Growing a SaaS or tech brand from the ground up can be incredibly taxing. If you're not a unicorn like Slack, Lyft, or other such companies with global recognition and respect, then you have find ways to drive growth for your brand.
Not all SaaS or tech companies will grow to unicorn level — and frankly, some founders are not even interested in it. But you still have to get your hands dirty to creatively navigate the tech business world.
A popular SaaS sales benchmark from McKinsey shows that companies growing at only 20 percent or less per annum have just an 8 percent chance of surviving. It's true largely because of the intense competition you're dealing with in the online space. Whether your goal is to become a global brand or not, if you aim to play the long-term game, then growth has to be a top priority.
Here's how brands can leverage HubSpot to attract, nurture, and convert leads so they can grow organically.
Why HubSpot Is a Great Option for Growth Marketing
Marketing automation is the best thing that has happened to tech marketers, but there are various options to choose from. So why HubSpot?
There are a few reasons.
HubSpot coined the term inbound marketing. Until 2005 when the HubSpot CEO and cofounder started using the term, there was no such thing as the inbound methodology. The concept of attracting leads organically has been around since the history of marketing, but no one made it popular until HubSpot came on the scene.
Years of learning, experimenting, and teaching have made the company realize what works and what doesn't. It's on this foundation that they developed tools and templates to help brands leverage inbound marketing for business growth.
All the tools you need to grow your tech business are integrated into HubSpot's suite of tools. If you're ready to leverage growth marketing for your tech or SaaS brand, then let's get right into how HubSpot can help.
1. Content Creation
Content is the lifeblood of inbound marketing. But you can't just go ahead to create content for the sake of it. Every piece of content you create on your website should be tasked with generating leads — or at the very least, supporting lead generation.
With HubSpot tools, you can get topic suggestions based on your target audience and the stage of the funnel it's meant for. This information helps you map out and create content that's more likely to rank and convert. You can also use the analytics feature to track your content performance.
2. Lead Capture and Nurture
You don't have to resort to different tools for your email campaigns. You can find all the tools you need on your HubSpot dashboard. There are also tutorials provided by HubSpot on how best to use each of the tools.
HubSpot allows you to add pop-up forms and lead flows even when you don't use their CMS. Leverage this tool for capturing contacts of prospects or when asking people to sign up for Demos.
Remember to be strategic about it. Don't show pop-ups to people that aren't in the right funnel stage. For example, asking a new website visitor to pay for your product might not work well compared to when you've nurtured them through blog content, email, or social.
Email still remains the best platform for nurturing leads. Once you've got contacts, the next thing to do is segment them so you're sending them personalized emails based on their familiarity with your product.
Some companies send generalized emails to their contacts, but it's risky, especially in competitive markets. How will these generic emails keep your contacts interested? The key to prolonging the LTV of your customers is making them feel special. Many brands can offer the same kind of service or product you're providing, but customer experience is not something that can be easily replicated.
3. Sales and Marketing Alignment
According to joint research conducted by Marketo and ReachForce, companies with strong marketing and sales alignment experience a 67 percent increase in sales compared to other companies that don't.
Your brand is losing customers if the sales and marketing teams are not working hand in hand. But you can change that with HubSpot's integrations. The analytics feature will show stats on your best-performing leads and those that aren't converting. You can even see what pages on your website are converting the most, as well as how those leads got to your website. This information is gold. Assign your qualified leads to the sales team while you let marketing do the work of figuring out how to tweak your brand messaging for more lead gen.
4. Growth Tracking
Business leaders are in the habit of setting key growth metrics at the start of every year. Some even do it quarterly. And it's good because setting metrics helps you measure how far you're coming up. It also shows you the necessary adjustments you need to make along the way.
Metrics are easy to set, but tracking them is hard. However, you can get it done with HubSpot almost effortlessly. Additionally, you can generalize reports of your entire organization if you use HubSpot's CRM system or integrate it with the one you have.
5. SEO
The following are some of the SEO activities you can carry out using HubSpot's suite of tools:
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Perform keyword research
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Build landing pages using a drag-and-drop editor
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Audit your pages to determine what's working and what's not
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Get a full SEO report on your website performance
While on-page SEO is important, don't overlook off-page SEO. If you have the resources, invest in building backlinks from reputable sites. You could do this in-house or employ the services of a growth marketing agency.
Get Started with HubSpot
HubSpot has a range of useful free tools and templates you can utilize. But the real magic happens with the paid tools. If you like to learn more about HubSpot's paid platforms and what plan will be best for your brand, read our ultimate guide to marketing with HubSpot.
At First Page, we help SaaS and tech companies create and implement inbound marketing strategies that generate leads and bring sales. We know firsthand how to use the platform to drive exponential and long term growth for our clients.
