SaaS Content Marketing: How to Maximize ROIs

It’s not as simple answer as one might think. 

Fine-tuning your SaaS content marketing strategy is necessary to ensure you get the results you need to offset your time and financial investments. This can be tricky when trying to measure the ROI of authority, impression, and “gut feeling.” 

You just need to know where to look and how to tweak your strategy for optimum results. 

This post explores advanced strategies to maximize ROI through effective content marketing, ensuring your SaaS business achieves sustained growth and success and maximizes your content to its full potential.  

What is the ROI of SaaS content marketing? 

It’s not as simple answer as one might think. 

Fine-tuning your SaaS content marketing strategy is necessary to ensure you get the results you need to offset your time and financial investments. This can be tricky when trying to measure the ROI of authority, impression, and “gut feeling.” 

You just need to know where to look and how to tweak your strategy for optimum results. 

This post explores advanced strategies to maximize ROI through effective content marketing, ensuring your SaaS business achieves sustained growth and success and maximizes your content to its full potential.  

What is the ROI of SaaS content marketing? 

Let’s jump in!

We know that ROI quantifies the financial return generated from content marketing relative to the investment (of time and money) you made. 

It’s a good assessment of your strategy effectiveness in terms of brand awareness, lead generation, customer engagement, and conversion rate, and points to areas where you should allocate your marketing budget — and where you shouldn’t. 

However, content marketing is far more than lead generation and conversion rates. It builds brand authority and establishes you as an expert in your niche. 

But that ROI can be hard to measure, making it a vital benefit that is so often ignored.

How to Measure the ROI of Brand Authority from Content Marketing

Here’s the thing: Your content may not receive immediate or high levels of engagement (such as likes, shares, or comments), but that doesn’t mean that it is not contributing to building long-term brand authority. 

This makes it challenging to measure such content’s true impact and ROI, as traditional engagement metrics do not fully capture its value.

So, what can you do? 

To truly gauge the authority-building impact of your content — even if it lacks direct engagement — you should focus on indirect metrics and long-term indicators instead. 

These include:  

1. Backlink analysis. Using tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush, look for content that attracts backlinks from reputable websites. This is a strong indicator of authority and trustworthiness.
2. Brand mentions. Content that gets mentioned in industry discussions, forums, and social media builds authority, even if it doesn’t receive direct engagement on your own platforms. Brandwatch or Mention are good tools to track brand mentions and sentiment across the internet. 
3. Search engine rankings. Having content with high-ranking authority can improve your website’s search engine rankings, even if it doesn’t get immediate engagement. This means you should track keyword rankings over time using search engine optimization tools like Moz or Google Search Console.
4. Domain authority. When you consistently produce high-quality, authoritative content for your brand, you improve your domain authority, a key metric for overall online presence. You should keep a close eye on your rankings with tools like Moz or Ahrefs to coordinate changes in your ranking with content projects. 
5. Subjective perceptions. Brand authority is influenced by subjective customer perceptions, which are hard to measure and standardize. However, by conducting regular surveys and focus groups, you can gather direct feedback on brand perception and trust from your target audience.

What about the content marketing metrics you can measure? 

Key Metrics to Track for SaaS Content Marketing Success 

• Traffic 
• Conversion rates (such as signing up for a free trial or downloading a resource) 
• CAC (customer acquisition cost) 
• Engagement metrics (such as likes, shares, comments, and time spent on page) 
• Lead generations (such as email sign-ups or form completions) 
• Customer retention rate (of things like user guides and webinars) 
• Churn rate (which is affected by onboarding and educational content) 
• SEO performance 
• Content performance metrics per blog post 

In today’s content-centric market, you need the right tools to help you not only manage your content, but optimize them so they help you boost ROIs. Here are the current top three: 

1. Generative AI (Chat GPT for Content Creation) 

Coming from a content writer and manager, this may sound controversial, but I am excited about the latest technological advances — especially generative AI. 

But bear with me here. 

It’s not all Skynet coming to take my business. It’s tools that can actually help me better serve my clients. 

And for you? 

From a brand’s point of view, yes, AI tools like ChatGPT have the potential to disrupt search engine optimization and traffic in content marketing by automating content creation. 

This may lead to an oversaturation of generic content. AI tools can also severely damage a brand’s voice and authority when used as a complete replacement for content creation agencies and teams. 

But it doesn’t have to be. 

When used correctly, this technology can help you streamline your content management and creation without losing your brand’s, writers’, and social managers’ human voices. It can also help you keep updated with emerging content marketing strategy trends. 

However, jumping on the bandwagon without a plan will do far more harm than good to your content marketing ROIs. 

And, as AI-generated content becomes more prevalent, search engines will likely adapt their algorithms to better differentiate between human-created and AI-generated content, impacting how content is ranked and discovered.

So, what to do instead? 

First, produce high-quality, human-created content, and then use AI to summarize, segment, drill down, and repurpose. 

You also want to ensure that the person engineering your content is an experienced content creator and manager — after all, they have the knowledge needed to make the right calls. 

2. Predictive Analytics for Content Marketing 

Another way AI and machine learning boost content marketing results is with predictive analytics. By using AI to predict customer behavior based on past interactions, you can better tailor future content and marketing strategies. 

Let’s say you’re an eCommerce SaaS brand specializing in inventory optimization. You could use predictive analytics to analyze customer data and identify content topics that resonate most with your audience. 

In theory, this would enable you to predict trends like, say, automated inventory solutions, and create a series of detailed guides and case studies on how to integrate this technology into your customers’ stores — and your software. 

To implement predictive analytics in your content marketing management, you will need tools like HubSpot or Marketo Engage. 

3. Advanced Attribution Modeling for Content Marketing 

An essential part of tracking ROI is ensuring you are using advanced attribution modeling. 

You can allocate your resources more effectively by understanding the impact of different marketing channels — such as social media marketing, email marketing, or search-generated traffic — on customer journeys.

There are three advanced techniques to ensure you can do this: 

1. Taking advantage of UTM (Urchin Tracking Module) codes to add a snippet of text at the end of every content URL so that you can better track the metrics and performance of a specific digital marketing campaign
2. Using the Google Analytics multi-touch attribution models that enable you to evaluate the performance of various touchpoints 
3. Measuring the incremental impact of your content marketing efforts to optimize spend while improving results 

What would the latter look like in practice? 

You’re a SaaS brand providing marketing automation tools for eCommerce platforms. You could assess the incremental impact of your content marketing by isolating specific initiatives and examining their direct contribution to customer acquisition and engagement. 

By implementing A/B testing on blog posts, video guides, and white papers, you can identify which content pieces yield the highest engagement and conversion rates. 

This information lets you fine-tune your content strategy, allocate your budget to the most impactful content, and enhance your overall marketing performance.

Now, let’s look at some advanced content marketing strategies that will help boost ROIs and set you apart from your closest competitors. 

Strategy #1: Ignore the Data — Mostly 

While leveraging data is critical for most SaaS marketing strategies, some brands have experimented with an unconventional approach: focusing purely on creativity and intuition instead of purely making data-driven decisions. 

Sounds crazy? 

Stay with me here! Here’s why and how ignoring data can sometimes lead to innovative outcomes:

1. Nurtures creativity and originality. Without the constraints — and pressure — of data, content creators can think outside the box and produce unique, original content that stands out in a saturated market. For instance, you may develop a quirky, engaging series of videos that highlight user experiences in a humorous way, which could resonate more deeply with audiences than standard data-backed content does.
2. Builds authentic connections. When it comes to authenticity, content isn’t driven by data. Think of all that uplift content — such as a behind-the-scenes story, team insights, a user/merchant success story, or a founder’s thoughts — that create a personal touch your data-driven strategies might overlook.
3. Adapts to rapid changes. Data can quickly become outdated in fast-evolving markets, so, instead, you want to rely on intuition and creativity for a more responsive content strategy. When a new social media platform rapidly gains popularity, for instance, you shouldn’t wait for data validation before experimenting — this enables you to capitalize on the trend and gain early adopter advantages.
4. Encourages risk-taking. The thing is, data often drives conservative decisions. Ignoring data can encourage bold, risk-taking content strategies that might yield unexpected but high rewards.
5. Emphasizing storytelling. It may surprise you, but in B2B content, storytelling can be more impactful than data-driven content. Instead, focusing on creating compelling narratives can engage audiences on an emotional level.

And the data (ha!) backs it up. According to a Content Marketing Institute study, 70% of B2B marketers consider storytelling to be more effective than purely data-driven content in engaging their audiences and building strong connections.​ 

The bottom line is this: By sometimes ignoring data and focusing on these creative strategies, SaaS brands can create memorable, impactful content that stands out and connects with their audiences on a deeper level. 

And in an age of so much content saturation, setting your brand apart is vital. 

For those of you who are used to being purely data-focused, start small. 

1. Decide which portion of your content creation projects will be purely creative projects without data constraints 
2. Then, encourage your team to brainstorm innovative ideas and test them out 
3. Monitor the performance of these projects and gather qualitative feedback to understand this approach and enhance all content marketing strategies 

Having said all that, data can also help your non-data approach. A good example is content personalization. 

B2B Content Marketing Trend: Hyper-Personalized Experiences

Businesses can now deliver more-tailored content experiences by leveraging data analytics and AI, enhancing customer engagement and satisfaction.

A good example is dynamic content that changes based on user behavior and preferences, such as personalized email campaigns and website experiences. 

To test dynamic content on your site, you want to first identify pages where personalization and adaptability would likely improve user experience and engagement significantly. 

Then, you will need the right tools, such as WordPress’s Elementor page builder or Adobe Experience Manager, that work with your graphic design team and/or tools to create dynamic, visually appealing content.

Strategy #2: Create High-Quality, Targeted Content

Now more than ever, your focus should be on quality, not quantity. This is largely due to two reasons: 

• The ever-increasing competition and saturation in the digital space 
• And consumers are becoming more discerning — expecting personalized, valuable content

This means that brands who deliver more-tailored, insightful information will stand out, build stronger relationships, and drive higher engagement and conversions.

Additionally, a solid foundation of high-quality content enables repurposing across various marketing and store channels. 

An example of this in action is eCommerce marketing tools experts StoreYa, who, with the help of my content marketing agency, added 300+ long-form, optimized, high-value articles to their eCommerce blog over the last two years. 

Posts that pack enough value to repurpose for TikToks, YouTube Shorts, emailers, posts, and more. 

To create high-quality content, you need to: 

• Understand your audience well and know their specific pain points and needs 
• Diversify your content types to include a wide variety of SaaS content, including blog posts, webinars, eBooks, case studies, and podcasts 
• Invest in quality content creators (heya!) 

Strategy #3: Optimize for SEO

Despite the rise of AI platforms, search engines are still the primary way users find information online. This means that optimizing for SEO should still be a B2B brand priority. 

Why? 

High search rankings ensure your content is discoverable by potential users, leading to increased organic traffic and reducing dependency on paid advertising. 

Additionally, SEO helps build credibility and trust with your audience, as potential customers tend to trust and click on higher-ranking pages in search results.

So, what are the top ways you can optimize for SEO? 

1. Conducting comprehensive keyword research to identify relevant, high-volume search terms
2. Creating high-quality, valuable content that addresses the needs and pain points of your target reader 
3. Optimizing your on-page elements such as meta tags, headings, and image alt texts 
4. Ensuring your website is mobile-friendly and has fast loading times 
5. Building a solid backlink profile through guest posting and partnerships with industry-relevant websites 
6. Staying ahead of and integrating new SEO trends, such as voice search and visual search optimization  

You can also improve SEO through “Time on Site” metrics. This can be done by creating in-depth blog posts, articles, case studies, interactive content (such as quizzes, downloadable comprehensive guides and eBooks), and blogs focused around embedded video guides. 

And the results of getting the content type just right?

According to Wyzowl, 82% of video marketers say video has helped increase visitors’ time on their websites. 

Meanwhile, Backlinko and uSERP report that long-form content and comprehensive guides generate 77% more backlinks than shorter articles do.​ Backlinks that help build authority, ranking, and organic traffic! 

Strategy #4: Leverage Social Media and Content Distribution

To increase the visibility and reach of your content, you need to leverage various social media and content distribution channels.

This enables you to use specific targeting to ensure your content reaches the right audience at the right time to get content engagement. 

Cross-channel posting also opens you up to more valuable analytics and feedback, which you can use to further optimize your content. 

And how exactly could this strategy work? 

For example’s sake, let’s assume you’re a B2B SaaS company specializing in cybersecurity. 

You could post detailed case studies and white papers across channels such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and industry-specific forums. You would use targeted ads to reach IT professionals and decision-makers in large enterprises.

By cross-posting and using platform-specific analytics, you can gather valuable insights on engagement and audience behavior, which you can use to fine-tune your content strategy.

Here are five steps to upgrade your social media and content distribution strategies and boost your B2B SaaS content marketing results. 

1. Research where your target audience is most active online and select the appropriate social media platforms and content distribution channels. For B2B brands, this often includes LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, and industry-specific forums or newsletters.
2. Review your content plan for each channel to make sure it answers your specific audience’s needs and pain points. This could include videos, eBooks, case studies, infographics, articles, email series, and more. (Here’s a quick guide on how to repurpose your content for video content!) 
3. Use a mix of organic posts and paid digital ads (such as Meta and Google Ads) to increase content reach. But be sure to target ads to specific audience segments based on demographics, job titles, and interests so that it’s reaching the right people. 
4. Actively engage with your audience by responding to comments, participating in discussions, and sharing relevant content. Building relationships and a community around your content can increase its impact and reach.
5. Use analytics tools provided by social media platforms and other content distribution channels to track the performance of your content. Look at metrics such as engagement, shares, and conversions to understand what works and what doesn’t, and continuously refine your strategy based on these insights.

Let’s look closer at a brand who has successfully put this strategy in motion.

B2B Content Case Study: HubSpot  

The leading CRM platform HubSpot wanted to increase their reach and engagement through social media. The goal was to drive more traffic to their website and generate qualified leads to improve its content marketing ROI. Here’s what they did: 

Not in the mood for video? Here’s a summary! 

Their Approach 

• Developed high-quality, targeted content tailored to the needs of their audience, including in-depth blog posts, white papers, and case studies
• Leveraged multiple social media platforms, including LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, to distribute their content, strategically targeting different segments of their target audience on each channel
• Engaged with their audience actively by responding to comments, participating in discussions, and sharing user-generated content 
• Invested in paid social media ads to boost the visibility of their most valuable content pieces and ensure they reached a broader audience
• Used analytics tools to track the performance of their content across different channels and then analyzed metrics, such as engagement rates, traffic, and lead generation, to refine their strategy to maximize ROI

And the results of their comprehensive social media and content distribution strategy? 

HubSpot saw a significant increase in website traffic and lead generation. Active engagement on LinkedIn and Twitter led to a 35% increase in qualified leads and a noticeable boost in their overall content marketing ROI.

Content production and consumption trends are evolving fast, and so must your content marketing strategy! 

It’s not enough to wait for digital landscape evolutions; you must try to predict them. 

This isn’t always possible, but regardless of what comes your way, you can be sure you are prepared to adapt quickly to any emerging trends and technologies — enabling you to reach your specific potential customer, on every channel they pivot to. 

This means taking every best practice, tactic, and tip from this post — from link building to content writing — and using them to improve your SaaS content marketing strategy. 

But your strategy should not be set in stone. 

As the digital landscape evolves, so does the realm of B2B content marketing. SaaS companies must adapt to emerging trends and technologies to stay competitive and maximize ROI. 

Here’s a sneak peek into what the future likely holds for B2B — that is, the biggest disruptors to your content marketing strategy you can expect in the coming year. 

• With increasing data privacy regulations, brands must adopt privacy-first strategies, ensuring compliance and building trust with their audience​.
• LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and, to some extent, TikTok short-form videos, will start to dominate content plans, while livestreaming will become a staple for SaaS product launches, webinars, and Q&A sessions.
• With advancements in AI, tools like ChatGPT will become even more integral to content creation, enabling businesses to produce high-quality, personalized content at scale​. However, it’s B2B brands who can harness this technology to stand out and be authentic who will come out on top. 
• There is a growing demand for more interactive content, such as polls, quizzes, assessments, collaborative eBooks, webinars, live demos, and interactive videos. 

Happy marketing! 

Have brand-specific content questions? Post them in the comments section below.