The buyer journey is nothing more than a series of questions that must be answered.

IDC

Let’s address the uncomfortable truth.

Humans are creatures of habit and routine. We hate to change!

Your SaaS business has developed a fantastic alternative to spreadsheet programs like Microsoft Excel and Google Spreadsheets.

You believe it has boundless potential to unlock users’ productivity.

But how can you convince your target audience to ditch the old ways and switch to the new ones?

While doing content marketing for your SaaS product, you want to attract people who understand the pain point of using spreadsheet programs. Ideally, they are looking for tailor-made solutions to cumbersome problems, or they may want to switch from an existing SaaS solution.

At Concurate, we are firm believers in following a different strategy centred around pain points and high buying intent.

One of the benefits of pain-point-driven content marketing is you create the kind of content pieces and target keywords that better match the buyer’s intent as they pass through the buyer’s funnel. Therefore, pain-point-driven content marketing is an excellent approach to getting more users for your SaaS through affordable content marketing.

Previously, we discussed 20 SaaS products replacing Microsoft Excel or Google Spreadsheets to benefit their target audience.

We endorse the fact that spreadsheet programs are quite versatile.

However, organisations prefer to use solutions tailored to their business needs.

So how do businesses that sell such SaaS alternatives effectively market their products and increase their paid user base?

This piece will share five actionable content marketing ideas to get more users for SaaS products replacing spreadsheet programs.

Let’s explore!

Content Marketing Ideas to Get Users for SaaS Alternatives

To help you attract the right customers, consider taking cues from ideas outlined in the piece and get cracking.

#1 – How-To Guides

#2 – Forms and Templates

#3 – Product Comparison

#4 – Acknowledge Silent Pain-Points

#5 – Leverage Industry-Relevant Communities

Pro tip: If you need 30 standout SaaS growth hacks to attain double the growth for your SaaS business, fill out the form below!

#1 – How-To Guides

Suppose your SaaS product’s target audience is either unaware of your offering or still undecided about switching. Your business will likely possess a laundry list of fixes to help them solve problems using their existing spreadsheet software.

This knowledge can be beneficial in creating how-to guides and presenting your SaaS product as an enticing alternative. For example, HubSpot has several content pieces for prospects using Microsoft Excel and other spreadsheet software to track sales activities. 

HubSpot’s free guides and templates help attract and nurture prospects not yet ready for a dedicated CRM software solution.

#2 – Forms and Templates

Across industries and work responsibilities, people look for downloadable resources such as forms, templates, checklists, and guides. Essentially, people want to get more work done without friction.

Consider providing similar resources to your target audience to solve their business problems better. These resources act as lead magnets and help your business attract qualified leads. In addition, the captured leads will be highly relevant to your business since they have provided strong signals in attempting to solve a specific problem.

Previously, we helped our client, Triangle IP, publish a free invention disclosure form (IDF) as a downloadable MS Word/Excel template. This resource helped prospects avoid a sticky pain point – filling and processing lengthy, complex invention disclosure forms.

This template justified its publication, allowing Triangle IP to double the number of leads in 16 months.

#3 – Product Comparison

SaaS businesses can utilise product comparison blog pieces to showcase the advantages of using their SaaS application versus traditional spreadsheet software like Microsoft Excel and Google Spreadsheets.

The intent is not to showcase competition in a bad light. Rather, such content can help educate the target audience to switch to alternatives that can improve their business’s productivity, profitability, and growth prospects without encountering friction.

Our client, ScanWriter, a technology solution to help federal agencies like the United States Department of Justice carry out financial fraud investigation cases, published a similar blog piece. They showcased how their SaaS application can detect fraud with the click of a button without using cumbersome Microsoft Excel formulas.

#4 – Acknowledge Silent Pain-Points

We acknowledged this earlier; spreadsheet software is quite versatile.

However, it is crucial to understand that users should refrain from being dependent on them for everything. By counterproductively sticking to one solution, users can assemble an ill-assorted collection of parts to fulfil a particular purpose.

Your enterprise’s in-depth understanding of solving such pain points can be vital. Furthermore, by sharing such actual, relatable pain points, your content piece can establish a strong connection with the readers.

We helped our client, Triangle IP, to publish such content. For example, an article shared 7 reasons why managing intellectual property assets on Excel Spreadsheet is a bad idea.

The content piece acknowledged the target audience’s approach to bypassing a common pain point. Next, it highlighted how their improvised solutions put them at risk of losses. Finally, the article explained how they could better solve their pain point.

Moreover, consider sharing your client’s “internal chatter” – everyday business conversations within their company – which capture why they chose your SaaS product. It can tangibly increase the content piece’s relatability and help maximise conversions.

#5 – Leverage Industry-Relevant Communities

Acclaimed author, speaker, and marketer Andrew Davis rightly said, “Content builds relationships. Relationships are built on trust. Trust drives revenue.”

So how will your SaaS business create valuable content that establishes trust in your target audience? A neat way to achieve this is to distribute original, research-backed content in your industry’s popular hotspots.

Did your SaaS business uncover valuable findings that can help your audience swiftly/economically/efficiently achieve their goals? Creating and publishing these findings in a report or whitepaper is one promising approach.

The next step is discovering where your audience stays updated on the industry’s latest happenings and connects with colleagues.

Here is how one of our clients utilised this approach. ScanWriter, a SaaS solution used by the US federal government’s fraud investigators, published its free whitepaper on the industry’s leading publication.

Parting Thoughts

We hope these five content marketing ideas help increase your SaaS product’s user base. These ideas can help your business better showcase why prospective clients should consider switching to your SaaS product from spreadsheet programs like Microsoft Excel and Google Spreadsheets.

Finally, look at these two informative posts from our colleague, Nitesh.

Comparing your SaaS product against alternatives can bring you better and faster visibility (only when done correctly).

Next, being specific with your target keywords can increase your business’s chances of driving results from SEO.

About Us

We are a content marketing agency that brings business, not just website traffic. We curate well-researched and engaging content as per your company’s expectations and ethos because we believe in the power of meaningful information.

Let’s connect over a short call if you want to elevate your SaaS business’s content marketing. Block our calendar today!

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