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On this list, you will find some of the most successful SaaS marketing campaigns of 2021. These successful campaigns have been defined as those that have helped garner a large number of signups or customers, along with helping to raise awareness of a product.
Through looking over these campaigns, I have been able to pick out some common elements that allowed them to be so successful.
Wistia
Wistia makes video hosting simple, powerful, and affordable. They offer a full list of features that are usually only available in enterprise-level software, but Wistia is a SaaS solution that is specifically designed for SMB’s (Small to Medium Businesses). This makes it easy to not only get started with their service but to scale as you grow.
The campaign
- Wistia has been making videos and podcasts for a few years now. The company’s in-house production studio, Wistia Studios, has a mandate for each show. The studio mandate gives the in-house team guidance in terms of the concepts they can follow and how it aligns with the brand values.
- Within the past few years, Wistia’s team has built a scoring system to help prioritize ideas and greenlight concepts that are the best fit for the company. One, Ten, One Hundred is among the brand’s most popular video series.
- To promote the launch of their latest webcam and screen-recording tool, Wistia turned to Sandwich Video to create three videos, including one for $1,000, one for $10,000, and one for $100,000.
- Wistia recently received a Webby nomination in the Branded Entertainment Series category, which recognizes the best content on the web that creates a positive brand experience. Wistia’s 100-minute documentary series is now also listed on Amazon Prime. Since the series’s launch, Wistia has been betting on video content with series like Bandwagon and LowView.
Why it works
It’s targeted
Nothing is more frustrating than being bombarded with ads you don’t want to see. Wistia’s videos explain how the software works and give people enough information to decide whether or not they want to sign up.
It’s simple
The videos aren’t overly complicated and they don’t overwhelm viewers with options they don’t need. The use of high-quality video also helps set this campaign apart from other SaaS marketing campaigns on the market today.
It’s effective
Rather than focusing on getting users in without knowing what they’ll get out of it, Wistia’s marketing campaign focuses on providing the best possible experience for its customers.
Mailchimp
MailChimp is a company that helps businesses design, send, and track email newsletters. They provide an entire package to help you create your own email newsletter. And they’re great at what they do. That’s why they’re one of the most popular companies among SaaS users.
The campaign
- The brand realized that many viewers mispronounced its name as “MailKimp” which set the stage for a pivotal moment in the brand’s history. MailChimp created nine different campaigns to reach potential customers but didn’t tell customers it was Mailchimp until the end of each video.
- The campaign won Grand Prix at Cannes Lions in 2017, and MailChimp saw 67 million organic searches and $3.52 million in earned media value. Many experts still rate the campaign among the best B2B marketing campaigns ever produced.
Why it works
It uses humor
The campaign was based on a simple observation: people make spelling mistakes all the time when typing in their email addresses.
So Mailchimp’s copywriters threw in a few amusingly incorrect versions of their own domain name, notably ‘MailKimp’ and ‘MailChimpy’. Steve Henry, managing director of digital agency The Polygon Group, says: “It’s a good example of using the power of humor to build brand recognition and loyalty.
It puts them in a different light
A lot of people dislike MailChimp and think they are spammy and annoying. This ad campaign humanizes them. Instead of being the annoying brand that screams at you with every email, they now appear more likable and friendly.
It appeals to everyone
Most email marketing campaigns are targeted towards consumers, but MailChimp’s “Did you mean MailChimp?” campaign was aimed at businesses (specifically, small businesses). The campaign was a success with both consumers and business owners — 61% of people who clicked through were business owners.
Slack
Slack’s marketing to the B2B SaaS industry demonstrates its willingness to iterate, learn from mistakes, and listen to its target audience.
B2B companies traditionally have a challenging time breaking into the market. Their audience is well-educated on the product or service, under pressure from tight deadlines, and has a distinct lack of patience.
Slack’s marketing efforts incorporated elements from startups; stories of team members who used Slack in their previous jobs; to help establish brand authenticity and connect with its target audience.
The campaign
- Slack, a company that raised $1.26 billion in funding just a couple of years ago, does not advertise. It relies on word of mouth to grow its brand. If you were looking at Slack’s traffic sources, you’d notice that almost 95% of its website visitors are coming to the platform and signing up through direct traffic.
- Slack does not have a content marketing strategy. Instead, the platform relies on its organic search rankings. Slack ranks high on Google’s first page for certain keywords that point to its app landing page. Most of its traffic comes from direct links—users typing in Slack’s URL in the address bar.
- When a company produces content, it relies on storytelling to bring out its core benefits. Stewart Butterfield, the founder of Slack, suggests that “if there’s one piece of advice I could go back to give myself, it is concentrating on that storytelling part, on the convincing people. If you can’t do that, it doesn’t matter how good the product is, it doesn’t matter how good the idea was for the market, or what happens in the external factors, you don’t have the people believing.”
Why it works
It’s not about product features
Enable your customers to solve their problems in the most effective way possible, and they will tell their stories for you.
It creates a community around Slack and its users
Both conscious and subconscious messaging to customers on how awesome Slack is for your business and how much fun it is to work there!
It tells the story of why Slack exists
Bringing people together to make teams more productive, creative, and successful.
It shows how Slack helps solve customers’ problems
Instead of focusing on how it solves your (or your company’s) problems.
It makes you feel part of something bigger
Slack’s blog is broken down into various topics—some specific to the company, others about technology, or business in general. Each topic section includes a number of smaller story-focused posts on related topics.
Together, these showcase the depth of knowledge available on the platform and make you feel like you’re part of something bigger than just Slack. You’re part of a community where knowledge is shared and exchanged freely.
FutureFuel
FutureFuel is a B2B tech company that provides an exclusive lead generation and sales automation tool that helps companies to attract, nurture, and convert customers from top-tier IT providers.
The campaign
- FutureFuel.com increased its website’s visitors from 6K to 100K monthly visitors in 6 months by using a powerful SEO strategy. It created and published high-quality content to drive organic traffic. In 3 months, it launched an employee benefit that now attracts more than 40K monthly visitors.
- This content has ranked for several high competition keywords like student loan grants, employee appreciation software, human capital management software, and others. This piece has acquired more than 500 quality backlinks which have contributed to the site’s 60K+ organic traffic from Google.
- FutureFuel’s organic traffic has increased month over month, and they will soon reach 200K+ monthly organic visitors. They have a team of writers who consistently produce high-quality content and a content marketing strategy that helps them attract natural backlinks.
Why it works
Search Engine Optimization Campaigns
FutureFuel has run SEO campaigns since 2013 that have been successful in ranking for various target keywords on Google search results pages.
This has led to an increase in mobile app downloads for their personal finance apps for iOS & Android (such as PocketGuard Personal Finance and MoneyGuard Personal Finance). the brand also ranks for keywords related to keyword research tools, such as “keyword planner,” which people search for monthly on Google search engines.
Content marketing strategy
FutureFuel uses content marketing to influence customers to learn more about our company, products, and services as well as provide social proof that they are a leader in the industry.
They use content marketing to promote our blog (e.g., website traffic), social media (e.g., Facebook likes), and our Google Play apps (e.g., app reviews).
Long-term approach
A successful SEO campaign involves three key stages: keyword research, content creation and optimization of your website, and linking to other websites that are relevant to your business.
It takes time but results will be seen over a long period of time and can be sustained if managed correctly – which is why an ongoing approach is essential for any business looking to increase its web traffic through organic search engine listings.
Dropbox
Dropbox is a file-sharing service that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud, and client software. Dropbox enables users to store any type of files online and access them from a mobile device or computer.
Dropbox also offers shared folders that can be accessed by multiple users for collaboration. The service was created by Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi in 2007, then acquired by Dropbox Inc. in 2008.
Dropbox uses a freemium business model, where users are offered a free account with a set storage size, with paid subscriptions available that offer more capacity and additional features. Dropbox Basic users can earn an additional 500 MB of free storage by referring new subscribers to the service.
The campaign
- This is an older example, yet it is still one of the most widely recognized and effective SaaS marketing examples, inspiring hundreds of SaaS marketers. Dropbox gained 3900 percent thanks to a simple referral program modeled after PayPal. Dropbox grew from 100K users in 2008 to 4 million users in December 2009 and over 500 million users in 2016.
- Dropbox began with $30K and has grown to become a $12 billion SaaS product. Because of its referral program, the company has grown at an exponential rate.
- Users are encouraged to invite their friends to Dropbox in order to receive free storage space. It offers a tiered referral scheme that shows how far a user has progressed and how much free space they have received thus far.Its referral program is straightforward and easy to understand. This is what makes it more convenient for people to keep using it.
Why it works
Referral leads to more referrals
If you need to get more users on your platform, you can give customers an incentive to refer their friends by giving them credit toward free space. This is a good way to encourage existing users to get the word out about your services while encouraging new ones to sign up.
It’s a win-win situation
Everyone wins in the Dropbox referral program as both the referrer and referee get free space once someone signs up using their link. It’s like getting a present for yourself when you bring someone else into this platform!
Referrals are measured
Dropbox tracks how many people you invited and also whether those people signed up for paid accounts or not.
Builds customer loyalty
If you’ve ever used Dropbox, then you know how valuable it is for storing documents and photos in the cloud. And if someone is already using the service, there’s a good chance they’re going to be happy with it and want to stick with it moving forward. Having happy customers is good for any business because these customers will likely become repeat customers
Gives users a reason to join
If you are looking for a file hosting site, there are many options to choose from. The fact that Dropbox offers a free service is enticing enough, but when you add the fact that it also gives you extra storage space for referrals, it becomes even more appealing.
Final Thoughts
If you are thinking of starting your B2B SaaS company and need to get some inspiration, then these marketing examples will definitely help you. Try to stand out from the crowd and make that purple cow jump out.
