Software as a service (SaaS) is a business model that has grew in popularity that last couple years. Funnily enough, it is simultaneously one of the toughest to get off the ground (and market).

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Just think about it. Imagine trying to sell or market a product that has:

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• ZERO physical presence;

• An ever-changing cycle of development; and

• The average folk on the street has no basic understanding of.

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No need to say it—it's a demanding task.

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SaaS marketing is a completely different playing field than marketing any other product online. Good news is: there are effective marketing strategies you can apply right now to bring more customers to your SaaS—one of them is through video advertising.

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Of course, there are many social media platforms to choose from where you can run video ads onto but, there's one that has over 2 billion active users, and is the second biggest search engine right after Google: YouTube.

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We've already about written about why your SaaS needs to start advertising on YouTube. Many established companies like Monday and Grammarly are already leveraging YouTube for (very) obvious reasons. This makes perfect sense because advertising on YouTube is the same as putting your product in front of the entire world so, it's no surprise you're here too!

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Now, before we show you exactly how you can take your SaaS marketing to the next level, we need to establish one thing first:

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What Type Of SaaS Are You Running?

Here’s the thing: the marketing strategy you’ll end up picking to promote your SaaS through YouTube will largely depend on how much capital you have available to play around with.

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In other words, are you a venture-capital backed SaaS with very deep pockets, or a bootstrapped company with a tight budget?

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It’s crucial to come to terms with this fact because if your SaaS is running on a tight budget, it really wouldn’t make sense to apply a strategy that compromises your finances (too risky). Likewise, if you have plenty of capital at your disposal, you may have way more options to choose from—which is great… but it can often lead to confusion.

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Luckily, YouTube Ads can offer your SaaS a chance to market your service effectively regardless of your position. With its massive audience of over 2 billion active users around the globe, it offers you a platform where you can demonstrate and educate the value of your SaaS in a clear, visible and understandable way to the world. This is crucial since most people do not understand SaaS all that well.

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Now, YouTube Ads isn't particularly cheap—that's true. It may even end up costing you a bit to acquire a customer each time especially if you’re inexperienced and it's your first time trying out the platform. Therefore, it's critical to determine how much you have at your disposal to spend before deciding to give YouTube Ads a go.

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With that out of the way, here’s exactly how we would approach SaaS marketing with YouTube Ads based on each specific situation.

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#1 Scenario: Venture-Backed SaaS With Plenty Of Capital To Spare

Money is on your side—which ultimately means that you have more options to pivot from, and you can afford to play the long game with your marketing strategy.

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By far, the biggest benefit of being venture-backed is the fact that you don’t need to worry about short-term cashflow. You have the ability to spend as much money as you need to acquire a customer without having to breakeven for months.

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So if capital and immediate cash flow is your biggest advantage, why not utilize it? 

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The key here is to nail your advertising fundamentals on the money. Things like the hook, your offer/main benefits, social proof and CTA are all quintessential aspects of any Ad — and will really help you to scale up your SaaS to the moon.

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Great examples of two venture-backed companies that leveraged a long-term strategy for their SaaS are Monday.com and Grammarly. 

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Both of these companies are big players in their respective niches and if you plan to apply a similar long-term strategy for your SaaS… studying their approach will really boat well for you when its all said and done.

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We made a 2-part video series breaking down Grammarly’s Ad strategy from A to Z — so do give it a watch if you’re a venture-backed SaaS ready to make some damage.

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