SaaS content marketing strategies are the key to unlocking targeted, scalable growth for SaaS companies. Through our work and experience in this industry, content marketing for SaaS products remain the bedrock of sustainable customer acquisition, brand authority and long-term revenue growth that many of our clients have achieved.
In this guide, we’ll take a closer look at what SaaS content marketing is and break down the proven strategies you can use to drive consistent, compounding growth.
- What is SaaS content marketing?
- Benefits of content marketing for SaaS
- Proven SaaS content marketing strategies
- Common mistakes in SaaS content marketing
- How to build an effective SaaS content marketing plan
- SaaS content marketing tips
As an experienced SaaS SEO agency, we have a wealth of experience helping software as a service (SaaS) brands develop and execute highly effective content marketing plans, taking them from industry players to industry leaders. To discover how we can help you, get in touch with our specialists to learn more about our tailored SaaS marketing solutions.
What is SaaS content marketing?
SaaS content marketing is a specialised marketing approach that SaaS businesses use to attract, convert and retain customers. This type of marketing reduces the reliance on paid marketing, which in turn reduces customer acquisition costs.
How it differs from traditional content marketing
SaaS content marketing shares many similarities with traditional content marketing. Both involve creating and publishing valuable and relevant content consistently in order to attract, engage and retain an audience. However, with content marketing for SaaS, it’s less about “brand storytelling” and more about solving user pain points with product-led content.
Unlike more traditional content marketing, which may prioritise brand awareness and engagement alone, SaaS content needs to actively support the product experience itself. This means that content teams need to work closely with product managers and customer service teams to understand user pain points, feature functionality and the journey of their ideal customer.
Why it matters for B2B SaaS companies
Those seeking a software product often self-educate before making the decision to purchase. For this reason, the content must guide them through that process effectively and efficiently. The buyer decision process isn’t done on impulse; instead, the customer goes through extensive research, product comparisons and internal approvals before completing a purchase.
As demonstrated, the SaaS marketing funnel is inherently longer and more complex than those that follow the traditional AIDA model. It requires nurturing at multiple stages, and this is where SaaS content marketing can help.
The content produced helps prospective customers self-educate at every stage. It also works to build trust early, dispel concerns, and reinforce the value that a product offers, further supporting sales teams to engage with potential leads and progress sales opportunities.
Finally, another benefit of SaaS content marketing is that it’s one of the few scalable and compounding acquisition channels. While paid advertising can be an effective marketing strategy, it requires a constant budget. Compare this to a well-executed content strategy that builds momentum over time. We’ll take a closer look at the benefits of content marketing for SaaS in the section below.
Benefits of content marketing for SaaS
Builds trust and authority
Content marketing for SaaS builds trust and authority in two ways, both with the user and search engines.
For users landing on your website, accurate and valuable content demonstrates that your SaaS business understands their pain points and has the expertise and solutions to solve them.
From an SEO perspective, content marketing plays a major role in demonstrating E-E-A-T, which is a framework that Google uses to determine the quality of a website. E-E-A-T, which stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trust, is not a direct ranking factor; it can have an impact on ranking performance.
Overall, a robust content marketing strategy for SaaS helps you position your brand as the go-to expert.
Improves organic acquisition
As briefly mentioned at the beginning of this guide, SEO content serves as a powerful strategy for long-term, cost-effective growth. An effective SEO content strategy can bring in steady traffic that builds over time and helps lower customer acquisition costs (CAC). Whereas, relying solely on paid channels can increase CAC, particularly if it’s not utilised effectively.
For example, a single, well-optimised article might initially rank for a handful of high-intent keywords. Over time, as the content matures and you build topical authority on the subject through content clusters, your chances of ranking for a much broader set of search terms and themes improve significantly.
Another key advantage of this approach is the ability to attract highly qualified leads by targeting long-tail keywords and bottom-of-funnel (BoFu) content. These terms typically have lower search volume, but much higher intent, meaning users who search for them are often closer to making a purchasing decision. In essence, you’re not just driving traffic, you’re driving the right traffic, which can lead to higher conversion rates.
Supports the sales pipeline
Content marketing plays a vital role in supporting the SaaS sales pipeline by attracting qualified leads and guiding them through the buyer journey.
From blog posts and whitepapers to case studies and comparison pages, this content helps to educate prospects, build trust, and address objections at each stage of the sales funnel. This not only helps to shorten the sales cycle but also equips sales teams with valuable resources to nurture leads more effectively. By providing relevant, helpful content, you’re not just generating interest; you’re moving prospects closer to conversion.
Drives product retention and education
Another key advantage of content marketing in SaaS is its role in educating existing customers and improving retention. While content is often used to attract new leads, it’s equally valuable post-sale, as it helps users get the most out of your product.
Resources like onboarding guides, feature deep dives, and how-to articles can improve customer satisfaction, increase feature adoption, and reduce churn. This type of content not only supports customer acquisition but also reinforces the value of your product, making it easier for users to stay engaged.
Proven SaaS content marketing strategies
Build a scalable SEO content engine
Topic clusters are one of the most effective ways to make sure your content performs at its best. This structure helps to build topical authority in the eyes of search engines whilst also providing a plethora of genuinely helpful information on a topic for your users.
Each cluster should include a pillar page, which targets an attainable short-tail keyword, supported by related service pages and blogs that target long-tail keywords related to that topic. You should begin by conducting intent-based keyword research and avoid relying on search volume alone to ensure you are creating content for every stage of the SaaS marketing funnel.
It’s also important to remember that old content may need refreshing over time to reflect product changes, industry trends and algorithm updates, so ensure this is factored into your content plan.
Leverage thought leadership
Thought leadership is crucial in marketing because it positions brands as an authority and a trusted expert. By providing unique and valuable insights, you can address challenges, educate others and be at the forefront of industry developments.
Ways you can incorporate thought leadership into your content include publishing whitepapers and research reports, creating articles and blog posts that offer unique insights and analysis and participating in audio-visual content such as videos, webinars, interactive presentations, podcasts and interviews.
Use case studies and customer stories
Testimonials are another valuable asset to include in the content you produce. However, go beyond just publishing quotes or customer-written reviews. Your case studies need to focus on the pain points as well as the solutions and results that your product or service provides.
If you have a case study area on your site, make sure it goes beyond basic testimonials. Position each testimonial as a narrative, guiding users through the customer’s journey from problem to solution. Highlight the key successes through snappy data and engaging visuals that clearly demonstrate the value and impact of your product.
You should also optimise these case studies for specific verticals, industries or use cases to ensure you have a wide variety of examples which can be applied to every area that your business serves.
Harness the knowledge of internal teams
When it comes to insights on your product and customer base, your internal teams and those in customer service-facing roles often possess some of the most actionable, firsthand insight. These teams hear directly from existing users about their challenges, feature requests, and feedback.
This information can be used to prioritise content and refine your messaging to ensure it aligns with the needs of your customers.
Integrate product-led content
Anecdotes will only get you so far in content marketing. To take your content to the next level, you need to let your product tell the story and demonstrate the value through real usage and not just claims or the written word.
With informational and commercial content, think about ways you can weave in the features and benefits of your product or service. You can achieve this by incorporating screenshots and walkthroughs that demonstrate the product in action and highlight its best and unique features.
Using real use-case scenarios will add another dimension to your content, and it will work particularly well if you incorporate facts and figures as previously mentioned.
As your product and services evolve, you want to ensure your content aligns with feature launches and product roadmaps. Close collaboration with product development and customer service teams is key to keeping content accurate, relevant, and valuable for both prospects and existing users.
Repurpose content across channels
In today’s digital landscape, the SERPs are constantly evolving. The development of SERP features, including the rollout and rise of Google’s AI Overviews, shows that users are increasingly turning to visual content for information and inspiration.
For SaaS businesses, this presents an opportunity to extend the reach of existing content. Blog posts can be repurposed into short educational videos, while webinars can be transformed into detailed blog articles, guides, or social media snippets.
Repurposing content not only maximises the value of your efforts but also ensures your message reaches users across multiple channels and formats.
Common mistakes in SaaS content marketing
Focusing too much on volume over value
In a rush to produce content, many SaaS marketing teams may fall into the trap of producing content at scale without a clear strategy or understanding of which content will perform. Both search engines and users value quality over quantity, and your content should always be created with this in mind.
Another common mistake we see many SaaS companies making is focusing on search volume rather than search intent. While it can be tempting to target high-volume keywords, doing so without considering the intent behind the query often leads to unqualified traffic that neither satisfies the user nor converts. For example, a ToFu keyword may bring thousands of visitors, but if your product or your expertise doesn’t match the problem the user is looking to solve, it won’t move you forward towards acquisition or revenue.
Instead, focus on intent-driven content that meets the needs of your ideal customer at key touchpoints in their buying journey. In addition to high-volume keywords, spend time focusing on ways to target long-tail, BoFu keywords. Whilst they may have a lower search volume, they often attract users with high purchase intent.
Not aligning your content with the customer journey
As previously mentioned, the SaaS marketing funnel is much more complex, and users rarely move in a linear fashion. As consumers have access to more information than ever before, this has resulted in a shift in how people discover, research, and buy products or services. This concept was coined as the “messy middle” in a 2020 consumer behaviour study conducted by Google’s consumer insights team.
While it’s important to create content for each stage, SaaS marketing teams need to analyse their SaaS funnel to understand where potential customers are falling out of the funnel and focus on these areas. Utilising quantitative data such as drop-off rates, bounce rates, session time and CTA clicks, along with qualitative data sources from customer feedback, and input from sales and customer service teams can help to uncover gaps in messaging, content, or user experience.
When internal resources are limited, partnering with a SaaS marketing agency can help. SaaS SEO services can bring the specialised skills, resources and tools to help you uncover funnel bottlenecks to execute targeted content strategies that help drive prospects closer towards converting.
Neglecting Bottom-of-Funnel content
Whilst informational content is great, too much top-of-funnel (ToFu) content can hurt conversions. As mentioned above, an effective SaaS content marketing strategy should have content aligned for each stage of the marketing funnel to drive prospects towards a purchasing decision.
BoFu content meets users at the decision stage of their journey, where they may have focused on specific products, pricing and packages. Comparison pages and use-case-driven landing pages, which promote free trials and product demos, are highly effective here.
How to build an effective SaaS content marketing plan
Define ICPs and buyer journey stages
In our previous guide on SEO for SaaS, we discussed the importance of identifying your customer personas and their pain points. Without this, your contact may be misaligned and attract the wrong audience or fail to convert the right one.
You could begin by speaking directly to your existing customers or collaborating with your sales and customer service teams to build out rich customer personas. You want to determine the problems they are trying to solve, the language they use and how they research software solutions.
From there, map relevant content types to each stage and persona, ensuring you are creating content for each stage of the funnel.
Set SMART content goals
The most effective SaaS content plans are the ones with clear goals and objectives set against them. Depending on the position of your SaaS company, you might set different goals. For example:
- Drive x number of product signs up per month
- Increase blog traffic by x%
- Improve retention rate by x%
Put simply, you want to prioritise content that directly impacts your sales pipeline or customer outcomes and focus on meaningful data, not just vanity metrics.
Finally, set aside time each month to review your content performance. Track what’s working, what’s underperforming, as this can inform your future content and identify opportunities for optimisation of existing content.
Build a realistic content calendar and workflow
Execution is where many content plans fall apart. To stay consistent, you need to set a clear, realistic content calendar that aligns with the capacity and capabilities of your team.
We’d first recommend using a tool to lay out your content calendar. There are lots of third-party tools to help you do this. For example, you could use Trello or Monday.com. Alternatively, if you are just getting started, we find that a simple spreadsheet can work just as well.
Be sure to include important information such as:
- Target keywords and search intent
- Suggested titles and recommended URLs
- Metadata such as title tags and meta descriptions
- Content owners and due dates
To prioritise your content, you can do it in one of two ways: either by the total keyword search volume of each piece or by content topics and pillars. When planning your content schedule, consider roles and ownership, e.g. who owns strategy, writing, editing and publishing, as this will have an effect on how much content you can realistically produce and how often.
Finally, while your content strategy is designed to provide you with structure, it’s important to remain flexible. Include room for product launches, feature announcements and seasonal campaigns.
Additional SaaS content marketing tips
Aim for quality over quantity
- Focus on problem-aware and solution-aware terms.
- Use tools like Semrush, Ahrefs etc,
- Prioritise pages that align with key product features or objections.
Test and challenge on-page SEO best practices
As SEOs and marketers, we are always told to follow best practices. From optimising meta titles, structuring headings and improving internal linking. Whilst these are useful guidelines, the landscape of search is constantly evolving. What works for one industry might not work for SaaS brands, and search intent can shift over time, requiring us to continually reevaluate our approach to content.
The concept of SEO testing has become more and more prevalent. Instead of blindly following best practices, the best-performing pieces of content are usually the ones that have been created by agile teams who are comfortable with experimenting with different formats, layouts and optimisation tactics.
Here are some types of tests you could consider running:
- Trying variations of CTA placement
- Rewriting introductions
- Adjusting internal linking structure to strengthen topical clusters
If you are new to SEO testing and are unsure where to start, we can help. Visit our SEO services page to learn more about our approach to testing and how we put evidence into action through SEO experimentation.
Don’t neglect off-page SEO
In addition to the content you publish on your website, off-page SEO plays a critical role in how well your content performs in search. Backlinks remain one of the strongest signals that Google uses to assess authority and credibility.
Whilst writing great content can earn you backlinks, it often requires a little more than that. Here are a few ways you can look to improve your off-page SEO:
- Create linkable assets such as statistics, industry benchmarks or interactive tools that others may find useful.
- Invest time in producing original research or data-driven content, which will naturally attract backlinks.
- Try guest posting and consider Digital PR to earn backlinks from high-authority websites and relevant publications.
To obtain backlinks, you want to focus on creating unique content that goes beyond what your competitors are publishing. The aim is to offer something genuinely useful so that your content becomes the go-to resource for your industry.
Measure impact and adapt accordingly
Creating and publishing great content is only half the job. Measuring what is working and adapting your strategy when needed is how you maintain momentum. As mentioned before, getting into the habit of tracking meaningful metrics is the best way to do this.
Using tools like GA4, Ahrefs and Google Search Console, you can track metrics such as:
- Organic traffic growth from non-branded search terms
- Conversion metrics by page (e.g. free trial signups, demo requests and enquiry form submissions)
- Keyword ranking improvements (especially for priority pages)
- Engagement signals (e.g. average time on page, scroll depth and bounce rate)
Build a winning SaaS content strategy
With this guide, you will now be armed with the information you need to create and execute an effective SaaS content strategy. As a full-service SaaS marketing agency, we’ve got decades of combined experience in providing innovative solutions for SaaS brands to address the unique challenges faced in the sector.
Whether you require Saas SEO services or expert guidance on your digital marketing strategy, we can help. Just get in touch with our team of specialists today to learn more. Alternatively, if you’d like to hear more about the great work we have done to support SaaS brands like yours, check out our latest work.
