The Software as a Service (SaaS) industry is expected to grow exponentially at a CAGR of 27.5% from 2021-2028. Businesses leverage cutting-edge growth tactics to stay competitive and relevant amidst the fast-evolving customer requirements. And one such technology is Customer Relationship Management (CRM).
This post will specifically discuss CRM businesses — a SaaS sub-industry with market size of $52.4 billion. However, this number is expected to increase at a CAGR of 13.3% between 2022 and 2030. Such a highly competitive market requires you to stand out amongst the rest.
And therefore, many CRM software businesses are adopting a robust content marketing strategy and following the latest SaaS marketing trends to create a difference. This post will go through eleven CRM software businesses doing content marketing right.
Here, we will consider the effective, actionable content marketing strategies that these businesses adopt in terms of —
- Blog
- Newsletters
- Webinars
- White papers
- Case studies, etc.
Let’s raise the curtain and see which are the top 11 CRM businesses nailing the content marketing game.
#1. Zendesk
Zendesk is a popular help desk software that offers solutions for business, support, sales, and customer interaction needs. Their marketing game is to the point. Industry users can connect meaningfully with its content quality and the range of topics they cover.
Zendesk relies on creating a solid foundation for its customers across different stages of marketing funnels. Here’s what it does the best —
- Zendesk Blog: It is a great starter at ToFu (Top of the Funnel) content. This has all the content that helps readers gain basic industry knowledge. It has two segments — service and sales, enabling you to jump to desired topics that help navigate your current bottlenecks and how Zendesk can help overcome those.
- Virtual Events: This MoFu (Middle of the Funnel) content works best for those seeking a participative knowledge-gaining environment coupled with networking opportunities. You can choose to register for a live event by filling up a small form. Besides, you can explore their past events in the on-demand section.
- Training: This one is for Zendesk users who want to learn to leverage provided tools at their own pace. Enroll in Zendesk’s free online training and kick off your training with tailored programs catering to specific job responsibilities and business needs.
- Community: Again, Zendesk users can benefit from its community portal which lets you interact with other people and make new, meaningful business connections. Participate in this group to gain insight from other Zendesk users, expand your professional network, and refine your Zendesk experience first-hand with the help of other users.
- Customer stories: Lastly, they tailor BoFu (Bottom of the Funnel) content for those who need more affirmation to buy Zendesk products. Proven, successful customer stories can drive leads and promote fast activations. To get more specific, you can navigate their customer stories based on industries, business challenges, and regions.
- White papers: Zendesk’s white papers leverage content for soft leads. Explore their range of white papers that are categorized based on Service, Sales, and Culture.
#2. Pipedrive
Pipedrive is a cloud-based sales pipeline management and CRM tool that helps businesses organize their sales processes and keep track of their transactions in real-time. It banks on an activity-based selling technique that simplifies the whole process of turning a lead into a paying customer.
It has an intuitive UI that mitigates training and onboarding investments, helping you drive efficient ROI compared to other products.
For their marketing part, here’s what their content team is awesome at —
- Sales Blog: Here, you can explore an array of topics on Pipedrive’s sales blog that help improve sales team efficiency. Their SaaS SEO hits the right note as their blog ranks better on Google for a certain topic, helping one find quality content easily. On the content front, they cover everything from basics to tips and even training and motivation hacks for go-getters. Also, you can explore their Marketing and Product Updates blog to learn more about how to blend your different teams with the sales process.
- Community: Pipedrive houses a thriving community, allowing you to connect to other users and experts in the field. You can access their Sales CRM, Research & Beta Testing, Ideas & Product Feedback communities, explore what is new, and exchange business talk. The sections like Trending Ideas, Answered & Unanswered Questions are worth checking out.
- Academy and training: Pipedrive academy offers CRM training videos and tutorials. You can enroll in introductory CRM courses or go for in-depth guidance on particular features. All these will help improve your CRM and sales bottom line.
- Webinars: Check out the repertoire of Pipedrive webinars. Watch on-demand events and register for their upcoming webinars. Also, they bring in industry experts to bolster your CRM game.
#3. Nimble
Nimble is a highly renowned CRM application that emphasizes communication by simplifying contact management with prospects and customers. The software offers an easy way to manage communications, split customers based on different parameters, keep up with social media, and explore effective options for generating new leads.
Nimble blends Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter with productivity tools to centralize the user’s contact list, email, calendar, and team collaborations.
On the content marketing front, it aces in the following area —
- Blog: Theirs is a nimble blog is rich with content, offering a great start to your CRM journey. It provides tips and how-to pieces on customer experiences and branding. If you want to simplify key business operations that boost your CX, subscribe to their blog that offers different categories to explore — Sales, Marketing, Social Media, Product Updates, Social Selling, etc.
- Demos & Webinars: Another initiative by Nimble’s content marketing team is that of demos & webinars. Their webinar page features a video link to YouTube and text descriptions that include key quotes. This delivers valuable takeaways for readers. Videos provide hands-on training to use Nimble effectively. Overall, the right mix of text and videos helps you get a complete overview of their products and uses.
- Customer Stories: Access remarkable case studies to know how Nimble has helped hundreds of businesses (like yours) effectively leverage social media’s power. It has case studies from businesses across multiple industries, targeting different organizational departments.
#4. ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is made for small and medium businesses that help combine email marketing, marketing automation, sales automation, and customer relationship management tools.
Access its 500+ pre-built automation integrating email marketing, marketing automation, and CRM. Thus, the platform offers robust segmentation and personalization across social media channels, email, messaging, chat, and text.
Also, it is ideal for businesses looking to prioritize leads, keep track of tasks, and automate contact management.
ActiveCampaign is also a notch above the rest regarding content marketing. Here’s what they do —
- Blog: Explore their extensive content on marketing automation, product, and the ActiveCampaign culture. The blog reading experience is hassle-free, albeit with a pop-up and a CTA — it is pure knowledge at its best. It helps gain business growth knowledge and puts you at the center of relevant industry updates.
- Community: You can join the ActiveCampaign communities for forums and Help docs. Also, they let you become a partner where you can recommend ActiveCampaign or provide end-to-end solutions within your business network.
- Virtual Events: Check out their upcoming virtual and physical events hosted in the USA and Canada. Go to their events page, and find out about their speakers and event’s day-to-day schedule.
- ActiveCampaign University: You can enroll in the ActiveCampaign university to access tutorials and training materials. Learn about Automation, General Business, Email Marketing, and much more.
Also, check out their glossary page to explore key terminologies related to the latest marketing, business, and customer experience.
#5 Marketing360
Marketing 360 is a comprehensive platform providing a wide range of marketing tools. They have suite centers on pay-per-click advertising, including development, email marketing, social media marketing, short message service (SMS) marketing, video marketing, and much more.
Small businesses can use Marketing360 to expand their customer base by blending digital marketing technologies with custom marketing services. Some of their top features include natural listing ads, a robust CRM system, UXi® Rainmaker websites, etc.
Their content marketing takes a holistic approach. It connects to the audience across different stages of the marketing lifecycle through relevant content.
- Blog: Head to Marketing360’s blog page to enhance your departmental ROI with advanced marketing, sales, and business tips. Also, they feature a News category that includes reviews and detailed product information.
- Customer success stories: Businesses can look up to others in the ecosystem and understand how to use tools like Marketing360 for CRM. Individuals from different business backgrounds are interviewed as a part of customer success stories.
- Reviews: Another user-generated content that Marketing360 leverages to its best is reviews. This section shares in-depth client reviews that help make an informed decision.
#6. Apptivo
Apptivo is a comprehensive cloud-based solution with many tools, including CRM systems for businesses adopting technology. It is ideal for small and medium businesses looking for greater integrations and top-notch mobile platform support.
Apptivo’s applications help manage most business activities, from sales and marketing to invoicing and support.
It excels in marketing its product by crafting brilliant content in the following ways —
- Blog: Follow Apptivo’s blog to grasp innovative ideas on sales and CRM. Their topic categories include CRM, reporting, mobile application, 3rd party integration. Also, it is a great idea to diversify your blog page like Apptivo. They help you learn about their solution with product-based updates, checking out press releases, and their different applications.
- Small Business University: Small businesses looking for genuine tips to enhance business sales and other operations can refer to this section. You can read success stories to inspire and explore content categories like finance, sales, leadership, HR, marketing, etc.
- Video Channel: Check out insightful and interactive video content on Apptivo’s YouTube channel. It provides a quick overview of different applications, how-to tips, and much more.
- Community: Explore Apptivo through their community platform that categorizes common customer questions around CRM, Invoicing, CRM, Field Services, etc. You can also tap into a vast knowledge resource that provides quick fixes without users having to invest much time.
- Applications: Apptivo’s suite comprises 65+ applications, such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Project Management (PM), Billing and Payments, etc. To funnel your search, apply plan-based filters for starter, lite, premium, and enterprise use.
- Reviews: Check out some opinions of other business leaders using Apptivo. This should help you identify its usefulness and think of the right way to implement applications for your business.
#7. Bitrix24
Bitrix24 is a one-stop shop for businesses to manage customer relationships, websites, communications, support tickets, and projects. It can work as a robust customer relationship management (CRM) solution with many features for assisting customers, managing projects, facilitating internal interactions, and even creating websites.
Businesses of all sizes can use Bitrix24 as it consolidates a gamut of separate applications into a single, streamlined service. You can access it from any device — web browser, desktop software, or mobile version.
The Bitrix24 content marketing strategy is highly inclusive as it has vast knowledge resources at users’ disposal —
- Blog: Their blog covers different categories like CRM, Contact Center, Websites, Communications, etc. It contains content about configuring Bitrix24 and how-to tips for managing business operations better.
- Articles: Bitrix24 hosts a range of op-ed pieces that inspire users to drive efficiency in everyday business operations. This section echoes business values regarding thought leadership as they cover Communication, Leadership, Business Management, Entrepreneurship, Customer Management, etc.
- Testimonials: Read some of the first-hand experiences of other Bitrix24 users to learn how this platform can help achieve business goals.
- Alternatives: It presents an extensive list of Bitrix alternatives. They have separate content for each of the alternatives and quick comparisons to help make the right choice.
- Uses: Make the most of your Bitrix24 product by diving deep into its uses — CRM, Project Management, Forms, Knowledge Management, Video Conferencing, Forms, Documents, etc. Also, explore all the possible categories under each primary use.
- Glossary: This is a starter pack to get acquainted with industry-specific terminologies.
- Use Cases: Their use cases are organized under two categories — project management and CRM.
- Training Courses: Get a firm grasp on Bitrix24 products by checking out basic and advanced training courses. They also have a documentation section for Cloud REST API, self-hosted API, proactive protection guide, and others.
- Webinars: Learn more about Bitrix24 through webinars as you see it in action. Ask specific questions about how particular features function, especially if you’re short on time. Register for free webinars that have a Q&A session at the conclusion. Also, access their recorded webinars to explore their knowledge wealth.
#8. Cooper
Copper is a highly intuitive CRM tool with Gmail and other Google Apps. It helps automate key business activities, sources, lead management, and prospects to streamline sales processes.
It syncs with Google Workspace to automatically associate emails and other communications with a certain group of people or teams. It provides a convenient location for email chains, historical conversations, files, task lists, and more. This helps you adopt a bird’s-eye view of sales and client relationships. In addition, Copper will ensure that you never forget to follow up with contacts and close sales.
They also adopt a highly structured content marketing approach in the following ways —
- Blog: It offers curated content for your sales and marketing team. They cover Relationship Management, Sales Management, Tactics, and Analytics & Reporting topics.
- Books & guides: Download free quality ebooks on the Cooper platform by sharing your work email. They drive quality leads by sharing exclusive and audience-specific content on their website.
- Videos: Watch Cooper’s videos on sales and CRM on their platform by providing your name and email address.
- Webinars: Catch upcoming and past webinars on how to use Cooper effectively. Before accessing it completely, you get a quick description that tells you what to expect from the webinar.
- Case Studies: Check out how Cooper is helping businesses across the globe to achieve desired results. Most of their case studies touch upon integrating Cooper into different projects and accelerating growth.
- Tools & Templates: Here, you can download useful tools & templates for Sales, CRM, Marketing, Productivity, CX, Cooper products, etc.
#9. Insightly
Small and medium-sized enterprises that host B2B sales teams can use Insightly. It is a flexible CRM software that helps improve customer connections via data analysis.
You can use it for sophisticated reporting, workflow automation, project management, contact management, lead management, opportunity management, quotation creation, and sales and marketing alignment.
It is easy to use because of its smooth UI. For instance, feeding the data on this platform is easy and doesn’t require extensive training.
The content marketing approach adopted by Insightly is highly proactive —
- Blog: Visit the Insightly blog page and read up on the latest Insightly product news, industry-wide CRM developments, and best practices. Also, you can read on to learn more about Business & Technology, Customer Data & Reporting, Sales Service & Support, etc.
- Webinars: Interactive videos and webinars come in handy when your team wants to leverage self-help options. Most videos address how-to queries, while webinar recordings provide expert insights.
- Ebooks: Drive faster business growth with CRM and Insightly marketing guides. You can navigate ebooks under categories like AppConnect, CRM, Marketing, etc.
#10. HoneyBook
HoneyBook is a small-business CRM service hosted in the cloud that gets involved throughout the sales cycle — from lead/inquiry to invoicing. The user can access an online platform that facilitates administrating tasks like client scheduling, document creation and signing, invoicing, and payment processing.
HoneyBook offers a sleek and minimal UI that is quite refreshing in the CRM industry. Leverage its key features to manage your business’s CRM along with leads, proposals, contracts, projects, appointments, invoices, and automated processes.
Their outlook on content marketing is all about opening the knowledge taps for customers and prospective buyers. Here’s what they are getting right —
- Blog: This blog is a go-to place for experts and novices to gain CRM knowledge. Also, get a chance to read Member Stories, check out Finance Tips, access HoneyBook How-Tos for practical implementation, explore content on Marketing & Branding, Work-Life Balance, and much more.
- Review: Know what others think of HoneyBook as their former and existing users share first-hand experiences of using the tool.
- Community: Another Rising Tide initiative (besides the blog) by HoneyBook is its community. You can join the community for networking, explore creatives for CRMs, and build a profile that showcases your brand.
- Product Education: Opt for their live sessions to learn about the product, get a personalized tour, and go further into specific features. It has two categories, namely HoneyBook Orientation and On-Demand Advanced Training.
#11. Salesmate
When your sales team is ready to achieve high targets, consider leveraging CRM software like Salesmate. It helps streamline your operations, boost revenue, and strengthen customer connections. Also, its cutting-edge sales strategies can influence users to eliminate time-consuming manual processes.
It is a unified platform to create tailored customer experiences through email, text, chat, web, e-commerce, and phone conversations. That way, you can create and close more leads while empowering existing connections with customers.
On the content marketing front, here’s what they are doing right —
- Blog: Refer to the Salesmate blog to gain in-depth knowledge on Sales, Marketing, Customer Support, Cloud CRM, Small Business, CX, and Product Updates. Also, explore their Company News section to stay updated on Salesmate’s achievements and recognition.
- Ebooks & White paper: Access the downloadable ebooks and white papers to help your sales team thrive. Simply fill up the form and get ahold of their exclusive resource for free.
- How-to videos: Take a look at some of the highly engaging videos by the Salesmate team. It offers product content, how-to tips, hands-on training, and more.
- Free tools & templates: Salesmate’s free tools & templates are handy resources for those interested in experimenting with their sales templates. You can download the template in Microsoft Excel format. A brief description accompanies each template, including details on why you need it, how it helps achieve sales KPIs, and its advantages.
Bottomline
Now that you have checked out these 11 CRM software businesses getting content marketing right, it is time to implement a few. Our detailed guide on content marketing for SaaS offers more information on this subject. This will guide you in rolling out a content strategy that engages relevant readers, thus turning them into soft leads and, finally, paying customers.
Content for all the funnels throughout the marketing cycle helps sales teams achieve desired targets. For more, you can refer to this SaaS marketing guide that aids in implementing the above-mentioned tactics effectively.
Author
Kushal Desai
Kushal Desai is a Content Marketing Specialist at Growfusely. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering as well as MBA in Information Technology and has over 7 years of experience in digital marketing. His core expertise lies in organic search, content marketing, and performance analytics. Connect with him on Linkedin and Twitter: @kushaljdesai.