Everything is so tied to technology and software that if you are planning to start a business that can be ridiculously successful then a SaaS company is the way to go. SaaS, or Software as a Service, has become the model of success for people that have a great idea and think they have a way to help people or businesses.
The best thing about them is that they can start as small or as big as you need and then scale later. In other words, you can start with a small team and grow into something much bigger. It has been done many times before so there is a model of how to do things.
You just have to know how you think you can help and then figure out the program that will get you there. In this article, we will go over several tips to start your own SaaS business.
Find Your Niche
The key to finding your audience is to make sure that you are working within a reasonable space. What that means is that you don’t want to go for hundreds of millions of people with a broad topic software. You may still end up with that many users, but you need to start withing a more narrow niche and then try to scale after.
The reason for this is that it will be hard to compete with many of the big players in those larger niches. Remember, you’re bootstrapping here so you need to start smaller than that.
It may sound counterintuitive but the smaller niche will give you the opportunity to make more money and have a better chance at success.
Once you have a topic worked out then you have to dig a bit further and drill down to find your audience. This is important because if it seems like your biggest market is going to be Canada, then you have to make sure that your software is appropriate for that market. For instance, a finance based SaaS may not go through the regulation much like Robinhood in Canada didn’t
Find Your Market
Nest up is finding your people. Those that have a problem and that you can solve in the best way for them. Try to figure out who your target person is. This is so that you can work out how the software should work, how to market your service and the best way to get it to the market.
Take some time to create an avatar of the person who would most likely need your software. For instance, if it is a SaaS based on cryptocurrency then the target market is likely to be tech savvy 35 to 45 year olds. With enough research you will know where most of them live, what their disposable income is and where and how they like to spend their money.
This is important information to have before you set out to make the software.
Have A Remote Team
This is less of a controversial idea now than it would have been two years ago as remote work is commonplace and will be for a while. The costs associated with running an office could be much better spent on actually building your product or on your marketing campaign.
You’ll save probably five figures on the rent of the office, plus the utilities and things like a commissary and the like. Not to mention the cost to fit it out as it won’t be ready to start working in right away.
There is also the benefit of picking the exact right candidate from a larger pool since there is no geographic restriction, or the need for a visa for a hotshot programmer from another country.
Lastly, you don’t have to pay San Francisco salaries when your workers live in places like Ohio, Idaho, or Ukraine. Not that you don’t want to pay a fair salary for your workers, but since their expenses are also going to be lower since they don’t have to live in a high cost of living area to work for you then this can dramatically reduce the average salary.
Do Smart Marketing
Finding your perfect customer and market can be very expensive. Instead, save money and let them find you. This is done through inbound marketing and is essential for good conversions and better ROI.
The way it works is that you create a buyer’s journey that resembles a funnel. The top of the funnel is when somebody is looking for a solution to their problem and finds your software. This can be through social media or even through PPC ads in Google search. The best way to go though is to have a blog and use SEO which is almost free.
Once the person lands on your landing page, this is the time to have them get further into the funnel so they can progress through their buyer journey. First they give you their email in exchange for something of value like an ebook.
As they get further down the funnel, they come out the end not only a customer but a loyal fan. This is because you didn’t try to get them to commit to your SaaS until they were emotionally ready to do it.
There are different stages of people’s journey in which in an early phase they are looking for more information. This is usually when they sign up for the email. Over time you can be sending them helpful emails that sets them up to eventually buy when they feel like they have all the information they need to make a purchase.
But at the end of their purchase, you want to keep them in the funnel even after so they stay members and even spread the word to others because you were so helpful in solving their problem.
You may need to use a budget for social media ads to build up awareness and even PPC for those competitive keywords that your blog may not rank for, but this method is one of the least expensive marketing strategies you can use. It’s much better than casting a wide net and hoping you catch a lot of fish. You want the right fish that are actually going to buy or you’ve wasted your budget.