If you’re a software-as-a-service (SaaS) marketer and you think you’re marketing a product, think again.
What you’re really marketing are promises. You’re promising to customers that you’ll deliver value over the life of the subscription.
Though part of that value includes making available a certain set of functionality on day one - features to track a sales pipeline, manage inventory, handle HR, etc. - it goes way beyond that.
You are also promising that you’ll deliver:
- Hassle-free deployment
- Reliable performance and instant access
- Security for the customer’s data
- Expert customer support
- An ongoing stream of enhancements
Earning trust means more than showing features
That’s a lot of promises, and marketing them requires that you win the prospective customer’s trust. They need to believe that you'll make good on them. There's a lot more to it than just showing that the features work.
You need to show customers that you’re committed to a long term relationship… something that extends beyond a one-time transaction.
You need to show them other customers that you’ve kept satisfied over a long period.
You need to show proof of reliability and security, and a track record of enhancements.
In short, you need to show them you’re a company they can trust.
There are several critical differences between marketing SaaS and traditional on-premises software: different buyers, different messages, and different processes. Marketing SaaS requires a different strategy, something fit for selling promises, not just a product.
