Last week I wrote about the science of SaaS marketing, with particular emphasis on funnel efficacy. Today, I’ll take you through my perspective on the art of SaaS marketing, with emphasis on the intersections with the science, as well as the management of creators. This is especially relevant to content marketing — which, in SaaS, is the majority of what drives results.

A scientific marketing practice seeks to know rather than guess. What we seek to know is which assets and messages most efficiently drive new revenue through which channels. While that entire process is quite creative in its own right, assets and messages are especially rife for artistic interpretation and experimentation. And when I say artistic, I’m not only talking about look, feel and design. I’m also talking about function. And I’m certainly talking about messaging. A culture of continuous improvement is based on experimentation with the art of SaaS marketing.

SaaS Marketing Assets

Creating Purpose-Driven Value with the Art of SaaS Marketing

Creative assets are the things we make in content marketing. They are often traded with potential prospects for something they have of equal value. Assets are everything from blog posts, videos, and webinars, to white papers, tools, case studies, eBooks, and so on. Asset value is relative, with some being only valuable enough to trade for engagement, and others being valuable enough to trade for leads or even deep profiles. Intentional effort should be consistently invested in creating purpose-driven assets of value.

We make assets to be as relevant as possible for our ideal customer.

But the number of variables within an asset is legion. Those variables impact the asset’s relevance and perceived value. Experimenting with the creative variables of point-of-view, message, and design directly impacts value, which translates to increased yield from that asset. And that’s what it’s all about in SaaS.

When you improve the yield from anything in marketing, you improve the capital efficiency of customer acquisition.

Coaching Creatives within a Scientific Process

Coaching creative people to channel their passion within a quantitative process can be challenging. In my experience, lack of sensitivity to this dynamic results in weak work. If the assets produced are creatively weak, everything suffers. So we can’t have that. We need creatives passionately committed within a culture that focuses on results. This gets back to the intentional creation of purpose-built assets. When creatives know what the desired outcome is, they can create for that outcome. When that mission is unclear, so is the work, and the results.

So, for me, rule number one of the art of SaaS marketing is to clearly define the desired outcome from every piece of creative.

Desired outcomes don’t only apply to assets. And it’s not the only important standard to be set up front. The other goes back to relative value. Assets need to be developed to fulfill a value proposition. A self-serving sell sheet can’t be traded for a lead, but an educational eBook can. Likewise, a demo video can’t be traded for a lead, but an educational webinar can. Outcomes and relative value go hand in hand, and creators need to know both before they begin work. Those are the standards of success to which their work will be held.