When to Build a SaaS Go-to-Market Strategy for Sales and Marketing

Firms often let "great" get in the way of "good". They try to perfect their product before selling it. But revenue needs to come in at some time, which is why you should always sell the product before you've developed it. Here are a few tips for how and when to build a solid SaaS go-to-market strategy that guarantees sales and marketing success. 

Build for the Early Adopters

Give early adopters preferred pricing or lifetime access in exchange for funding. These early adopters have a strong influence on how the product is built, so be careful not to get too client-specific. Make sure you build generically within your defined niche. Target 5-10 early adopters so you get a broad representation of your market. Focus on building the best minimum viable product (MVP) that you can. This approach guarantees you'll be building a product with features that people will buy, thereby mitigating risk for your entire business. Throughout the process, you'll become an expert at determining what the market actually needs and will pay for. These early adopters will be your best sales and referral partners going forward.

Market Like Hell

Once those 5-10 early adopters begin using the product and the system nears its go-to-market date, market like hell. The timing of this is critical. Depending on what you predict your SaaS sales cycle to be, you'll typically want to be two sales cycles ahead of the go-to-market date. For example, if your sales cycle is 1 month long, begin marketing 2 months in advance.

Go crazy at first. Generating demand, excitement and anticipation takes time and effort. Be sure to begin the marketing efforts well before the actual launch date (especially for the longer sales cycle for B2B marketing). This will allow you to generate excitement for the product launch. In turn, most of your first customers will be able to dive into the new system and quickly become experts… in turn becoming your greatest advocates.

Conclusion

Make sure your value proposition is crisp and clear because your B2B marketing team needs time to generate the results you want. If you're a startup, you can build credibility by authoring solid, meaty content from your point of view. Beta customer testimonials will be all-important.

The bottom line: it's important to be a revenue-focused company. Revenue generation pays the bills. The companies we work with started selling since Day 1. For the end-users and investors, this sell-first philosophy allows them to find out quickly if the idea is viable and what features are needed right away, while still generating orders. Cash starts flowing when you have a beta that works. With the right terms and contingency orders, early customers can become customers for life. Investors are different. They understand risk and will decide on their own whether the terms are right.

Get in touch with Sparkinator today and let us worry about your marketing. Trusting your digital marketing efforts to a digital marketing agency like Sparkinator will free up more of your time to fine tuning your growth strategies and talent acquisition plans.