đ¨ Tie a face to your SaaS
How associating faces with SaaS brands boosts sales and builds trust
Ognjen Gatalo
July 20, 2023
SaaS Strategists,
We, humans, are visual beings.
We wonât remember numbers, boring details, and metrics.
But what we will remember,
Is a visual representation, an image, a person.
Or how something made us feel.
One effective approach that has gained traction in recent years is tying faces to software brands in order to increase sales and build trust.
Today we dive into the strategy all big SaaS brands utilize nowadays.
Letâs check out how, together đď¸Â
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đ¨ Tie a face to your SaaS
Our subconscious recognizes someone before we do.
Imagine youâre walking down the street and see Cristiano Ronaldo walk by.
Youâll recognize him immediately.
Why?
Because heâs been all over the internet.
Same with all of the big brands out there:
Coca-Cola, Apple, Microsoft, Google, PorscheâŚ
These brands took years to establish themselves on the market.
But what if youâre an anonymous brand?
Just started, 20 paying customers, zero to none SEO strategyâŚ
How can you increase your discoverability in that case?
If only there was a strategy so simple, yet so effectiveâŚ
Well, if you have the $$$, itâs easy to hire Cristiano Ronaldo to be the face of your product.
If not, thereâs this other solution:
You become the face.
Zoom
Itâs 2020.
Midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eric Yuan, CEO of Zoom, starts to utilize this strategy.
Eric started showing up on live webinars, showcasing his product to the world.
He went into the world showing from first-hand experience how using Zoom can help us run meetings normally, regardless of being in the biggest pandemics in the world.
This helped humanize the brand and build trust, which ultimately led to an increased adoption rate of Zoom and an increase in revenue.
Feastables
As mentioned previously, big brands like Coca-Cola, McDonaldâs, and KFC took years to establish their brands on the market.
But in 2023 they face one of their biggest competitor yet.
And itâs not a food chain.
Itâs a single person.
A person that took 6 years to become the largest youtube star on the planet, with more than 170 million YT subscribers.
Yes, itâs MrBeast.
You see, Jimmy (MrBeast), took years to establish his online presence.
And it was one of the highest-leverage activities one can do.
Establish a strong online brand presence
Release products under your brand name
???
Profit!
Simple as that.
Not directly a SaaS, but I wanted to take a look at Feastables - his Chocolate brand
Imagine youâre a 12-year-old kid, walking down the aisle at Walmart.
And you see a chocolate bar with the MrBeast logo.
BADABING BADABOOM.
Immediately your subconscious recognizes the logo before you do.
Now you tie it to his brand, and how his videos made you feel.
No Coca-Cola ad can replace this.
It has already been seen a million times.
This is something new & fresh.
So instinctively youâll want to try it.
Apart from Jimmyâs face, what makes Feastables marketing so good is that he is naming the chocolate after popular memes.
In this case, itâs DEEZ NUTS.
Although itâs funny, his marketing allows him to play with this.
Your product might be a bit more sophisticated, and you wonât be able to pull this off.
But there are still valuable lessons here.
If MrBeast were to launch his SaaS competitor right now, some companies would be in big trouble. đÂ
Slack
Opposite to MrBeast, there are still tactics you can utilize in order to tie a face to your brand and build trust.
For example, Slack used images of real people, including their own employees, in their marketing campaigns and website.
This approach conveyed a sense of authenticity and relatability, making it easier for users to connect with the brand and adopt their team collaboration software.
Look through your user base
You donât have to pay a celebrity to promote your product.
You can simply go through your user base.
Letâs say your software is used by some product manager at Apple.
This could be a big leverage as well!
You can tie your software with the Apple brand, with something along the lines of:
âWe help Apple, decrease their meeting times by 36%â.
Getting in touch with the user is even better.
You could get his first-hand feedback.
A friendly reminder to go through your user base & see if there are some users with some big juicy brand names that you can use.
Youâve seen this a million times. It works. Put it on your website.
Other examples
Nespresso used George Clooney as their face.
Volvo created the iconic âepic splitâ video with Van Damme.
Apple collaborated with Samuel L. Jackson for their Siri commercials.
Microsoft partnered with Jerry Seinfeld in a series of ads to promote Windows.
The list goes onâŚ
And there it is.
One cool strategy you can attack from multiple angles.
Whether hiring a familiar face or just utilizing your existing user base.
This strategy can be adapted to your needs.
Let me know if & how did you utilize it.
Would love to know!
đ Top Tweets
Here are the 2 top tweets from this week:
What is ignored by the media -- but will be studied by historians?
Here's 7 more examples:
— George Mack (@george__mack)
Mar 29, 2023
2 guys created a $600,000 ARR SaaS company without ever meeting in person.
Hereâs how it happened:
— Andrew Gazdecki (@agazdecki)
Sep 3, 2021
đĽ SaaS Fire
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đĄIdea of the Week
Hereâs the SaaS idea of the week:
This SaaS product uses AI to segment customer data and optimize marketing efforts for businesses. The software can analyze customer behavior and preferences to identify the most relevant segments and recommend personalized messaging and campaigns. It can also provide insights on potential customer churn and retention strategies. It can also provide recommendations on how to personalize marketing messages for each segment and predict the likelihood of customer churn.
Pros
Improved targeting: The Customer Segmentation Software allows marketers to target specific customer segments with personalized marketing messages, increasing the likelihood of engagement and conversions
Increased ROI: By targeting the right customers with the right messages, marketers can achieve better ROI and maximize their marketing budget
Cons
Complexity: Some marketers may find the software complex to use and require training to understand the AI algorithms and data analysis tools
Data privacy concerns: Collecting and analyzing customer data can raise concerns about data privacy and security, particularly with new regulations like GDPR
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Hope this issue of SaaS Strats gave you the material to point you in the right direction for your next marketing campaign.
If you liked this one, Iâve still got a lot to cover.
Iâll see you next Thursday.
Ognjen Gatalo
Chief SaaS Strategist âď¸Â