Brendan Hufford’s Post

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Exploring how SaaS companies *actually* get customers

This SaaS came to me because they had been working with an agency for a year, but the traffic wasn't converting. Here's how we fixed things 👇 First, what they already had was a GREAT strategy. It checked every “best practice” box. But it wasn't converting. And you're only gonna get so much content budget without ever being able to connect it to acquiring, activating or retaining customers.* * (typically we only think of the first one of these, but that's for a different post) Sure, we could move up CTAs, add forms directly into the page, etc. But that still won’t solve our problems. 🗑 So let’s throw out industry best practices. 1. We doubled down on matching the intent behind every search. People convert better when they arrive on the page and immediately feel seen/heard. 2. We looked at a customer-driven approach to SEO versus a keyword-driven approach. 3. We build stronger internal links with keyword-focused anchor text. A stellar internal team, great content writers, and a gut check was all they needed to get off the paid marketing hamster wheel, prove SEO could work reliably, and start doing the really creative demand gen they're know for today. Lots of people in B2B talk about doing more creative demand gen work. I can tell you it's a WHOLE lot easier to get budget/time for it if you have predictable revenue from content/SEO. ⚡️

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Brendan Hufford

Exploring how SaaS companies *actually* get customers

5mo

⚡️ Over the years I’ve matured a lot in how I think about search and how it relates to revenue and internal politics/dynamics. If you want the air cover to do really wild creative stuff, it’s a nice channel to have working for you in the background.

Bryan Kofsky

Sales Engineer | Growth Marketer | Tech Enthusiast

5mo

UX goes a long way. Did you also fix the CTAs? 😄

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Meagan Campbell

Content Lead @ Idea Factory • Writer by craft, marketer by trade, unorthodox by design

5mo

"People convert better when they arrive on the page and immediately feel seen/heard." ^^Run and tell that.

Odia Shembo

Recent SaaS client win: 78,103 👉🏾 735,670/ Monthly visits in ~12 months | All-in-One Organic Demand Generation Solution for high growth Gen AI SaaS companies | X - Credit Karma, LendingTree

5mo

I agree 💕 give the people what they want through SEO

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Brent Bouldin

Creating search, content and digital marketing performance strategies for marketers in regulated industries.

5mo

Love the idea of quick SEO "blasts" for easy wins! BuiltWith is such a handy tool for fast competitor research. I use it all the time - half the time the people you're talking with don't even know what's on their own website or what CMS or analytics package they have - especially if you're talking to pretty senior people. My question - what's one immediate action you'd recommend based on seeing a competitor uses a certain app or plugin you aren't yet? Appreciate the tactical tips!

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Ilyas Khorakiwala

Think SaaS? Think Ilyas! | Email Conversion Copywriter & Strategist for 6-7 fig SaaS & Ecom brands

5mo

I'm really digging the way you tossed out the playbook Brendan Hufford and went for a customer-driven SEO approach. People want to feel like you're speaking directly to them, not just throwing keywords at the wall and seeing what sticks. P.S. I love your new display pic, btw! It really catches the eye.

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Michel Faas

Grows tech companies with data driven digital marketing.

5mo

Both awesome how long the collaboration is, as well as the results that come from it. Congrats and great work, clearly!

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Tim Hanson

✨In the business of making stories | CCO Penfriend.ai | Founder of fivethreeoh.com | $36M from SEO, storytelling and Content Marketing ✨

5mo

The intent thing is huge. If you're not meeting people where they expect to be found, then you're not creating the right thing.

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Elliott Murray

Helped Justin Bieber win on TikTok. Now building AI for Linkedin (create a week's worth of content in seconds)

5mo

The more I learn about SEO, the more apparent it becomes that it's all about humans

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