I’m a long-time fan of inbound marketing, even before it got
that nifty label.
Why not attract prospective customers that are actively
looking for a solution? That’s got to be
easier than hunting for them one at a time, or indiscriminately broadcasting
your message to the whole planet.
The idea makes perfect sense, except when one key piece is
missing: prospects that are actively
looking.
What if the people who should
be searching for your solution just aren’t?
They’re not typing relevant keywords into Google, not asking
their colleagues for recommendations, not downloading educational white papers,
or doing anything else to actively search for a solution.
When inbound
marketing isn’t enough
I’ve worked with a number of software-as-a-service (SaaS)
providers that have faced this problem.
Inbound marketing would have been a cost-effective way to acquire
customers, except
that “prospects actively looking” weren’t in the equation.
There are a few reasons why they might not be looking.
The prospect might not see that they have a problem. Sure, as a SaaS provider, you can see a problem, but the prospect
doesn’t. They don’t see that the way
they’re doing things now may be hurting their organization.
More likely though, the prospect does see a problem, but they don’t see it as an urgent problem. They know their existing process has its
downsides, but they figure they can live with it. (See “Your
toughest competitor… inertia.”)
Or even if they do recognize an urgent problem, they may not
know that there’s a better SaaS solution at hand, especially if it’s in a niche
market.
Most prospective customers are aware that proven SaaS
solutions are available for HR, sales, or marketing automation. But what if they need a better way to report safety
issues on oil & gas rigs, schedule home health care workers, or manage a
chiropractor’s office? (Yes, I’ve worked
with SaaS providers selling these kinds of targeted solutions.)
In any of these instances, prospects are not actively
looking for a solution. Relying on
inbound marketing to attract leads – that is, them finding you – won’t
work very well.
Get in front of
“non-active” prospects
If prospects are not actively looking and inbound marketing
won’t work, SaaS marketers may need to revert to some of the more “traditional”
marketing programs like broadcast advertising, outbound email or direct mail to
carefully-sourced targets, or participation in events.
The goal of these programs isn’t to talk about the specifics
of the solution; the prospects are not ready for that discussion yet.
Instead, the goal is to convince them that they do, in fact,
have a problem, it’s a problem that they cannot ignore, and that there is a
better solution readily available.
In other words, push them to become prospects actively
looking for a solution. Once there’s pool
of active prospects, the inbound marketing tactics we know and love should move
them forward from there.
