Growth Tip of the Week!

A lot of my 2023 plans will involve writing. Creating a system to write consistently and effectively.

As Tim says:

• Writing in a journal helps you understand yourself.

• Writing on social media helps you attract a following.

• Writing on a sales page helps you raise your income.

This is the world's most important skill.

If you're not doing it daily, then start.

Marketing Activities of 2022:

I asked SaaS founders on Twitter and curated some tweets to understand what marketing activities actually worked in 2022. Here's a compilation:

• Philipp - joining Facebook groups and helping people by showing them my product. It's borderline (as most FB groups don't allow self-promotion) but when done with a supporting mindset, everyone profits

• Brendan says to spend 20% on content creation and 80% on content promotion

• Nicolas says word of mouth - Although the little I was on LinkedIn (like 2-3 weeks) got me as many leads as a year of Twitter.

• Dylan says to tweet every day!

• Aleksander - Not quite a strategy but being featured on BetaList obsoleted all other marketing strategies. I had spikes and tons of new users, as well as regular visits after 4 months

• Olena says do customer research and use insights

• Barsee says to get inspired from other campaigns

• Daniel says use a quiz/scorecard to collect data and qualify leads. Everything is downstream from lead generation and data is gold.

• Brian says to focus on building relationships with your customers and prospects. Strong relationships are at the heart of successful marketing, and there are many ways to nurture and strengthen these relationships.

• Kristian says to go to real-life events - I went to a boat show because one thing I will offer is boat rental. I started conversations very easily as people were very open. My business is still in the dev phase, but I got potential clients and contacts. It was expensive as hell, with the hotel, food, travel, and time. Maybe you could get similar numbers with some google ads but i will continue with real-life events in between for sure, bc i think it's worth it. People need to trust you that they give you money.

• Sanat says to send more personalized emails - Context: we're b2b saas. Have a pruned list of 100 target accounts. Would have sent over 500 BASHO cold emails, 25+ prospecting sequences. Converted 20 for POC. Pretty satisfied.

• Costas says to focus on word of mouth. In our highly connected world, talking to people remains the most powerful and underrated marketing method. People typically fall part of groups with the same issues, especially in B2B environments. If you can leave a good impression on one person, you’ll be their go-to recommendation.

• James says to leverage data-driven insights - I was able to create a unique marketing campaign that increased leads by 20%.

• Tony says to says to understand your specific goal for each activity and know the ROI even if there isn’t a direct financial return.

What's one activity you'll focus on for your SaaS in 2023? Reply to this email and let me know!

Content Marketing

Sana asked a poll if audiences prefer long-form or short-form content.

The results:

• Short form: 60%

• Long-form: 40%

Here are some interesting insights from the poll:

• Long-form consumes well when it's well written and is of high value and not just basic platitudes. There are a few that teach in engaging ways but that’s a small fraction for sure.

• I usually consume content in order to get ideas for how to grow. Short-form usually has good information, but it seems to rarely be practical. Short form = informational. Long-form = practical.

• Short-form posts are often observational, motivational or analytical; which provide wonderful information. Long-form posts (like threads) are often actionable, practical or educational; which provide meaningful steps to move the needle in your business.

• Long Form, mostly audio cuz I'll listen to books when I'm doing manual labor and video during breaks/lunch to take notes. Ratio is about: - 50% Audio, - 30% Video, - 20% Text (usually W/ audio since I prefer to speed read).

• Short form rarely really hits the spot. Most short-form tweets annoy me after reading them because they caught my attention without providing any value.

• I enjoy both but long form for me. It allows for nuance and exploration of ideas, concepts, and takeaways. Even the best short form is usually taken from longer content. There are a few stand-alone short, punchy inspo/informational tweets. But rarely not platitudes.

• Short form, because you can't mince your words. And the content has to GET TO THE POINT instead of having a bunch of fillers. Otherwise, actionable advice can be valuable in long form because you have more time to explain WHY you should do a specific action.

• I prefer short-form contents that are precise and valuable, it saves me a lot of time, plus I can get more knowledge from multiple pieces of short-form content on different topics. That being said, long-form content is still essential and can provide in-depth knowledge.

• I think it depends on how far are you on your journey. I currently prefer the short form a little more because it forces me to think more about it and come up with my conclusions. But it should never be the only content you consume because it's too shallow.

• Both can be valuable in their own right. I find long-form content to be more digestible as there is more in-depth and you can get a more broad understanding of the topic at hand. But both can be good!

What is your strategy with content? Long-form or short-form?

Email Marketing

Welly shares his email marketing journey for his email marketing tool BirdSend. He currently has ~3.5k "active" subscribers and gets around 210-300 organic new ones monthly (no ads).

• Free trials: These are folks who signed up for for a free BirdSend trial. BirdSend is the email marketing tool I run for coaches & course creators. It currently sends ~30 million emails/month across various niches.

• Abandoned cart. These folks almost signed up for a free trial but didn't. Because we ask for a credit card even for free trials. Why? Because we don't want spammers abusing our email marketing tool. (spammers are more reluctant to provide their credit cards).

• Lead magnet-free subscribers. Lead magnet is a specific valuable resource you give away in exchange for an email address. I have 2 lead magnets: A/ Email Mistakes Challenge B/ Get outta Gmail's Promo Tab case study.

• No newsletters: Here's why I don't have (& don't believe) in newsletters + why it's my biggest pet peeve. A newsletter is boring & vague. There's no clear value proposition of what folks are getting... Other than the promise of a "future newsletter". If you insist on using "newsletter", flip the offer: How I boosted clients' email opens by 21-76%. As a bonus, you'll get my newsletter.

Related: 5 types of email campaigns you can send for your SaaS

Newsletters

If you're still looking to deliver newsletters for your SaaS (I do), Nathan asks about ways to grow the subscriber base. Here are some insights on growing newsletters in 2022:

• it's old school, but creating ebooks and putting them on ebook platforms and amazon with a plug. Of my current total 4,743 subscribers, 1,988 came from ebooks. That's 41.9% of my subscribers

• I’ve had over 10,000 downloads on free giveaways through Twitter (using convertkit LP’s). Higher churn but around 8,000 stick around with 50 percent opens. Works a charm (usually 1-2k twitter followers at same time)

• One weekly thread every Saturday with a subscribe button as the last tweet. From 0 to 5k+ subscribers in 4 months. It will be interesting to see how things change when the Revue-subscribe button disappears

• 4 lead magnets, each targeted at a different Facebook custom audience based on ConvertKit landing page sign-ups + 3 subsequent purchases

• + 2,700 subs in 6/7 months, weekly in a niche. Recycling content to Reddit. Gotta know the rules of each sub. Most snuff out self-promo. Really hit a stride by focusing on the proven channels this year

• I did a product bundle in December and added over 1,221 subscribers to my list from it.

• I went from zero to 100 subscribers this year from one tactic alone. Consistently writing something I would like to read.

• Going on other people's podcasts (and having an easy URL to visit with a free resource). I usually get 15-20 signups over the first couple of days when I guest on a podcast vs. 2-5.

• my favorite/best way to get long-term, meaningful subscribers is to have a sign-up sheet on a notepad when I do book signings and talks. Old school. Simple. I have to enter them by hand, but we've met in person. still have people opening on the list from 5 books ago.

Related: 50+ Expert Email Conversion Tactics to Exponentially Crush Your ROI

Social Media Marketing

Ihtesham Ahmed shares how he got 28k followers on Twitter + 72 million impressions in 4 months:

By writing threads consistently.

• Stay consistent. Don't think of writing as a hobby it's not a hobby. Write daily. Don't use hashtags. Engage with users same followers as you. Collaborate and win together.

• It's easier than you think. Stay consistent. Write daily. Know your audience. By reaching out to them. How do you do it? By writing threads and Tweets of course. Then create your growth strategy around it!

• Copy the winners. See who is winning in your niche.. Find them. Now, look at why they post what they post. See how you can do the same? Now write.

Are you having Twitter Threads as part of your growth strategy in 2023?

Get your SaaS Marketing consulting session

I'm experimenting with a new way to help SaaS founders. Get my brains on how you can market your SaaS with a 30 min session (no charges). Reply to this email to set up a time. I'll help you with my perspective on how you can market and grow your SaaS.

Thanks for reading! SaaSwrites is a humble attempt to help SaaS founders and marketers grow their SaaS.

See you next Saturday.

Ricky,

SaaSwrites