7 Cost-Effective Lead Gen Tactics for SaaS Brands
Actionable Tactics to Reach Prospects Without Draining Your Budget
Starting or growing a SaaS business doesn't have to drain your marketing budget. With some hustle, creativity and persistent outreach, you can generate quality leads without breaking the bank.
In this post, we'll share seven unconventional and thrifty tactics to get your SaaS product in front of more potential customers.
1. Leverage Your Existing Networks 🤝
Tap into your current personal and professional connections to gain referrals, word-of-mouth and introductions to new prospects.
Reach out to past customers and ask for introductions to other decision-makers in their company or industry. Offer to return the favor.
Use your social networks by posting about your solution and gaining followers. Engage with your network by commenting and sharing content.
Attend local professional networking events and come with a goal to connect with 5 new people. Follow up later by email.
Don't underestimate the power of friends, family and neighbors in spreading the word about your SaaS.
2. Volunteer for Speaking Gigs 🤝
Attend local meetups and conferences and offer to give a talk for free. Use the presentation to establish yourself as an industry thought leader.
Offer to give a tech talk at the local Meetup group related to your industry.
Look for local conferences and small industry events and pitch a topic to the organizers.
Include a slide in your presentation with a strong call to action to sign up for your product.
Drive further interest by providing helpful resources or offers to attendees after the event.
3. Cold Email Prospects 📧
Cold emailing is one of the most cost-effective ways to reach new prospects. The key is to avoid spammy sales pitches. Instead, focus on providing value and starting a conversation.
Research your target customers and build personalized lists of contacts to reach out to.
Craft emails that focus on helping the prospect or providing useful information related to their role.
Make the emails personal by referencing something about the prospect's company or role.
Use a compelling subject line that will get opened like "Quick question about [Industry]"
Aim for relationship-building over immediate sales. Follow up with multiple emails if needed.
Review these Do’s and Don’ts of cold emailing before you start.
4. Guest Post Outreach ✍️
Identify websites, blogs and publications that your prospects read. Pitch guest posts that provide value and highlight your expertise.
Make a list of 10-20 potential websites to pitch to. Prioritize ones with high domain authority and traffic.
Craft a compelling topic that's appropriate for each site's audience. Provide a unique angle.
Mention your interest in cross-promoting the piece through your own marketing channels.
Always include a short bio with a link back to your SaaS site or a free resource offer.
5. Get Scrappy on Social Media 🎁
You don't need a huge social media advertising budget to gain followers and leads on social platforms.
Run contests and giveaways to boost engagement. Offer discounts or free trials as prizes.
Leverage hashtags related to your industry to put your brand and content in front of new audiences.
Use paid ads with a small daily budget ($5-10 per day) to target relevant interests and demographics. Run A/B tests to optimize performance.
Interact and engage with others in your niche. Provide value by answering questions and contributing to discussions.
6. Optimize for Organic Search 🔎
Don't underestimate the power of getting found through Google and other search engines.
Research relevant keywords and topics that prospects search for related to your industry and offering.
Create optimized pages and blog content for those keywords. Focus on topics that add value for searchers.
Make your site easy to crawl and index with schema markup and strong site architecture.
Get found for long-tail, geo-targeted searches by optimizing for local SEO.
7. Host Educational Webinars 🧑🏫
Host free webinars on topics that attract your ideal prospects. Promote them widely and gate them with registration.
Identify topics where you can provide expert insights and tactics people find useful.
Promote through social media, email lists, partner channels and PR outreach.
Record the webinar so you can repurpose it across other channels later.
Include some of your product benefits and a strong CTA to sign up for a free trial at the end.
Growing your SaaS customer base doesn't require an enormous marketing budget if you get creative and use cost-effective tactics.
With a mix of hustle, smart outreach, organic growth strategies, and converting your existing assets and networks, it's possible to gain quality leads.
The key is to remain persistent and consistently implement these unconventional tactics - whether it's guest posting, optimizing for SEO, doing cold outreach, or leveraging your existing connections. Track your results and double down on what works. Over time, these affordable strategies can help drive significant growth.
While paid advertising and other expensive channels can accelerate customer acquisition, they are not required, especially in the early days.
With the frugal lead gen tactics outlined above, you can continue gaining customers in a sustainable way without breaking the bank.
What low-cost, high-impact strategies have you found most effective for your SaaS? Let us know in the comments below!