B2B SaaS product marketing 101

There’s no doubt the SaaS business model is compelling, enticing founders with the promise of predictable revenue streams, relatively low upfront costs and the opportunity to scale quickly. Given this, it’s hardly surprising the SaaS sector grew 5 times over in as little as seven years with the global market estimated to hit $716.52 billion by 2028.

But as the market intensifies, so does the need for an effective SaaS product marketing strategy to help you stand out from the crowd. After all, for B2B customers, there’s nothing more frustrating than investing considerable time researching a solution, only to come away still uncertain about its core functionality and benefits.

“So, what does your product ACTUALLY do?”

This seemingly straightforward question is many a SaaS marketer’s worst nightmare, highlighting a common challenge for B2B SaaS businesses – the ability to articulate a product’s value succinctly and effectively. 

And if that’s you – you’re not alone. Help is here. Whether you’re a seasoned marketer looking to refine your approach or a newcomer eager to learn the ropes, we break down the ins and outs of B2B SaaS product marketing, drawing on years of experience helping series A and B SaaS start-ups. 

Consider this your go-to-guide for SaaS product marketing 101. 

 

What is B2B SaaS product marketing?

B2B SaaS product marketing refers to the methods and strategies adopted by marketers to articulate the value of a product and define its positioning within a given market. The product, in this case, is a subscription-based service for businesses, such as Slack, Hubspot or Notion. 

Effective SaaS product marketing centres around crafting clear, concise messaging that is focused on solving customer pain points, rather than its features, defining buyer personas and conducting key competitor analysis, which all in turn determine your product’s positioning.

What’s the difference between product marketing and SaaS product marketing? 

There are a number of key differentiators when comparing SaaS product marketing to traditional product marketing:

• SaaS encompasses a subscription-based model focused on customer retention, whereas traditional product marketing is often geared towards a one-time purchase. 
• SaaS relies more heavily on digital channels than traditional, which may use a mix of digital and ‘offline’ channels like OOH (out-of-home).
• SaaS product marketing strategy requires greater levels of flexibility due to the constant evolution of products like new features, updates etc. 

 

B2B SaaS product marketing fundamentals 

The value proposition

When it comes to B2B marketing for SaaS start-ups, clarity is king. There’s no room for ambiguity when discussing what your product does, the problem it solves and for whom. This is precisely why your value proposition matters so much (and why most marketers won’t stop going on about it). 

Don’t forget there are so many solutions available on the market now. More choice makes articulating your value proposition even more important to help you stand out and grab your customer’s attention.

What is a value proposition?

A value proposition is a compelling message highlighting your product’s benefits and how it solves specific problems for your target market. Typically delivered as a messaging house or positioning canvas, a value proposition includes a headline statement and a 50 to 100-word description of your product and its key capabilities.

This message should be communicated clearly and consistently across all of your marketing and digital assets and should differentiate your business from competitors.

Aligning key stakeholders 

When we speak to different stakeholders within the same business, and ask them about the product’s key benefits, they often say different things. The CEO may talk about one thing, the CTO another, and sales something else entirely. They’re either all articulating the benefits differently, or struggling to articulate them at all.

While it’s common for these stakeholders to see things through their own distinct lens, a clearly articulated value proposition should result in all departments speaking the same language. This enables more consistent communication and product messaging when talking with prospective customers – something even more important when you’re just starting out, and crucial as you scale.

 

Codi’s advice 

At Codi, SaaS product marketing is our bread and butter. Working primarily with series A and B SaaS start-ups, we help businesses to position their product in the market, stand apart from competitors and set themselves up for sustainable, long-term growth.

Here’s the advice we share with them. 

Focus on pain points NOT features 

All too often early-stage startups fall into the trap of focusing too much on a product’s features rather than the pain points it solves. Remember your customers are not buying your product BECAUSE of a particular feature, they are buying it to solve a particular set of problems. 

Let’s look at MailChimp – an email marketing automation platform with over 13 million customers. ‘Get your business online’ is their main value proposition. Instead of focusing on the many technical features the platform offers, like A/B testing or reporting & analytics tools, their simple value proposition is firmly tied to the greatest benefit MailChimp provides to small businesses – the ability to build their digital presence.

What’s the lesson here? Resist the urge to overcomplicate things. Ditch the tech talk and focus on understanding how your product will make your customer’s life easier, help their business and create tangible results. 

Keep it simple

Avoid waffling on at all costs and keep your value proposition concise. As an emerging Saas start-up, it’s even more important to communicate your value add as succinctly and clearly as possible to avoid customer confusion. Using precise language favouring specificity over broad, generalised statements. 

Need inspiration? Learn from some of the world’s top SaaS brands:

• Slack: Where work happens.
• Asana: The work management platform teams use to stay focused on the goals, projects, and daily tasks that grow business.
• Zoom: Uniting people through video communication.
• Google Drive: A safe place for all your files.
• Webflow: The site you want – without the dev time.

B2B SaaS value proposition workshop 

At Codi, we regularly host value proposition development workshops with our clients. This session should involve key stakeholders within the business such as the CEO,, representatives from sales, customer success and product – essentially anyone relevant to the value proposition conversation. 

The purpose of this positioning workshop is to extract the value of your SaaS product, defining this for each customer persona, industry vertical and service – remember many SaaS brands have multiple products within the same umbrella solution.

Below are the key points to discuss during the session:

By persona 

• What are the benefits of X solution for the CFO/CTO/CMO etc?
• What are the common objections of the CFO/CTO/CMO etc?
• Which features are of most interest to the CFO/CTO/CMO etc?

By industry 

• What are the benefits of X solution for this industry?
• What are the common challenges this industry faces?
• Which features will be most beneficial to this industry?

By product

• What problems are solved by each of your products/services? 
• What job titles and personas are these products most suited to?
• What’s stopping people from using your product?

Competitors

You should also make a list of competitors or possible products that do the same thing as you do:

• What are our competitors doing? 
• How do they communicate their value?
• How is our solution different to theirs?
• How does our product provide more value?

Interviews with customers

Incorporating customer interviews into your value proposition workshop is another big win. For example, you might review recordings of demo calls conducted by your sales team. By listening to these interactions, teams gain a deeper understanding of your customer needs, pain points, and reactions to the product. 

It’s a tactic we use when working with our clients at Codi. We find it helps teams to identify which aspects of the product resonate most strongly with their potential users and how their current value proposition is performing. 

Use Miro boards 

Miro boards are really useful when conducting a value proposition workshop. Teams use virtual sticky notes to cluster ideas helping to identify areas of alignment, common themes and gaps in understanding. As well as providing useful value proposition templates to help you get started, miro boards provide a clear visual representation of common themes and the flexibility to jump back in and refine your board as your product develops. 

Outcomes from your workshop 

By the end of your value proposition workshop, you should be able to deliver a positioning canvas that encompasses: 

• A headline statement
• A boilerplate descriptions (both 100 and 250 words)
• Four overarching benefits and a description associated with each benefit 
• Persona specific benefits and description 

A positioning canvas helps businesses to succinctly communicate their brand’s value to their target audience. Using this as your foundation, the next actions should be to:

• Update your pitching deck with the new messaging
• Update or create a series of one-pagers for each of your customer personas, by industry and for each product/service.
• Articulate your value proposition on your website

Don’t worry if all of this sounds overwhelming – may SaaS start-ups require expert guidance in these areas during their early stages. And that’s why Codi exists. 

 

Codi: SaaS product marketing experts

At Codi, we specialise in helping series A and B start-ups build and execute standout SaaS product marketing strategies, helping you to gain a deeper understanding of your product’s value, target customers and market.

As we’ve mentioned previously, our value proposition workshop is central to our approach to SaaS product marketing. This interactive, Codi-led session with your company’s key stakeholders focuses on refining your value proposition for each of your customer personas, industry verticals and offerings.

Providing both B2B marketing execution and strategy for SaaS start-ups, we also help businesses use and integrate their value propositions into a broader marketing strategy. All helping you to cut through the noise and stand out from the crowd.

Take your SaaS product marketing to new heights.

Speak to an expert.