My marketing plan is simple, find X customers to pay me Y amount every month to achieve my first Z MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue).
The problem now is finding X and Y to achieve Z.
In this story, I will explore 5 strategies I want to use to achieve X and in the next story, I will explain how to find Y.
If you’re just joining my storytime series, this is where it all started and you should check it out.
How I Built My Tech Startup As a Solo Developer
Marketing has changed drastically over the years from a traditional marketing approach to digital marketing and even at that, we are still seeing different diversities in digital marketing.
As the newest SaaS (Software as a Service) founder and a solo developer who knows almost nothing about marketing and how to create a better pricing strategy that works, I prefer to take things slowly and learn along the way.
The first step to creating a good marketing strategy as I read online recently is to know your ideal customer by creating a Buyer’s Persona.
I have created a buyer’s persona for Contentre and have identified him as:
Solomon Eseme 😎
Solomon Eseme is a content creator who creates content for different clients. He is either a freelancer or owns a content agency.
You can further describe Solomon Eseme as someone who creates different kinds of content in different formats, either text-based, video-based, or audio-based provided it is published or posted on different platforms.
Now that I know who to target, the big questions in my mind are? How do I target him/her? Where do I find them? How do I convince them to use my product among my competitors?
I still haven’t answered all the questions completely because more questions keep popping up each time.
But below are a few approaches I intend to use:
Before I dive in, let me clear the air that I’m not in a hurry to start making Z amount from the product. I don’t have a dead! dead! deadline. I’m on this journey to learn and possibly make money. 😁
Now that I have cleared the air, let’s take this gradually and learn along.
A Great Product
You may agree with me that no marketing beats having a great product that solves customers’ problems.
In fact, I have discovered over the years that if you have a product that is a great fit for your customers, marketing becomes less stressful.
So I intend to devote a considerable amount of time and effort to create, refine and develop Contentre to solve my customers’ problems.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is one of the best forms of digital marketing, with a good strategy, you can drive tons of free/organic traffic to your SaaS product.
This traffic may not convert to customers if not properly converted and filtered using this Topic Cluster Strategy.
The two strategies I intend to use for marketing Contentre are as follows:
1. They Ask You Answer:
I first came across this strategy from a book titled “They Ask You Answer” by Marcus Sheridan
It demonstrates a clear example of how to educate your audience into customers.
2. The SEE Framework:
The SEE (Show, Educate and Empower) framework still ponders on educating your customers by first showing them the problem and how your product can solve it and lastly empowering them to take action.
I first came across this strategy in this article on The SEE framework by Jeremiah Ajayi.
Remember that content marketing is not a get-customer-quick scheme. So I’m in this for the long run.
Build great customer service:
There is no doubt that having great customer service can increase your customer base because they feel relaxed with you and your product.
Remember in real life, you always buy things from your friends or a seller who treats you well the first time.
I discovered that this same principle in real life is applicable to the SaaS world. So, I intend to make my customers feel at home when browsing through my blogs and using my product to solve their problems.
Maintain a strong social media presence:
If I may ask:
How did you get to this story? Your answer will properly be SOCIAL MEDIA.
That means I have a strong social media presence and I also intend to make it stronger because my customers are there.
I intend to use social media as my strongest point to contact and connect with my customers by sharing, promoting, and talking about all things content development for both freelancers and agencies.
You can start following now. 😁😁
Build a conversion-focused website:
This is very important because marketing without conversion is a waste of time, at least to me.
I intend to redesign Contentre landing page to clearly articulate the product and the problem it is solving for my customers, how will it save their time, and how investing in Contentre is a win-win business for them.
This helps us filter the real customers from product trials.
I will make sure the landing page of Contentre is able to convert new customers on the first visit. (I still don’t know how yet 😩)
Summary
Marketing as a developer is difficult and it’s better to hire or outsource.
But if you’re a lifelong learner like me, then the above marketing strategy is how I intend to market my product and generate my first X customers.
Now that we have a solid strategy to find X, what will be a good pricing strategy for Y, and how will I generate my first Z?
In the next story, I will explore a good pricing strategy for my SaaS product as I study along.
Are you building something? or you have built something before? I want all the advice I can get. Share them in the comment section and give 50 claps to this story.