10 Ways To Increase Content Marketing ROI For
SaaS Businesses

HubSpot, Mailchimp, Zendesk – what do these three businesses have in common?

They are SaaS companies, yes. But another major common denominator between these three is that they have a huge library of blog posts on their website.

It just goes to show how widely used content marketing is in the SaaS industry.

Content marketing is a form of inbound marketing that focuses on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content. Doing this would attract and engage your target audience.

And ultimately, the end goal of content marketing is to turn visitors into paying customers.

In recent years, content marketing has proven itself to be one of the most effective ways for a SaaS business to build brand awareness and generate leads.

In fact, according to Zenpost, it can help you earn up to 448% return on investment (ROI).

How is this possible?

In this blog post, we are going to discuss how to increase content marketing ROI.

1) Produce Relevant, Reliable, & Engaging Content

This should be a no-brainer. But it is an absolute must for any content piece you create.

After all, your potential customer will not return to your website if they do not find your content useful.

For any content asset to be considered high-quality, it must be relevant, reliable, and engaging.

Let’s talk about each of these characteristics one by one.

Relevant Content

To produce relevant content, start by defining your buyer persona. Your buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer.

This buyer persona also represents the most pressing pain points and needs that a segment of your target audience has.

If you know who you are creating content for and what kind of content they want, then you can start producing the right content. That includes its topics, tone of voice, and format.

Reliable Content

Your target audience will not only want relevant content, but they will also want accurate and up-to-date information.

Remember that one of the things that make content marketing work is that it builds trust with your potential customer.

That is why it is important to make sure that your content is thoroughly researched and well-sourced. Or else, your audience won’t find it trustworthy.

So make sure to include links to your references. Not to mention that these references should be high-quality and credible websites themselves.

Engaging Content

Your content will not only need to be relevant and accurate, but it also needs to be engaging.

One thing that makes content engaging is its readability. Long sentences and bulky paragraphs tend to intimidate readers even before they start reading the blog post.

So make sure to keep your sentences below 20 words. And your paragraphs should take no more than four lines.

Another thing that makes a content piece engaging is the kind of emotion that it evokes. This is why storytelling is such an effective content marketing strategy. Humor also works wonders for this goal.

Storytelling and humor allow you to connect with your target audience on an emotional level. And when people are emotionally invested in your story, they are more likely to read it until the very end.

2) Produce Content For All Stages Of The SaaS Sales Funnel

Not all content pieces are created equal. In fact, each stage of the SaaS sales funnel requires a different type of content.

Top of the Funnel (TOFU)

At the top of the sales funnel (TOFU), your goal is to increase brand awareness and generate leads.

This is why most TOFU content assets are educational blog content and infographics. They are designed to attract visitors to your website organically through search engines.

At this stage, you don’t necessarily have to promote your SaaS product yet. In fact, sounding too sales-y may lose the trust you’ve already built with your audience.

Middle Of The Funnel (MOFU)

Meanwhile, middle-of-the-funnel (MOFU) content is used to nurture leads and turn them into paying customers.

This is where ebooks, webinars, and product comparisons come in. These are content assets that may need your lead to have some degree of interest in your SaaS product in order to provide value to them.

At this stage, you can start promoting your SaaS product more overtly. But you still have to be careful not to sound too eager to sell. That will likely turn off your leads and prevent them from buying at all.

Bottom Of The Funnel and Retention Stages

You can even create content for customer retention.

This goes beyond the bottom of the funnel (BOFU) stage. During these later stages, your goal is to keep your customers happy and engaged.

One way to do this is by creating how-to guides, tutorials, and more educational content that provide value to your customers.

These are content pieces that show your current customers how to get the most out of your product.

3) Create Evergreen Content

One of the best ways to make your content marketing strategy more ROI-friendly is to focus on creating evergreen content.

Evergreen content is a type of content that remains relevant and useful even after months or even years of being published

This is in contrast to timely or seasonal content which quickly becomes outdated.

One way to create evergreen content is by writing how-to guides, listicles, and tips and tricks articles. These are all content pieces that provide timeless advice that people can reference again and again.

Another way to produce evergreen content is by writing about popular trends in your industry. This way, you can be sure that your article will remain relevant for a long time.

But still, SaaS is a fast-changing industry. Even long-term trends eventually die down.

So make sure to update your evergreen content whenever new information or new trends come up.

4) Improve Your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Strategy

If you want your content to reach as many people as possible, then you need to make sure that it is optimized for search engines.

This is where SEO comes in.

SEO is the process of making your content more visible on search engine results pages (SERPs). The higher your ranking on SERPs, the more likely people are to find and read your content

There are a lot of factors that go into SEO. But some of the most important ones include keyword research, meta titles, meta descriptions, and backlinks.

5) Repurpose Your Content

Another great way to get more ROI out of your content marketing campaign is to repurpose your content.

Repurposing content simply means taking an existing piece of content and reusing it in a different format.

For example, you can take a blog post and turn it into a YouTube video or an ebook. Or you can take a podcast episode and turn it into a blog post.

This is a great way to get more mileage out of your existing content. And it’s also an effective way to reach new audiences who consume content in different ways.

6) Leverage Your Content For Lead Generation

Content marketing can also work wonders in generating leads for your SaaS business.

One way to do this is by using content upgrades.

A content upgrade is a piece of content that you may offer as an incentive in exchange for someone’s contact information

For example, you can offer an ebook as a content upgrade at the end of a blog post talking about a topic relevant to the ebook. Or you can offer an invite for an upcoming webinar at the end of your YouTube videos.

The important thing here is providing value with your free-to-access content. It has to be so good that your viewers would want for more.

And when they encounter your content upgrade, they would be more than willing to exchange their contact information for it.

Another way to use your content for lead generation is by gating it. Gating means making your content accessible only to people who fill out a form where they have to provide their contact information.

This is a great way to collect leads while still providing value to your audience.

7) Publish Consistently

If you want your content marketing campaign to be successful, then you need to publish consistently.

This doesn’t mean that you need to publish new content every single day. But it does mean that you should have a regular publishing schedule that your audience can rely on.

One way to do this is by batching your content creation. This means creating a bunch of content at once and then scheduling it to be published over the course of several weeks or months.

Another way to ensure consistency is by using a content calendar. This is a tool that helps you plan and track your content marketing efforts.

A content calendar can help you stay organized and make sure that you’re publishing content on a regular basis.

It will also enable you to plan the timing of your publishing schedule.

For example, let’s say you want to produce content relevant to holidays like Christmas or Black Friday. A content calendar can help you time them perfectly.

8) Promote Your Content On Social Media

Social media is a great way to promote your content and reach a larger audience.

When promoting your content on social media, it’s important to use visuals. This could be anything from an infographic to a meme to a video.

It’s also important to use catchy headlines and descriptions. Keep in mind that people are more likely to click on something if it looks interesting

And finally, make sure to post your content at the right time.

Different social media platforms have different peak times. So it’s important to do some research and figure out when your audience is most active.

9) Improve Your Website’s User Experience

If you want people to stick around and read your content, then you need to make sure that your website has a good user experience.

There are a lot of factors that go into the user experience. But some of the most important ones include website design, navigation, and loading speed.

Your website should be designed in a way that is easy on the eyes. And it should be easy for people to find what they’re looking for.

10) Measure The Right Content Marketing Metrics

If you want to improve your content marketing ROI, then you need to measure the right metrics.

Some of the most important content marketing metrics include website traffic, bounce rate, time spent on page, and downloads.

Website Traffic

This is a good content marketing metric to track because it shows how many people are reading your content. You can track this mainly through Google Analytics.

One great thing about Google Analytics is that it can distinguish new visitors from returning visitors.

So if you’re seeing a lot of unique visitors on your content pages, that could mean that your SEO strategy or content distribution is doing well.

And if you have a lot of returning visitors, that could mean that your content is valuable and people are coming back for more.

Bounce Rate

This metric measures the percentage of people who leave your website after viewing only one page. You can also track it on Google Analytics.

This metric is important because it shows how engaging your content is.

If your bounce rate is high, then that means people are not finding your content interesting and are leaving quickly.

Time Spent On Page

This measures how long people spend reading your content. This metric is important because it shows how engaged people are with your content.

The longer they spend reading, the more likely they are to be interested in what you have to say.

Downloads

You may also want to count how many people are downloading any content upgrade or gated content that you may offer.

This content marketing metric is important because it shows how many people are interested in what you have to say and are willing to give you their contact information.

It also indicates how many leads you have generated with your gated content.

Final Thoughts About How To Increase Content Marketing ROI

Content marketing is one of the most cost-effective forms of digital marketing today, especially for SaaS businesses.

With the right practices and strategies, you can intentionally make your content more visible online and more effective at generating leads.

But one thing you should know is that content marketing takes time.

Unless you use paid ads to promote it, your content is going to take weeks or even months before it actually starts generating traffic.

So be patient and keep at it.

If you stick with it, you will eventually see an increase in ROI for your content marketing efforts.

Want more strategies and guides that help you grow your SaaS business? Check out our blog here.