One of the most perplexing challenges large software-as-a-service (SaaS) teams face is translating all that tech-speak into plain English for the businesses and individuals they want to sell their products to. An effective content calendar for SaaS products can break down the silos between the creatives and the techies, allowing them to collaborate on each topic in a single place.
As Michael Brenner pointed out, your SaaS brand’s bottom line depends on a content team that can unravel all the “mathematical code, complex processes, and…technical jargon” to show prospects how your SaaS product can solve the problems your customers face.
Simplicity is a must. But so is technical accuracy.
Hence, content collaboration is a critical ingredient for SaaS content marketing success.
Step 1: Choose a Content Calendar for SaaS That Makes Collaboration Easy
Larger SaaS companies need a single place for their content teams to jot down future topic ideas, discuss the digital nuts and bolts with the dev and design teams, and ensure that the content is accurate. That place is your content calendar.
The high volume of content that large SaaS teams must put out allows no time to email back and forth, or walk down two floors to speak with the dev team, or even for a Slack chat.
With a content calendar on which your teams can ideate and collaborate in real-time, everyone will (literally) be on the same page – even people not involved in the conversation who might be involved in the content production process later, such as the editor.
With file attachments, notes, and comments all in one place, you can easily search for what you need to know or refer to a previous project for more information. No more information down the rabbit hole.
Everyone involved in the content workflow should be able to see exactly where each piece of content is in its journey to publication. This allows contributors to suggest needed changes, right up to the moment you click “publish.”
And, if some of your teams are in another corner of the world, it’s even more critical to have all communication housed in a single intuitive hub. You often don’t have the luxury of calling them up or chatting with them on Slack.
Unless you want to wake them up. And we wouldn’t advise that.
Step 2: Identify and Repurpose Existing Content
Once you have a platform that makes it easy to collaborate along every step of content production, conduct a content audit to identify content that your teams can repurpose for today’s needs.
Repurpose in New Forms to Boost Leads, Engagement
With the emerging importance of videos and podcasts, consider repurposing old blog posts as these popular forms of content. Additionally, long-form content, such as ebooks and white papers, can find new life – and bring new value to your brand – as video or podcast series.
When you include these popular forms of content in your content calendar, you’ll increase your content’s reach into your target market.
According to a BBC study, brands with podcasts build 89% more awareness, 16% more engagement, and 57% more brand consideration – building trust with every podcast.
And, according to Oberlo, brands that utilize video content reap 66% more qualified leads than their competitors who stick to other types of content.
Image via Oberlo
On the other hand, some people prefer to digest information in written form. Study your content analytics to identify audience segments that prefer reading to watching.
Then, repurpose promising visual or spoken content in written form. Amplify its reach by posting links to it on social media.
Step 3: Create and Schedule New Content to Fill in the Gaps
Likely, your content audit showed that there were some segments in your market that you didn’t reach as well as you would like. Partner with your sales and customer service teams to discover the kinds of objections and feedback they receive from prospects and customers.
Dig into the data from your poorly reached target customer segments to uncover their pain points, demographics, and favorite channels. Also, identify areas of promise where your content is making an impact.
Don’t forget to add after-the-sale content to your calendar. SaaS customers can change providers with just a click, so publish content that helps you retain them, such as ways to use your software to get the optimum value out of it.
Schedule Regular Content Planning Meetings
Then, schedule regular content planning meetings that include your tech teams, along with your sales and customer support teams. In those meetings, bring in statistics that you glean from your content analytics, feedback from customer support, and objections that prospects raise with the sales team.
Use that information and the combined brainpower of your collaborators to plan content that shores up areas where your competitors have an edge. Finally, plan more of the types of content that perform well within your target customer segments.
Assign Content Creation Tasks and Deadlines
After you have finished planning, assign all the creative tasks for your team members, as well as the deadlines for each task. Here’s where a comprehensive content platform earns its keep and then some.
For example, for an upcoming blog post, you might assign a writer to create the copy and a designer to dazzle readers with infographics, charts, and graphs. When the post is finished, your creatives can hand it off to your editorial team and a technology specialist to ensure that the post is both factually and grammatically correct.
But, having access to everyone involved on the same calendar can help your teams save time. For example, instead of waiting until the post is completely finished, your creatives can consult your tech and editorial teams as they work. That way, the post won’t need more than minor revisions before you publish it.
Choose Channels and Times to Amplify Your Content
Look at your target audience’s preferred channels and time zones. Then, schedule the best times for your social media and email marketing teams to promote your content on those channels.
Finally, Measure Your Results and Tweak Underperformers
When you have your analytics and content calendar on the same platform, it’s a breeze to generate reports on your content’s progress, find underperformers, and assign someone to tweak them.
When you can align content measurement with the creative process, you don’t have to wait for your next content audit to make significant changes to a post. You can tick them off your to-do list as soon as the numbers show up in your reports.
A comprehensive content marketing platform custom-designed for enterprise teams can make life simpler for you and your teams. With your content calendar aligned with every step of the process from ideation to measurement, there won’t be any surprises.
With DivvyHQ, you’ll have the ability to collaborate with your tech teams, nurture the customer relationship with valuable content, and measure the results – all on a single platform. For SaaS content teams, it’s a perfect fit.
Even better, you can try it absolutely free for 14 days. Sign up today, and you’ll have two weeks to see the difference it makes for your teams. Get your free test drive today!