A Guide On How To Market And Sell Your Onboarding Software
Creating irresistible software is the first step toward dominating the onboarding market. Yet, marketing your solution and beating the competition is an intimidating part that most companies are terrified of. Don’t be scared, though—you don’t have to go at it alone. Companies like eLearning Industry can help you craft an engaging and eye-catching promotional campaign that attracts leads and moves them down your sales funnel.
Of course, to create an effective marketing strategy, you need to showcase your software’s value and create a clear connection between its properties and people’s needs. But how do you market your onboarding software in a world where technological evolution is continuous? You have to stay updated and adapt to changes according to your clients’ needs. When you offer unlimited support, customers are loyal and trust that you can solve all their issues.
Are you curious to learn more about tactics that will improve your marketing results? If so, keep scrolling.
Marketing Strategies And Tactics To Promote Your Onboarding Software
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Differences Between Traditional And Online Software Marketing
Remember when the only marketing channels companies had were TV and radio ads, telemarketing, newspapers, direct mail, and conferences? This traditional model has now fallen into obscurity in SaaS B2B marketing efforts as businesses utilize digital channels to market their products.
Thanks to email marketing, SMM, SEO, and PPC, companies can reach large audiences from a screen. It’s easier to sell your software as a product when you can segment your target audience and cater to their needs. These days, marketers with evolved digital marketing skills keep track of their promotional campaigns and make modifications to ensure success.
However, one drawback of digital marketing is that you have to keep up with an excruciating competition that’s constantly increasing. In this case, traditional marketing may be outdated, but for some companies, it can be effective as it offers local reach and credibility. Still, you can’t easily measure the results, and your engagement can be severely low.
Cloud-Based Vs. On-Premise Onboarding Software
Back in the day, companies used to host their software and applications on computers and servers on their premises. However, with digitization and the quick evolution of SaaS startups, organizations across all industries have turned toward cloud solutions. Now, companies don’t have to bear the burden of infrastructure as they turn to the digital world.
Data shows that 47% of businesses prefer cloud-based applications, while only 26% stick to on-premise solutions. But let’s see what their advantages are. Cloud-based apps are cost-effective, as most providers offer annual subscriptions that even smaller companies can afford. Also, they offer better scalability and accessibility and are quite simple to maintain. However, they can leave some security gaps open, which is an area where on-premise apps outmatch them. On-premise solutions also don’t depend on internet connectivity and make it easier to comply with regulations, but they still require large upfront investments and maintenance costs.
Factors To Consider Before Marketing Your Software
Set Your Objectives
When you decide to market a product, you must first set clear and measurable goals. Is it brand awareness or boosting your sales? If you want to generate leads, you must develop intriguing lead magnet ideas that attract your target buyers. Whatever your goals are, make sure they are SMART, meaning specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Therefore, you can focus on the outcome of your campaigns, ensure accountability, and make changes until you get optimal results.
Identify Your Target Buyers
One of the main points of marketing your onboarding software is identifying who your potential buyer is, what their needs and challenges are, and how you can attract them. How do you recognize them, though? Put your detective suit on and delve into the world of customer profiling, where you analyze website visitors based on key demographics, such as age, gender, location, company size, and income level. You may then proceed to craft buyer personas based on the different categories of your customers. This way, you can personalize your messaging to appeal to their unique pain points and preferences.
Allocate A Budget
Marketing onboarding tools take time and require a lot of resources, including a budget, team members, and infrastructure. No marketing plan template is complete if you don’t include your budgeting. Try to forecast your spending on all promotional channels and stick to it. For instance, if you allocate a certain amount of money to social media ads, don’t increase it if the results aren’t what you expected. Simply shift your strategy to improve your results. Ensure your budget is realistic and sustainable for the size of your company. If you have a startup, you may want to start slowly and see how it goes. If your results are great, you can add more money to your promotional strategy.
Choose Your Channels
B2B content marketing for onboarding software can be an exciting yet intimidating process. If you feel lost and don’t know where to start, it’s probably because you have no idea where your ideal customers are. There are so many channels out there, and while being active on all of them might seem like a great idea, we beg to disagree. For instance, platforms like TikTok and Pinterest might not be ideal for you, while Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn may be perfect. Once you’ve done your research and crafted your buyer personas, you’ll know exactly where your target buyers are.
13 Tactics And Strategies To Drive Sales
1. Content Marketing
This is one of the best B2B marketing strategy examples, as content marketing helps you establish thought leadership and build brand awareness. You can create unique and informative content of all sorts, including blog posts, infographics, videos, whitepapers, eBooks, and case studies. Also, the software market appreciates more interactive forms of content like webinars, tutorials, and live demos.
Not only do you showcase expertise regarding onboarding software, but you also allow participants to ask questions and engage in productive conversations. Moreover, content is a wonderful way to generate leads and build your email marketing. Through gated content, you can fish out potential buyers’ email addresses and lure them in.
2. Video Production
Videos stand at the top of the kingdom of content marketing ideas. Don’t we all love watching videos on YouTube and social media? With mobile video consumption rising 100% each year, you can leverage this by creating appealing and authoritative videos that inform customers of your onboarding software while entertaining them. You may use animations, sketches, or an actor to communicate your company story, its goals, and the properties of your solution. Try to strike a balance between playful and informative. You may incorporate music to make the whole experience even more immersive. In general, many marketers notice their ROI improving after using video in their marketing strategy.
3. SEO-Friendly Content
So, how do you sell software to a big company without spending exorbitant amounts of money on promotions? It’s time to polish your SEO skills and start implementing relevant and high-ranking keywords and phrases in your content. As a result, your website ranks highly in Google results, and you get increased traffic. Wouldn’t it be awesome if your website appeared in the first 10 results the next time someone searches for onboarding software? This tactic, though, is a long process that requires serious devotion and research. It is cost-effective, but it may take some time until you start noticing results. However, it is a scalable and sustainable solution to building a brand that stands out from the crowd and lasts in the long run.
4. Free Offerings And Discounts
Who doesn’t love free stuff? Marketing your onboarding software is difficult when customers can’t get a glimpse of your solution’s properties. That’s why you may include offerings, including free trials, a free version of your service, or heavily discounted subscriptions. This way, companies can see that your onboarding system works and offers them unique solutions.
Just keep a few things in mind when you incorporate free offerings and discounts. Don’t ask for people’s credit card information, as it immediately takes the fun out of the free offer. It’s the main reason most people refuse their free trial. Also, don’t forget to ask for everyone’s opinion once they’ve used their trial or discount. Users’ suggestions can help you improve and enhance your services.
5. Interactive Tools
Marketing software applications require a deep understanding of customer needs and personalizing your content to align with those requirements. Interactive content is an ideal tool to add to your arsenal regarding content marketing for B2B, as it engages potential clients while informing and entertaining them. You may implement quizzes, asking people what their main challenges are and revealing how your product can assist them. Also, you can use calculators and showcase how the ROI of a company can improve if it purchases your software. Lastly, you could add animated elements throughout your website to make navigation fun and interesting. The more people interact with your website, the happier they are with your brand.
6. Re-Marketing
Many companies focus too much on bringing in new customers and forget about the immense opportunities re-marketing offers to upsell and cross-sell to existing clients. Your software marketing plan should include customer portals where clients can log in daily to share their success and read all about new releases and added features. Also, your marketing leader may implement nurturing programs that aim to consult customers and inform them about webinars and other events that might interest them. And let’s not forget about customer communities. These spaces allow professionals to converse regarding industry matters, ask questions, share trends and news, and collaborate with their peers. You can pop up frequently to share your expert insights.
7. Paid Ads
No software marketing effort is complete without utilizing paid ads. While gaining organic traffic is essential in the long run, it’s difficult to achieve quickly. PPC and display ads are great for small business content marketing and for large conglomerates to inform clients about a new release. Most platforms offer you the ability to choose your audience and cater your ads to their unique needs. You can modify and alter your promotion anytime you want based on the analytics. This data-driven approach helps you optimize your campaign accordingly, so you don’t waste precious resources on ineffective advertisements.
8. Website Optimization
No matter how amazing and miraculous your marketing team is, they won’t be able to achieve much if your company’s website is poorly designed. Building and maintaining a website that drives sales requires certain key ingredients, including impeccable User Experience (UX), intriguing colors, interactive elements, clean-cut design, and possibly animations. Also, you should carefully place texts and images throughout the webpage so it looks unique but not cluttered. You want your website to stand out and not look like your competitors’. Last but not least, the copy should be precise and informative. Customers must understand what your onboarding software offers within the first minute.
9. Automation Tools
Being one of the top applications of Artificial Intelligence, automation systems help you gather leads, segment them, and personalize content based on their preferences. Also, you can automate your email sequences and follow up with customers during different stages of their journey.
Another cool benefit of AI in marketing is creating a lead scoreboard depending on the actions every lead takes. For instance, someone who opens an email can score 3 points, while those who click your CTA take 10 points. As a result, you know which clients are more likely to convert. Moreover, segmentation is one important task AI can complete successfully based on people’s online behavior patterns and browsing histories.
10. Live Events
This tip may seem irrelevant for marketing onboarding software as the industry has shifted toward digital promotion. However, startups and MarTech companies may find it useful to engage with their peers and customers face-to-face and build brand awareness. The marketplace is congested, and some people want to know their collaborators before doing business with them.
Popular conferences and seminars are also wonderful places to generate leads and engage your customers. You can educate them and showcase your expertise, increasing your credibility and fostering interpersonal relationships. Additionally, you may connect with companies on social media and continue promoting your services to them even after an event is over.
11. Case Studies And Reviews
One of the top pieces of advice content marketing agencies typically offer is publishing case studies devoted to customer success stories. It’s a powerful way to market onboarding software and offer real-life examples of your solution’s application. You can ask clients to offer their reviews along with data, UGC images, and videos that showcase how your product improved their operations.
However, if you want a more detailed approach, you can conduct case studies. Start by introducing a company and what their needs and challenges were before you stepped in. Mention how you decided to address the issues and what the results were. Be honest with your claims and don’t exaggerate your product’s benefits, as false claims can backfire.
12. Guest Blog Posts
Guest blogging has always been a popular marketing tactic, and it has proven its longevity and stable position in the future of digital marketing. Creating high-value blog posts for your own website is wonderful, but how about doing the same for other relevant websites? You have the opportunity to showcase your expertise to large audiences and reach customers you wouldn’t otherwise. Don’t forget to include backlinks to your website to increase organic traffic and boost your SEO. You may link to your landing pages and increase the possibility of someone registering for your webinar or your free software trial. Don’t add too many backlinks, though, as your content may become boring and too hard to follow. Measure your articles’ performance to check whether this tactic is fruitful.
13. Demos And Tutorials
One of the best marketing ideas for software companies is to offer live or recorded demos, tutorials, and guides for their products. Potential buyers want to get hands-on experience with your service before actually purchasing it. So, if you don’t want to offer a free or discounted trial, you should consider giving them a detailed glimpse of your software’s capabilities.
You can go on Facebook Live or organize a demo webinar where you’ll show them what your product does. You may even record these sessions and publish them on your website or YouTube channel. These videos can be the gated content you need to extract email addresses. Make sure to include screenshots and videos in your tutorials so professionals can understand in detail how your product operates. Keep updating your guides as you add new features so clients feel supported and get all their questions answered without having to book a meeting with you.
Key Takeaway
For your marketing to be effective, it must be agile and adaptive, depending on your audience’s response to specific campaigns and ads. That’s why you should always measure your content marketing performance and keep making appropriate adjustments, especially when it comes to promoting your onboarding software. This is what differentiates a high-performing marketing team from a mediocre one that fails to take accountability. Lastly, if you’re tired of unsuccessful SEO practices, you need to read this eBook and understand what it takes to write engaging and appealing blog posts to take your marketing efforts to the next level. Remember, nurturing client relationships and gaining their loyalty is a never-ending process that requires tremendous effort on your part.
