Marketing a SaaS product on a shoestring budget

It's an all too familiar story. A developer has a great idea. A developer thinks they can build a better piece of software. Sometimes it niggles at them for years. Finally, they bite. They start building. This is it. This is going to be the next killer To-Do app, with blockchain and integrated AI, and distributed serverless cloud architecture. I'll just build it and let people come to me. Something something baseball something If you build it, they will come...

Time goes by. No traffic. No sign ups. It's a ghost town. This is all too familiar because developers make great developers, but software alone doesn't make a business. If you want paying customers you will have to market your product. If you are anything like those of us who pump out project after project in the hopes of one day striking it rich, you don't really want to spend much money on marketing.

So here we are...

You may have guessed this, but I'm not a marketer. I have about as much marketing experience as a junior dev trying to center a div. But I have launched a few different SaaS projects, and whilst I'm no Scrooge McDuck diving into a pool of money I have figured out a few ways to at least get people to your website, and that's half the battle. My second caveat is this. In reality, to make any true effort towards marketing a product, you probably have to spend money. So don't take this article to mean you can successfully build a thriving SaaS business without ever paying for marketing. But at the very least I'll give you some helpful tips I've picked up along the way.

Social media

Ah, social media. It's a term that could either strike love, fear or hatred into your heart. Some of us introverts detest the very idea of putting themselves out there and sharing their personality and or their life with internet strangers. But fears aside, gaining a following on social media can be one of the best ways to shortcut buyers. The key to successfuly developing your social media is:

• Post often and consistently - This really has an impact on the algorithms, and ensures that you are building your presence with people even if they aren't engaging with you yet
• Engage with your followers - If someone comments on your post, reply. If someone shares your post, thank them. If someone likes your post, like one of theirs. It's all about building relationships.
• Be authentic - People can smell a fake a mile away. Be yourself, be honest, and be real. People will appreciate it. Being authentic doesn't mean you have to share your deepest darkest secrets, but it does mean you should be honest about your product, your journey, and your intentions. Add some personality
• Be cautious - Things like hashtags, links, and even certain words can have an impact on algorithms. I'm not the expert on this, but it's worth doing some research on how to maximize your reach.

Cold outreach

Cold outreach is another term that might make people squirm (Why does it conjure images of a dead hand reaching up from a grave?). It's the idea of reaching out to people who have never heard of you, and trying to sell them something. It's a tough gig, but it can be very rewarding. The key to successful cold outreach is:

• Personalize your message - If you are sending out a generic message to hundreds of people, you are going to get nowhere. People can tell when you've taken the time to get to know them, and when you haven't.
• Be respectful - Don't be pushy. Don't be rude. Don't be aggressive. Be respectful of people's time and their inbox.
• Be honest - Don't lie. Don't exaggerate. Don't make false promises. Be honest about what you are offering, and what you are asking for.
• Be persistent - You will get a lot of no's. You will get a lot of silence. But if you believe in your product, and you believe in the value you are offering, keep going.

Email marketing

Email marketing is one of the oldest forms of marketing, and yet it's still one of the most effective. The key to successful email marketing is:

• Build your list - You can't do email marketing without an email list. There are many ways to build a list, but the key is to get people to sign up to hear from you.
• Segment your list - Not everyone on your list is the same. Segment your list into different groups based on their interests, their behavior, or their demographics.
• Personalize your emails - People are more likely to engage with an email that feels like it was written just for them. Personalize your emails with the recipient's name, their interests, or their behavior.
• Test and optimize - Email marketing is all about testing and optimizing. Test different subject lines, different send times, different content, and see what works best for your audience.

SEO

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of optimizing your website to rank higher in search engine results pages. The key to successful SEO is:

• Keyword research - Identify the keywords that your target audience is searching for, and optimize your website around those keywords.
• On-page optimization - Optimize your website's content, meta tags, and images to make it more search engine friendly.
• Off-page optimization - Build backlinks to your website from other high-quality websites to improve your search engine rankings.
• Monitor and analyze - Monitor your website's performance in search engine results pages, and analyze the data to identify areas for improvement.

Welp, that's all I have for you now. If you have any additional tips or ideas you can share, please hit me up.