EP65: How to pick the right marketing channels for your SaaS

In this episode of In Demand, Asia and Kim dive into one of the most misunderstood topics in SaaS growth: how to choose the right marketing channels for your company.

This is part one of a two-part series on SaaS marketing channels. In this episode, they focus on the strategy behind channel selection, including customer behavior, levels of awareness, ARPU, and how different markets discover products in completely different ways.

They unpack why there is no universal “best” marketing strategy, how founders fall into silver bullet thinking, and why the companies that succeed either get very lucky or build strong strategic processes for understanding their market.

This episode is a deep dive on how to think strategically about SaaS marketing instead of blindly copying tactics that worked for someone else.

Got a question you’d like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here.

Links:

• DemandMaven
• Subscribe to The Work by DemandMaven on Substack
• Competing Against Luck by Clayton Christensen

Chapters

• (00:04:30) - Why silver bullet thinking doesn't work when it comes to marketing.
• (00:07:30) - The difference between luck and strategic process in SaaS growth.
• (00:10:38) - How to think about picking the best marketing channels for your business.
• (00:13:00) - How to identify the channels your audience actually uses.
• (00:17:30) - Coffee roasting software as an example of how customers actually discover products.
• (00:24:00) - Getting creative about the channels that you invest in.
• (00:25:15) - Manufacturing software example: uncovering hidden channel opportunities through observation.
• (00:32:30) - Why average revenue per user and budget matter for choosing the right marketing channels.
• (00:42:15) - Eugene Schwartz’s five levels of awareness and how this informs the campaigns you choose for your channels.
• (00:54:00) - Why simply “running ads” usually fails for early stage SaaS companies.
• (01:03:30) - Recapping the questions founders should use to choose marketing channels strategically.