What to expect in a SaaS Marketing role and what are its types?
I consider Marketing to be a field that’s soul purpose is to do one thing and one thing only, getting the people they want to take action that’s intended. Traditionally it was done through billboards, newspaper ads and radio and then came Google and the digital ads, now everything digital with Google, Facebook and Amazon vying for customer data, potentially orchestrating what you should and shouldn’t buy.
And a marketer is required to do lot’s of things in the modern settings, if you look closely most of the marketers are very keen on insights, analytics, competitors, and many more.
Photo by Clark Tibbs on Unsplash
Well that’s for the consumers, what about businesses?
This is where a SaaS marketer comes in guns blazing. You will need to help the right business realise that you have the perfect solution for them. In all forms of marketing content is the mainstay, but in SaaS marketing you have to have a balanced approach where you perfect the concoction with content, channel, and value. SaaS marketer are many types, I’m not gonna get into to DNA of everything, but at least the skeletal structure in SaaS, like the following
- Content Writer
- Digital Marketer
- Growth/Product Marketer
- Channel/Partner Marketer
- Corporate Marketer
- Field Marketer
- Marketing Operations
Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash
Content Writers
This role is essentially the lifeline to all other marketing channels, without the right content you will not attract any customers.Not just any writing, well here it doesn’t just mean grammatically articulating words to framing sentences that makes sense, but also connecting, emoting, and clarifying the purpose and place of the product/service which is the subject.
The main skills you need here is passion and expertise in articulation, you need to have at least 500 hours of practice pulling in 10K plus words be it blogs, articles or just a personal memoir. You should also hold the ability to empathise and think from a customers point-of-view, this is a precious skill that can make or break the content.
Photo by Diggity Marketing on Unsplash
Digital Marketer
This is where it gets technical, remember earlier I mentioned Google, Facebook, Bing and Amazon entering the marketing space. Each of them have a platform through which you take the content and present it to those who are looking for it and to those who will need to read it. The skill set required here is a crucial thing in marketing, eye for analytics and a working knowledge of SEO/SEM/CRO/MRO/Campaign platforms.
This role will essentially require you to enable marketers reach the target audience, with all the various platforms in the market. The way to gain experience here is as always ‘practice’ and have a working knowledge of the platforms’ features and how you can obtain and read information from it and interpret it in a way that can be analyzed and taken action upon. P.S. There are lot’s of technical understanding to it and you might need to do a dedicated course on it.
Photo by Micheile Henderson on Unsplash
Growth/Product Marketer
These are the modern marketers, some claim this as essentially a project management role. On any given day, Growth and Product marketing would be considered as different branches of the business, but I’ve noticed it to be almost the same. But the importance difference between these teams is that they stakeholders they work with, however they are mandatory for an organization to scale, grow and maintain that growth. They are the organizers of any marketing projects/campaigns that are concentrated to bring customers into the sales funnel.
This role involves closely working with the Product team, Sales team and other marketing teams together to make calculated decisions and to bring projects to life and achieve financial goals set. They also involve coordinating with management on budget, working with vendors, field teams and other moving parts in an organization. They work to nurture, enrich and retain customers for the long run.
Photo by Park Troopers on Unsplash
Channel/Partner Marketer
This role is also something that’s vital to the organization. This team acts as a different entity but it essentially works as an evangelistic role to the company, where you essentially build an influencer network of other tech companies who might have more coverage in regions where your company is not established yet. They also reach out to firms out their in the market, who could essentially give the company a boost.
You have to work with lot’s of 3rd parties in creating a working mutual relationship where both parties benefit each other’s solution and customer base. The main skill set required here is relationship builder, articulation, negotiation and project management. Getting things done in time is something this role demands as it is more crucial as an impression building is a requirement for this role.
Photo by Taylor Grote on Unsplash
Corporate Marketing
This role involves organizing and communicating all company marketing activities to the external world. This team manages Press Releases,Company ads, Customer Community campaigns and manage and overlooks all field events and conferences.
They work hard on creating a brand image and building a reputation or a loyal customer base and taking innovative approaches and bringing in more attention from the target audience and businesses. The only agenda is building the brand and concentrating the efforts into making an impact. Again the skillsets in project handling, communication skills and collaboration skills and building network and evangelise for the company.
Photo by Micheile Henderson on Unsplash
Field Marketer
You always go to have someone on the field hitting the grounds running and meeting the customers, partners and vendors face-to-face and pull campaigns, events and meetings off successfully. Consider the role as the ultimate face of the company, as SaaS companies rely heavily on events and conferences where influencers and potential customer persona’s meet. They need people who can network skillfully and build connections and engage.
You have to be ready to travel, pack and unpack most of your working days and coordinating and multitasking is a mandatory skill here. Many speculate this role to be an easy one, but in reality it’s the hardest, you won’t be at the comfort of your office. You are left to think on your foot and make decisions and manage the outcomes. And at the end of it all, smile at the strangers and build lasting bridges.
Photo by Chris Yang on Unsplash
Marketing Operation
Analytics, workflow management, operations management, execution and enabling all marketing functions to work effectively without being worried about the details. Attention to details, from setting up an email campaign, to creating landing pages and tract the funnel and visualise the data obtained across all the marketing activities.
This is the central team that connects all other functions and is answerable to various activities. You need collaboration and project management skills. Problem solving should be your second nature, and you should be ready to get your hands dirty on fine tuning platforms and application and processes that will bring you a big load of pushback from different stakeholders.
Well, understand this and you can step into a SaaS company and take the marketing team head on. I’m not the god father of this workflow, my a frequent and close observer. If you think I’ve overstepped in anyway, please drop a comment and let’s have a healthy conversation. These are not the Academic processes, but they are real time nonetheless.
