15+ Must Use SaaS Content Types To Fast Track Your Growth

A Demand Gen Report on content preferences found that 72% of B2B buyers engage with more than 3-7 different content types prior to making a purchase decision.

Similarly, when passing through various stages of the SaaS buying journey, prospects may feel agitated and often be on edge. This gives you an inkling to create a SaaS content strategy that explores various content verticals. A robust SaaS marketing strategy that includes tailored content in different forms can really keep buyers calm and nurture them to take the next step.

Sure, incorporating an array of content types into your marketing landscape is rewarding yet challenging at the same time. Still, organizations are preparing with all their might to win customers over by investing $500K to $5M on content initiatives and activations in 2022. And mind you; this does not include employing new content creators or writers.

But this huge investment does beg a question, is it even worth it? What role does content marketing play in the success of a SaaS startup? Let’s find out:

Role of Content Marketing in the SaaS Industry

Though the primary role assigned to SaaS content marketing is to increase brand awareness and bolster product sales growth, in the grand scheme of things, it goes well beyond just that.

You see, content marketing for SaaS, especially for B2B differs drastically in many aspects from how the rest of the industries approach it. In SaaS, you first have to create a perceived value for your technology-backed product which is often tagged along by service. Product service or customer service is the kind of support you offer to your customers.

Now, the quality of your customer service becomes a dominating factor customers account for when researching SaaS products. Unlike other companies, SaaS brands have to bear the work of educating their customers in addition to selling their products. For them, content marketing feels like a godsend thing to help prospects fully comprehend the tangible product inside out.

In-depth and value add content, presented in various forms, can work really well to reinforce your customer service. Aside from getting people interested in your SaaS product, the insightful content should be educational and meet users’ expectations or solve the bottlenecks that annoy them.

And in doing so, your SaaS startup can grow faster than competitors and may justify all the investments you make. But do you know what content types will prove to be the flag bearers for you?

Here, let me present 15+ SaaS content types you must try:

15+ Content Types You Must Use to Fast Track The Growth of Your SaaS Brand

A) Long-Form Content

There’s no denying that short-form content can do wonders, but SaaS products tend to be complex. Thus, they require detailed explanations to educate customers on how things work and flow.

Here are a few long-from content types your SaaS brand should emphasize more:

1. In-depth Blog Posts

Blogs are the first thing that comes to mind when talking about content marketing. A Business 2 Community (B2C) study of 150 SaaS brands found that 98% had a dedicated blog page on their website, which was way higher than the IT industry benchmark.

In-depth blog posts are the right way to build brand awareness and grow your relationship with readers. Take HubSpot for example. They offer hundreds and thousands of in-depth quality blogs on SaaS and in general, that helps them build a repo with their audience.

The only thing to keep in mind while creating blogs is to offer as much value as possible to your customers.

2. Detailed Guides

The difference between an in-depth blog post and a detailed guide is that a blog can range from a wide variety of topics in your industry while detailed guides delve deep into particular topics. It includes How-to posts, ultimate guides, handbooks, and others that are written by industry experts or researchers.

The B2C study mentioned above also found that 44% of SaaS brands post technical How-to guides for educating users about their SaaS products. Besides, other benefits of creating this long-form content type include ranking for multiple keywords, added backlinks, and authority building that aid in your SaaS growth.

3. Tutorials/Checklists

This content type delves even deeper into providing specific instructions and actions on how to use your product effectively. Such written knowledge bases help users increase their productivity while using your SaaS product.

Start with an executive summary explaining what readers can expect and set the stage for what’s to come. Outline the stages or steps involved to resolve a particular problem at hand. Another great practice is to use as many examples and visuals as possible to show the result of an action and clarify your point.

Following such practices is a commendable way to build readership and improve conversions.

4. Case Studies

The Demand Gen Report, which I referred to earlier, also provided insights on case studies and noted that they are the second most valuable content format for researching products before purchase.

Case studies present real-life examples of your brand demonstrating your product’s ability to deliver on its promise, which makes them one of the powerful content types. What better way to demonstrate that you are all about substance than sharing your success stories? With the help of case studies, you can elaborate on how your SaaS product helped your customers overcome certain challenges.

If deployed shrewdly, it can open the floodgates of conversions for your SaaS brand and turbo-charge your projectile growth.

B) Gated Content Types

Gated content is a super-effective way to capture new leads, grow your community, and build an email list. They have a huge impact on a customer’s journey from becoming a lead to a customer.

The following gated content types can help you take your quality lead generation program to a notch higher:

5. Whitepapers

Whitepapers are one of the most common types of gated content and a staple for your inbound marketing. Most B2B SaaS brands use whitepapers to target top-level executives of an organization to deliver immense value.

It provides you with a stage where you can openly talk about difficult topics in an interesting and valuable manner. There’s no ideal length as such but typically it should range from 3K to 10K words and about 6 to 12 pages.

Obviously, you can go beyond that as per the suitability of your niche and the value you want to pack for high-speed growth.

6. eBooks

Another staple digital content asset, eBooks provide a comprehensive look at a broad topic that can’t be covered in a few thousand words. You can, in the real sense, go deeper into explaining a topic at hand from all the possible angles.

It would be even better if you could club all the blogs that revolve around a topic and divide them into chapters to create a super informative eBook. The primary function eBooks fulfill is to act as a lead magnet and attract the right kind of audience.

Further, publishing multiple eBooks on disparate topics that can easily be linked back to your SaaS product would aid in increasing the perceived value of your brand. Plus, users will start acknowledging you as an authority and be drawn toward your SaaS brand.

7. Email Series/Courses

Demand Gen Report cites emails as one of the most popular content-sharing platforms as they account for 71% of usage by brands. They are an excellent content type to nurture your customers periodically by offering them value-packed content in a small, bite-sized format.

Sending periodic emails or courses on email could be a great application to leverage their power for your SaaS brand. The only thing you need to do is set the time frame and frequency of emails as per your suitability to break down complicated subjects in an easy-to-consume manner.

Doing so can help you be on your path to desired product growth in a matter of months.

8. Industry Statistics/Research Reports

Nothing can beat the original research and statistic reports that offer high-value insights into your industry. And the Demand Gen Report also highlights the same. The most material benefit of publishing original research reports is earning quality backlinks that too without doing much legwork.

Moreover, it creates a perception in users’ minds about you and compels them to learn more about your brand. Among other myriad applications and benefits, authentic research and statistics provide plenty of content opportunities to drive additional traffic, leads, and conversions for your SaaS product.

C) Video Content

Video marketing is one of the SaaS marketing trends and the most consumed content type businesses can tap into. Wistia found that users watched 14.6 billion minutes of videos in 2021 which is an increase of 121% from 2019 data.

Here are a few video content types that can blend perfectly with your SaaS marketing strategy:

9. Explainer Videos

As per Wyzowl, 86% of businesses use videos as a marketing tool and 74% of videos they create are explainer videos.

With explainer videos, you can demonstrate the features and benefits to attract an ocean of new customers to increase Your SaaS product’s sales growth. They are a point of inception to explain everything your brand has to offer and impress viewers with your adept skills.

You can capture the attention of users instantly and make them engage with your brand by explaining key features in the most humane way possible. Such videos make users’ life simpler as well as help fast-track the sales process for higher conversions.

10. Video Tutorials

Video tutorials are essentially the how-to guides but in video format. They transform a passive viewing experience into an active learning experience. The aim of creating such videos is to ensure users learn and fully comprehend what you are explaining.

Video tutorials start off with informing users of the purpose of the video, providing instructions on how to use your SaaS product or anything else, engaging them, and evoking emotions to trigger action.

The industry currently emphasizes on leveraging microvideos that explain a single, narrow topic. And you must also think of incorporating the same for your SaaS brand and take your content marketing a notch higher.

11. Demo Videos

The sole purpose of creating demo videos is to educate users on how your SaaS product can help solve the problem they face. It’s a great tool to showcase your product in action and highlight the features, benefits, and explain all the ins and outs.

Creating short yet informative and insightful demos in the form of animation can go a long way to influence the right audience of your SaaS product. An analysis of the top SaaS brands found that 77% used animated demo videos.

Find a way to blend rich graphics into your demos to take them a level above and attract the masses.

D) Interactive Content

Interactive content is a visual content type where users don’t only consume it but actively participate and engage with your content. Such content types can provide fresh air and a break from regular content types like blogs, videos, and others.

Here are a few types that can blend perfectly with your SaaS content marketing:

12. Interactive Quizzes

Interactive quizzes help you engage your audience with a product or its content and can generate specific or multiple outcomes by asking certain questions. They are an incredible way to nurture your leads and take them to the next level of your SaaS sales funnel. Here’s an example of the SaaS brand Intuit QuickBooks doing it:

Intuit has done a great job of asking relevant questions about their SaaS product, and in a way, helped users gain a sense of what they want to accomplish.

You can also implement something similar for your SaaS and help users navigate through tasks they want to accomplish. The right implementation of the same could go well in helping you achieve the desired outcomes.

13. Surveys and Polls

Surveys and polls are other effective interactive content types that can get you heavy engagement. But the only catch with this is to hit the right cord as asking relevant questions can help you seize the day.

Surveys are remarkable tools to get the feedback of your customers and re-engage the lost leads. Once you get your hands on survey and poll data, utilize it to better your SaaS products and customer service.

You’ll have a better understanding of weaker links in your business and strengthen them to offer a robust brand experience.

E) Engaging Content

As the name suggests, engaging content types can get you higher user engagement compared to other content types. As explained earlier, no single content type is perfect and appeals to users.

Thus, it makes sense to adopt some innovative and high-engagement content types listed below:

14. Webinars

Webinars are seminars conducted through digital mediums. They are an excellent content marketing tool a SaaS marketer or business owner can have. The Demand Gen Report found that webinars were the most consumed form of content for the past year.

A report by popular webinar hosting platform — Demio also found that people want to attend live webinars with an average live attendance of 52%. Webinars can work well if you leverage them to connect with your clients on a personal and emotional level and build trust in a true sense.

15. Podcasts

Podcasts are another incredibly engaging content as they are incredibly convenient to access anytime, anywhere. Statistics also tell the same tale. The podcast listenership has significantly risen to 78% in 2021 from 22% in 2006. Further, hosting and publishing a podcast has become increasingly easy.

You can literally start a podcast right from your home without needing any specialized tool. What you can do to create your own branded podcast is often touch upon the latest industry trends and interview experts to turn it into a go-to resource for your audience.

You can even repurpose old blogs, videos, and other content and turn them into podcast episodes. Doing so can help you build your own community, which you can nurture regularly and lead them down the funnel for increased conversion.

16. Infographics

It’s, in fact, proven that humans are visual learners and retain information for longer if presented in graphic format. Infographics or information graphics offer users data and insights in a much more digestible way. They come in handy, especially when presenting data-heavy content with statistics and original research.

The best thing — infographics tend to be useful for every stage of the funnel from awareness to sales and onboarding. Another way to make it super effective is to properly utilize the storytelling aspect to connect better with your audience.

Conclusion – Launching Growth-Focused SaaS Content Strategy

Now that you know the 15+ must-use SaaS content types, the question is how can you incorporate them into your growth-focused SaaS marketing strategy?

One approach you take is to build an in-house team of content creators with varying expertise and knowledge. You can even employ content brand strategists and departmental heads to take your content marketing strategy to the next level. However, it’s not suitable for the long run and puts an extra burden of costs in addition to your existing marketing expenses.

Another approach you can take is to trust SaaS content marketing experts such as Growfusely. With a proven record of helping SaaS brands achieve the milestones in their niche, the Growfusely team can create tailored content in various formats to help SaaS brands cornerstone the desired success.

Plus, it’ll be a cost-effective approach in the long run.

Featured image by Rawpixel / Freepik

Author

Pratik Dholakiya

Pratik Dholakiya is the Founder of Growfusely, a SaaS content marketing agency specializing in content and data-driven SEO.