What to look for when hiring a saas marketing agency?

Many B2B SaaS companies hire a marketing agency to help them sort out their pipeline and revenue. They believe that once they find the right agency, everything will go smoothly and they will soon be able to reliably scale tests and demos.

But the reality is not always that simple. In fact, one of the main points of failure for agencies and clients alike is the onboarding process.

We’ve found that the first 100 days of a client project are critical to the short-, medium-, and long-term success of the initiative.

This article cover the following aspects about ssas agency:

What some agencies and clients are doing wrong when launching a joint venture
Why the first 100 days of a relationship are critical
How our onboarding process ensures success
By the end of this article, you will have a good understanding of how to get the most out of your first 100 days with a SaaS marketing agency.
What mistakes agencies and clients make when starting a joint project
Relationships between agencies and clients can go awry for many reasons. However, most of them stem from ineffective communication and a lack of expectation setting.
In the near future, we’ll take a look at how to ensure effective communication and expectation setting, which will ultimately allow our clients’ businesses to grow more reliably.

But first, let’s look at some common mistakes SaaS marketing agencies and B2B SaaS companies make when starting a project together.

Wanting and promising results too quickly

Founders and CEOs of SaaS companies often switch agencies because they got burned by previous agency relationships.
Most clients who change agency are attracted to new predictable growth methodology, and they eagerly expect their SaaS to deliver big results right away.
This is an (understandable) mistake. SaaS marketing agencies often promise results in a very short time frame because they think clients will sign on the dotted line when it happens.

We often see clients expect results much sooner than is reasonable.

To illustrate the problem lets assume a senerio:

we ran pilot projects for customers. The goal of these projects was to get results quickly, while we focused on identifying broader strategic projects to run after the pilot phase.
While we had short-term results, over time our clients found that the results achieved during the short pilot project were diminishing. As expected, this led to customer distrust and we struggled with staff retention.
We abandoned this model a long time ago, but most SaaS marketing companies still follow a similar structure in their work. As a result, clients get frustrated when short-term successes are marginal and/or not achieved at all.
However, if you want faster results from your agency, you can help by establishing early engagement.
Is the requested information easily accessible (e.g., information about the target audience, the success of previous marketing campaigns, etc.)?
Are all stakeholders fully aware and engaged about the information the organization has to offer and their role in providing strategic advice to achieve the company’s goals?
Access to clean data (you need an accurate and optimized CRM).
Existing paid media campaigns and a well-functioning content marketing team.
Once we have this data, we can act faster, but it’s still an ongoing process, and while you may see quick wins when we get rid of low-hanging fruit, achieving long-term marketing success is a gradual process that doesn’t happen overnight.

For example, we’ll test different hypotheses, some of which will turn out to be true and some of which won’t. We’ll also confirm some initial expectations from sales calls.

So it can be a bit bumpy in the short term, but this process lays the foundation for long-term success.

Finally, if there are any major unforeseen issues (for example, something breaks unexpectedly, or something shared during the sales conversation is invalidated), we inform the customer immediately to reset expectations.

Failure in communicate and understanding the hirarchy of business

Every company we work with is unique. Even clients within the same market or industry are positioned quite differently, and the internal workings and market familiarity of each company is also different.
Clients often have a unique perspective on their business and the challenges they face, gained from years of experience and conversations with clients.
While we are experts in our craft and know how to deliver great value to our clients, no agency on earth can extrapolate the insights that their clients have taken years to gain.
This means that SaaS companies need to engage all the right people in their organization, bring that intimacy of the market to the project, and communicate with their agency as clearly and comprehensively as possible.
Agencies can take the guesswork out of what their clients are doing, but even when research is done, they often miss something that the client hasn’t clearly explained.
Your product has a plethora of features for managing an email channel in an ecommerce brand. Almost any agency would have listened to the list of features and then developed a marketing strategy to align those features with the client’s pain points.
However, as we asked more questions, we discovered that our client’s unique insight was that their customers really love them because they offer amazing services to support their tool, such as turnkey email design and lifecycle planning.

Poor communication between management or sales and the customer.

The last major weakness is what happens after the contract is signed and the scope of work is agreed upon.

Customers are afraid to buy and lose interest in anyone who knows what their strategic goals are.

Understandably, but most of the time, the client moves from a salesperson to a tactical team offering SEO or PPC services without knowing anything about sales.

This is a big mistake agencies make.

Why the initial 100 days of a relationship are important

We believe that the first 100 days of a customer’s relationship with a B2B SaaS marketing agency can make the difference in a project.
So far, we’ve taken a closer look at what marketing agencies are doing wrong with SaaS customers and what SaaS customers are missing when working with a new marketing agency.
But before we explain the process of building a successful client relationship, let’s dive deeper into why the first 100 days are important.
When an agency joins a client, it sets the tone for the entire relationship and often determines the success or failure of the collaboration.
If you start an engagement with a lot of momentum, you can almost always maintain that momentum for the remainder of the engagement period. However, if the engagement starts late, it becomes much more difficult to get back on track after the first 100 days and achieve faster results over the remainder of the period.

To illustrate this concept, we use different future models.

In the following chart, we see that SaaS companies that start with strong momentum typically scale and grow rapidly, while SaaS companies that are unprepared at the beginning of the engagement tend to drift away and end up with disappointing results over the life of the engagement.
While it is not impossible to change direction and move from drifting to scaling/hovering, if you start an engagement from the drifting path, you will most likely not fall into the hovering category.
SaaS companies that start from the drifting path will be disappointed and end up asking, “Did I do the right thing by hiring this agency?” They will ask. They will ask.

In many cases, it is the agency’s fault and the agency is likely to fail:

Provide a clear plan for the first 100 days.
Inform the client in advance of the data and materials needed for success.
Set realistic expectations of achievable results.

The danger here is twofold:

On the one hand, agencies that do not conduct an effective onboarding process will lose clients in about 100 days. On the other hand, clients (especially marketers at SaaS companies) risk reputational damage because they invest 100 days’ worth of budget and get little to no results.

Let’s see how we help SaaS companies avoid these avoidable and costly mistakes.

How we structured our integration process to ensure the success of the first 100 days.

We’ve created and published a lot of content that explains our approach to specific marketing strategies and how we do things differently than other SaaS marketers. Here are some examples of this content

This means that by the time a client asks us to develop a SaaS, they are already familiar with our methodology and know how we get results.

Contract between client and implementation team

Below is a brief overview of what the contracting process with Ioratech looks like and how we help our clients succeed in the first 100 days of working with us.

1.1 Introducing our consultancy team

The on-boarding process starts with a “handover” from the sales team to our consultants.
While many agencies hand over clients to account managers, at Ioratech we maintain a relatively flat organisational structure and prefer to recruit expert consultants rather than operational and account management staff.
This means that the people who work with the client and directly with you are the expert consultants who are responsible for the work required to achieve your goal.
By definition, we do not have account managers. We believe that you don’t need someone to hold your hand or stand between your team and the experts who actually drive the strategy and its execution. Instead, we deliver more valuable communication and results by connecting you directly to the senior consultants who set the strategy and do the work.

1.2 Sharing recorded sales calls

We record all conversations with our customers. This means that our consultants, who do the day-to-day work, can see and learn everything the customer has told the sales team.

This is very unusual: most agencies do not share recorded sales conversations before starting a project. But because we do, we make sure that internal and external expectations are aligned from day one of a new project.

1.3 Preparing a one-page strategic overview

Next, we will prepare a one-page strategic summary, which will serve as a key source of information for all members of our team and the client’s team. It explains the objectives, the projects and the key drivers that will be used to make the collaboration successful.

Although our report contains essential information on the objectives, purpose and proposed strategy, it is deliberately kept short as long strategy documents are often overwhelming for the client.

If the client does not read or fully understand the plan, it is easy for expectations to become confused and the relationship becomes fruitless.

1.4 Kick-off call

Although most agencies use the client meeting for this purpose, the “kick-off” calls for the client meeting include a summary of the schedule for the next quarter.

This is because although it is nice to see friendly faces – we are too biased towards action.

1.5 Establishing communication and project management in Basecamp

prefer to work from Basecamp rather than other tools like Slack or email. Using Basecamp means our team can focus on doing great work for customers rather than responding in real time, where the tools that support this can mistakenly be overly focused on quick action rather than value.
But also: having our Basecamp clients with us greatly increases the transparency of the relationship and facilitates collaboration between client and agency.
During the first 30 days of the assignment, we will focus on better understanding the context of your business and customers.
We’ll also review your pipelines and analytics, identify and implement cost-effective, quick-win solutions and lay the foundations for your growth strategy.

Here are some of the specific things we typically do in the first 30 days:

Check out our pre-checklist – make sure we know: “What are the key indicators?” and “Do we have access to your CRM?
Internal synchronisation – make sure everyone in the team knows what they are doing and what they should be delivering to the client.
Our management team communicates with clients to ensure that they are delivering outputs (e.g. actions such as access to tools and accounts) in the way that we require.
This phase also includes joint workshops such as the ‘SaaS Positioning Canvas’ – clear and concise positioning is vital to the overall success of any SaaS marketing programme.
Develop your marketing operations by providing access to data, ensuring that it is clean and that you can link marketing results to revenue and business results (for example, can we link the revenue generated by closed/successful marketing campaigns to the marketing work we do?

Research, forecast and plan to establish a conservative, realistic and extended forecast range. This provides a much more practical evaluation because it is data-driven and takes into account several variables rather than a single number. In addition, customers don’t know whether a single number is a conservative, realistic or optimistic estimate, which can have a big impact on customer expectations.
Based on our extensive experience in B2B SaaS marketing, we have created a “hypothesis register” that allows us to develop hypothesis-driven strategies that have a highly reliable probability of success of over 80%. We test constantly and learn quickly to get the best results.
Also, while KPIs don’t typically rise and fall until the end of the first 60 days (because the work is so intense and just beginning), we start running account diagnostics, such as PPC and SEO audits, within the first few weeks.

Here, in particular, are the kinds of communications you can expect from us in the first 30 days:

Status updates (what’s done, what’s next, first insights/achievements) with a video of no more than 5 minutes or reading.

Feedback requests – we often ask our clients, “On a scale of 1-10, where are we now in terms of your sense of progress toward your goal?” so we know exactly if we are on the right or wrong track from the client’s perspective.

Touchpoints with the Ioratech leadership team at the leap level

Through ongoing progress reporting and relationship building with the client, the long-term action plan we present at the end of those 30 days usually doesn’t need much change, which helps us get started on the right track and get the most out of the first 100 days of work.

Testing and training – days 30-60

We do not usually make any changes until about the fourth week of work, so we do not advise our customers to expect significant changes in performance immediately.
After the first 30 days, comes the next phase of the work: performing small measurement tests as part of our growth strategy. However, these are not random tests.
We make weighted bets based on the hypothesis log data and track each test we run to replicate proven campaigns and avoid repeating mistakes.
During this time, all relevant teams (Demand Generation, SEO, and Paid Media) will start working on their roadmaps.
For example, SEO will start working on early wins according to the SEO roadmap, which includes activities such as
Deindexing blog posts that are not relevant to the search intent and topic.
Adding internal links to features and benefits pages in relevant blog posts.
Creating a competitor comparison page.
Adding depth to your features and benefits page.
Translating the battle cards into blog content.
The goal of this phase is to test your hypothesis about how to increase demand from SaaS customers. Between weeks 5 and 12, you’ll often adjust and retest your strategy based on data.
In fact, it’s not uncommon for performance to fluctuate significantly during this time – this is because the platform’s algorithms need to complete a learning period, and sometimes, after testing, we learn that our assumptions in the sales conversation may be wrong.
It is not uncommon for performance to vary significantly during this period, as the platform algorithms need to complete their learning curve and sometimes assumptions made in a sales pitch turn out to be unrealistic after testing.
Therefore, it is natural that your performance and progress will be normal during this phase, but it is a phase that you will have to go through in the long run.
However, this phase will not take long and we will share with you what we have learned along the way.
Once you’ve figured out what works, the next step is for your clients to start seeing promising results. However, these results are just the tip of the iceberg.
Every SaaS company is unique, so once we fully understand what works, we’ll adjust our strategy.

. Acceleration – 60+ days

In weeks 5 through 12, it’s normal for customers to experience some nervousness about the assignment, as they may have learned something in the first 60 days that they didn’t before, or their expectations may have changed from what they thought when they started working together.

This is normal.

when you took a new project and build skill set.

The first few days are exciting and full of possibilities, but after a few weeks, you start to think, “This is harder than I thought it would be,” or “Why isn’t this working out?”

Almost every customer has felt this way at one point or another.

But after the first few weeks, you’ll get into a rhythm and see more and more bright spots.

It’s perfectly normal to feel a little anxious at this point.

The good news is that at the end of the discovery and testing phase, you have a clear picture of what’s working, so you can build on what’s working to give your SaaS customers consistent growth for 60 days or longer.

Customers usually see a significant increase in demand at this point thanks to your search engine optimization, paid media, and demand generation efforts.

We then optimize the account to further boost growth.

Preparing for the first year

In the first year of working with Ioratech, the path to predictable growth and ROI will take you through three important steps:

Strategy: This is the first 100 days discussed in this post. We focus on planning your strategy and prioritizing high-impact, low-effort quick wins.

Validation: In months 3-6 we validate the strategy developed in the first 100 days. This is the point where performance increases, but not always linearly. As you test and validate your hypotheses, you will see gradual improvements in performance and ROI.

Return on Investment (ROI): In the second half of the first year, ROI begins to increase and predictable growth sets in.

Each quarter we work on strategy, implementation and feedback on results to make sure the work is on track to achieve your goals.

strategy

Every 90 days, we update the forecast and strategy roadmap based on the results of previous campaigns and tests recorded in the hypothesis log.

implementation

After we analyze and refine the strategy, we implement our proven scenarios for each channel you use. To give you an example, here are just a few of our content marketing and SEO guides:
How to create converting content for B2B SaaS with pain points
How B2B SaaS companies can use a hub-and-spoke content strategy.
How to create converting blogs for B2B SaaS

Results and reporting

For most of our clients, we provide monthly and quarterly reports.

Monthly reports show how we’re progressing towards your goals and demonstrate that we’re not just reacting to short-term events, but moving towards the overall goal of getting more customers and increasing sales.

Each monthly report includes, among other things, the following:

Insight: what’s working, what’s not working and what have we achieved?

Importance and impact: Why is it important to the KPI? Why is it important?

Insights: Where do we need to collaborate for next steps?

Many startup owners and B2B marketers are turning to SaaS marketing agencies to help them grow their businesses. After all, creating and sustaining growth and profitability for your business isn’t easy and it’s not a one-way street. There are several factors to consider.

First of all, you should always be customer-centric. You need to be constantly thinking about how to generate leads for your business and improve your online lead generation process. Next, you need to convert those leads into potential customers, which in turn need to be converted into profitable customers. Finally, you need to turn those paying customers into supporters.

But that’s not all!

As the head of a B2B company, you also need to focus on the marketing aspect of your business. However, the task of promoting your business as cost-effectively and successfully as possible can be overwhelming.

So where do you start? Which points should you focus on? How do you implement all types of marketing strategies?

Perhaps the right solution for you is to hire a good SaaS marketing agency to help you. By hiring a SaaS marketing agency for your business, you get expert knowledge that will help you run your business.

1 – SEO agency for SaaS

When hiring a good SEO agency for SaaS for your business, there are some essential things you need to pay attention to.
Take a look at the SEO agency’s past performance. Has the agency achieved good results in the past?
Are the results similar to what you once wanted for your Saas business Model? Are their clients similar to your target audience? If the answers to these questions are positive, then you’re probably on the right track.
Check out case studies, customer testimonials and online reviews. The most reliable way to find a good SEO agency is to look at reviews from previous clients. They will always tell the truth. You can also ask the SEO agency to send you a few case studies. If the agency has achieved remarkable results in the past, it will be happy to share those results with you.
Ask former or current clients about their experiences. Contact some of the agency’s clients to find out what their experience with the company was like. If the SEO agency you are considering is sincere, they will have no problem putting you in touch with some of their clients.
After making all these considerations, you should be able to decide whether an SEO agency is suitable for your software startup as a service.

However, there are some mistakes to avoid when choosing an SEO agency.

Don’t use Google as a filter. It may seem obvious to use Google to search for the best SEO agency in your area. Just type in “best SEO agency + your area” and the best agency should be at the top of Google’s search page, right?
Because if they know how to do SEO, they will rank high. You might think exactly that, but that’s not the case.
Great SEO agencies don’t need to spend time optimizing their SEO to acquire new clients. They are already busy with their large client base. Moreover, existing clients will recommend the company to new clients, making the SEO agency work for them.