#47 - Write your SaaS Growth 📈

Welcome 247 Tech Founders and Marketers to the 47th edition of Write your SaaS Growth Newsletter:

In this edition, we discuss:

• Cold Emails: 7 steps to begin Cold Emails

• Product Hunt Launch: Success and Failures from a Number 2 product of the day launch

• Email Marketing: Why emails are better than ads?

• SEO: Case study on SEO for a SaaS tool

• Social Media Marketing: 6 steps to grow your SaaS on LinkedIn

Let’s GO!

Growth Tip of the Week! 🚀

SaaSTactic says have you been kicking yourself for doing 6 hours of Customer Support instead of growth the past few days?

Turns out, CS is a better “growth hack” than any other form of marketing.

Advice for founders - Speak to 30 customers every day at least, for as long as you're in business.

Note: Some of the links mentioned below can be affiliate links. If you happen to purchase, I would get a commission at no extra cost to you.

Cold Email 📈

Sending cold emails can be a super affordable way to promote your SaaS early on, and get either customers or feedback (or both!)

Stuart from saasyDB (a service that sends you prospects weekly to keep your outbound email funnels full), breaks down the 7 steps to get started on cold email marketing and actually see results.

Step 1: Get new domains, like saasydb.io and saasydb.co if your main site is saasydb.com, so that you protect the deliverability of your main domain if something goes sour. (insert name cheap affiliate link for twitter)

Step 2: Set up an email service on the domains. Zoho is cheap and easy, and it’s what I use now.  

Step 3: Set up SPF / DMARC / DKIM records on the domains you will use, to help deliverability (Zoho is surprisingly good about guiding you through this)

Step 4: Find a cold email sending system. Instantly is insanely popular. NuReply is what I’m using, because it does AI-written icebreakers. Mailchimp is NOT the system for this sort of marketing

Step 5: Gather prospects to email. Make sure they are people in job roles that would actually care about whatever solution you’re going to propose to them.

Step 6: Write your copy. This part is huge, but you can start off simply, with a quick heartfelt email to try to explain what your service solves for them, and what easy next step they can take to try it. Write a ton of variations so you can A/B approaches and keep your deliverability high.

Step 7: Follow up 3 times with anyone who doesn’t respond. There is power in the follow ups. And if your first contact at a desired company doesn’t respond ever, find a new contact there to try. 

If you haven’t explored cold emails already, this is a simple and easy way to get started. With a specific objective in mind, you can get to your goals much faster.

Btw, if you’re a marketer selling services to SaaS companies - you could greatly benefit from saasyDB. 

Product Hunt Launches 📈

On 4th May, Sasha Dikan and Ksenia Goron launched Dokably - an all-in-one project management tool that negates the need to switch between multiple apps throughout the day.

The results were mighty impressive - #2 Product of the Day, 720 upvotes (morning 5 of may), and 274 comments with several letters from funds and investor angels with proposals.

The team shares an interview with insights, lessons and learnings on how they didn’t become the number 1 product of the day:

What Went Right?

1. We warmed up subreddits related to our product on Reddit. Additionally, we shared product-building-related content through relevant communities on Slack, IndieHackers, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

2.  Create a Coming Soon page at least three weeks before your launch day. Plan some actionable steps to spread the word about your upcoming product and ask people to get notified. This will generate interest in your product and build a community of users before the launch day

3. Newsletters to our current app users and collaborating with "building public" makers helped us solicit reviews of our app. Those who liked our app supported us during the Product Hunt launch day. Additionally, we reached out to an influencer to be featured in their newsletter.

4. Collaborate with experienced Hunters on Product Hunt. However, it's worth noting that having an active profile on Product Hunt with badges for product launches and other activities, and more than 1k points, can also make you a strong candidate as a Hunter.

What could be done better?

1. Releasing the web app too late, just one week before the Product Hunt launch day. To build a product community, it's best to promote the beta or MVP version at least four weeks before the launch.

2. Not allowing enough time to reach out to influencers, including "build-in public" makers and product managers of well-known products. To establish such connections, it's essential to begin a month or two before the Product Hunt launch day. I have had experiences where one of my past products became the #1 product of the day solely due to the assistance of such influencers, without any other activities.

How can we help Sasha and Ksenia now?

“Currently, we're vying for a spot among the best products of the week on Product Hunt. If you haven't already, please upvote and comment to help us secure a spot.”

Your support is still significant to us: Support Dokably on Product Hunt“

🆘 Community Chat of the Week: 🆘

Have you done a PH launch? What learnings, failures and success factors did you encounter? Would love your thoughts on PH launches with the community:

Marketing Tech Stack to Add this Week! 🧰

Over 80% of B2B leads come from LinkedIn, but it’s not optimized for sales. Surfe seamlessly integrates your CRM with LinkedIn for easier prospecting, contact entry, and deal management.

Surfe is a simple Chrome extension to add LinkedIn contacts, find qualified emails and synchronize LinkedIn & Sales Navigator conversations.

Surfe’s method of simplifying sales and admin work means that you spend less time sifting through your CRM, and more time making sure that you are selling at your best!

Email Marketing 📈

Dylan says most tech founders just don't know how to keep a list "healthy" and out of spam. He shares a quick breakdown on why Emails > Ads:

• Emails have one HUGE advantage over social media ads. Their cost and overall ROI. Ads cost a lot to make and can only be run for a few days, plus once they're gone, they don't stick around. Emails cost less and live forever in an inbox

• Emails are an incredibly valuable asset. 4.1 billion people use it per day and open it 5x per day. Think about that for a moment. Now combine email open rates with a basic understanding of human psychology

• Compared to emails, Ads can't make your message more personal to one person (needs to be one size fits all) and usually have a lower conversion rate

• On the other hand, emails convert 40x more than ads, have a longer lifespan (people can save emails + come back to them later) and can be automated and sequenced to appeal more to one demographic over another. However, most people don't know how to run a good list

• From what I've seen, half of the email lists go straight to spam and the ones that don't go to spam are stuck in promotions. The funny thing is that most of the copy isn't that bad. It follows the general structure of HSO, PAS, or DIC copy

• But the real problem is managing the list. One big thing that people overlook in a list is engagement. Which is CRUCIAL to success The less engagement (activity) you get in your list, the more likely it is to be flagged as spam There are two solutions to this:1. Hire a competent copywriter 2. Remove the people in your list who barely engage with your content

Have you had a list of users where you are not utilizing email marketing? It’s cost effective and relevant for your targe audience.

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

SEO 📈

Note sure how to approach SEO for your SaaS or tech product? It becomes simple when you follow a structured approach.

Lazar shares a case-study on how he would grow Agenciflow - an agency management tool that helps agency owners to manage Client communication, Billing and payment processes, Products & tasks Overall.

A solid SaaS that really can take off and have great success.

1. Keywords research and qualification. Most of the keywords the website is ranking for are referred to a brand. That means that searchers or Google aren't really aware of the website's existence and the solutions it has to offer. Here's how to fix that:a. The keywords you select should drive traffic to your most important pages to promote sales conversions. Take care of the keywords that form the backbone of your website and promote the product you sell.- Solution pages = services you provide- Features pages = how it solves a prospect's problem- Integrations pages = other popular apps that are integrated with yours and how they'll make the life of your user easier

2. Technical optimization. Technical SEO essentials that will kill your website performance if not done properly: duplicative or thin content, keyword cannibalization (more than 1 URL target the same keyword with the same intent), improper / no use of canonical tags, important pages that you want to be indexed and ranked are buried deeper than 3 clicks away, slow loading speed of your website, improper XML sitemap setup, overstuffed URLs (unnecessary numbers and letters), improper use of robot.txt file

3. Content marketing. Being intentional is the key to content marketing in SEO What do you want to achieve with a new made piece? When all the important pages are taken care of it’s time to promote your product. Add comparison your tool vs other tool - content, ebooks, data, charts, images, videos etc.A simple but thoughtful content asset will make searchers aware of your product, get them deeper into their buying journey, and make them eventually buy

4. Link building. Think of links as a community you live in. You refer (link) to people, and people do the same to you. You engage and increase your status (domain and page authority). Without community nobody knows you exist, without backlinks, Google doesn’t know you exist.The backlinks should be high quality and in Google’s eyes it’s about: a. Relevance: if you try to promote your homepage, then a backlink from a local appliance repair business isn’t going to do it. It’s irrelevant + most of the local websites tend to have low domain authorityb. Authority of the website you link out to: getting a link from an authoritative website even if it’s not hyper-relevant does boost your website ranking as well. Another website passed Google’s “time test” which adds a layer of trust and reliability for searchers and Google.

It’s a thorough and detailed strategy and steps that you can take to create SEO as a marketing channel for your SaaS. You can read more details in the thread.

Related: How to create an effective content strategy for your SaaS to rank in SEO

Social Media Marketing

Priyanshu shares how you can boost your LinkedIn engagement and build your network in 6 steps:

1. Don't be afraid to reach out to people you admire or want to connect with. Personalize your message, Explain why you're reaching out and offer value or ask a question. Follow up if needed.

2. Use LinkedIn's search and filter features to find people and content that align with your interests and goals. Use relevant keywords, Narrow down by location, industry, etc. Follow relevant hashtags.

3. Don't overlook the power of LinkedIn's messaging feature for networking and building relationships. Be polite and professional, Avoid generic messages, Offer value or ask for advice. Follow up if needed.

4. Want to make a bigger impact with your LinkedIn posts? Share your insights and opinions, Tell stories or share personal experiences, Use visual content like images or videos. Ask for feedback or opinions.

5. Engage with posts of the people in your niche. Give your opinion, Ask a meaningful question, Give your advice, Tell why you disagree with them.

6. Finally, remember that building relationships on LinkedIn takes time and effort. Be patient, persistent, and genuine, and you'll see results.

Do you have LinkedIn as part of your SaaS marketing strategy?

Related: 17 Tips to grow your SaaS through LinkedIn

How can we help each other? 🥅

• Would you like any of your product or marketing story to be featured in our upcoming newsletters with the community? Send me a DM on Twitter!

• Are you providing any marketing services to SaaS and tech companies? We’re vetting marketing experts to help SaaS companies hire specific marketers. You can apply here.

• Let me help you build a marketing channel strategy for your Tech Product. Book a session.

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

See you next Saturday.

Ricky,

SaaSwrites

P.S. If you liked this edition, it would mean the world to us if you share it with your friends. :) Thank you in advance!