A comprehensive guide to Content Strategy for SaaS companies

Creating a content strategy for a SaaS business requires a unique approach. 

Your goal is to connect with your audience, provide them with valuable information, and guide them through the decision-making process. 

This guide breaks down the steps to build a SEO driven content strategy that resonates with your target market and drives organic growth.

Step 1: Define your goal

Setting clear objectives

Every journey starts with a destination in mind. Your content strategy is no different. 

Identifying what you aim to achieve—be it boosting brand awareness, generating leads, or increasing product sign-ups—is crucial.

From an SEO perspective, your content strategy should;

• Build brand awareness
• Help you get more customers

Here are some of the recommend content strategy goals for SaaS;

Startup	Build brand awareness Setup for organic leads Reach 5000+ monthly traffic in 1st year Rank on low keyword difficulty intent-driven
Mid Level	Expand on topical categories and increase rankings Increase quantity and quality of traffic Improve rankings on intent-driven keywords Build content that attracts / earns high quality backlinks
Enterprise	Dominate SERP Expand into new topics

These milestones make sure every piece of content, from blogs to landing pages, is purpose-built to support your SaaS brand’s strategic direction.

Sync goals with business aims

Make sure your content efforts match your SaaS company’s growth goals.

If your goal is brand awareness, focus on top-funnel keywords and provide useful information about your product or industry.

If your priority is expanding your user base, target bottom-funnel keywords to attract potential users.

Setting clear goals for your content strategy is crucial, whether you have an in-house team or an agency.

Step 2: Define your audience

This is important because SaaS companies often spread their content too thin by covering every topic.

Here’s how to get clarity on your target audience:

Understand your target audience

For SaaS businesses, this means knowing who your ideal customers are, their challenges, and how your product solves their problems.

If you’re a startup without enough data, check your competitors’ customer backgrounds and job roles to gain insights.

If you are mid-level/enteprirse SaaS company, use surveys, social media, and feedback from your sales team to gather insights.

Bonus Tip: The more detailed your understanding, the more targeted and effective your content will be.

Create buyer personas for your target audience

Once you have a general idea of who your audience is, it’s time to segment them into buyer personas based on specific characteristics, such as;

• Job roles: SEO Managers
• Jobs to be done: Build consistent high quality backlinks
• Pains: Difficult to find high quality and related links at scale
• Gains: Improving their company’s SEO visibility and positive impact on revenue

This helps you tailor your content precisely, making it more relevant and engaging for each segment.

Step 3: Perform a content audit (skip this step if you are a startup)

Once you have a good understanding about your target audience the next step is to 

If you are looking for a step by step process of doing a content audit, check our detailed guide.

Evaluate existing content

Start by taking a complete inventory of your content. List all articles, blogs, videos, and other materials. Note the topics, publication dates, and performance metrics. 

Look for gaps and identify what content aligns with your current goals and what needs updating or removal. This helps you see what works and what doesn’t, guiding your future content strategy.

Analyze and evaluate your existing content;

• Type of content ( i.e. landing page, blog post)
• Topical pillar (key content pillar / category in which that content falls in)
• Content funnel ( BoFu, MoFu or ToFu content)
• Primary keyword and it ranking
• Traffic and conversions that content is driving

 This exercise will help you get an understanding of;

• How much content we currently have
• Type and funnel level of content
• Content distribution across key topical categories
• Overall performance of the content
• Clarity over the overall content quality and quantity 

Pro Tip: Break down your content inventory by funnel stages. This way, you’ll have a clear picture of all your content types and where they fit in the customer journey (more on this in the next section).

Now, Perform a competitive analysis

Conduct a thorough analysis to identify unexplored topics where your content might be unexistent or thin and your competitors are winning. A competitive analysis will help you understand;

• What type of content your competitors are producing
• Which type of content is driving them the most traffic
• Which type of content is getting most backlinks
• Which type of content is generating leads / trials / signups

The goal is to look for  opportunities to create high-value content that fills these gaps, addressing three core type of content;

• Top Funnel Content: This include broad industry topics and trends that will help you drive (non-intent-driven) traffic and improve brand awareness. Moreover, ToFu content has also the most potential to get/earn backlinks as compared to others funnel’s content.

• Middle Funnel Content: This include content that demonstrates how to solve a pressing problem faced by yur targeted audience (more importantly using your SaaS)

• Bottom Funnel Content: This includes all your content that is designed to attract and capture leads / signups. 

Step 4: Develop Content Plan 

Once you have reviewed / audited your existing content as well as identified the potential gaps across the funnel, now its time to put those content ideas into action. 

Typically, we recommend having a balance of all type of content (ToFu to BoFu) but if you are a startup, focus more on bottom funnel content first.

You need to map your content to each phase of the funnel…

As we discussed earlier, the customer journey in B2B SaaS includes three main stages: Top of Funnel (ToFu), Middle of Funnel (MoFu), and Bottom of Funnel (BoFu). 

Your content should guide potential customers through these stages, from initial awareness to consideration, and finally, to the decision to Invest.

1 . Top of Funnel (ToFu)

The primary aim at this stage is to draw in and inform potential customers about the broader context of your industry, focusing on general topics that solve common issues or answer frequent questions. 

This is the awareness phase, where the content should be engaging and informative without pushing for a sale.

• Tipsicles: Share actionable advice that can indirectly relate to the benefits of your software.
• Ultimate Guides: These are in-depth pieces on topics of significant interest to your target audience. They serve to establish your brand as a thought leader and a go-to source for valuable information.
• Best Practices and Strategies: Share insights into industry best practices and strategies, weaving in how your software can facilitate these approaches, thus gently guiding readers to consider your solution.

Here’s an example of ToFu content we created for client that converted well due to strategic audience targeting and effective product integration

• Targets keyword “What is Transcription in research” for our client Good Tape: What is transcription in research? Everything you need to know

2. Middle Of Funnel (MoFu)

At this stage, your audience is considering their options. Often they intent on understanding How to use the product. 

Content should help them evaluate solutions and understand why your product helps them do it better. 

• How-To Guides: Create concise guides that demonstrate how to solve common industry problems or improve specific processes using your software. These guides should educate the reader on the process while subtly showing how your product simplifies or enhances these tasks.
• Explainer Content: Develop “What is” and “How does it work” articles that clarify industry concepts and processes. These pieces should position your software as a key component within those explanations, showing how it fits into or improves upon standard practices.

Here’s an example of pain point phrase keywords we targeted for our clients

• Targets keyword “Organize Your Goals” for our client Week Plan: How to Organize Your Goals and Create Action Plan

 3. Bottom Of Funnel (BoFu)

Prospective customers are now at the decision-making stage, ready to choose a solution. 

Content tailored to this phase should aim to seal the deal by offering detailed insights into your product and its benefits.

• Comparison Pages: Offer clear comparisons between your product and competitors, highlighting why yours is the superior choice.
• “Alternative to” Pages: Aimed at users seeking alternatives, these pages showcase your software’s unique benefits and features as a better solution.
• Product Pages: Detailed presentations of your product’s features and advantages, addressing specific user needs and how it solves them.
• Use Case Pages: Demonstrate how your software addresses industry-specific challenges through practical examples.
• Case Study Pages: Share success stories and testimonials from businesses that have benefited from your software, reinforcing trust and credibility.
• Product Listicles: 
• Alternative to Product Listicles:

Here’s an example a of comparison blog we wrote for our client that ranks.

• Targets keyword “Sage Accounting Alternatives” for our client ZarMoney: 4 Best Sage Accounting Alternatives To Consider in 2024

Putting priority over bottom funnel content ensures that you are putting the content first that will drive the most conversions for your SaaS.

If you are looking for a step by step process of creating a content plan, check our detailed guide.

Step 5: Create & publish content

If you are a startup SaaS, you or some freelance writers would be writing the content.

If you are an established SaaS company you might have an internal writing team or a content agency working for you.

To get the best value out of your content plan / efforts you need to put equal effort into writing the best content. Here’s an organized way to do that:

#1 Content detailed content briefs

Content briefs are the blueprints of your ideal content pieces, containing everything you expect the content to cover. 

A detailed content brief includes;

• Primary keyword
• Reference articles and templates to follow
• Internal Links
• External Links
• Tone
• Word count ( though its not necessary)
• How to mention the product
• Headings and sub headings and what to cover in each of them

This preparatory step ensures that the writers have a clear direction and all the resources they need to craft compelling content. 

Writers use content briefs to guide their writing process, ensuring a consistent tone, connecting with the audience, and optimizing for search engines. 

They avoid keyword stuffing to maintain readability and engagement, focusing on delivering value and solving reader problems.

#2 Review, Approval, and Publication

Before any piece of content goes live, it should undergo a thorough review and approval process. This ensures that everything you publish meets your quality standards and aligns with your brand voice and objectives. 

Designate team members responsible for final checks and approvals to streamline this process. Once approved, use CMS like WordPress or HubSpot to schedule and publish your content. 

Step 6: Setting up systems to measure success

To track and monitor performance, you need to set up systems that provide clear and factual data to evaluate your efforts.

To measure the success of your content strategy, track specific KPIs that align with the goals and objectives you set in step 1.

Here are some key metrics to track:

• Overall traffic: Measure traffic on both blogs and landing pages.
• Average keyword ranking: Important for all content types, but closely monitor for BoFu content.
• Quality of traffic: Determined by the quantity of intent-driven traffic.
• Conversions driven by BoFu pages: Track in Google Analytics to see which pages drive conversions.
• Links acquired by ToFu content: Use Ahrefs or SEMRush to track links.

You can use Google Search Console and Google Analytics to track overall traffic and conversions. Setting benchmarks for these KPIs will help you measure progress and evaluate your content marketing efforts.

Revisit and revise content based on performance. For example, if certain articles drive significant traffic but not conversions, explore different calls to action or update the content to better align with user intent.

Analyzing ROI to Inform Future Strategies

Once you have the data coming in, review the performance of content and plan for optimizing content which is under performing

Moreover, based on the top performing content of all types, focus your next content accordingly

Content strategy is not a set-it-and-forget-it process.Analyze metrics such as traffic, engagement, lead generation, and conversion rates to understand what’s working and what’s not. 

Use these insights to refine and adjust your strategy, ensuring your content continues to meet the evolving needs of your audience and your business.

Why SaaS businesses need a Content Strategy? 

• Attract Quality Leads: A well-thought-out content strategy pulls in leads that are more likely to convert because they find genuine value in your solutions.
• Build Trust and Credibility: Regularly sharing insightful content helps your brand build a trustworthy relationship with your audience.
• Widen Your Reach: Effective content can introduce your SaaS solutions to new markets and audiences.
• Position as an Industry Authority: By sharing knowledgeable content, your brand becomes a go-to resource for information.
• Boost Conversions: Engaging and informative content can persuade readers to take the plunge and become paying customers.

Content Strategy Considerations Specific to SaaS Brands

 

• Start With Bottom of Funnel Content First

Focusing on BoFu content first can quickly drive conversions, as you’re targeting users already close to making a purchase decision. 

Create detailed product pages, comparison charts, and case studies that showcase your product’s value and differentiation.

• Don’t Be Rigid with Your Messaging & Topic Selection

Flexibility in your content strategy allows you to adapt to your audience’s changing needs and interests. 

Keep an eye on industry trends, feedback from your sales and customer service teams, and content performance metrics to identify new topics and formats that resonate with your audience.

• Don’t miss out on MoFu / Product Led Content

MoFu content nurtures leads who are evaluating different solutions. Focus on educational content like how-to guides and tutorials that demonstrate your product’s value. Share success stories and use cases to provide social proof. Interactive content such as webinars and live demos can engage potential customers and help them see the benefits of your product firsthand.

Why we Prioritize SEO and Relevance Over Volume?

Traditional content marketing often focuses on volume—the more content, the better. This means promoting extensive guides, whitepapers, and posts across platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

The goal is simple: capture as much attention as possible, as quickly as possible.

However, this strategy tends to hit a saturation point. After the initial push, engagement drops, leading to a decline in traffic and conversions. This made us rethink our strategy, focusing on creating content that not only attracts attention but also sustains it.

The Shift to SEO-Focused and Pain Point-Driven Content

We noticed that content targeting BoFu keywords consistently outperforms content aimed at high-volume keywords. This, along with challenges in content distribution, led us to focus on SEO-driven, conversion-focused content for SaaS companies.

This approach ensures our content not only attracts visitors but keeps them coming back by offering real solutions to their problems. We aim to create content that continues to draw traffic and drive conversions over time. 

Our success with ShareVault, an Enterprise SaaS product, illustrates this. By adopting a targeted approach, we helped ShareVault increase visitors and engagement by over 150%. This shows the power of a content strategy that aligns closely with user needs and SEO.

Starting Your B2B SaaS Content Strategy

Creating a content strategy from scratch involves several key steps:

1. Conduct product and audience research.
2. Define your buyer personas.
3. Perform a content audit.
4. Identify keyword opportunities.
5. Develop a content calendar.
6. Create content briefs.
7. Begin regular content production.
8. Perform direct influencer outreach.
9. Regularly monitor your campaigns.

Building a successful content strategy for your SaaS business takes time and effort. By following these steps, you can create a plan that reaches your target audience and drives meaningful results for your business.

Remember, the key is to stay flexible, keep learning about your audience, and always be willing to adjust your strategy based on the data.