Now, if you’ve never listened to an episode of The SDM Show (SDM stands for Stunning Digital Marketing), then maybe you don’t know we’re not scripted – at all. So, generally Rob sends me a message on WhatsApp or calls and says, I need a topic for this month. I give it to him and we just talk.
For this episode, Rob wanted to record a special episode now that I’ve recently eliminated my own big distraction: my 30 hr/wk retail job.
So all I knew about this episode is that Rob was going to ask some big question. I didn’t think he’d make my argument for me. But then again, we are usually aligned.
So, why are SaaS founders so poor at marketing? I gave him an answer, and, of course, expanded on it, and then gave some more arguments. Because apparently I needed 50 minutes to realize they were all the same answer.
SaaS founders are very good at building things. That’s their strength. But it can also become their biggest distraction. That leads me to the axiom, “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”
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“In this episode of The SDM Show, Rob Cairns sits down with marketing strategist and monthly co-host Bridget Willard to dissect the unique blind spots SaaS companies face when marketing their products. Bridget shares why she recently eliminated outside distractions to double down on SaaS, the critical importance of understanding your true billable worth, and why founders must stop treating marketing like an afterthought.”
I love trying SaaS products and becoming more efficient. But keeping products just because I feel bad? No thanks. I’m also not here to force a SaaS product to make one do what it just can’t do. Some people can get Canva to work for YouTube Thumbnails. I’m just not that good.
So when I accidentally discovered that OpusClip now has its own AI YouTube Thumbnail Maker, I immediately had a question:
Do I still need ThumbnailCreator.com?
This is especially relevant because I already pay for both products.
I use OpusClip Pro ($29/mo plan) to extend the life of my videos by turning long-form content into YouTube shorts, Reels, and occasionally posting on X or LinkedIn. ThumbnailCreator.com has become part of my YouTube publishing workflow and dramatically improved the thumbnails on my channel.
But ThumbnailCreator costs me $29 a month. I’m not complaining about the price. It’s the cost of doing business. And, frankly, my CPA wants me to have more expenses, not fewer.
Not to be wasteful with my budget, I had to ask myself: if OpusClip can make the thumbnails too, why am I paying for both tools?
There was only one reasonable thing to do: record a video!
SaaS Thunderdome.
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Full Disclosure: I’m an Affiliate for Both
Let’s get this out of the way first. I’m an affiliate for OpusClipandThumbnailCreator.com. If you use one of my affiliate links and make a purchase, I may receive a commission.
This article was written by Warren Laine-Naida and Bridget Willard. Although in the first-person, you’ll probably see both of our personalities. Bridget has a successful marketing agency that focuses on SaaS Products and also has a retail job while Warren defines himself as a web generalist who is also a teacher. Basically Bridget works with products and Warren builds websites. We both have a passion for understanding the WHY before doing the WHAT.
We’d also like to note that we’ve written four books together three of which are a series and none of which were written by AI of any kind and the same goes with this article.
Everyone wants a marketing hack — or another get-rich-quick scheme. Honestly, it amazes me how often companies give up on a solid marketing strategy in favor of other marketing channels.
With the siren song of AI, it’s even worse. Who knows what security issues come up with vibe coded solutions? Or AI WordPress plugins because Claude can read open source code. Does Claude escape the code? Is your GitHub repo secure with GitGuardian?
Are your API keys just laying out in the open for any AI agent to steal?
And this doesn’t even mention poorly-written, bland, soulless articles and website copy masquerading as copywriting.
“Ms Skidd spent about 20 hours rewriting the copy, charging $100 (£74) an hour. Rather than making small changes, she ‘had to redo the whole thing’.” BBC
Copywriting is just like any other trade. You can attempt to do it — like attempting to install a door yourself. Mess it up, likely do more damage, and then still have to hire a door guy to install the door and frame properly at $150/hour.
That is why the best marketing hack for your SaaS business (or any business, really) is time, budget, and patience.
Marketing Takes Time
Everyone wants to trade a cow for magic beans. GenX had the Sea Monkey advertisements plastered in every comic book and the box of every sugar-filled cereal. Instant Success! Overnight Success! Build it and they will come.
Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work that way.
Life doesn’t work that way.
People don’t work that way.
To be successful at any business, it takes time. Whether that is 10,000 hours mastering your skill or the cumulative effect of building websites in your area for over 10 years, it takes time. Success takes time. Marketing takes time.
“Most small businesses take two to three years to become profitable.” FreshBooks
Ask yourself this: do you have a minimum of two years to dedicate to your business?
In my marketing agency, I don’t have contracts. I have quotes and invoices. The terms are clear and customers are free to hire me for a month or four years – billed one month at a time.
Many people think this is a foolish move. It’s a test. How long are you willing to participate in your own business? How well will we work together? Do you have the initiative to do the sales outreach based on the marketing efforts?
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: I can’t care more about your business than you do. (This inspired a free eBook, btw.)
The time we spend collaborating and working on your business on a month-to-month basis ensures that you’re engaged, I’m engaged, and you’re enjoying the process. We learn from the strategies and adjust the tactics to meet the marketing goal – which, by the way, should match the business goal.
Marketing Takes Budget
When I was at ThoughtHouse, a San Diego marketing agency that focused on Franchise Development (FranDev), we always told our customers that they should budget 15% of their gross revenue for marketing. That included SEO (where we billed social media, content creation, and technical SEO) as well as ad spend.
That rule of thumb stands true. You can’t grow your business without spending money on marketing. Marketing is communicating with your future customers (outreach), current customers (sales), and even your stakeholders (investors, employees, board members).
Going by 15% of your gross revenue of $500,000 a year, your marketing budget should be $75,000.
That sounds like a lot of money until you factor in building a website (and are you selling on the website?), content creation (articles, videos), event attendance (tickets, lodging), social media (X, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram), swag (tee-shirts, stickers), and ad spend (Google Ads, YouTube Ads, Billboards, Radio).
This is why most marketing strategies are rolled out in phases. Because if you don’t have the budget to go hard, you have to take the time to get to where you want to be.
This is a great place to mention that you can’t just pour good money after bad. Last minute budget increases don’t cut it.
“You can’t just pour more money into a campaign and get more results. If you get 200 clicks on an ad for $500, that doesn’t mean you’ll get 400 clicks for $1,000.
People’s attention is not for sale, and the point of diminishing returns is a lot lower than you think.
You usually don’t need a bigger budget to make your marketing more successful.
If you’re in business with a get-rich-quick mentality, you’re in for a rude awakening. I’ve worked with quite a few customers in my marketing career from various industries – from a junk yard to a travel agent, multi-million dollar franchisors and product companies, and the only “overnight success” is the one that happens after years of elbow grease.
We already know the average small business needs two to three years. If you’re a SaaS, you need even longer. Do you have a decade budgeted to be where you want to be as a SaaS founder? Or will you get bored and vibe code something new?
I’m sad to be the bearer of bummer news but someone has to be straight with you. Most founders seem to surround themselves with affirmations and “yes men/humans.” You don’t grow if you never have to fight to shape your dream into a reality.
I’d love to help you get to where you need to be. I’m always open for a quick sales call or you can just book a paid consult.
Marketing that works takes time, budget, and patience. I’ve got the time to work on your business? Do you?
So many people want to wait for a full SEO audit before they fix internal links or update articles. I get it. It feels like that may be the most efficient way to tackle the beast.
But it’s like waiting to vacuum until professional cleaners do a move-out clean in your apartment. And this analogy is top-of-mind because I’m looking in the mirror here. I would love to get a deep clean done and reset my apartment.
But it’s still going to get dusty. I still need to wash my bedding. I still need to mop the floor. I still need to sweep and vacuum.
So, you want to wait for an SEO audit. Okay.
Most SEOs charge a fee for that audit (like my friend Warren Laine-Naida does) but the fee doesn’t include doing the work.
So, when is the work going to get done? How outdated will that article be?
And, by the way, also talking to myself here — don’t forget to look at Google Search Console to see your top ranking keywords. This will give you ideas on HOW to adjust those internal audits.
Because if you give the SEO consultant the wrong coordinates (content and business goal) that SEO ship will sail you in the wrong direction.
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Notable Timestamps:
00:56 You still have to fix things that you’re linking to.
05:00 Your homepage shouldn’t attract every customer.
Full Transcript
(00:01): Hey everybody. Sometimes you’re just cleaning and you’re doing stuff. You come up with a good idea.
(00:06): And I was thinking about how as we’re cleaning vacuuming, we come across something and we’re like, Ooh, I need to dust this. Do you ignore it and wait for years? This is how people do SEO audits or, um, redoing their whole site. Like they come up with this idea that they have to have some person, some shiny salesperson come and tell ’em that they have a complete overhaul. That would be like, I’m not gonna vacuum anymore until the cleaning company comes in my apartment and does a move-out clean. And then I’ll have a fresh start. So everything I do from then will work out. That makes no sense. You still have to clean your apartment. You still have to vacuum. You still have to dust. You still have to do laundry.
(00:56): And that’s the same way with SEO. You still have to fix things that you’re linking to.
(01:03): Now, Pew Research came out with some findings that 40, 43% of all, um, links are broken on government sites and whatnot. And we link internally and we link out. So there’s checking for broken links on external sites, which is something I definitely need to do. I mean, I’m saying this as a reminder to myself, too. And then there’s internal.
(01:33): And even though the link works, you may need to update some of that content. For example, the video I did the other day about Twitter still being super relevant in 2025, I linked to the text of my book ’cause you can get this Definitive Guide to Twitter Marketing book as a blog post. And I did some updates to that real quick.
(01:58): But it’s, it’s the internet, it’s not print. So it’s very easy for us if you, if you have access to your own website, very easy to re redo that content. Um, I’m sure there’s articles that are published on bridgetwillard.com that I need to go through. And if I did a whole SEO audit and paid somebody five to two to $5,000, like 500 to $5,000 to do that SEO audit, I would still have to do the work.
(02:29): People who do SEO audits don’t do the work. They just find out where the work needs to be done. It’s like a home inspector. They come in, they tell you all the things that are wrong and they give you a list to go get it done. So when you hire somebody like that, they’re not doing the SEO work for you. They’re just telling you where the SEO of work needs to be done.
(02:54): Oh, Bob, this toilet needs to be fixed. Oh, there this room is isn’t level. It’s like that. It’s a list of tasks that somebody else needs to do. And that audit itself almost always comes up with a list of things that need to be done. Now, they also may for hire, like I said, I was in construction, so we would do building surveys and we would do ’em for a really good price in order to get the work that comes from the building survey. It’s a loss leader.
(03:29): So instead, when you’re writing your content, um, for your website and you do notice that you’re linking to, um, an internal page, either a page or a post that you wrote, go ahead and make a note. Send yourself an email. Make it a to-do list on a kanban board, whatever it takes for you to spend five, 10 minutes on that one article to make sure that it’s, um, you know, done correctly or up to date with.
(04:08): Um, it might not be wrong, wrong, but it still might say things that you don’t necessarily agree with. Um, so that’s a good time to update those.
(04:18): Also, you may think, oh, I don’t really wanna do work with these kind of people anymore. So this language doesn’t make sense. Because sometimes when we’re writing pages, we’re experimenting with language to get that kind of traffic or to meet that person’s needs. Then you might wanna word it a different way.
(04:38): For example, my homepage, um, is all about being a marketing manager’s best friend. Like, I got you. You need four articles more a month. You can’t do it. You have the budget to outsource. I’m your girl. Oh, you’re supposed to do Twitter and LinkedIn. You can’t focus on both. I’ll do one of ’em for you, no problem.
(05:00): But then again, I also do a lot of white-labeled work for WordPress, uh, freelancers and agencies of one who do, who build the website, but maybe they’re not writing the page content. I don’t have a landing page for that. This is a good opportunity to have one.
(05:21): And sometimes we forget that not everybody is our customer. And that’s why when you come across it, that’s a good time for you to go ahead and fix it. I was just vacuuming. I saw a big pile of paper as I moved from my table to under my tv. It’s all dusted. Do I just leave it all dusty? No. I am gonna go get the pledge and clean it up. Maybe the pile of paper comes in my office, but I do need to file those . But you see what I’m saying?
(05:56): You don’t wait for. You can. You can wait until it’s a total mess. But then you have this giant overwhelming task. Instead of doing it as you come across it yourself on your site as you’re thinking of thanks to post on X Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, um, to share on a story link and Instagram, to pull content from to make those social posts. And you see something maybe you don’t agree with, or there’s a link to a vendor you don’t work with anymore, that’s a good time to just get in there and get it done.
(06:33): What you’re working on today, let me know in the comments. Bye everybody.
