Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Are you considering hiring a SaaS copywriter and content marketing consultant? You’ve come to the right page.

If you’re looking for the “how to” type of posts I generally write I understand if you skip this one and trust you’ll come back soon.

That said, if you have a SaaS brand or manage marketing for a software company, you’re bound to find this post valuable. The conversation here today (er, monologue) is about what a SaaS of software copywriter can do for you.

Most of my clients sell subscription-based software and rely on my experience to help generate leads, increase conversion, and foster loyalty. Based on my online travels and 30 years of producing marketing content, here’s what I think a SaaS copywriter and content marketing consultant can do for you.

Document a content marketing plan

Smart SaaS companies get serious about content marketing. They know their competitors will be duking it out with them for search traffic, social media prominence and the authority building that comes with consistently publishing helpful content.

Unfortunately, many of the same SaaS companies make the mistake of publishing content randomly, with little regard for what types of posts and media will make a difference.

You need a content marketing plan. Creating one isn’t always going to be in your copywriter’s wheelhouse. The process need not be complicated, but if you don’t have a one, or don’t know how to approach the process, hire a software copywriter and content marketing consultant capable of delivering a simple and clear content marketing plan.

I use the following tools to facilitate the process. First this simple template I created…

And next, a thorough workbook I created to help you document your challenges, strategies, and so forth…

The Planner – A Strategic Workbook for Growing Your Business with Effective Online Marketing

Evaluate the sales funnel and buyer journey

Tackling this challenge isn’t the forte of most writers, however, it should be part of your process. Far too many companies, SaaS or not, focus strictly on lead generation, but an effective approach will involve planning and writing content to address the needs of interested prospects, comparison shoppers, and even, existing customers.

Buyers journey

Create big content and lead magnets

Deep, thoughtful, thematic works are what my clients tend to need most. Want me to write your blog posts? I may do that, but what I prefer to do, and usually do, is create big content—ebooks, reports, and such that enable SaaS companies to:

  • Capture leads with gated content offers
  • Collaborate with industry influencers
  • Earn links to their content
  • Create highly repurposable content (our next topic

Want to learn more about creating lead magnets?

what-is-a-lead-magnet

Repurpose your most useful content

I rarely have my eye on one prize per content creation. Nor should you. Your SaaS company will get far greater bang for its buck and vastly improve reach when you create meaty pieces of content than can be sliced into small pieces and/or repurposed as different forms of media.

Content repurposing FAQ

Audit and improve your existing content

You have more content than you realize and it has more potential than you may think. With the help of your SaaS copywriter, you should review the gamut of communications resources (email, presentations, white papers, etc.) and develop plans to create new assets based on them.

Additionally, it’s likely existing works that were expressly made for content marketing have underperformed, but have untapped potential. A few examples:

  • Blog posts that perform poorly in search can be improved.
  • Ebooks or white papers that convert poorly can be retitled and reorganized.
  • Presentations that are too long or technical can be simplified.
  • Landing pages with low conversion can be rewritten.
  • Autoresponder emails that strike out can benefit from new subject lines.

Convert visitors into subscribers

 I strive to be my clients’ conversion copywriter.

Your conversion rate is never as good as it could be. Changes big and small can improve conversion. I work with clients to examine their key conversion plays, identify weak spots, and experiment with new solutions for:

  • Homepage copy
  • Sales pages
  • FAQs
  • Blog posts that attract traffic, but not subscribers
  • Site structure and navigation
  • Landing pages
  • Offers
  • Call to action copy

Write blog posts that rank on page one of search

Achieving success with organic search is hard and getting harder. It’s rare that I find my clients in the SaaS business exploiting keyword research, competitive analysis, on-page optimization, and user experience to the degree they should.

After having written thousands of blog posts, studying SEO, and experimenting, I’m pleased to say I know how to create blog posts that rank on the only search results page that matters, page one. I also know how to identify posts that rank on page two and optimize them to increase their rankings.

If you’re going to pour time and money into maintaining a blog, you need to get serious about search.

SEO Simplified cover

I’m the author of the book SEO Simplified for Short Attention Spans. It’s based partially on this, one of my most popular posts.

 

Get articles published on relevant blogs

As a ghostwriter for your executives, a writing coach, or simply a digital PR advocate, I can help you earn valuable guest blogging opportunities on leading industry websites. You’ll earn recognition, backlinks and referral traffic to produce leads.

Call on your customers for content

The most interesting content includes people. You’ve probably read a strong SaaS marketing program makes your customer the hero. I’ll interview customers and partners to create compelling success stories and include your customers in your blog posts and other content. (good idea for post?)

Make your blog stickier 

I find a of SaaS blogs missing out on opportunities to keep their visitors on site longer. I’ll look at the writing, design, page layout and the architecture of your blog and offer multiple ideas that compel readers to stick around and subscribe.

Learn more: The Business Blogging Plan: 50 Best Practices

Manage the editorial process 

As you scale your blog and content arsenal beyond the blog, you’ll want the process of planning, scheduling, assigning, editing and preparing content for publication managed by someone well acquainted with the editorial process.

Build a strong multi-author blog

The process of scaling is bound to require expanding your blogging team. Depending on your plans and resources you may want a combination of dedicated bloggers, internal subject matter experts, freelancers and guest bloggers to join the task force.

If you don’t have an experienced managing editor running the show, an experienced SaaS copywriter that knows the ropes may be a good fit for creating and leading your multi-author blog. It helps to have someone like me assist in scouting, recruiting and onboarding the right talent for your blog.

Write persuasive videos

In most cases, when a SaaS company wants to create an important video for use on their site and social media, they allow the creative direction and script writing tasks to land in the lap of “the video company.”

I don’t mean to be saying such an approach is necessarily bad. However, if your software copywriter steps up to become a marketing consulting partner—as I tend to—consider hiring him or her to conceive and write your video scripts.

Consolidating copywriting tasks may help you tell a more cohesive story across media types.

Identify where your website needs work

Most copywriters are taskmasters. Good ones will follow-through to take care of your requests. However, experienced SaaS copywriters, such as myself, are apt to take a more proactive approach and suggest where, how and why various sections of your website can be improved.

Create a more effective homepage

Let’s look at your website now, the static pages. By “static pages,” I mean the pages you don’t change often, the pages readers navigate to from your main menu, and possibly, additional submenus within the site.

To maintain a high converting SaaS website, the key pages of your website shouldn’t remain static forever more. On the most important pages, including of course, your homepage, an experienced SaaS copywriter can and should offer ideas worthy of testing for your:

  • Hero shot
  • Page structure
  • Featured elements
  • Calls to action (Click for tips and infographic)
  • Offers
  • And more

Here’s a deep dive on content, copy and design ideas for your SaaS homepage.

Create more effective landing pages

Chances are high your company is creating landing pages to serve explicit campaigns in support of ads, content you promote offsite, and downloadable content offered on your site that require prospects to complete forms.

Your landing pages should be reviewed and revised by a pro, especially the ones that are under-performing. 

Present your features effectively

In some form, the features of your software are presented in various places on your website, including: homepage, features page(s), video, demonstrations, etc.

Have your SaaS copywriter take a close look. I’ve done this countless times. It’s rare I don’t find opportunities to clarify the story and make it more compelling by:

  • Simplifying feature descriptions
  • Removing or re-ordering features
  • Translating features to benefits
  • Improving the visual presentation

Craft the collateral you need

I have to admit, in the “content marketing era,” the demand for brochures, data sheets, and various documents of the traditional collateral variety has declined dramatically.

Still, whether printed, offered as PDFs, or simply as product pages on your website, SaaS companies can’t dismiss the need for product-based sales materials. As your SaaS/software copywriter, I can work with your product and sales professionals to craft persuasive collateral to generate warmer leads and deals.

Make email your most effective tool

Apologies for the lofty superlative, but if you’re not working with your copywriter to make email your most effective tool, you’re missing the boat in modern digital marketing.

Email takes so many shapes and forms and can speak to prospects and customers at a variety of stages. I encourage my clients to allow me to offer strategic guidance and writing for:

  • Newsletters
  • Thank you email
  • Autoresponder sequences
  • Abandoned cart email
  • Special offers
  • And whatever emails are needed to nuture leads, increase sales, and build stronger relationships

Help with social media marketing

There they are: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn (yes, it’s time to count Google+ out)…

Are you using them to promote content, engage members, and most importantly, build relationships?

In a consulting role, I’ll offer my SaaS clients strategies for making social media activities more meaningful for the development of their brand. And in a copywriter role, I’ll write social media ads and key updates to support content distribution efforts.

I also can help analyze social media analytics and suggest appropriate tools, resources and approaches to help you realize the benefits of social media marketing.

Write ads that earn clicks

I’m in my fourth decade of writing ads. Shwew. The media has changed a lot. The psychology hasn’t changed at all. The tactics you need to be effective fall somewhere in between.

My point: as your SaaS copywriter, I’ll write effective ads that will create clicks for your company.

Help execute effective content promotion

You’re probably not in the habit of asking or tasking your copywriter to help you distribute and promote your content. Understood. In most cases, it won’t be their forte.

However, I’m eager and able to help you.

Check out this detailed post about maximizing your content reach.

Harness the power of influencers

I think we can agree bringing influencers into the fold can have big impact on the marketing of your SaaS platform. While there’s no singular formula for executing influencer marketing, I tend to recommend strategically recruiting the right industry leaders and influential voices to collaborate on content creation.

Executions might include:

  • Roundup blog posts
  • A series of interviews
  • Video interviews
  • User-generated content
  • Guest blogging

30 Action Items to Get Serious About Influencer Marketing

Turn the funnel into an hourglass

Subscription marketingI recently read Subscription Marketing by Anne Janzer. Great book. Then I reached out to Anne, had a call with her and learned even more. Here’s the deal (you know this if you’re an accomplished SaaS marketer)…

While generating leads will always be important, long-term success depends on something else…

Value nurturing.
Successful subscription marketers increase retention (thereby reducing churn) or they fail. This means the funnel doesn’t become a thin lane at the bottom. It becomes a feeder into a process that resembles a reverse funnel—or hourglass (see below). Buyers become loyal customers that are more valuable to your brand because they:

  • Stick around and keep paying
  • Buy additional services
  • Vouch for your brand
  • Refer your brand to the people they know
  • And essentially, help you market your brand

Hourglass

A complete SaaS copywriter and content marketing consultant will help you examine strategies focused on the value nurturing processes that represent the lower half of the hourglass. The goal, of course, is to produce marketing assets that will power the most persuasive type of marketing of them all: word-of-mouth.

Ready to rock your SaaS copy, content and marketing strategy?

>> Let’s connect.