SAAS MARKETING GUIDE BY: JUSTIN TALERICO Sponsorships — Banner and/or text ads within the editorial of a third-party newsletter. Results will improve the more closely aligned the advertiser’s message/value proposition is to the editorial. Full buyouts (all promotional units for the same advertiser) are more costly than partial ones (test to know if it’s worth it or not). Sponsored emails have pros and cons. The greatest pro is that editorial emails get opened and seen (good for the brand). The greatest con is that the editorial gets all the attention, making click-through rates low (bad for lead- and demand-gen). Dedicated Drops — Advertiser-created email is sent by the third-party to their list. Like sponsorships, better alignment leads to better results, so choose carefully. Pros of dedicated drops include full control over the email creative and subject line. Another pro is that the email is coming from a (hopefully) trusted source. The greatest con is that there’s no editorial value to compel opens. This translates to lower open rates (than sponsorships) but potentially higher click-through rates (depending on the quality of the messaging and design). Strong value propositions lend themselves to dedicated drops. List fatigue is most acute with dedicated drops, so flighting is required to sustain effectiveness. Nurture Email Internal nurture email streams are typically delivered to house-list registrants on a regular cadence. These drip programs are often designed to educate, persuade, and stimulate hand raisers — inbounds. A regular drip cadence not only stimulates demand but also drives overall engagement or lead activity. This increase in participation correlates to increased demand and seducible-moment awareness. To minimize unsubscribe and spam risks, email content must be a high quality, useful and valuable balance of education and sales. Cadence and day/time may vary based on testing, but a good starting point is every two weeks on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Keep in mind that additional one-off emails will be additive to the nurture cadence, so overall frequency will be closer to weekly. Email Segmentation Relevance drives results. Closely aligned with nurture email, segmentation tags like house-list users into addressable units. The most common segments are prospects and customers. Other possible segments might include legacy customers; churned customers (win backs); closed-lost prospects; and qualitative or quantitatively scored segments. Scored segments might be 21 Execute Better. Grow Faster.