Harikrishna Kundariya
CEO at eSparkBiz Technologies
The year was 1960, and since then, the term SaaS (Software as a Service) has never remained to be a Bermuda Triangle Mystery!
It entered people’s lexicon smoothly and became a thriving business model.
If you are hearing out SaaS for the first time, or if it does not ring a bell for you, you must have been living on another planet. But if you are not, then this article can be a very immersive experience for you and might strike a new route for your business.
To make the pace of the article kick in slowly, let’s brush up quickly on SaaS one more time.
Recognized as a software distribution model wherein a third-party provider is seen to be hosting applications thereby making them available to customers via the Internet, SaaS categorizes itself under cloud computing.
Let’s get this even more lucid with the help of an example; American cloud-based software company known for its customer relationship management service, Salesforce, headquartered in San Francisco, is a very common example of a SaaS company.
SaaS marketing trends: read or miss out. Source: pexels.com
And why? Flexibility. Scalability. Cost-Effective! Simple, isn’t it?
To be honest the entire gamut of SaaS applications are living testaments of why companies are hoarding in the SaaS market.
Here are a few of the show-stealers of the SaaS applications
- Collaboration/Communication/Social
- CRM
- Business Intelligence
- Analytics
- Procurement/Spending/Sourcing
- Ecommerce
- Management
- Customer Service/Support
- ERP/Manufacturing/Supply Chain
- Finance/Accounting
- Human Resources/Talent Management
- Software Development/QA Testing
- Budgeting/Reporting/Planning
- Governance, Risk & Compliance
Now you would be thinking, how SaaS marketing trends have got itself so popular like a Netflix web series. Let the statistics help you with the answer for it:
Between the years 2019-2023, the global SaaS industry is estimated to witness a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9%.
And that’s not all…
Growing to a whopping USD 600 billion market size, the global SaaS industry has surely secured its tyrannical dominance till 2023 as of now.
Maybe, by the time you are reading this bit, it has already been on its way to reaching $157 billion in 2021!
Here is a graphical representation of the rise of the SaaS market for your reference:
Source: statista.com
Now let’s talk about the top SaaS marketing trends that are making the rounds.
Top 4 SaaS marketing trends that are worth a heist!
That’s right! If you are diving deep into this section, consider your planets are revolving in the right direction for you today as you are going to unlock the topmost SaaS marketing trends, which are absolute fodder for your company to take it to the next level.
1. Feature marketing – the next big thing
Companies are evolving each day with SaaS solutions and adding new tools, plug-ins, features, and leveraging them to create a monarchical effect for their products/services.
Saying that feature marketing urges companies for creating parallel products, which emerge as a unique value-added element for the same audience but detached from the main product.
Having a SaaS business model, owners need to stay under a constant practice of taking feedback based on which the enhancements are taken care of and slowly reaching the optimal stage of the respective product/service.
Executive Director, Mediclinic International PLC, South Africa, Mr. Gert Hattingh imposes attention on,
‘Encouraging feedbacks and listening to them which makes SaaS products march towards a sales augmented process and using the suggestions to create artificial customer profiling which gives a clear direction to business owners to sell their products/services to the exact audience who needs them.’
2. Video marketing – rising higher and higher
Bank on any survey or researches, the demand for video or the preference of videos over any other form of media consumption is unbeatable.
But why does video marketing bags the second position amongst the hottest SaaS marketing trends? It is because of a simple equation,
1-minute of video = 1.8 million words
So as a SaaS company, how can you profit from video marketing?
Here is how:
- Feature showcasing
- Product tutorials, demos, how-tos
- Unleash software’s full potential
- Build trust with testimonial videos
- Pull the emotional strings with brand story videos
3. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning – showstoppers of SaaS marketing trends
Guess what’s big in 2021? Artificial intelligence as a service (AIaaS)!
… and already estimated to be reaching $6-7 billion by 2023.
Global companies mapping the route of SaaS marketing trends to leverage in 2021 have already implemented AI solutions to enhance user experiences. A few instances of such implementations are the use of chatbots, market predictions, automated tools, and so much more.
With data-driven marketing campaigns, AI and ML are already ruling the world of SaaS companies.
Headquartered in San Jose, California, manufacturer of high-technology services and products and one of the world’s powerful multinational technology conglomerate corporations, Cisco Systems Inc. has been relying on AI for a wide array of network analytics purposes.
From tracking Cloud application performance to unearthing operational and security insights, AI gets the job done for Cisco well suitably.
4. Inspiring branding – SaaS, as the story seller
The fusion point of branding and SaaS is very fascinating indeed. SaaS marketing trends of 2021 predicted by data analysts had this one listed for sure with a lot of credence.
Positioning statements by brands across the global boundaries have been rewritten with SaaS stroking its magical hues on the business canvas.
Customer touchpoints have been revolutionized and SaaS Application Development companies are now assessing the emphasis on distinguishing themselves in a more persuasive way that hums the rhythm of emotional connection with their audiences.
Vertical SaaS – the Bezos of SaaS marketing trends
Truly standing out amidst the thrilling SaaS marketing trends, Vertical SaaS is getting the heads turned towards it.
Vertical SaaS explains the simple, directional flow of creating products and services for a respective industry and thus gets its name because of a single, focused path towards its target. Unlike the bygone times, in which, one SaaS product is put into action meeting the needs of multiple business genres.
Today’s fast-paced world and dynamic business environments demand more of a unique solution that sets out on all horizons thereby taking up cryptic challenges to solve.
Designed to nuances of the industry, vertical SaaS ensures that the critical challenges are met with uniform solutions.
Make way for the micro-SaaS
One of the pinching facts to accept here is that the SaaS industry has become very competitive and especially for startups, the defiance to lag in the race has raised the bars even higher to reach.
But, this does not equate that companies have to compromise on racing on the tracks with the SaaS fuel.
Instead of steering ahead for expanding market share, companies have taken a detour in becoming micro-SaaS companies.
They are different and stand as contrasted from their bigger counterparts. Rather than offering full SaaS products, these micro-SaaS companies are coming up with various add-ons to SaaS services.
And this has made it possible to create a significant difference in demarcating a notable market share.
That brings us to…
Not an end, but starting a new dimension altogether! SaaS marketing trends will reach out to even more foliage branches in the coming future, and it has only got the sky as the limit.
With such pace, being in motion businesses cannot afford to run out of SaaS fuel. Hence, it is imperative that your strategies must be indeed very, very SASSY!
And yes, Bermuda Triangle is no more a mystery…!
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