Paid Advertising for SaaS: 4 Best Practices and 3 Helpful Ideas
If you're a SaaS business looking to get more leads and convert customers, paid advertising is an essential tool in your marketing arsenal. But with so many different platforms and strategies, it can take time to figure out where to start.
Thankfully, we have the answer!
We'll provide four best practices for paid advertising success when it comes to SaaS products – plus three ideas for campaigns that will make your audience notice.
So, if you're ready for better ROI on your ad spend and higher conversion rates, read on!
Table of contents
What Are the Best Practices of Paid Advertising?
Before we dive into specific ideas for creating ads that work, let's go over some general best practices for advertising.
1. Tap Into Emotion
The best ads evoke some sort of emotion in the viewer. This could be happiness, excitement, or even fear. But whatever feelings you tap into should be relevant to the product you're promoting.
For instance, if you're promoting software for salespeople, you might want to use an ad that energizes and excites people.
If you're promoting a productivity platform, you might opt for a more calming and serene ad.
The key is to create an emotional connection between the viewer and the product. People are more likely to remember the ad and take action when they feel something.
2. Use Eye-Catching Visuals
Another critical element of effective advertising is visuals. Your ad should be eye-catching and relevant to your industry.
This could mean using images or videos of people using your platform and experiencing the desired result.
The visuals should be high quality and attention-grabbing. They should also be designed to appeal to your target audience.
3. Keep It Simple
People have short attention spans, so keeping your ad simple and to the point is essential. Include only the most critical information, such as your platform’s core features and benefits.
If running a digital ad, make sure the call to action is clear and easy to spot. And always use strong, active language that compels people to take action.
4. Test and Optimize
Finally, don't forget to test and optimize your ads. Try out different versions of the same ad to see what works best. Then, use that information to fine-tune your approach and get even better results.
For instance, you might experiment with different images, headlines, or calls to action. Or you could test other ad formats, like video ads or carousel ads.
The important thing is to be testing and tweaking your approach constantly. You'll eventually find an ad that performs well and helps you reach your goals.
3 Practical Ideas To Promote Your SaaS Platform Using Paid Advertising
Now that we've gone over some general best practices let's look at some specific ideas for promoting your SaaS brand:
1. Facebook Ads
One of the best ways to promote your platform is with Facebook ads. Facebook offers a variety of ad formats and targeting options that make it easy to reach your target audience.
For instance, you can use Facebook's interest targeting to reach people who are interested in your competitors.
You can also use Facebook's lookalike audience feature to reach people similar to your past customers or fans.
What's more, Facebook offers a variety of ad formats, so you can experiment to find the one that works best for your campaign. Some of the most popular formats include:
- Carousel: A carousel ad lets you showcase multiple images or videos in a single ad. This is a great way to give people a taste of what they can expect by using your software.
- Collection: A collection ad lets you showcase a group of products or features. This is a great way to drive sales and get people excited about your product.
- Video: A video ad is a great way to show your platform in real time.
Facebook Ads can be an effective way to reach a large number of people pretty quickly. But it's important to remember that Facebook ads can be expensive, especially if you don't know what you're doing.
Start small and test out different ad types and targeting options. Once you find a winning combination, you can scale your budget and reach even more people.
Ultimately, the best way to use Facebook Ads is to test and experiment until you find what works best for your product.
2. Youtube Influencers
Instead of (or in addition to) running ads, you could also reach out to popular Youtube influencers in your industry and see if they're interested in promoting your product.
Influencers typically have a large and engaged following, which could be just the boost you need to achieve your goals. And because people trust influencers, getting them on board could persuade even more people to buy.
Before you approach an influencer, make sure you have a solid offer. This could be free trials or discounts. Some others will prefer a monetary offer.
A rule of thumb is to offer influencers between 1% and 5% of the total ad spend for their help promoting your product, but this will ultimately depend on their reach and engagement.
Whatever you do, make sure it's something that will incentivize them to promote your product to their followers.
To find Youtube influencers in your industry, you can use a tool like Social Blade. Just enter a competitor's name and see a list of the top Youtube influencers in that space.
You can then contact these influencers with your offer and start promoting your product through their channels.
For B2B SaaS companies, we recommend setting up an affiliate program strategy around influencers. As they can have a huge reach, and you are able to reward them for it by paying a recurring commission.
3. Tiktok Ads
TikTok is the newest social media platform on the block, and it's quickly becoming one of the most popular. And that means it's also becoming a great place to promote products.
TikTok Ads are a great way to reach a large audience. And because TikTok is still relatively new, the cost of advertising on the platform is relatively low.
TikTok offers a variety of ad types, so you can experiment to find the one that works best for you. Some of the most popular ad types include:
- In-feed video ads: In-feed video ads appear between other videos on the TikTok feed. These ads are a great way to get people's attention and make them aware of your brand.
- Hashtag challenge ads: These ads are a great way to get people involved and engaged with your brand. With this type of ad, you create a hashtag challenge around your product. For example, you could ask people to post videos of themselves using your product.
To create a TikTok Ad, you'll need to create a TikTok Ads account and link it to your personal or business profile. From there, you can create your ad and choose your targeting options.
Some other ideas to promote your brand on TikTok might include:
- Posting creative and engaging videos about your product
- Asking TikTok influencers to promote the product to their followers
- Using trends and popular songs to create videos about your industry
Bonus idea; when you are just starting, check out AppSumo. It could help you to get your first users.
Your Turn!
Facebook Ads, Youtube influencers, and TikTok Ads are all great ways to reach a larger audience and promote your product.
The best way to use these platforms is through experimentation. Test out different approaches until you find one that works for you.
Using the right strategies and tactics on the right platforms can reach a larger audience and promote your product more effectively.
When you have built a SaaS you will need to bring it to the market, this is why you would need a go-to-market strategy. See a full guide.
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