I’ve been a professional marketer for over 7 years now. honestly, it’s very rare to find true brilliance in my field. Pelle Hjortblad, is one of those unique marketing experts that can really open your eyes to the subtle nuances that separate the good from the brilliant.
Impressed with his work and company “Moonlight Management AB“, I requested to conduct a short interview with him.
The results, you will enjoy here:
Interview with Pelle Hjortblad CEO at Moonlight Management AB
Please tell us a bit about yourself and what made you choose your line of work?
I have been in telco and internet since 1992. The last 12 years as a CEO in cloud based internet services. I love the subscription based business model and since I’m a sales and marketing person these parameters are out most important in SaaS-companies. This is why I have such pleasure in this line of work.
In your opinion, what are the main challenges for SaaS providers over classic business models?
You have to think B2C, even when you provide B2B solutions, when it comes to marketing, lead generation, prospecting, web sales, web flow, sales organization. And in very few cases there is a possibility to succeed, using partners for sales. There is also a constrain in the cash flow since sales and marketing cost occur upfront while in most cases revenue is recognized on a monthly basis over the contract period.
What in your opinion is the most important marketing aspect for SaaS based companies?
See above but also, use limited channels at the same time, measure and fine tune the message constantly and keep on believing that your marketing will have the expected effect. It will if you stick to your plan even if it sometimes take longer then you expect.
What are your top 2 recommendations for new SaaS providers looking to penetrate their target market?
Focus on a few verticals
Keep on penetrating these verticals until you get the wanted effect. It will come!
And 3 🙂 In SaaS business the best sales and marketing organization wins over the best product in 9 out of 10 cases.