SaaS marketing is more than launching a product and publishing content. These articles explore positioning, go-to-market strategy, customer relationships, content, distribution, and the ecosystems SaaS companies need to build recognition, trust, and sales.
How founders can stop guessing personas and start listening to real conversations.
TL;DR: Twitter Lists aren’t just organization tools — they’re powerful market research signals. Instead of guessing buyer personas, learn how to listen to real conversations, spot patterns, and inform your SaaS/B2B strategy.
Listening → Language → Patterns → Timing → Relevance (image by ChatGPT)
Coding Versus Marketing
If you’ve ever written a piece of code that magically worked and didn’t fully understand why it worked, you’re probably a SaaS founder.
Meaning, you’ve built something that works, but you’re not going to stop until you understand the full process and mechanisms of why it works. This is the edge you have as a programmer and a founder.
Software you get. Code you understand. ProductHunt is your jam. You’ve got so many shades of green in your GitHub profile it could be your holiday card this year (hey! that’s an idea!).
But marketing. This is where you need a bit of guidance.
The SaaS Company, AWI (Andrews Wharton) was a long time client of mine — and it all came because I replied to one of their tweets. The NDA has since expired.
Twitter (X) used to have amazing analytics and I tracked data (not just followers) in Google Sheets. So I asked ChatGPT to do a quick analysis.
~ Bridget Willard
Overview
In August 2019, Andrews Wharton, a long-standing data company specializing in consumer and audience data—and now part of Stirista—reached out after discovering my work on Twitter. What began with a single underperforming account grew into a multi-year collaboration including Twitter/X and LinkedIn account management, product launch support, article writing, content strategy, and cross-channel execution.
Between 2019 and 2023, their Twitter presence evolved from sporadic posting to a streamlined, high-efficiency communication channel that consistently attracted the right audience, reflecting the brand’s authority and expertise in the data industry.
When Jason Knill from ThoughtHouse (GiveWP was our client) hired me as a freelancer to manage their new WordPress Plugin’s Twitter Account in June 2015, the GiveWP Twitter account had only 165 followers.
They had been trying to tweet on their own but that didn’t take priority as they were building their plugin and dealing with support tickets.
GiveWP was launched in April of that year and, at the time, had little brand recognition within the WordPress ecosystem.
The goal was to establish GiveWP as the leading donation-plugin brand through consistent, human-centered social media engagement—without relying on paid promotion or buying followers.
Competitors already existed both in WordPress and on platforms like Classy.org (now owned by GoFundMe).
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?
B2B SaaS Founders are often overwhelmed with their own workload as CEO, CFO, and CIO. Taking the time to publish on LinkedIn seems frivolous in comparison. But it’s crucial to brand building which is vital for sales.
Also, if you’re taking the time to post on LinkedIn about your company, you may as well also publish an article there as well.
Why should you make time out of your busy schedule to publish on LinkedIn?
The short answer is for visibility, thought leadership, brand authority, and off-page SEO.
Building Visibility On LinkedIn
If you’re a B2B founder, CEO, or Marketer, you need to be on LinkedIn. It’s not outdated, it’s not becoming Facebook. It’s where people network online. CEOs aren’t typically in Reddit looking for customers and investors.
Networking on LinkedIn as an intentional exercise (even before and after conferences) is a great way of making it easier to hold meaningful conversations in person. Over 60% of the audience on LinkedIn depends on it for “event information and company news,” reports Statista.
Visibility that makes the sales process easier? Yes, please! Even better, 90% of the decision makers and C-Suite who consistently read your content are obviously more interested in a sales pitch. Warming up leads by publishing articles on LinkedIn seems like a no brainer.
“9 in 10 decision makers and C-suite executives say they are moderately or very likely to be more receptive to sales or marketing outreach from a company that consistently produces high-quality thought leadership.”2024 Edelman-LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report
If you knew that over 50% of decision makers and C-Suite members spend over an hour a week reading thought leadership articles, would you change your strategy? It’s important to post consistently in order to break through the noise.
“Aim for five LinkedIn posts per week, creating a steady rhythm of content.” EverythingDesign
And while you’re doing that be sure to form new connections and reply to other people’s posts. You can easily fit this into your schedule with my 3-2-1 Method.
“54% say the piece of thought leadership got them to realise there were other suppliers they could work with that had a better understanding of the challenges their organisation was facing.” Di Mace
Building Brand Authority on LinkedIn
Building brand authority on LinkedIn is important for any business; for startup SaaS companies – it’s crucial. You’ve built the Uber for [Industry] or the Google for [Industry]. People have to both want a new solution and know you exist.
Writing about problems that customers actually have? That’s the way to get it done. In fact, all of a SaaS founder’s posts on LinkedIn should inform website content, email marketing campaigns, and sales decks. Why? Because it’s the current thinking. Be sure to include as much data as possible, too.
“Effective thought leadership has three key attributes: it cites strong research and data, helps buyers understand their business challenges, and offers concrete guidance.” Edelman
He consistently posts insights for the event marketing space as well as insights into their platform adoption. The best part is that he extracts insights for other founders. This kind of vulnerability is compelling for decision makers as well.
“Over the past 12 months, our average deal size has grown by 113% while win rates have increased from 54% to 58%.”
He goes on to cite learnings and how it has helped their ten-year Event Platform to start custom implementations. He ends with:
“The future of enterprise tech is Software & Service.That’s what we are building for.”
We often talk about Software as a Service (SaaS) and forget about the service. This right here hits decision makers. It’s enough to make them change. And Jonathan (or a marketing exec on his behalf) could easily convert these long-form posts on LinkedIn into LinkedIn Articles.
Building Off-Page SEO on LinkedIn
One of my favorite SEO tools is Google Alerts for my name, “Bridget Willard.” I set them for “as-it-happens” and “all results.” For the last couple of years, even posts on LinkedIn have been ranking and this helps me keep tabs of any mentions as well.
A simple “Bridget Willard SaaS” search shows my website first, then my LinkedIn profile, then an article I wrote for BetterCloud – a SaaS Management Platform. Incognito results were similar. The BetterCloud article was number 5 in the SERPS with my X profile (3) and Instagram profile (4) both ahead of it.
Warren Laine-Naida has consistently A/B tested publishing on LinkedIn versus his website. Every single time, these articles are on Page 1 of Google SERPs and his website version is “nowhere to be found,” he told me. Indeed, for the following set of articles, the LinkedIn one shows up as the second entry under videos for the phrase “boost visiblity in search llms.”
Oh yeah, articles on LinkedIn are indexed within 24 hours, too.
You don’t always need people on your website. Especially when 44% of all Google searches are for brand names. When you are a SaaS founder or Freelancer, your brand is your name. You both want and need customers and investors to follow you.
Get Marketing That Works
I’ve been helping SaaS companies build a name for themselves in the B2B space since 2015. My company offers the perfect SaaS Marketing Package to help your internal team. And, if you’re ready to have your LinkedIn posts repurposed as articles on LinkedIn, we can certainly make time for you.
