I won’t lie to you.
If one of my videos
went viral, I’d be excited. It would
definitely be cool to see the “views” tick up into the millions… or even the
thousands.
But here’s the thing.
I wouldn’t expect that avalanche of views to translate into an avalanche
of customers.
And if you’re marketing a B2B software-as-a-service (SaaS)
solution, neither should you.
Marketing B2B SaaS solutions is a journey
Here’s the hard truth:
marketing a B2B SaaS solution isn’t easy or quick. There’s a tortuous journey from a “view” to a
“buy.”
After you’ve piqued their interest with a clever video, then
you’ve got to walk the prospective customer through several more steps. Perhaps you invite them to a webinar, offer a
white paper, show them a live demo, or entice them into a free trial.
At some point, if all goes well, you’ll get an opportunity
to prepare a proposal and eventually win a paying customer.
The point is this journey takes time. Remember that the folks you’re marketing to
usually aren’t spending every waking hour evaluating your solution. They have other priorities that get in the
way. (See “Sometimes
Prospects Just Aren’t Ready to Buy.”)
B2B SaaS solutions aren’t an impulse buy
Of course, there are things you can do to convert more leads
into qualified opportunities and paying customers and keep them from getting
get stuck somewhere in the process. And
you can try to accelerate the process. (Get
in touch with me if you need help.)
But there’s really no way to skip the whole journey, hopping
directly from “view” to paying customer.
A B2B SaaS solution usually isn’t an impulse buy.
Don’t expect a viral video to work to short-cut the process.
There’s no magic marketing tactic
And by the way, the same goes for any other marketing tactic. No single email, webinar, trade show, or blog
post will do the job either. Not by
itself.
If you’re looking for the magic [fill in your favorite
marketing tactic here], stop looking.
There’s no such thing.
