Affordable, yet effective PR ideas.
Is this what you’re looking for?
If yes – you’ve to the right place. I’ve handpicked five low-cost and effective PR tactics to promote your SaaS startup:
- Original research for attracting media coverage and backlinks
- HARO to earn media mentions as an industry expert
- Guest posting to get backlinks and media coverage on industry websites
- SaaS blogging for building thought leadership
- Promotional videos for company and product promotion.
Let’s get started.
1. Create a Link Worthy Study
Creating original research is a good tactic for SaaS public relations because of two reasons. First– people love original studies because they help discover customer insights and trends. If your SaaS startup makes a survey about customer service preferences, many marketers, and researchers will be interested in knowing the results. Second– Google loves original studies just as much. Linking to scholarly studies and surveys is a common way to get higher in SERPs because Google considers it as a sign of credibility. That’s why try making an original study. A SaaS selling custom chatbot solutions, for example, can make a study about:- Customer perceptions of chatbots
- Chatbot business benefits
- Chatbot techniques that drive sales.
Credit: PwC, “The Future of CX” Thousands of people checked out this valuable piece of research. In fact, the page has collected 3,100 backlinks. 
This means that 3,100 sites have links to this specific page. To Google, this is a sure-fire signal of source credibility and trustworthiness, so the page will rank very high in search results. More traffic equals more views, publicity, and potential clients visiting your site. Try doing original research for PR, too. It doesn’t have to be something big–doing an online customer survey might be enough at the beginning. 2. Do HARO [Help a Reporter Out]
HARO, or Help a Reporter Out, is an online service that connects experts with knowledge sharers. You can get some publicity by sharing your expertise–others will publish it on their websites for free. HARO works like this. You visit HARO website, sign up to receive email inquiries as a source. Next, the platform will give you a selection of topics: “ecommerce,” “marketing,” etc. – choose the ones where you have the most expertise. After signing up, HARO will send you emails with topics for you to cover. For example, this one contains a bunch of media coverage opportunities, including one SaaS topic.
3. Write Guest Posts
Backlinks are the holy grail of digital marketing and PR.
If a website gets links from others, Google will treat that website as reputable and trustworthy. This means higher search results and more marketing exposure.
Guest posting–writing guest articles for other websites–is the best way to get backlinks and build a reputation. It’s a perfect PR strategy for your SaaS startup because it doesn’t require a huge marketing strategy.
Here’s how you can do guest posting.
The first step–Find guest posting opportunities
Search Google for “Write for + SaaS.”
This request will return a list of websites that accept guest posts. It might look like something like this.
Each website is a potential source of media coverage.
Visit some websites and see what kind of guest posts they’re looking for. The best options are those accepting posts about topics you have expertise in.
The second step–Pick a site for the first publication
Choose a few websites for potential guest post submission.
Carefully check the guidelines for guest articles. Some require certain optimization like keyword research and links to other reputable resources. Keep that in mind.
Follow those submission guidelines–for example, some sites recommend sending an article pitch before writing the entire piece.
The third step–
When your piece gets accepted, you can start writing.
The main goal is to share your expertise, obviously, which means you can mention your company and services in a non-promotional way.
Besides, you’ll get mentioned in the author’s bio. It’s a small section where the site will mention you and your company–another opportunity to promote your SaaS startup.
The author bio looks like this (Courtesy: Incredo):
Publishing guest posts regularly:
- Gives backlinks to your website
- Promotes your company as a reputable source of expertise and information
- Creates additional sales opportunities.
And one last thing: choose a nice photo of yourself for the author bio. The leader of a rising star company should look the part.
4. Write a SaaS Blog
A blog on your website is a PR tool. Blog content can:- Drive traffic to your landing pages
- Improve Google rankings
- Introduce potential clients to your brand and expertise.
Credit: Slack blog The blog at any SaaS company should follow Slack’s example to gather media attention. Agree? If yes, here are blog content ideas to try:- Articles recapping industry news and trends
- Tips to achieve your customers’ typical goals with your software
- Posts on your company’s news and announcements
- Case studies with your successful projects.
5. Create a Promotional Video
Promotional videos are an effective way to attract media attention and promote your company. Videos are the most popular type of content, so it can help to get more exposure. SaaS companies often showcase their products and achievements with short videos, especially on social media like LinkedIn. Headspace, for example, promotes its app with this relatable video. They start by empathizing with the viewers about the amount of daily stress they need to experience. Next, the Headspace app is promoted as a solution to reduce a lot of that stress with guided meditation and other resources.
Source: YouTube The video is quite short and doesn’t overwhelm the viewers with imagery and promotional messages. It focuses on showing the benefits for customers with the app’s features, which is the best bet for SaaS videos. The best types of video marketing to try:- Educational videos – Show your customers how to resolve an issue with your software with a step-by-step educational video
- Product promotion videos – Animated promo videos are effective for explaining how your product works and why it’s best than those of competitors
- Product demo videos – Explain how your typical customer can benefit from using your app
- Customer testimonials – Videos featuring stories of your satisfied customers can help build trust and increase the confidence of customers to try your company for their needs.
PR Strategy for SaaS Startups: Final Thoughts
You don’t need a multi-million budget to do some serious PR as a SaaS startup. With these five tactics, you can get mentioned in the media, build links to your websites, and develop a reputation as a thought leader in your niche.
Make sure to share your content on all channels available to you: social media, content sharing websites, PR outlets, news websites, etc. Each can score potential clients for you.
HOW TO USE
SOCIAL MEDIA
TO INCREASE YOUR
SAAS COMPANY’S SALES
