How to Build a SaaS Marketing Strategy with Founder-Led Content

Are you a small, niche SaaS startup with a limited budget, few customers, and no one actively searching for your product? Sounds painful! Don’t worry—I’m here to help you navigate these challenges with this week’s blog.

In this blog, we’ll dive into how you can use Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) to craft compelling messaging and leverage founder-led content to build awareness and trust.

Focus on Understanding the “Jobs” Your Customers Are Trying to Do

When your product exists in a niche category and customers aren’t actively seeking it, it’s crucial to understand what job your product helps them do. Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) is a framework that helps you get to the heart of your customer’s real needs and motivations.

If you’ve not heard of the JTBD framework, it was created by Clayton Christensen to help businesses understand the real problems customers are trying to solve when they “hire” a product or service. Rather than focusing on product features, JTBD focuses on the outcomes customers seek, providing deeper insights into why they make purchasing decisions.

The first step in marketing with a small budget is to define the job your product is hired to do. Here’s how you can do that:

• Talk to your existing customers: Ask them about the problems they were trying to solve when they found your product.
• Use the JTBD framework: Dig into the core reasons why customers are choosing your solution. Understand not just their functional needs, but emotional ones too.
• Refine your messaging: Make sure your messaging speaks directly to the job your product does for your customers, in clear and simple language.

Action Step: Start by surveying your customers and asking them why they chose your product. Try to tap into the emotional reasons, i.e. why they were frustrated with their existing process. Then put your messaging (website homepage, for example) into ChatGPT and ask it to rewrite it to connect on a more emotional level with your prospects, and give it the transcripts from the customer calls.

Leverage Your Founder’s Network and Content

Once your messaging is clear, the next step is leveraging your founder. Use the power of founder-led content to help create awareness and make content that stands out.

The founder will have a unique perspective, a story to tell, and authority to build on. Share the journey, struggles, and how your product solves problems. Whether through blog posts, LinkedIn articles, or podcasts, this content humanises your brand and makes it more relatable.

You could even go down the “build in public” route.

Patrick Campbell, founder of ProfitWell, successfully built in public by sharing detailed insights into his SaaS journey, including revenue, customer growth, and pricing strategies. His transparency not only helped establish trust within the SaaS community but also positioned ProfitWell as a leading resource for subscription-based businesses, driving MASSIVE engagement and growth.

Honest, founder-led content is a great way to build marketing momentum on a small budget. That would be my number one growth hack from scaling Rocket SaaS to its first £1,000,00 in revenue (a different toolkit is required to scale beyond that).

Here’s how to use it effectively:

• Write regularly on LinkedIn about the problems you’re both experiencing and solving.
• Start a low-budget podcast or webinar series that shares your learning process and features discussions with industry experts.
• Repurpose the above content into LinkedIn posts, blogs, newsletters and videos.
• Engage with your audience on LinkedIn with personal updates, not just sales pitches.

Action Step: Dedicate time every week to content creation. Don’t overcomplicate it – focus on your story and what your target audience will resonate with.

Boosting Thought Leader Content with Paid Ads

You can significantly increase the reach and impact of your thought leader content with paid ads. With a small budget, focus on targeting your ideal customer profile (ICP) with tailored ads featuring your founder’s insights and educational content.

Start by boosting posts that are already performing well organically, such as founder stories or educational articles. These ads should focus on providing value rather than making a hard sales pitch, which makes them more likely to resonate with your audience. By doing this, you’ll not only increase awareness but also build trust, making your eventual sales efforts far more effective.

If you want to dive deeper into building a demand generation strategy with limited resources, Rocket SaaS can help. We work with early-stage SaaS businesses to implement strategies that drive results on smaller budgets.

Book a free strategy call and let’s discuss how we can help you grow your SaaS business.

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By Ryan James

Founder of Rocket SaaS