Carrie Dagenhard
“Why would a customer choose you over your competitors?”
At Kuno, that’s one of the first questions we ask our SaaS clients during the discovery process. Answers range from value propositions and mission statements to tidbits about company culture. Everyone knows why their product is the best choice for their target market—but do your customers?
Enter one of the most important pieces of the inbound marketing puzzle: your company blog. A blog offers you an opportunity to share all of the wonderful industry knowledge and information potential customers will use to separate you from their other options. Blog posts expose tech thought leaders and transform interested prospects into loyal patrons.
However, for a blog post to be successful, it also has to be worth reading. Here are five tips for making your SaaS company’s blog content sing.
Remember Clarity is Key
Software information tends to be a little, well, dense. Without the right angle, SaaS blog posts can sound more like an owner’s manual than the delicious little snacks of relevant information blog posts are meant to be. Although you’re providing valuable insight, if you aren’t being clear, your readers will quickly lose interest. Plus, complex language can make you sound pretentious and unapproachable—not a great start to a relationship.
Jargon can be alienating and, even for those of us immersed in the technology world, makes for a difficult read. Instead, keep industry buzzwords to a minimum, speak in layman’s terms and use conversational language. Focus on remaining clear, direct and concise. After all, the goal of a blog post is to give your prospects enough information to guide them on to the next step in the buying process—not confuse them to the point of disinterest.
Get Visual
Text, text and more text = snore fest. Keep in mind I’m a writer and words are, quite literally, my job. But, you can’t dispute facts. The human brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than text. So, if you’re looking to increase the impact of your blog post, including visual content may be the key.
According to a survey by Forbes, 59 percent of senior executives prefer to watch a video than read text. Of course, they’re not alone. What’s the first thing you do when you click on an article? Scan for photos, videos and bullet points. Unless you’re in super-duper research mode, you’re not likely reading every word.
Does this mean you should trash your current blog in favor of a video library? Of course not. Like any healthy relationship, when text and visual content are balanced, they bring out the best in each other. Visuals help fill in the gaps you miss while you skim and, as this Salesforce video demonstrates, visuals can help you simplify complex concepts.
Channel Your Inner Storyteller
Humans love stories. We spend hours devouring novels, magazine and news posts and lifestyle blogs. Narratives inspire and interest us in a way that makes reading feel more like pleasure than work. If you’re looking to make your SaaS brand’s content more enjoyable, turn it into a story.
But, how do you storify your content? The same way your English teacher taught you:
- Set the stage: Just as in a fairytale, or Star Wars, you need to start with the setting. Be descriptive. What makes this piece of content relevant?
- Introduce the conflict: What problem does your product solve? What need does it fulfill? Draw your reader in by describing a concern they’re experiencing.
- Achieve a resolution: Instead of telling a reader you’re going to solve his or her problem, show them. Use real world examples, and point to specific case studies.
- End with a conclusion: This is where you bring it home. You’ve dropped some serious knowledge, now show your customers what they should do next.
Stop Selling
It’s 2015, and no one wants to be sold anything anymore.
SaaS customers want to learn everything there is to know about a product through their own exhaustive research. Then, by a combination of magic, pixie dust and rainbows, the internet will reveal the perfect solution for their wants and needs.
But, psst! Here’s a secret: it’s not magic leading your prospects to their perfect software solution; it’s good content. On average, consumers read five pieces of content before speaking with a sales rep. In other words, modern consumers prefer to do their own investigating. By helping them obtain the information they’re looking for, you’re moving them further down the funnel and closer to a conversion.
Before you write a blog post, ask yourself a question: “Will this help my prospect solve a problem?” If the answer is no, it’s time to go fishing for another topic.
Stay on Trend
In the world of SaaS, things change fast. Your prospects are looking to you for expert insight, and delivering this information will help build trust and confidence in your product. This means you always need to have your finger on the pulse of the next big thing, and be prepared to share it in a way that makes sense to your market. Attend trade shows, read industry blogs and subscribe to weekly newsletters. Always keep a steady stream of fresh ideas at your fingertips, and seek an angle that draws the trend back to your product.
For example, Hyrell, a recruiting software company, knows the shift to a millennial-dominated workforce is a hot topic in the industry. So, the brand recently published a piece aimed to educate HR professionals on millennial expectations.
Conclusion
Instead of focusing on pumping out promotion-heavy, overly technical or aggressive marketing messages to convert customers, exercise greater effort in developing engaging blog posts your prospects actually enjoy. By using these strategies for creating more compelling SaaS blog content, you can build a more engaged audience and inspire loyalty for your products.
What strategies do you use to keep your readers hooked on your brand’s blog content? Share in the comment section below!
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