Choosing the Perfect B2B Marketing Agency for Your SaaS Venture

Finding the right digital marketing agency is tough. It's even tougher within B2B, SaaS and tech. As seasoned marketing executives, we've faced our fair share of dragons. Among the most formidable of these mythical creatures, however, stands one unique challenge — selecting the appropriate B2B marketing agency for your SaaS business.

Think of it as locating Arthur's Excalibur or Indiana Jones' Holy Grail, an exhilarating quest laden with twists and turns. Your company's profit, reputation, and future growth hinge upon it, yet the roadmap to the final destination can be overwhelmingly obscure.

Today, we are about to embark on a magical expedition to unravel the mystery of choosing the right B2B marketing agency in the expansive SaaS ecosystem.

Aligning Business and Agency Goals

First things first, understanding that an aligned vision between your company and your chosen marketing agency sets the stage for long-term success, is crucial. To underscore this, let's hark back to the words of the CEO of Salesforce, Marc Benioff who perceptively observed, "Business is the greatest platform for change." His insight nudges us towards an important truth — an aligned vision can transform the trajectory of your business and your SaaS product.

Choosing an agency that engrains your vision into their strategy proves vital. The ideal agency will not only resonate with your goal but also cleverly weave your mission into their work to create meaningful brand experiences. They will have a profound understanding of your SaaS product's unique selling proposition (USP) and employ state-of-the-art tools to convert prospects into loyal customers, while ensuring a sustainable Return on Investment (ROI).

Understand Your Needs and Budget

Embarking on the journey of finding the right marketing agency requires a comprehensive understanding of your particular needs. As a marketing executive overseeing the growth of a SaaS product, you might need an agency that devises an all-encompassing marketing strategy for your product's success. This could range from focusing on SEO, generating high-quality content, and leading social media marketing campaigns, to creating captivating video content, orchestrating impactful email marketing, orchestrating webinars, and many more.

Any external agency or freelancer needs to get enough context beyond the task at hand to really be able to deliver great results. Instead of "I need help with task X", it needs to be a "Because of reasons A, B and C, I need help with X. But we also have these projects D, E and F that is happening". In my experience that's when you really can get leverage from agencies. Granted that your agency have the strategic capability, of course. Gustav Wallberg, CMO at Alva Labs

Getting in touch with an agency without a clear outline of your needs is just as foolhardy as setting out on a quest without a map. Similarly, budgets should never become an afterthought. Keep your budget discussion at the forefront, being transparent about what you're comfortable spending. An honest agency will remain clear about what they can achieve within your budget limitations, and will not shy away from delivering the raw truth.

Choose an Agency Specialising in SaaS Marketing

Here's a little open secret - not every marketing agency can succeed in marketing a SaaS product. Astounding, isn’t it?

SaaS belongs to a specialized market and warrants an agency that appreciates its unique contours. Choosing the right marketing agency implies considering their past experience with SaaS clients, their understanding of the industry, and their capability to harness the potential of your product. As Adobe's CMO, Ann Lewnes rightly pointed out, "People are the most important thing. Business model and product will follow if you have the right people." Therefore, selecting an agency teeming with experts in SaaS marketing will fortify your product's success.

However, some key aspects you should look after is if they understand the SaaS, tech and B2B ecosystem. Do they breathe and excel in pipeline development, sales velocity, account-based marketing or marketing-sourced ARR? If they can't prove ROI and showcase success stories you can identify yourself with, it is your sign to look further.

If you look for a specialist agency within a specific field like Paid Social Marketing, you know what to look for. Yet, driving revenue growth in a SaaS company requires an holistic approach. Improving the number of leads won't help if they don't fit your ICP nor convert into actual ARR. A partner that that understands the intersection between digital marketing + SaaS and growth, connecting the dots between marketing and sales is a very good indication for the right choice.

Evaluating an Agency's Success Metrics

As the old saying goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Before you proclaim an agency as your SaaS product's knight in shining armor, delve deep into their success metrics. Who are they working with? How have they affected the bottom line for these clients?

Ask pointed questions and maintain a healthy skepticism of too-good-to-be-true results. Great marketing is a product of hard-fought battles, not overnight miracles. So, ensure you trust your product's future with an agency that has proven, comprehensive results.

Long-term Commitment or Short-term Flirtation?

Establishing a relationship with a marketing agency isn’t a fleeting romance; it’s an earnest commitment. Unlike myriad fleeting marketing trends, an exemplary marketing agency stands by your side, through thick and thin, committed to your shared journey to success. Discuss the agency's client retention rate — an agency known for maintaining long-term engagements with its clients suggests its promising reputation for delivering consistent results.

An often underprioritised aspect is the expected alchemy between an agency and your in-house team. That you, as CMO, should take the chance to frame it as an educational opportunity for your crew, and will help foster better collaboration. - Luke Richardson, CMO at Norrsken VC

Agency or Freelancer? Exploring The Pros and Cons

Perhaps one of the most significant decisions you will make on this quest is whether to partner with a marketing agency or an independent freelancer. The two have their pros and cons, yet the lure of a freelancer can indeed be enchanting.

Freelancer

Granted, freelancers may not offer the team size you'd get with an agency, but what they lack in size, they compensate for with a personalized approach and keen attention to your specific needs. This personalized service offers a uniquely tailored strategy, which may be precisely what your SaaS product requires. The journey with a freelancer isn't merely transactional, but inherently collaborative. The freelancer dives into your business, understanding it from the inside out.

The tricky part with agencies is to get them to truly understand your business. I'm more fond of using freelancers since the relationship often becomes closer. - Adam Green, Global Demand Gen Manager at GetAccept

A freelancer's pricing can often be quite attractive as well. Generally more flexible and competitive than traditional agencies, this cost-effectiveness can be a boon for smaller and midsized businesses or startups with tighter budgets. A freelancer can offer you the desired marketing expertise without breaking your bank.

Agency

Marketing agencies represent a mosaic of talents, bringing together a team with diverse skills. Each project is handed over to a group of specialists, which can enhance your marketing campaigns multi-dimensionally.

However, agencies often come attached to a lack of transparency, a more significant price tags and may not offer the budget-friendly flexibility of a freelancer. While an agency's extensive services are invaluable, they might be slightly out of range for emerging businesses or startups.

I prefer using agencies for short term, clearly defined projects, e.g. new take on brand platform, value prop/tagline, mapping and defining ICP/personas etc, than have an agency run the full demand gen machinery. Also I prefer working with freelancers and make them part of the team for a shorter or longer periods. - Frida Ahrenby, CMO at Rillion

Ultimately, both freelancers and agencies have their unique quirks and capabilities. However, if budget constraints, personal attention, and a customized strategy are your main areas of focus, the flexible, dedicated offerings of a freelance marketer could be your knight in shining armor.

Agency Selection Checklist

For evaluating your next agency, have these points in mind:

1. Track Record Matters: Experience speaks volumes. Incredibly savvy creatives and promises might not mitigate the lack of proven, real-world SaaS marketing strategy. The agency’s track record paints an instinctive picture. Let them pitch, let them show and challenge you. Call their customers. What you want is most likely the intersection between SaaS + Digital + Growth + B2B, connecting the dots between marketing and sales.
2. Art of Collaboration: The right agency doesn't operate in a vacuum, they should want to be around you, get into your Slack, be proactive and respond fast. The best marketing strategies and executions are born when agency expertise meets with client insights (!). Collaborate, don't dictate. Think sales process, product and industry here. Check their content hubs. Do they talk SaaS / B2B, do they breathe lead gen, sales velocity, ABM or what you would like them to focus on?
3. Set Clear Objectives: As CMO, you have countless tasks hunting you down. Successful navigation begins with a clear focus. Know your KPIs, prioritize and steer them accordingly - the agency can't read your mind, after all. If they keep talking about content-sourced MQLs while you talk ARR, you know you need to look further.
4. Meet them - in person: If you can, always take the opportunity to meet them. Your success depends on the relationship with them. Do you "click" with each other? Make sure to get to meet your dedicated team of specialists beyond the CEO or senior sales rep that were in touch with you during your discovery process.

In our digital realm of novel SaaS products and ever-evolving marketing strategies, you, the SaaS CMO, face the formidable task of selecting the right B2B marketing agency. Your next agency could be a diamond in the rough. Set your sights clear, prepare for deep collaboration, and look for a proven track record. You might end up finding a partner, not just another vendor.

Looking for a B2B Digital Marketing Expert? Let's get in touch and get a free audit of your current marketing performance. I have worked for fast-growing startups and scaleups alike. Book a call today.