Strategizing B2B SaaS Content: Aligning Your Content with Every Stage of the Sales Funnel
The B2B SaaS sales funnel typically comprises three key stages: awareness, consideration, and decision. Balance your content creation across different funnel stages to ensure an impactful approach.
Updated: February 11, 2024
In a well-organized sales journey, most of your potential customers start by learning about your product, then explore it further, and finally make a decision. That's why many SaaS companies kick off their content to engage people at the beginning of this journey.
Blogs & List Posts:
The issue here is that content at the beginning of the sales journey usually doesn't turn readers into actual customers. So, you might spend a lot of time making content, but it might not bring in any real returns on your investment.
However, if you are operating within a niche market and pioneering a new category, it is advisable to prioritize content creation towards the Top of the Funnel (TOFU). This entails crafting content that educates and raises awareness, capturing the attention of potential customers who may not be familiar with the product or its category. By focusing on TOFU content, businesses can establish thought leadership, define the category, and attract early adopters.
In a crowded market with significant category maturity, directing efforts towards the Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU) in the beginning becomes crucial. In such environments, consumers are often well-informed and actively seeking alternatives or superior solutions. BOFU content should emphasize product differentiators, case studies, and testimonials, guiding potential customers towards conversion. This allows you to target the prospects who are actively searching for your SaaS product or a solution to the specific problem it addresses. Once you've secured those leads, you can then balance your content creation across different funnel stages to ensure a comprehensive and impactful approach.
Content at the bottom of the funnel is designed for prospects who are aware of the problem they have and actively seeking a solution. The primary aim of this content is to encourage these prospects to convert into a customer.
Following bottom of the funnel content are really effective at convincing people who are seriously thinking about buying.
Product Pages:
Target keywords describing your product category or the solution customers are searching for.
Example: Build a product page around "API Discovery" for a company like API Security Software.
Use Case Pages:
Target specific actions rather than keywords related to products or features.
Example: Create a use case page for "Secure Authentication" for a B2B SaaS company around API Security Software.
Comparison Pages:
Discuss your brand versus a competitor's brand or two competitors against each other.
Create content that ranks for these terms to control how your brand is perceived by potential customers.
Frame and position your brand in comparison discussions, preventing third parties or competitors from defining your brand.
"Alternative to" Pages:
Address scenarios where people search for alternatives to a specific brand.
Helpful when users are unhappy with their current service and exploring other options.
In the middle-of-the-funnel we create content to make potential customers start picturing how cool it would be to actually use our software.We want to show them why our stuff is valuable and how it can make a real difference for them.
Following middle of the funnel content assist in showcasing the worth of what your SaaS product offer.
Product Features & Tour Pages:
Product Tour act as virtual demos, particularly beneficial for SaaS companies as it interactively guide visitors based on specific use case they are interested in, directing them to the most relevant sections of the product.
Market Intelligence Reports:
Market Intelligence Reports serve a different purpose by establishing a compelling business case for choosing your SaaS, especially when executive approval is necessary due to the product's pricing. This type of content, using charts and graphs to illustrate industry trends and statistics supporting the adoption of SaaS, equips decision-makers with valuable insights to present to higher-ups.
Interactive Tools & Calculators:
Tools play a crucial role in offering potential customers a glimpse of the benefits of your SaaS without requiring a full commitment to a trial or demo. These tools, such as calculators, templates, cheatsheets, canvases, and questionnaires, allow users to experience firsthand how your SaaS can enhance their workflow. By providing a taste of the advantages your product offers, you help them envision the positive impact it could have on their daily operations, sparking interest in further exploration.
The aim of top-of-funnel content is to teach new people about the issue you can help them with and making sure they know about your brand, so it's not a stranger to them.
"How to" Content:
This involves creating content that surfaces in search results when someone is seeking guidance on tasks your product facilitates.Blogs & List Posts:
Write blogs catering to those who are curious, seeking the latest insights, or searching for inspiration in your business's relevant field. Modern search engines favor list-style posts, offering potential long-term SEO benefits.
Guides:
Guides, on the other hand, work best when aligned with the core use cases of your product. Within this guide, you can strategically link to tools like a calculator, guiding readers toward deeper engagement and showcasing the practical benefits of your SaaS.
By strategically aligning the content you create with your sales funnel, with a focus on prioritizing bottom-of-the-funnel content first for matured category, you ensure that you're effectively reaching the most engaged and ready-to-convert audience. Starting from the bottom and then carefully balancing the middle and top of the funnel content based on search volume and business objective, you can tailor your messaging to the specific needs and awareness levels of your audience, ensuring that you connect with them at the right time and guide them seamlessly through their buyer's journey.