have and how you have and how
more likely to try did you overcome did you overcome
it? them? them?
What are your What caused you to What’s been most
biggest objections stop using the valuable to you?
to signup? product?
What would have made If you’ve loved
you stay a customer? it, can we share
 You’ve Ignored
#6 Brand Marketing
 Brand is…

A promise.
i.e. when you see “Brand X” it means “Y
Attributes”
A memory trigger.
i.e. when you experience problem Z, you
think of “Brand X” as the potential
solution
 Brand Marketing is…

A coded message.
Reminding you of the brand’s existence
Reinforcing the brand’s colors,
shapes, sounds, experiences, &
feelings
Nudging you to use the brand at the
What do you think of when you
see this brand?
Brand marketing reinforces that:
What do you think of when you
see this brand?
Brand marketing reinforces that:
What do you think of when you
see this brand?
Brand marketing reinforces that:
Before you can brand, you need a
Brand Promise

We We evoke We remind We share

provide feelings… you of… the values
… of…
product/ that make our Memories that People who are
service customers our target statistically
most anxious demographics &
that most likely to
about whether psychographics
solves a be our best
our solution will have ++
problem associations
customers
is right for
you have with
them
 Everything Should (Subtly) Reinforce the
PPC Ads Message
Tweets Emails Comments

SEO Press &

Snippets PR
Visual Product
Branding Names
The
Videos
Brand Big
Onboarding Promise Content

Facebook Landing
Posts Pages

Photos UI & UX
Outreach Brand Name
 The Awesome Powers of Brand
#1 Cost of paid acquisition drop b/c people prefer to click
on your ads
#2 Retention increases, as does customer lifetime value

#3 Switching costs feel higher (even if your competitors

make it easy)
#4 You earn more free coverage, amplifying your reach, your
SEO rankings, and reinforcing your brand

#5 It feels difficult, even impossible to reverse engineer your

success
#6 People want to take your calls, open your emails, and
respond to you with a “yes,” making all your bizdev
activities easier
Bit.ly/saasmarketingsucks

Thank You!
Rand Fishkin | Founder & CEO