Cracking the Code: How to Compete in a Market Dominated by SaaS Giants
The software-as-a-service (SaaS) market has risen significantly over the last decade, with both tech giants and new disruptors battling for market share. With so many businesses seeking highly scalable, cost-effective solutions for business growth, there’s plenty to go around — right? Not as much as you may think.
No matter the demand, there’s significant competition for brands that offer SaaS solutions to customers across industries. Since many cloud platforms focus on third-party integrations, it’s increasingly difficult for a brand to create a unique product that offers something new.
This presents a challenge for B2B sales and marketing teams. As competition becomes fiercer, you can adopt some strategies that can help you navigate this daunting environment and make an impact.
Research Your Competition
It’s difficult to position yourself as a unique brand among the competition if you don’t know who they are and what they have to offer. Market research is your best asset, allowing you to identify your competitors and understand the threats your business is up against — both now and in the future.
Competitor analysis is more than looking up a few pages on Google. You need to go beyond the brand names and understand their product offerings, brand positioning, core values, and the strategies they’re using to differentiate their brand. This may include the web content they release and the ways they stay connected to their ideal customers.
Often, you can find out what your audience is looking for by evaluating what established, successful brands prioritize in their sales pitches and marketing approaches. Make a note of these differentiators, since they may be factors that all your competitors share. These factors may be harder to compete with, but it gives you some idea of what you can offer that your competitors haven’t.
Listen to Your Customers
Competitors can be a good starting point for your research, but you have to understand your customers, too. It’s important to collect feedback from your customers with surveys, focus groups, and interviews to understand their pain points, goals, and expectations from SaaS providers.
While reviewing this feedback, pay attention to the features or solutions that are most important to your customers. Do you offer these features or solutions? Are there potential gaps in your service? If so, these concerns should be addressed as soon as possible. When the market is saturated, you need to do everything you can to provide your customers with what they want and need.
Validate Your Minimum Viable Product
Finding gaps in the current market offer potential, but you have to tread carefully. It’s important to validate your ideas instead of jumping on the first opportunity that presents itself. This can save you a lot of time, money, and hassle caused by pursuing avenues that may not be ideal for your business.
Adopting a lean startup methodology is a more sustainable way to keep expectations reasonable while also exploring opportunities as they present themselves. For example, sticking with minimum viable products (MVPs) before committing to large design projects allows you to test the waters with minimal investment.
An MVP is a stripped-down version of your product concept that can be introduced as a new concept without a big investment of time and money — at least at first. You can gauge reception from the test audience and gather feedback to guide your future efforts, whether it’s a few tweaks to your concept or a pivot to an entirely new concept.
Focus on Niche Markets
SaaS is a big market, so many SaaS brands try to take a broad approach to attracting customers. Unfortunately, this can backfire, leaving you with a vague marketing message, a thin marketing budget, and no leads to show for it.
It’s often more effective to focus on a niche market with a more targeted audience, such as small businesses. This allows you to build a solid foundation to expand in the future, after your brand is more established and has some authority and credibility. Niche markets often have lower competition and fewer big players as well.
Make Smart Technology Investments
The SaaS industry is a highly dynamic market that’s driven by new advancements in technology. As a relevant brand, it’s crucial that you make smart, strategic investments into emerging technologies as they become available and include them in your product integrations.
For example, AI-powered tools are a staple for businesses looking to automate their workflows and improve operational efficiency. Embracing these innovations in your product offerings not only improves your products but shows customers that you’re committed to solving their business problems.
Think Long-Term Value
Many SaaS brands are creating valuable, functional, and attractive products, but what works today may not work as time goes on. You have to think long term, not just about the product itself, to maximize your future revenue streams.
Customer needs shift over time, no matter what, and the value they gain from purchases often includes more than just the product itself. One of the factors that keeps customers coming back to the same brand over and over, even as new options hit the market, is the promise of a consistent, positive experience. In addition to treating your customers well before, during, and after the purchase, add referral programs to encourage them to spread the word and build a steady stream of new business.
Stay Agile
You may plan for future growth with solid strategies, but it’s best to stay agile. It’s rare that a business scales without some growing pains or minor adjustments. Sometimes, SaaS companies have to shift their product offerings completely to align with the current market demand. If you’re too married to your concepts, you could risk losing your customers.
Staying agile ensures that your business is constantly differentiating itself from competitors. It gives you the objectivity to identify and capitalize on industry trends or changes in emerging technologies, ensuring that you have innovative products and an experience that provides value to your customers.
Break into the SaaS Market
Finding gaps in the SaaS market and differentiating yourself from tech giants is no easy feat. However, when you invest time into understanding your market, your competitors, and your customers, validating your ideas, and exploring new opportunities, you can gain market share and start your path to sustainable growth.
