Who says you need a ton of cash to get noticed? You can attract ideal customers, become an industry expert, and build your brand – all on a budget! If that sounds too good to be true, you’re wrong. Building a content engine for your B2B SaaS is possible, even with limited resources

The Struggle is Real: Why Content Creation is Essential (but Feels Impossible) for Early-Stage B2B SaaS Founders

Content marketing is the backbone of any successful B2B SaaS marketing strategy. It’s how you show that your product works and why you’re the best. At the same time it contributes to building trust. A strong content engine can benefit your B2B SaaS company through:

• Lead Generation: High-quality content works like a magnet. It draws potential customers to your website and converts them into leads. But that content needs to address their pain points and have strategically placed calls-to-action.
• Brand Awareness: Consistently publishing content can establish your brand as a thought leader. But it only works if you value the quality of your content over the quantity.
• Thought Leadership: Prove you understand your audience’s problems. Show how your product solves them. Just make sure your content is informative and insightful.

Building Your Content Engine: Strategies for Resourceful Founders

Here are the five golden rules for creating a high-performing content engine.

Focus on High-Impact Content

Identify your target audience and their pain points. Then find out where they hang out on line. Doing this will help you to create the right content in the right format. Just remember to prioritize quality over quantity. It’s better to consistently create one main piece of content weekly than a couple of pieces sporadically.

Embrace Content Repurposing

Content creation takes time and effort. But early-stage B2B SaaS founders can be strategic wizards by leveraging the power of repurposing. Turn your blog post into bite-sized social media content! Share the main points and interesting statistics in different formats for each platform.

Leverage Free and Affordable Resources

Don’t spend a fortune on creating and managing your social media content! There are tons of free and affordable options out there. AI tools can help you write, edit, and schedule your posts. There are design tools and stock photos that can keep your visuals looking sharp.

Collaborate on Content

Team up with industry experts to create content that shines, even with limited resources. Here are four types of content that you can produce:

Co-authored Blog Posts: Share the workload and expertise on a mutually beneficial topic.

Expert Interviews: Convert insightful conversations into blog posts or social media content.

Joint Webinars: Split the planning and reach a wider audience with co-branded webinars.

Live Influencer Q&A: Host live sessions with industry experts on social media platforms.

You’ll get the most out of your collaboration by promoting the expert and their work. Cross-promoting content on your respective platforms requires little effort on your part. Take it a step further by repurposing takeaways into social media posts, infographics, and email newsletters.

Unleash the Power of User-Generated Content

Don’t underestimate the power of your users! Encourage customer testimonials by offering incentives like discounts or social media shoutouts. Team up with happy customers to share their wins in industry blogs. This builds trust with potential customers who are considering your product.

Spark social media engagement with contests, polls, and questions. Remember the “#IceBucketChallenge”? User-generated content campaigns like that can go viral and propel your brand to new heights!

From Strategy to Action: Your Content Engine Launch Plan

Turning strategy into action is all about execution. Here’s a few things to keep in mind when doing so.

The Importance of User Research

Focus on who you’re selling to before you start creating content. The way I see it, creating great content is like building a product. You need to understand who you’re making it for and what they need.

Here’s why user research is so important:

• Content that Resonates: When you know what problems they face, you can create the content that solves them. That’s the type of content that attracts qualified leads and positions you as a trusted resource.
• The Right Format, Right Platform: User research helps you identify the content formats your audience prefers. Those are things like blog posts, videos or other types of content. That research will also reveal where they tend to hang out online. This allows you to deliver your message in the right format, at the right place, for maximum impact.
• Avoiding Content Wasteland: Skip the guesswork! User research helps you create content people actually want, saving you time and effort.

There are several user research methods that don’t require a hefty budget:

• Surveys: Use them to learn more about your audience — who they are, what they like, and what problems they face. Many tools offer free plans that are fine for doing basic surveys. Google Forms and SurveyMonkey are two that come to mind.
• Social Media Analysis: Many social media platforms offer built-in analytics tools. Use them to understand your audience’s online behavior, the type of content they engage with, and trending industry topics.
• Customer Interviews: Reach out to existing customers and conduct short, focused interviews. Ask them about their experience with your product. Some of the things you’ll want to know are their biggest pain points and the type of content they find valuable. Large language models like ChatGPT and Gemini can help with this too. They’re no substitute for real conversations but are useful in the early days when data is scarce.

Talk to your audience, for free! Learn what they want and create killer content for your B2B SaaS company.

Develop a Content Calendar

Content calendars are immensely helpful and you’ll get lots of benefit out of even the simplest one.

• Planning Powerhouse: A content calendar allows you to map out your content strategy in advance. This ensures you cover a variety of topics relevant to your target audience and address industry trends throughout the year.
• Consistency is Key: By planning content ahead of time, you can establish a consistent publishing schedule. This keeps your audience engaged and coming back for more, ultimately fostering brand loyalty.
• Goodbye Content Chaos: Content calendars eliminate the last-minute scramble for ideas. They handle deadlines, tasks, and writing stages (drafts, edits, publish). Staying on top of these tasks keeps things running smoothly and prevents last-minute scrambles.

Here’s a basic framework to get you started building your content calendar:

1. Content Pillars: Identify the core topics that align with your B2B SaaS product or service and your target audience’s needs. These content pillars are the big pieces of content that form the foundation of your content strategy. Aim for one per week.
2. Content Formats: Choose ones that resonate best with your audience. Your long form content, the pillar, will typically be a blog post. Repurpose that into shorter pieces to share among one or more social media platforms.
3. Content Schedule: Plot your content across a calendar, ensuring a mix of formats and topics throughout the week or month. Consider factors like industry events or product updates when scheduling your content.
4. Assign Tasks and Deadlines: Even if you’re working by yourself. Doing this sets realistic deadlines for completion.

Remember, your content calendar is a living document. Learn to adapt based on content performance. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different formats and publishing frequencies. That’s how you’ll discover what works best.

Metrics and Measurement

To ensure your B2B SaaS content engine is firing on all cylinders, you need to track its performance. That’s how you’ll discover what works, fix what doesn’t, and make your content amazing!

Tracking content performance enables you to make data-driven decisions. By tracking what works well, you can use that info to make it even more popular and engaging!

Track website visits, leads generated, social media engagement, and content use. There are a lot of free tools that can help including Google Analytics and the built-in analytics of different social media platforms.

Don’t get overwhelmed by the number of metrics. Choose a few key metrics that align with your overall content marketing goals and track them consistently.

Here’s the TLDR

• Know Your Audience: Discover their pain points and how they consume information. Then tailor your content to resonate with them.
• Focus on Quality, Not Quantity: Prioritize high-quality and insightful content. It doesn’t have to be perfect but it needs to offer something different.
• Embrace Repurposing: Stretch your content further by transforming blog posts into other formats. Social media snippets, infographics, and videos are some of the ones to consider.
• Collaboration is Key: Partner with industry experts for co-authored blog posts, joint webinars, or live Q&A sessions.
• Unleash User-Generated Content: Encourage customer testimonials and social media engagement. They’re great ways of amplifying your reach.
• Plan with a Content Calendar: Mapping out your content strategy ensures consistent publishing. It also avoids last-minute scrambles.
• Track and Analyze: Measure your content’s performance to identify what resonates best. Use that data to continuously improve your strategy.

Remember, building a successful content engine takes time and effort, but the rewards are substantial. Even on a shoestring budget, you can turn your B2B SaaS company into a content king with hard work and these easy-to-follow tips! So, don’t wait. Start building your content engine today and watch your brand take flight!