In creating the best possible SaaS model for your company, you will hear a lot of buzzwords. Take the term growth hacking for example. Born in a blog post by marketing expert Sean Ellis, the term Growth Hacker was a call to find a special type of person who specializes in growth. Not a marketer in the traditional sense.
This total focus on growth has led to the development of new tools, methods and practices, especially compatible with the SaaS model.
The Best SaaS Model – Out with the Old, in with the New
We are living in a unique time when products are no longer tangible. Uber, the world’s largest Taxi company owns no cars. Facebook, the world’s most popular media company creates no content and so on. Traditional marketing is skilled at understanding how to market traditional products, such as shampoo and cars. With the growth ith software products being the new trend, the marketing wheel needs to be reinvented.
What’s revolutionary about software products, such as Twitter and Facebook, is that they do not require traditional marketing plans to put their brand on the table. This is where growth hacking comes in. A growth hacker is someone who understands the potential that software products have to spread themselves (i.e. growth) and is willing to do whatever it takes to actualize this potential.
1. Ask for REFERRALS
It is ideal to have your customers refer their friends to your company. Dropbox nailed the referral game. Not only did they post “refer a friend” just about everywhere, they rewarded you with extra storage space if you got a friend to hop on the bandwagon. Make your company so great that your customers will refer their friends right back to you.
2. Be EXCLUSIVE
We may not want to admit it, but being exclusive is somewhat appealing. It makes you feel special. Make your customers feel special. LinkedIn, for example, nailed this. They catered only to “professionals” calling themselves “The World’s Largest Professional Network”.
3. Provide a great CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
As important as growth hacking is, don’t loose site of your customers. In fact, you may want to insist that growth hacking is focused on the customer experience. At the end of the day, they’re all you have. Don’t let growth hacking blind you from the importance of a users delight.
4. Give Free GIVEAWAYs
Give something away, for free. This will create a lot of buzz. You may even get some people who are willing to potentially pay you for your product.
5. Be POSITIVE
Rather than notifying your customers with a negative message, try to turn it into a positive. For example, rather than saying, ’20 people unsubscribed from this campaign’ say, ‘there was 80% subscriber retention on this campaign.’
Take the time to craft a SaaS model that will prove successful. Keep in mind that you want the crowds flocking to you, and ask yourself how you can build a SaaS model that will accomplish such a goal.