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Welcome to Volume 80
When was the last time you took some paid time off?
A year ago? Six months? Two years?
If you haven’t had any in the last four months, you should consider taking some time off to recharge. Your career is only a fraction of your life.
There are many other equally important parts of your life that deserve attention.
Family is one area that deserves some attention. So does your spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical health. Stability in these areas, alongside your career/business and personal finances, guarantee a fulfilled life.
So don’t spend all your time building a thriving career alone. Or hitting your financial goals alone. Give yourself permission to unwind and prioritize these other areas as well.
And take some PTO, if you haven’t already 😉.
Before we dive into today’s stories, here’s a peek at what’s to come in this piece:
- Should B2B SaaS Brands Use TikTok For Marketing?
- How SaaS Companies Can Beat Capterra In the SERPs
- How to Be the Most Interesting Brand In Your Industry
Should B2B SaaS Brands Use TikTok For Marketing?
B2B SaaS brands have been asking this question for the past five years, especially with short-form videos gaining more popularity by the second and TikTok leading the way.
Currently, TikTok has 1.7 billion users in 2023, and it is the sixth most used social network after Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram, according to Hootsuite’s 2022 Digital Report.
As a result, individuals and companies leverage the platform to reach more people. It’s no wonder TikTok’s ad revenue grew from $1.3 billion in 2020 to $2.1 billion in 2021. Statista predicts TikTok ad revenue will nearly triple to $5.96 billion this year and grow to $11 billion by 2024.
That’s a lot more ad revenue than Snapchat and Twitter, individual or combined.
Despite its successes and reputation as the leader for bite-sized videos, TikTok is a territory most B2B SaaS brands have yet to explore and adopt as a distribution channel. B2C companies, on the other hand, are jumping at the opportunity to grow their brand.
For example, the Container Store’s TikTok Challenge with Drew Barrymore, #ShowUsYourDrawers, raked in over 6 billion views. American Eagle also shared that its activity on TikTok in part helped drive a 40% increase in new customers for Aerie, according to Business Insider.
Some B2B brands have already caught on, and they are using TikTok to scale their marketing efforts.
Morning Brew is an example of one such brand:
The media company has generated over 3.9M likes and over 300K followers on TikTok.
They still target business people, but this time, they move from using long-form content to short-form, engaging videos. In other words, Morning Brew finds fun, creative ways to pass on important information while retaining its original value.
Like this news update on gas:
The update generated over 380K plays, 64K reactions, and 1.3K shares. I believe one of the reasons this happened (and it’s happening across a lot of Morning Brew TikTok content) is because of its content-channel-fit.
Nailing content-market fit is critical if you want to succeed in your marketing efforts. Content-market fit simply means repurposing existing content into a format that suits a specific channel and distributing it on that channel.
Morning Brew didn’t have to change their core messaging or alter their identity to reach TikTokers. Instead, they tweaked their usual content to fit the channel—TikTok and the preferences of users on the platform—using short-form videos to share industry news and keep their audience engaged. Hootsuite is another brand that does this well.
So, should you consider using TikTok?
If you haven’t had much success with other platforms, you should consider adding TikTok to your distribution channels. You and your team can brainstorm different ways you can turn regular B2B content into fun, engaging short-form TikTok videos. Consider using TikTok Creative Center to learn about the latest trends on the platform, find inspiration from other brands, and get tips on how to create effective TikTok videos.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- TikTok has a billion active users, and it is the sixth most used social network, according to Hootsuite’s 2022 Digital Report.
- TikTok is a territory most B2B SaaS brands have yet to explore and adopt as a distribution channel.
- Morning Brew is an example of a B2B brand that has leveraged TikTok, generating over 3.9M likes and over 300K followers on TikTok.
- Morning Brew didn’t have to change their core messaging or alter their identity to reach TikTokers. Instead, they tweaked their usual content to fit the channel and user preferences.
How SaaS Companies Can Beat Capterra In the SERPs
What do you do before you make a purchase online?
I look for reviews to see what past and present users are saying about the product. Those reviews help me decide whether or not the product is worth my time and money.
Nine out of ten consumers worldwide do the same. And another 79% of consumers also say they trust online reviews as much as they do personal recommendations.
That includes the B2B buyer.
Like me and many others, the typical B2B buyer wants to be sure they are investing their money in the right things. They want to be confident in their decisions.
As a result, they go out of their way to find and read other people’s experiences with your product to make up their minds on whether or not your product is worth their money.
That’s why software review platforms like Capterra make a fortune.
Capterra capitalizes on the buyer’s need for unadulterated reviews, the user’s desire to be heard, and a business’s need to gain prospects’ trust and sell more.
As a result, the third-party review platform dominates the SERPs for high-value comparison keywords SaaS companies should be owning.
If you’re a SaaS company looking to outrank Capterra in the SERPs and reclaim branded comparison keywords, or if you want to have more control over how prospects perceive you and generate more sales, you don’t have to spend as high as $4M in paid ads to stand a chance. That’s Capterra’s traffic value, by the way.
You only need to spend that much if you are trying to compete against them by going over the same high-value keywords they are generating $$$ from:
A review site like Capterra is so powerful that ignoring them or treating them as a hostile content competitor would be a huge mistake. They play a significant role in the buyer’s journey, ranking #1 for hundreds of BOFU pages.
So, trying to compete directly with Capterra with a single or a handful of product pages for the same keywords will be a lose-lose situation.
You can beat Capterra in the SERPs by leveraging one of these options:
- Make Capterra your ally
- Create your own comparison pages
Making Capterra an ally means leveraging their influence to amplify your brand’s value in the eyes of prospects, especially since Capterra already has the advantage.
Before you think you have no control over how customers perceive your brand and the reviews/ratings they give, think again.
You can control product feedback by:
- Delivering the best possible product experience.
- Making your onboarding process seamless.
- Letting your customer success or support team be present at every stage of the buyer’s journey.
- Ensuring your product delivers on the promises made in your landing page copy.
Take Calendly, for instance.
Every month, 11,000 people search for scheduling software. A quick search for this keyword will reveal Capterra outranking Calendly for this keyword:
A buyer who is still deciding will click to see the list of scheduling software Capterra recommends. When they land on the linked Capterra page, they’ll see this:
That’s the annual shortlist for buyers to see a snapshot of the best-fit software.
Instead of looking through a list of 700+ products to determine the best fit, Capterra made it easy for prospects to sort these products into three categories: established players, emerging favorites, and noteworthy products.
Calendly is on this list as an emerging favorite.
Seeing this rating, a prospect who saw Calendly on the SERP might click out of curiosity to investigate further:
The scheduling software has a 4.7/5.0 overall user rating, with the customer service ranking above 4.0.
The impressive ratings and trust badges can be the social proof a prospect needs to make their final decision to choose Calendly, especially if it best meets their needs.
This webpage is an excellent addition to Calendly’s BOFU content mix that can turn prospects into trial users, and trial users into paying customers.
The secret to standing out, attracting great reviews, and earning badges on Capterra, as we mentioned already, is to solve customer problems with a team that consistently shows up to support all the way to success.
If you want to learn more about best practices for creating comparison pages that outrank Capterra in the SERPs, you can read this article in which I break it down.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Capterra generates almost $4M in traffic value as the Yelp for B2B.
- The platform ranks #1 for hundreds of BOFU pages for 800+ software categories.
- Capterra is so powerful that ignoring them or treating them as a hostile content competitor is a huge mistake.
- SaaS companies can beat Capterra in the SERPs by making Capterra an ally or creating their own comparison pages using industry-relevant long-tail keywords.
How to Be the Most Interesting Brand In Your Industry
Last week, Ross had a chat with Kipp and Kieran on Marketing Against the Grain, a HubSpot Original Podcast.
They shared insights about the value of intellectual property long-term, how it affects the livelihood of your business, and how to tell a great story about your brand.
If you haven’t listened to the episode already, you should check it out here.
One lesson I took away from this episode is that a great product neither markets nor sells itself. B2B companies need to spend time doing research, building and executing their go-to-market and marketing strategy, and learning from customers. With these in place, they can focus on building and shipping features that matter to their customers. That’s how they can make more sales, and the business becomes more profitable.
Also, stories are the lifeblood of every great success story.
The skill of storytelling will keep increasing in value, despite the other parts of marketing declining. Ross and the podcast hosts talked extensively about the documentary model.
The documentary model of storytelling works well for brands looking to stand out, if you can tell a good story and tap into culture. The secret is to find a good story that will resonate with people and build your brand around it.
Examples of successful executions of this model include The Queen’s Gambit, F1, Coachella, and The Last Dance.
The episode is packed with a lot of relevant insights for founders, marketers, and companies interested in succeeding long-term. You can listen to the full episode here while working out, cooking, drinking a cup of coffee, or doing anything else you love to do.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Last week, Ross had a chat with Kipp and Kieran on Marketing Against the Grain, a HubSpot Original Podcast (listen here).
- As a B2B company, you should spend time doing research, building and executing your go-to-market and marketing strategy, and learning from customers.
- The skill of storytelling will keep increasing in value, despite the other parts of marketing declining.
- You can listen to the full episode here.
OTHER NEWS OF THE WEEK:
- Using the upcoming Twitter edit feature to make changes to a tweet can leave a digital trail of your tweet’s history
- Zendesk is exploring a potential sale. The company brought Qatalyst Partners as its adviser, and Zendesk has started reaching out to software companies and private equity firms as potential buyers.
- Facebook may not be joining the podcast wars after all.
- Want to know all about Elon Musk’s plans to take over Twitter? Find out here.
BRAIN FOOD OF THE WEEK:
Boundaries are important for healthy relationships.
They define how people interact with you.
A proper boundary ensures people respect and treat you the right way.
A weak boundary, on the other hand, means people can treat you however they see fit, and they can get away with poor behavior.
That’s what happens when you either don’t set boundaries or you set them but neither communicate nor enforce them.
The same goes for work relationships.
It’s important to set, communicate, and establish boundaries from the get-go at work. That’s because the boundaries you define determine your productivity as well as the company’s successes, as it relates to your role in the organization. It will also determine the quality of your relationship with your direct reports and the rest of the team.
Most of all, proper boundaries prevent burnout. They keep you in check.
Even if you missed setting boundaries from the get-go, you can start now.
Here are six ways to set healthy boundaries and enjoy your time at work:
📍Don’t feel obligated to say yes to every request, especially when you are at full capacity. You can land in real trouble if you ignore your gut to please others.
📍 Use the primary boundary word “NO” when you know you can’t meet a request. You can also give helpful suggestions on how to get it done, if you can.
📍Clearly communicate your boundaries. People need to know you exist apart from them. You can be kind and assertive at the same time.
📍Ensure people are aware that their actions have consequences. If they knowingly disrespect you, call them out on it. It doesn’t make you mean. It teaches people how to interact with you respectfully.
📍Don’t indulge in overthinking. If you spend too much time overthinking a person’s words and actions, you’ll miss out on your productive hours. So, be open-minded.
📍If someone says something you feel is disrespectful, ask questions to clarify. Don’t assume and obsess about it. It could harm collaboration with that person and affect productivity.
📍Focus less on what you don’t have in comparison to what others do have. Instead of letting their achievements intimidate you, let them inspire you.
Setting boundaries and keeping them firmly in place will help you connect and collaborate better with other employees and get your best work done on time.
TWITTER THREAD OF THE WEEK:
10 YouTube channels that will teach you more than a $100,000 degree by Alex & Books
INTERESTING FINDS ACROSS THE INTERNET
- How Marketing and Advertising Is Shaping the Metaverse
- 8 Companies Salesforce Could Buy to Challenge Microsoft
- Your Team Is More Important Than Your Idea
- How 15 Agency Leaders ‘Surprise And Delight’ Prospects and Clients
IN CASE YOU MISSED SOME OF OUR GREATEST HITS:
- What is the most underrated marketing channel?
- Why Marketers Should Spend Less Time Studying Competitors’ Playbooks
- Want to Create More Content? Focus On Repurposing
- Top Three Metrics to Measure When Dealing With Content Analytics
WHAT WE’RE WIRED INTO THIS WEEK 🎧:
Foreign Affair by Tina Turner (Best Track: The Best)
These round-ups are brought to you by me, Jessica O., every week ✌!
