In the realm of Software as a Service (SAAS), content marketing isn’t just about generating leads; it’s about creating a robust strategy that can stand the test of time. One key component of this strategy is the development of evergreen content. Evergreen Content, like the SAAS industry itself, is designed to provide long-lasting value and should be an essential part of your content strategy for SAAS.
What Is Evergreen Content in SAAS Content Strategy?
Evergreen content is information that remains relevant and valuable to your target audience for an extended period. It’s the content that continues to drive traffic, leads, and engagement long after you hit the “Publish” button. This is particularly vital in SAAS, as it can help establish your company as a reliable source of information in an ever-evolving tech landscape.
The Significance of Evergreen Content in SAAS Content Marketing
- Reliable Source of Traffic and Leads: Just like a well-designed SAAS solution, evergreen content can be a reliable source of website traffic and new leads. Suppose you create a blog post or resource that consistently attracts organic traffic. In that case, embedded links to your SAAS products, tutorials, or free tools can continue generating leads long after the content’s initial publication.
- Experimentation and Growth: Evergreen content provides flexibility to experiment with various marketing tactics to generate revenue. Whether it’s through sponsored content, social media advertising, or content distribution, having a stable source of traffic and leads frees you to explore different strategies without losing your core audience.
- Education and Brand Awareness: Effective SAAS content marketing doesn’t merely attract leads; it also educates prospects and builds awareness for your brand. Evergreen content should serve this dual purpose by providing value to the audience while making them more aware of your SAAS products and services
Building an Evergreen Content Strategy for SAAS.
Developing an effective evergreen content strategy for SAAS businesses involves a structured approach. Let’s break down the steps to create a successful SAAS content marketing plan:
Define Your Goals
To start, identify your specific goals for developing a content marketing plan for your SAAS. Consider the high-level business objectives, insights from team meetings, and independent research to ensure your goals are well-defined.
Organize Goals by Priority
Rank your goals by importance to differentiate between immediate needs and long-term actions. This prioritization can also help allocate resources effectively throughout the process.
Use the SMART Framework
Apply the SMART framework to make your goals specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. This clarity is crucial for designing an effective SAAS content strategy.
Example: A SMART goal for a SAAS business could be: “Increase organic traffic to our website by 30% within the next six months by developing evergreen content related to key industry trends.”
Conduct Persona Research
In the SAAS landscape, understanding your target audience, often referred to as buyer personas, is vital for content strategy success. Conducting persona research enables you to produce content tailored to your audience’s preferences and needs.
Collect and Analyze Data
If you don’t already have defined buyer personas, analyze your data to identify your audience and the types of content they engage with. Utilize data such as contact trends and demographics to categorize your leads.
Refine Buyer Personas
Regularly revisit your audience parameters by conducting market research to adapt to changes in the SAAS market. Understanding your customer segments better helps refine your buyer personas.
Featured Tool: SAAS Buyer Persona Generator
Run a Content Audit
An initial content audit is an essential step, especially for SAAS businesses beginning their content marketing journey. Evaluating your past content efforts can provide valuable insights.
Find Topic and Formatting Gaps
During the content audit, record details about page titles, content formats, word counts, and topic summaries. Identify gaps in your content strategy that need attention.
Review for Quality and Relevance
Analyze the quality of your existing content and assess its relevance to your audience’s needs. This information guides your future content direction.
Look for Repurposing Opportunities
The SAAS market offers various opportunities for content repurposing. Convert popular blog posts into webinars, ebooks, or video content to maximize reach.
Create a Content Workflow
Your content workflow can impact idea generation, publication quality, and alignment with organizational goals. Evaluate your current process for areas that might affect long-term content effectiveness.
Example: Creating a clear content workflow allows SAAS content strategists to streamline content creation, approval, and publication processes, reducing delays and bottlenecks.
Choose a Evergreen Content Management System
Selecting the right Content Management System (CMS) is crucial for SAAS content strategists. The CMS is the foundation for creating, managing, and tracking content efficiently.
Determine Specific CMS Needs
Consult your team to identify the key features needed in a CMS. Ensure that the CMS is easy to use, customizable, secure, and cost-effective for your SAAS business.
Choose the Right Content Management System
Select a CMS that aligns with your SAAS business goals. Platforms like HubSpot or WordPress, with the HubSpot WordPress plugin, offer comprehensive solutions for content management.
Adopt a Content Governance Model
Implement a content governance model to manage content creation, publication, and maintenance. This model ensures that content aligns with business standards and policies, maintaining quality over time.
Determine Which Type of Content to Create
In the SAAS industry, your content type should align with your goals, target audience personas, and available resources.
Review Personas and Goals
Consider the varying content requirements of different buyer personas and your specific marketing goals. Your choice of content types should match these variables.
Assess Your Resources
Assess the available resources, including your team’s size, skill set, content budget, and production capacity. This evaluation will influence your SAAS content creation strategy.
Choose the Right Topics, Formats, and Channels for Your Content
Utilize your refined buyer personas to focus your content on high-level topics. Then, based on the audience and topic choices, select content formats and channels.
Example: For a SAAS targeting a technically inclined audience, you may choose in-depth blog posts or webinars to provide valuable insights. In contrast, SAAS companies aiming to reach a broader audience might opt for explainer videos or infographics.
Brainstorm Content Ideas
The generation of innovative content ideas is a pivotal step in any SAAS content strategy. Utilize tools and techniques to stimulate creativity and generate compelling ideas.
Use a Range of Brainstorming Approaches
Explore a variety of brainstorming tools and techniques such as Feedly, BuzzSumo, BlogAbout, CoSchedule Headline Analyzer, and HubSpot’s Website Grader. These tools help you discover trending topics and potential content ideas.
Refine and Rank Your Ideas
The brainstorming process should begin with unstructured idea generation, allowing wild concepts to emerge. Afterward, categorize and refine the content ideas based on your goals, topics, and personas.
Example: For a SAAS company targeting small businesses, content ideas could include topics like “Simplifying CRM Integration for SMEs” or “The Power of Automation in Small Business Management.
Publish and Manage Your Content
Your content management should encompass the entire lifecycle of your content strategy, from creation to optimization and measurement.
Develop a Content Calendar
With an editorial calendar, schedule content publication and promotion systematically. Ensure a balanced and diverse content library that caters to your audience.
Optimize Your Content for Reach
In addition to evergreen content, capitalize on timely topics and seasonal trends relevant to the SAAS industry. Plan your content calendar to include niche holidays and trending topics to boost traffic.
Track and Analyze Content Performance
Leverage analytics to evaluate the effectiveness of your SAAS content strategy. Select key performance indicators (KPIs) relevant to SAAS content marketing, such as traffic, engagement, lead generation, and conversion rates.
Example: An SAAS content strategist might measure the success of a campaign by tracking key metrics such as the number of free trial sign-ups generated through a specific piece of content or the increase in recurring monthly revenue attributable to content-driven leads.
Revise Your Content Strategy with Data Insights
Continuous data analysis is essential for adapting your SAAS content strategy. Make data-driven decisions, experiment with new content approaches, and refine your strategy based on performance insights.
Example: A data-driven insight might reveal that long-form blog posts on advanced SAAS features are outperforming shorter content formats in attracting enterprise-level clients. As a result, the SAAS content strategy could pivot toward creating more in-depth blog posts to capture this market segment effectively.
Conclusion
The conclusion of the article, highlighting the importance of SAAS content strategy and SAAS content marketing, is as follows:
“In the realm of Software as a Service (SAAS), content marketing isn’t just about generating leads; it’s about creating a robust strategy that can stand the test of time. One key component of this strategy is the development of evergreen content. Evergreen content, like the SAAS industry itself, is designed to provide long-lasting value and should be an essential part of your content strategy for SAAS.
Evergreen content is information that remains relevant and valuable to your target audience for an extended period. It’s the content that continues to drive traffic, leads, and engagement long after you hit the “Publish” button. This is particularly vital in SAAS, as it can help establish your company as a reliable source of information in an ever-evolving tech landscape.
Evergreen content provides flexibility to experiment with various marketing tactics to generate revenue. Whether it’s through sponsored content, social media advertising, or content distribution, having a stable source of traffic and leads frees you to explore different strategies without losing your core audience.
Effective SAAS content marketing doesn’t merely attract leads; it also educates prospects and builds awareness for your brand. Evergreen content should serve this dual purpose by providing value to the audience while making them more aware of your SAAS products and services.”
This conclusion emphasizes the role of evergreen content in building a strong SAAS content strategy and how it contributes to both attracting leads and educating prospects about SAAS products and services.