Six GTM strategies to hit $250M ARR

Link Roundups

• SaaSletter - State Of The Industry (Link)

• Corporate Budget Hacks: How to Find More Money (Link)

• 5 Interesting Learnings from HubSpot at $2.4 Billion in ARR (Link)

• AI SaaS Companies Will Be More Profitable (Link)

SaaS Weekly Reads

Are SaaS companies becoming media businesses?

In today's noisy content landscape, where it's harder to stand out and easier to be forgotten, SaaS companies are embedding media businesses inside them. Here’s why.

👉 Today, audiences seek more intimate ways to consume content – favoring creators, podcasts, and dedicated series over generic blogs.

👉 Traditional media excels at capturing attention for two reasons 1) content is the core product, and 2) they own their distribution.

👉 Media properties offer high-reach, low-cost marketing – seamlessly creating brand awareness where an audience consumes content.

Ian Ito @ SaaS Weekly [saas]

Growth Reads

GTM strategies to reach $250M ARR at ActiveCampaign

You don’t build a $250M business off a single strategy. In fact, ActiveCampaign tried six different GTM plays to see what worked.

Here’s the list of plays and the grade they got.

1. Run LinkedIn ads (B)

2. Customer stories and co-promotion (B)

3. Content personalized for specific verticals (B+)

4. On-demand (in-person) workshops (B+)

5. Influencer campaigns (C)

6. Optimizing email flows for activation (A)

Kyle Poyar @ Growth Unhinged [growth]

How to automate signal-based selling

New term, same goal – identify target companies that have high intent. These accounts are easier to break into for AEs, compared to companies that SDRs send mass emails to.

Here’s the rundown.

1. Pay intent vendors who have the signal

2. Create trigger-based workflows to surface those accounts

3. Send low-touch, automated emails to nurture intent with the prospect

4. Have your AEs send tailored messaging to land a demo

Brendan Short @ The Signal [growth]

Marketing Reads

The Zero-Click Email Strategy That Gets Us 40%+ Open Rates

Steal this email strategy to increase your open rates. Use zero-click content to earn the trust of your subscribers.

Here’s how.

👉 Flesh out your premise. Your content should reflect your perspective and guide your readers through your experience.

👉 Define your business goal. Optimize for your content's value – the goal should be to serve the reader, not to (primarily) service your funnel.

👉 Write for the opens, not for the clicks. The emails that win in a crowded inbox are those that promise value before the click.

Anthony Pierri @ Product Growth [marketing]

How To Stand Out in an Ocean of AI Content

The B2B landscape is becoming increasingly more crowded with generic, ChatGPT-written blogs. To have your content stand out, add your unique opinion to the conversation.

Here are the criteria.

👉 Experimentation. Create new content on data you can’t find anywhere else. Run experiments, capture results, and share your findings.

👉 Experience. Write content backed by your experience. Guide readers to a solution by taking them on your journey.

👉 Effort. Earn the attention of your audience by placing big bets on content campaigns. Go the extra mile to serve information engagingly.

Ryan Law @ Ahrefs [marketing]

Lessons From A Founder

GOAT’s Path to Product-Market Fit

Clipboard Health's Wei Deng offers a masterclass in resilience and strategic pivoting. Here are three lessons to learn from.

👉 Embrace the pivot, but move quickly. Deng's six to eight pivots underline the power of resilience and adaptability. Each pivot brings you closer to finding your market fit.

👉 Don’t outsource your customer discovery. Direct conversations with potential customers, like nursing students for Deng, can reveal critical industry pain points.

👉 Being an outsider can be an advantage. Coming from outside the healthcare industry, Deng leveraged her unique outlook to innovate in a stagnant field.

Todd Jackson @ First Round

Podcasts I'm listening to

• Madrona | How Writer CEO May Habib Is Making GenAI Work For the Enterprise (Link)

• Mostly Metrics | Rippling CFO Adam Swiecicki on Building a Compound Startup and Channeling Ambition (Link)

SaaS Weekly Resources

1) The SaaS Weekly Database: Search Thousands of the Best SaaS Articles and Resources

2) Generative AI Tracker: B2B SaaS Companies Adding GenAI Capabilities

3) Chat with SaaS Weekly: Ask Questions Across All Our Articles

SaaSy Social Posts

Last issue’s most clicked links

1. A guide to the wedge marketing strategy

2. Did growth endurance endure?

3. Are SaaS companies becoming media businesses?