Mastering the Art of Financial SaaS Marketing: Our Step by Step Guide
Marketing teams grapple with the challenge of marketing their SaaS products to finance professionals We have worked with many over the years. We thus decided to capture that learning from our experience with marketing to our audiences on AccountancyAge, the Global Treasurer and the CFO, and create an easy-to-follow step-by-step solution. This isn’t just any guide; it’s a free ticket to transform your approach to the finance function for optimal outcomes. Let’s start.
Step 1: Understanding the Financial Mindset
Why Finance Pros Think Differently
Finance professionals are a unique breed. They juggle numbers like pros, make data-driven decisions, and have an eagle eye for detail. Everything in the business boils down to numbers, but they also have their sense of humour. The question is then, how do you catch their attention? The answer is easy. Speak their language! Show them how your SaaS product is not just a tool, but a strategic asset.
Diving Into Their World
Get to know the financial world inside out. Understand the regulations, compliance issues, and the latest finance trends they are grappling with. Your product needs to be more than just efficient; it needs to be a perfect fit for their complex ecosystem. To do that you need more than an Ideal Customer Profile, you need personas you have built from your first-party data, that you, the marketing team, have gone out and interviewed and created, so you fully understand the buyer. Below is an example of what a good Persona profile would look like:
Finance Director Persona – UK Mid-Size Manufacturing Company
| Persona name | Patrick Dodson |
| Persona role | Finance Director |
| Job description | Overseeing the financial health of a Mid-Market Manufacturing company with 500 employees |
Company
| Company name | Tezet Mouldings Ltd |
| Company size | 500, 8 in finance team |
| Industry | Specialist Plastics Manufacturing |
Demographic information
| Age | 47 |
| Gender | Male |
| Income | £90,000 |
| Education level | ACCA Qualified Accountant |
| Residential environment | Milton Keynes |
Top Priority
Data Security and Privacy as we move ERP Systems and more of our work to the cloud.
Biography
Seasoned strategic thinker with over 10 years’ experience in finance leadership roles, and first Board position now. Describes himself as lazy half-jokingly, looking for tools to get a job done. Innovative but not an out-and-out risk taker, will think through all the implications of a change.
| Professional goals | Motivators |
| · Interested in being hands on and learning about the technology, likes to try things himself, took the time to log into ChatGPT and learn about prompting to see how thinks work. Eventually would like to be a CFO of a public company. | · Quote from a Linkedin reference of a work colleague: “As a leader, he challenges is forward looking and interested in new technologies and how they can be effectively deployed whilst also keeping sensible about timeframes.” |
| Challenges | Sources of information |
| · Dealing with old technology systems and inertia to change, some old-fashioned colleagues he is trying to persuade. | · Accountancy Age, the FT, ACCA subscription, Board members share documents. |
Interview
- Ask for background on how he works. {Enter background on how and why he works the way he does, the office, set up, where it is, look at the physical environment and how the teams interact together}
- How do you organise your work from the first week of the month to the end? {Get the interview to spell it out including any key metrics, management meetings, reports, and issues that take them off track}
- How are you thinking about technology and how do you decide on implementing technology in the company? {Really get to understand the influences and decision-making process, how decisions get stopped or don’t go ahead, and what is needed for a decision to be agreed upon and accepted, when have things gone smoothly, how he gathers information and makes the decision, does he get referrals, attend demos himself?}
- What tech do you use today? {Understand their typical tech stack and what is working, not working}
- What are your biggest pains today? {find out what the most difficult things about hitting the no 1 priority is, get more expansive, and pull out more and more of the problem in great detail, this feeds into marketing materials later, then when they have explained enough ask “ if you had a magic wand, what the ideal solution would look like?”, just listen and wait if there is a pause}
- What’s your Media consumption, particularly around staying up to date in your role? {Ask about how they stay up to date and what media they trust how they consume, what formats, written, podcast, video etc.}
- Who is in your team and what are their roles? {find out who gets the decision-making delegated to and any heavy manual workflows or particular days/seasonal problem}
- What should we avoid/be aware of in our software build? { Introduce your solution and what it solves and ask what the solution should ensure it doesn’t do, that would be annoying/block it from being used}
- What should it do? {Without giving away too many of the features ask what benefits it should give their company and how it would work in their workflows}
You can see that completing a number of these personas will give you rich insights into how your target thinks & works, and what will either resonate or turn them off about your proposition.
Step 2: Decide How to Showcase ROI – The Magic Word
ROI: Music to Their Ears
For finance professionals, ROI isn’t just a metric; it’s their daily anthem. When presenting your SaaS solution, emphasise how it can boost their ROI. Use real-world case studies and data to back your claims.
A Story of Numbers
Don’t just tell them; show them. Create scenarios or use case studies where your SaaS solution has significantly improved ROI. Stories resonate and land better than mere statistics. BUT you’re dealing with finance professionals. And they don’t just want an ROI, they want a benchmark. The key to selling ROI to finance professionals as well as telling compelling stories, is giving them benchmarks. Vs competitors, vs industry norms, vs hours saved of current methods. Let them see the comparative advantage your solution brings.
Step 3: Security and Compliance – Non-Negotiables
Building Trust with Security
In the finance world, security isn’t a feature; it’s a necessity. Stress how your SaaS product adheres to the highest security standards and complies with financial regulations.
A Compliance Checklist
Create a checklist that outlines how your product meets various compliance standards. It’s not just about ticking boxes; it’s about giving them peace of mind upfront so your company can be trusted.
Step 4: Integration and Ease of Use – A Seamless Experience
The Integration Game
Finance professionals love efficiency. Demonstrate how your SaaS solution integrates seamlessly with their existing systems, reducing friction and streamlining processes.
Simplicity is Key
Remember, easy does it! Finance folks are busy. Your product should be easy to use and understand. A complicated tool is a big no-no in their books.
A great example is Kloo, an accounts payable Saas advertiser with us, making it easy to integrate and get started for free:
Step 5: Customisation – Because One Size Doesn’t Fit All
Tailoring to Their Needs
Every financial institution has its quirks. Show how your SaaS product can be customised to fit their specific needs. Personalisation is the name of the game.
Walk Them Through It
Provide examples or case studies that highlight the flexibility and customisation options of your product. Let them see themselves in these success stories.
Step 6: Quantify Your Value Proposition and No Brainer Offers
The Power of Time & Money
Using your persona interviews, determine your clients’ current processes without your solution and envision the enhanced workflow with it. This is called their AS IS state vs their FUTURE state, i.e. how much better life is for them with your solution in it. The difference between the two states, in time or money saved or made, is your QUANTIFIED VALUE PROPOSITION.
At Contentive our quantified value proposition is “We will create & move leads through your sales funnel twice as fast or at twice the conversion as other media”.
No brainer, right?
Well, your proposition also needs to be a no-brainer. Craft an irresistible offer by addressing every objection your persona has — from implementation workload to security concerns. Offer tangible benefits, like a 30% savings guarantee, hassle-free integration within 24 hours, or a compelling payback promise.
In short: Show them the tangible savings or earnings and alleviate all risks, making acceptance of your offer a foregone conclusion.
Step 7: Create & Align your Content with the audience’s Consumption Preferences
Spark B2B Engagement with Stand-Out Content
B2B content often blends into the background. To stand out, you must craft content that strikes a chord and resonates where your persona thrives. For a primer on weaving Cialdini’s Principles into your content, from landing pages to sign-ups, watch our quick refresher video: Watch this video
Our clientele, including SaaS leaders like Xero, Sage, and Intuit, have experienced transformational results.
You’re not just creating content; you’re guiding, enlightening, and engaging your audience. Your goal? To equip them with the insights needed to tackle their top priorities using your solutions.
Dive deep into their world by exploring our publications: Accountancy Age, The CFO, and The Global Treasurer. Plus, turbocharge your content’s impact with our AudienceAlign service, leveraging Generative AI and audience interest graphs to amplify intent signals. Want to see the magic in action? Let’s A/B test to elevate your content strategy.
In Summary, We’ve navigated the SaaS marketing maze to finance pros. It boils down to savvy communication, presenting quantifiable solutions, and erasing doubts. Engage, inform, and captivate—right where your audience is.
Ready to double your deal-closing rate? Our sales team is on standby. Reach out and revolutionise your reach: Advertise with us
PS: Mention AudienceAlign when you speak to our team, and we will include a free discovery session with our AI Content studio team.
