I hate advertising, but advertising works.

Why do people hate ads? Because the majority of them ask without giving anything of value to the audience first. Why do people like ads with humor? Because they provide the audience with humor before asking for anything in return.

The way to win at SaaS advertising is to offer something for free, then nurture from there. This could be a lead magnet, a free webinar, an e-book, or anything else as long as it’s free and something of value to the intended audience.

Free lead magnets help strangers become aware of your product. The more value you provide them within that lead magnet, the farther along they move in the buyers’ journey.

General rules for B2B SaaS ads:

• People don’t care about your software as much as you think that they do. You have to convince them to care by providing free value up front.
• SendGrid is one of the most powerful pieces of software in the world. If you plan on running any type of email marketing, you should use it.
• Google Ads > LinkedIn Ads > any other platform. People search on Google when they’re ready to buy. People scroll on LinkedIn and other platforms without any intent to buy.
• Google relies on search volume; LinkedIn does not. This makes LinkedIn more expensive but worth the price if you’re able to figure out your retargeting and email sequences.
• Be as targeted as possible. The more niche, the better.
• Split test always. A/B test different audiences within your campaigns. When you find one that works, start split testing it within another similar one. Continue until you find exactly who your ad is resonating with.
• Customer conversion is the only thing that matters. Lead generation is only the first part of the puzzle. If you’re not able to convert leads, you have to fix that problem.
• Your visuals will make or break your campaign. People are mindlessly scrolling on platforms. What can you do to make them stop the scroll?