Launching a new business can be an exciting, yet daunting exercise. There are tons of challenges that one will face in the early stages of the business. From marketing to the right customer base, to getting the basic elements of the business in place and functioning to serve the customer. This is especially true in the case of a SaaS business. With its unique model, a SaaS business can be tricky to get off the ground.
Research shows that 50% of new companies do not make it past their first year in business, while those that do, may not last more than five years. In saying that, however, the SaaS market is one of the fastest-growing industries to be a part of. From 2019 to 2023, the global SaaS market is predicted to be worth $60.36 billion with a growth of 9% year on year.
So, are you looking to kickstart your new SaaS idea and looking for a few pointers to get you going? We took a look at what you need to have in place to ensure that you start off on the right foot and ensure your SaaS business flourishes into a global empire.
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A Functional, Customer-Centric Website
The center of your business operations will be your website. This is your control center where you will find, engage with, and convert your visitors into loyal, paying customers. We cannot put enough emphasis on how important it is to have a powerful and customer-focused website.
There are a few ways to create a website. You can firstly opt to use a platform that assists you in creating a site from one of their templates. It is one of the most simple, and quicker options for getting your site going, however, you will not have a lot of flexibility with your settings and layouts.
You can also create a site from scratch, which you will need developer skills for. This will take longer, and be extensive work, however, you will be able to create a customizable site for your unique offering.
Another option is to buy an already established site. This usually means that you will be buying over the entire business, but the perks are that it comes with an already established customer base and traffic to the site. Simply research SaaS business for sale, and you will find a plethora of businesses that you can walk into and start growing.
A Brand-Centric Name and Domain Name
The first thing you need to consider when launching and fleshing out your brand is the name of the company. Your name is what will stand out to your customers and be on top of their minds when they think about you.
It is important for your name to resonate with your clients as well as explain what your business is and what you do. You will need it to reinforce what the nature of the business is. It needs to be simple and memorable, as well as possibly hold a keyword of the service offering.
This is important to reflect through in the domain name. A powerful domain name is key in a SaaS business. It too should be short and memorable, reflecting the name of the business, and if possible, should have a suffix aligned to your customer base. .com is preferable for most sites as it is the most searched among customers.
But if this is already taken, you can consider other options like .org or the country out of which you operate; .uk or .za. Domain names do not necessarily need to cost an arm and a leg, and there are numerous places to find and purchase cheap domain names for your company.
A Blog and Social Platforms
The next thing to work on is the marketing side of your company. Remember, you are marketing your business to a unique audience, so you will want to get it right from the start. Set up your social platforms like your Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. There are several other platforms that you can look into to create something, but they have very specific audiences that might not suit your business.
A blog is incredibly important for any online and digital company. Content marketing has been shown to grow organic site traffic 7.8 times year on year, with 57% of all B2B marketers saying that it was their top marketing priority throughout the year.
This content that is developed for your blog can be shared to the socials, through email marketing, and to affiliate sites to increase the reach of your brand. It is vital to make sure that your content is kept informative, educational, entertaining, and empowers your customer. Focus on posting articles on topics that will be useful to your audience. In this way, you will become a trusted and reliable site.
Relevant Online Automation and Marketing Tools
Like you are offering subscription services to clients, there are thousands of platforms online that are also offering highly useful tools for you to run your business effectively. One of the first things to look into purchasing is a mailing tool. Building up a database is critical for your marketing efforts. Your subscribers need to receive regular emails from you including your blog posts, offers, product launches, and interesting content.
Explore your mailing platform options, since your requirements might differ from other companies. Each offers different functionality and integrations that you can make use of to reach hundreds or thousands of subscribers at once. From creating email templates to segmenting your audiences, and tracking the success of the campaign, these tools offer all-in-one solutions for you to run successful email campaigns.
Look at the other useful tools on the market too. You can find almost any solutions you can think of, from tools to help you track your traffic and customer behavior on your site to scheduling tools for your social posts. There are tools to help you manage your team and their productivity. You can also install chatbots that allow you to interact directly with your customer in real-time.
Wrapping Up
We are lucky to find ourselves in a world that is evolving rapidly. The digital era has created opportunities for entrepreneurs to launch their great ideas into the world with the use of a laptop, savvy technology, and an internet connection. If you are looking to join the SaaS market with your idea, there are enough resources and tools at your disposal to get that idea on the market.
Having a solid product idea and business plan is one thing, but launching a business and having the vital elements to create the company, is another. Spend time regularly searching for the right solutions to make your business a success.
