Matthews on Marketing

Matthews on Marketing

How SaaS Affects the Marketing Mix

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Not All of Your Tactics Will Be Change, But the Emphasis Will Shift While the SaaS business model is quite different from sales of perpetual software licenses, the marketing tactics are not entirely unique. SaaS companies still go to trade shows, have customer newsletters, and engage in direct marketing. The real difference is not in the tactics, but the emphasis on those tactics in the marketing mix. Here are a few guiding principles of how the buying cycle is different, and the resulting … [Read more...]

Five SaaS Marketing Pitfalls to Avoid

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This is an excerpt from my forthcoming SaaS Marketing Handbook -TM I have fallen into almost every one of these pits. Some of them more than once. I’ve learned the hard way that you need to clearly set expectations, and under promise and over deliver, to be successful as a SaaS marketer. Pitfall #1 “[Person’s name] a [Board Member | Friend of Mine | Fellow CEO | Next Door Neighbor] told me they are getting a [fill in ridiculously high number] conversion rate for [fill in a dollar amount that’s … [Read more...]

13 Questions to Jump-start Your Buyer Persona Research

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Interviews are critical to developing a good buyer persona. Actually speaking with the buyers can uncover insights that would never come to light otherwise. Simply creating a persona via research, using demographics, is a waste of time. You need to understand how they think, not just who they are. Many marketers never take this step. Contacting real buyers is a difficult and challenging task. And what do you ask them? Here are 13 questions to get you started, followed by a format for compiling … [Read more...]

Five Easy New Year’s Resolutions for Marketing Teams

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For as many years as I can remember, I’ve used the quiet period between Christmas and New Year’s to reflect on the year that’s passed, as well as on what lies ahead. Invariably, I’m surprised at the volume of work done by my team. Those Q1 programs seem like so long ago… Yet for all of the accomplishments, there are the unrealized goals. I often rue how we’ve strayed from good marketing practice in some way. Not being close to the customer. Taking our eye off the competition. Not rigorously … [Read more...]

Marketingspeak: What’s a ‘Buying Center’?

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In B2B sales, there is rarely just one person – or persona – involved in the buying process.  The buying center is a formalization of that concept.  Many people with different roles and priorities participate in purchasing decisions. Unlike consumer buying, where the consumer, either alone or with assistance or influence from acknowledged opinion leaders, makes his or her own purchase decisions, in business buying a group often determines which products or services the business purchases. A … [Read more...]