Software as a Service (SaaS) is quickly becoming one of the global economy’s biggest contributors. Software’s impact on worldwide revenue is estimated to grow from $14 billion in 2018 to $46 billion by 2027. This means marketers are tasked with keeping their products at the forefront of their niche in the software market.
Since software RFPs give SaaS organizations the occasion to pursue new business and increase revenue, the quantity and quality of RFPs submitted is critical to your success. RFP response software allows responders to save time, preserve resources, and win business—adding value to your marketing team
Even in a crowded market, opportunities are aplenty. Recently we asked SaaS marketers to reveal their biggest challenges. Learn from their insights so you can use RFP response software to turn common challenges into golden opportunities. You’ll walk away with a renewed vision for marketing success.
Overcome marketing hurdles with RFP response software
1. Attracting and retaining customers
“Attracting customers and increasing retention is a common challenge in SaaS. Marketers must continually think about the top reasons their solution is beneficial, so customers stay and pay for the service.” – Josh Wardini, Co-Founder at Serpwatch
You know what “they say?” The day you get a customer is the day you start losing a customer. When it comes to SaaS products, competitors are always on your heels with updates and enhancements. It’s possible you will compete for your existing customer’s business by responding to an RFP (request for proposal) and/or RFI (request for information) during a subscription renewal.
Software RFP responses should succinctly articulate the client’s pain points, outline measurable outcomes, recommend specific solutions, provide relevant experience and differentiation—and let them know why they should choose to (or continue to) partner with your organization. Never let content in your RFP response software Content Library be idle. You can always improve.
2. Good content management
“Good content production is the heart of raising visibility. Level the playing field by focusing on your buyers’ pain points. What is the problem they are trying to solve? How can you solve it for them? The answers to those questions can serve as a starting point.” – Adam Smartschan, VP of Innovation and Strategy at Altitude Marketing
Canned content may seem quick and easy when you’re only days—or even hours—from an RFP deadline. But, canned content won’t impress your prospects. From the executive summary to key differentiators, your responses should be carefully groomed so content engages potential prospects and existing customers.
Good RFP content management is easy with RFP response software. You have client-ready responses on-hand to reduce RFP response times and increase win rates. Content is also organized and centralized to help team members respond to an RFP or RFI quickly and accurately without losing time or missing deadlines.
3. Up-to-date marketing collateral
“In SaaS, the product you are offering changes so quickly that it is often difficult to ensure all of your marketing collateral is kept up-to-date. Depending on the degree to which your product changes, marketers spend most of their valuable time tweaking materials and creating new content.” – Patsy Nearkhou, Marketing Manager at Talkative
Successful organizations should conduct an RFP response content audit on an annual basis, if not more frequently. Why? Because having the best content at your fingertips improves your chances of winning software RFPs.
Set aside some time to review all content stored in your Content Library. As a marketer, it’s important to understand the nuances of how content appeals to your target customer. Once you’ve evaluated and improved your RFP responses, your team will have a much easier time using consistent and effective messaging for software RFPs.
4. Stellar content without resources
“The biggest challenge I face is competing in a highly-saturated market against competitors with large marketing teams. As we’re in the SaaS industry, our digital marketing footprint is crucial to our growth, which means our content has to be absolutely stellar.” – Craig Hynd, Marketing Executive at YouManage
Typically, RFP responders have other primary job responsibilities and are called in for the purpose of providing their expertise on software RFPs. That means you too, marketer. Your content expertise is needed to ensure brand consistency for the final deliverable. Yet, in this 2019 RFPIO Responder Survey, 43% of marketers said controlling content quality with RFPs is their biggest challenge.
RFP automation helps you maintain brand consistency, no matter how small or busy your team may be. The Content Library makes the best and most relevant content accessible. RFP response software allows your team to customize responses, collaborate in a straightforward way, then export content into a format that adheres to your specific brand guidelines.
5. Meeting deadlines
“Fast turnaround time is a big challenge. By the time we receive RFPs, we have anywhere from 2-7 days to turn around a response. It makes creating a unique proposal a challenge.” – Dena Harris, Marketing Director at USA Test Prep
Imagine you have an entire library of all the best content your team has curated to date. Now imagine you can assign questions and tasks to certain departments or employees so that little time is wasted or lost when a deadline is looming. Take that one step further, and imagine you don’t even have to format all the information you’d like to include in your RFP response.
How much time would all of these innovative features save you? Would the time savings be enough to turn out several more high-quality proposals every month? You know the answer.
6. Working in silos
“A major challenge in marketing a SaaS platform is keeping up with rapid development cycles, which require a marketing manager to keep a very close ear to the ground with the development team. That’s not something we’re traditionally trained to do as marketers.” – Alex Chamberlain, Marketing Group Manager at ERA Environmental Management Solutions
When information gets stuck between departments that don’t communicate regularly, it disrupts the flow of information within any process. RFP response is a group effort and silos are the antithesis of teamwork.
RFP response software gives your team a centralized repository of content for convenient collaboration between departments. Information flows freely between all subject matter experts, allowing your response management team to achieve their best work together.
