Best SaaS Marketing Strategy to get your first 100 Customers Without Ads

SaaS Mastery

15,505 views • 13 days ago

Video Summary

The video outlines a comprehensive strategy for B2B SaaS founders to acquire their initial 100 customers. It begins by highlighting three common mistakes to avoid: targeting too broadly, building without customer validation, and using generic messaging. The strategy then emphasizes leveraging personal networks for the first 10 customers, focusing on conversations to understand pain points, and using this feedback for early marketing materials. For scaling beyond the initial network, a five-step go-to-market system is detailed, including defining a specific Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), crafting resonant messaging, implementing personalized outreach, optimizing landing pages as development tools, and maintaining a customer feedback loop. The process culminates in scaling through social proof, referral programs, and thought leadership to build a brand and drive sustainable customer acquisition. A key insight is that the first 10 customers are valuable for feedback, not just revenue.

Short Highlights

Avoid targeting too broadly, building without validation, and using generic messaging.
Secure the first 10 customers through personal networks and community engagement, focusing on conversations and feedback.
Implement a five-step go-to-market strategy: define ICP, refine messaging, personalize outreach, optimize landing pages, and maintain a feedback loop.
Scale beyond the first 100 customers using success stories, referral programs, and thought leadership content.
Landing pages should act as customer development tools for testing ideas and gathering feedback.

Key Details

Avoiding Common Mistakes [00:43]

Founders often target too broadly, stating they help "any business" be more productive, which results in reaching no one. The focus should be on solving one specific problem for one specific type of customer.
A significant mistake is spending extensive time building a product without talking to customers to validate demand, leading to a launch with no interested buyers. Customer conversations are crucial for validating problems and the market.
Generic messaging, such as "help businesses work smarter" or "the future of productivity," is ineffective. Messaging must be a clear promise supported by proof that directly addresses customer pain points.
An example of correcting generic messaging involved an invoicing tool where changing the headline to focus on the direct benefit, "generating an invoice in less than 30 seconds," increased the conversion rate by 2.5 times.

"If you target everyone you reach no one."

Acquiring the First 10 Customers [03:24]

The first 10 customers are the hardest because they require non-scalable efforts.
Leverage your existing network as the lowest-hanging fruit, focusing on building relationships within communities like Microconf Connect or the Dynamite Circle for B2B SaaS.
The primary goal at this stage is to have conversations, uncover potential customers' challenges, and gather early validation through sign-ups or prepayments, which will serve as your first marketing materials.
These first customers are akin to early adopter friends who validate the product, provide feedback, and are valuable for more than just payment.

"So, you leverage your network. You start with your network. That's your lowest hanging fruit."

Repeatable Go-to-Market Strategy [04:44]

After exhausting the network, a repeatable go-to-market strategy is essential, involving five core steps.
Step 1: Define Ideal Customer Profile (ICP): This requires a deep, specific definition including firmographics (company size, location, tools used), buyer personas (authority, influence), pain points, desires, goals, fears, and perceived enemies.
Step 2: Craft Resonant Messaging: Develop messaging that speaks directly to your ICP's pain points and test variations of subject lines, headlines, and ad copy, tracking engagement to refine what works.
Step 3: Focused Outreach for Early Adopters: Move beyond generic cold emails to creative tactics like social engagement (following, commenting, liking on platforms like LinkedIn/Twitter) to build familiarity before direct outreach.
When reaching out, frame it as seeking feedback on something built for them, which is genuine and yields high reply rates. Providing value upfront, such as a competitor analysis report, is more effective than a direct sales pitch.
Interactive video outreach using tools like Loom involves personalized, short videos (4-5 minutes) that address the prospect's unique challenges, humanizing the interaction and building trust quickly. Sending videos to multiple decision-makers within a company can create a "gossip effect."
Step 4: Landing Page as a Customer Development Tool: Use landing pages to test ideas, gather feedback on mockups, and ensure the copy speaks directly to the ICP's pain points, incorporating social proof and a clear call to action. The landing page is an integral part of the validation process.
Step 5: Customer Feedback Loop: Obsess over feedback by continuously asking customers what's missing, what frustrates them, and what features they wish existed, using this input to refine messaging and attract more clients.

"In a world of thousands of automated text emails, a personal video is impossible to ignore."

Scaling Beyond 100 Customers [11:31]

To scale beyond the first 100 customers, build a library of success stories for use in the sales process, highlighting how clients with similar problems achieved specific results.
Implement a referral program to make it easy and rewarding for happy customers to bring in new business, integrating it into the onboarding process.
Position yourself through thought leadership by creating top-of-funnel content (tweets, posts, videos) that solves ICP pain points, builds authority, and attracts clients.
This long-term strategy helps reduce customer acquisition costs and builds a brand rather than solely focusing on immediate conversions.