Maximizing B2B SaaS Revenue: Strategic Approaches for Near, Mid, and Long-Term ROI
Table of contents
Introduction
Recognizing the importance of a growth audit
Near-term ROI: retaining and converting existing demand
Capturing demand: amplifying what works
Mid-term ROI: leveraging marketplaces, search engines, and influencer marketing
Long-term ROI: creating demand and building a community
Conclusion
TL;DR - Summary
The blog focuses on strategies for revenue acceleration and generation in B2B SaaS, particularly for enterprise businesses.
Conducting a growth audit is essential before devising strategies.
Immediate ROI can be achieved by focusing on customer retention and converting potential deals in the pipeline.
Capturing demand involves identifying channels where potential customers are seeking solutions.
Mid-term ROI can be obtained through effective use of marketplaces, search engine marketing, and influencer partnerships.
Long-term ROI is achievable by concentrating on demand creation and community building.
The strategies for long-term ROI include content marketing, SEO, and the use of customer engagement platforms.
Introduction
In this blog, we’ll talk about how to accelerate revenue for B2B SaaS companies, particularly companies in the enterprise category selling complex and expensive products and services. This blog will provide helpful advice whether you're a growing startup or an established business seeking to tweak your approach, with the aim to enhance your near, medium, and long-term ROI in the highly competitive SaaS market. We will share practical tips on how to propel revenue growth and lift sales numbers.
Our discussion is most relevant in two main scenarios. The first is when you're making money but want to expand further. This scenario is often found in SaaS startups, especially after securing Series A funding, which usually lies between $5 and $25 million. The pressure increases on the growth team, and on sales and marketing leaders, to speed up the revenue and pipeline, validating the concept. Alternatively, you might be in the phase before finding your product-market fit, in need of a fresh approach and new ideas. In these cases, tactics for driving revenue and boosting sales become key for B2B SaaS, particularly within the enterprise sector.
Start with a growth audit before thinking short-, mid- and long-term
Before jumping into detailed revenue strategies, it's important to first carry out a growth audit. This evaluation includes taking a closer look at the company's overall strategy, product vision, ideal customer profile, current channels, and messaging. It also takes a hard look at the company's infrastructure, considering the skills of the team, assets like sales materials and marketing copy, and the data and processes that help generate revenue. After the audit, we'll switch gears and delve into ways to increase revenue, with both immediate and long-term ROI in mind.
As a leader in such an organization, you need to factor in the board's expectations, which typically focus on near-term ROI. At the same time, you should think about the stages beyond the immediate future - the mid and long-term. By nature, tactics can span from near-term to long-term. Some strategies take a good deal of time to show results, and no matter how hard we try to speed them up, they may not react as desired. Conversely, there are tactics that can impact results in the near-term, and these should not be overlooked. If we don't give them a shot, we're only setting ourselves up for failure. So, let's explore these strategies across the near, mid, and long-term timeframes.
Near-term ROI - retaining and converting demand
In the near-term, the focus should be on keeping your current customers and reconnecting with those who have left. Happy customers are more likely to continue using your product or service. Techniques like loyalty programs, deeper customer engagement, upselling, and reselling can help keep your current demand steady.
Reviving stalled deals in your pipeline is the next step in harnessing this demand. Start by checking in with your existing customers, making sure they're happy, and ensuring your customer success team is working effectively. Aim to hold onto every customer you've got. Also, try to bring back customers who have left. They've dealt with you before and clearly had a need for your offering since they were once paying customers. Make these two tasks your top priority.
Once you've managed to retain your customer base, using methods like loyalty programs, deeper customer engagement, potential upselling and reselling, as well as customer success and referral programs, you've effectively held onto your demand. The next step is to turn this demand into sales. By identifying and reconnecting with leads that got put on hold, you can grasp ready-to-go opportunities and move closer to hitting your revenue goals.
After holding onto and converting demand, the next stage is capturing new demand. It's easiest to first maintain it, then turn it into sales, and finally capture more. Capturing demand means you're not teaching the market, but using channels and strategies to reach people who already know their needs, are looking for options, may be ready to buy, and might already be engaging with your competitors. Your job here is to capture this demand. Therefore, the first step in capturing demand is to build on what's already working. If you're seeing growth, take a close look at what's working well for you now and consider potential ways to improve it.
Capturing demand - amplifying what works
Capturing demand involves tapping into channels where potential customers already recognize their problems and are actively searching for solutions. To do this, focus on what's currently working for your business and make these strategies even better. Using targeted conferences, partnerships, and a mix of high volume and quality methods like cold sales can effectively capture more demand.
The first step to capture demand is simply doing more of what's working. If your business is growing, it's crucial to thoroughly examine what's working right now and look for opportunities to improve. Maybe you're trying to do too much at once and can cut out tasks that are unnecessary or distracting. This could free up resources for strategies that are truly driving growth and revenue. Doing more of what's already working might sound simple, but sticking to the basics is important at first.
After that, from my own experience in enterprise SaaS, especially while leading demand generation for a startup that grew from $1 million to $6 million in ARR and secured a $21 million Series A, I found attending conferences quite effective. You might also want to consider partnerships, especially after finding your product-market fit, as these can lead to significant success with channel and implementation partners and affiliates that can send leads your way.
While not as effective, another way to capture demand is through a mix of high volume and quality tactics such as cold sales, which include cold calling, emailing, and reaching out on social platforms like LinkedIn.
As part of a near-term ROI strategy, it can be helpful to stop using methods that haven't been effective. While I like experimenting personally, when there's pressure for near-term results, it's important to focus on what can generate immediate ROI.
If, after trying these strategies, you still have resources left or the strategies aren't working as expected, it's time to look at medium-term ROI tactics. Depending on your specific situation, marketplaces and review platforms can be quite helpful as they build trust and provide social proof, helping to speed up your sales pipeline and close deals. Platforms like G2 and Capterra, although designed as marketing channels, can also be really helpful for reviews. Don't underestimate their value. If you operate in the small to mid-price range, or even in B2C, then marketplaces are a key part of your go-to-market strategy.
Mid-term ROI - marketplaces, search engine, and influencer marketing
As a leader in your company, your job involves a careful balance of meeting the board's expectations for near-term ROI and thinking about what comes next - the medium and long-term strategies. Tactics naturally differ in how quickly they deliver results: some strategies can yield quick wins, while others need a little more time. However, it's vital to take action and keep moving forward, because the only alternative to trying is, unfortunately, failure. Let's explore the medium-term tactics you should consider once your near-term strategies are in place.
For medium-term ROI, consider making use of marketplaces and review platforms. These platforms help build trust and create social proof, which are key to speeding up your sales pipeline and closing deals. Another effective tool for medium-term ROI is search engine marketing. This involves advertising with competitive keywords and targeting high-intent search terms to speed up revenue growth.
The goal here is to target high-intent keywords that can quickly influence revenue growth. While you could consider expanding to include keywords that your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) might use in their daily activities to raise awareness of your product, it might not accelerate revenue as quickly as targeting near-term, high-intent keywords.
Next up is influencer marketing, but it's a little different in the enterprise SaaS world compared to traditional influencer partnerships. Here, we're talking about collaborations with industry thought leaders who can use their networks for warm introductions, joint content creation, or even product-related discussions.
Finally, email marketing, especially in the form of newsletters and sales funnels, can help nurture potential customers. This isn't the same as cold sales that also use email. Instead, this type of email marketing is designed to keep a consistent connection with potential customers, offering them valuable content and chances to learn more about your product and services. These medium-term strategies have worked really well in my experience and should be considered along with near-term tactics for the best growth results.
Long-term ROI - creating demand and building a community
In the long term, generating demand and building a community around your product or service can deliver substantial returns. However, it's important to remember that these are long-term strategies that usually don't deliver immediate results, and setting expectations accordingly is key.
Generating demand involves creating valuable content and distributing it effectively. By using various content formats - white papers, e-books, blogs, videos - your company can establish itself as a leader in the industry. Search engine optimization (SEO) and organic social media, especially on platforms like LinkedIn, can significantly extend the reach of your content. Tactics might include promoting high-performing content with paid advertising, having your sales development representatives share content, or displaying your content at trade shows instead of product demos.
Building a community is another long-term strategy that promotes engagement and builds customer loyalty. This could be a Slack group, a special event, or even a customer advisory board. These platforms enable ongoing interaction with your customers and offer a space to share valuable insights.
Furthermore, setting up professional automated funnels to guide potential buyers through your content can nurture leads over time. Podcasts are also an effective tool for nurturing leads and driving long-term ROI, offering a platform to discuss your industry, your products, and your insights.
However, remember that these strategies, including SEO, take time to show results. If you tell stakeholders that your sole focus is on demand creation, they might become uneasy. Anyone with experience in go-to-market knows that these tactics take time to influence consumer behavior. near-term strategies, such as paid ads or conferences, may deliver faster results, so a balanced approach might be best.
It's vital to meet your stakeholders' needs, aligning your strategies with what you've promised during fundraising or with the broader company objectives. Even though this might involve more technical discussions, it's a crucial step to ensure the successful growth of your business in the long run.
Conclusion
Successfully accelerating and generating revenue in the B2B SaaS industry requires a strategic approach. Undertaking a growth audit can help businesses identify effective strategies and understand the importance of balancing near, mid, and long-term ROI tactics. This understanding will contribute significantly to achieving sustainable growth and success.
B2B SaaS companies can thrive by embracing a mix of established strategies and innovative approaches. This mix will set them up for increased revenue and customer satisfaction, contributing to the long-term success of the business.
It's important to do your own homework with the growth audit, tailoring your approach based on what's working, what's not, where your pipeline stands, and the capabilities of your team. This way, you can ensure you're implementing the most effective strategies for your particular case.