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    Learn B2B SaaS Marketing

    Must-Have B2B SaaS Marketing Skills

    Last updated: May 17th, 2024

    Hiring the right talent for a B2B SaaS marketer can be challenging if you don’t have a clear idea of the essential skills required for this role. After all, the role encompasses a variety of responsibilities, demanding a diverse skill set.

    Here, we detail the must-have B2B SaaS marketing skills to prioritize when evaluating candidates to help you streamline your recruiting process and find the best talent.

    What Are the Must-Have B2B SaaS Marketing Skills?

    Where once a degree was considered an essential prerequisite for gaining a job in marketing, that’s no longer the case. What counts more nowadays are the tangible skills, knowledge, and overall attitude an employee can bring to the team.

    What we call T-shaped marketers, for example, are highly valued by tech recruiters. These individuals boast various skills and varied backgrounds, but are highly specialized in one or more specific areas.

    Here’s the breakdown of the must-have B2B SaaS marketing skills that should be on your radar.

    Industry Knowledge

    Firstly, the candidate must have a strong understanding of the industry, which is a given for almost any job. Therefore, prioritize candidates who have experience in similar roles or have worked with a competitor, and are passionate about marketing. This not only helps to make the onboarding process smoother but also helps the candidate adjust much faster and contribute to the team more effectively.

    Marketing-Specific Skills

    Then, there are some marketing skills that are non-negotiable for a B2B SaaS marketing expert. These include:

    • A strong grasp of SEO principles
    • Knowledge of PPC and email marketing
    • A thorough understanding of B2B SaaS buying journeys and customer personas.

    People Skills

    Much about marketing involves having a deep understanding of people and their motivations. Skills like effective communication and empathy help marketers to better understand their customers’ pain points, as well as connect with their team.

    Problem-Solving

    Adaptability and creativity in problem-solving are other essential traits. Skilled marketers should adapt quickly and change tact as needed to get results. They should think outside the box to find solutions and navigate challenges unique to SaaS businesses, be that long sales cycles or a lack of product differentiation.

    Content Creation and Creativity

    Even if a B2B SaaS marketer is not required to develop content directly, it’s still highly regarded if they can craft creative copy. At the very least, the marketer will be supervising the content creation process and needs to have a good eye for detail. It’s a bonus if they understand good design principles and know what makes a winning landing page.

    Project Management

    Time management and project management skills are vital to any lead position. Marketers often juggle multiple projects and conflicting deadlines, and their ability to manage these efficiently affects team performance and the overall success of marketing efforts – not to mention the business’s reputation.

    Data Analysis

    Marketing specialists should also be skilled in data analytics. All marketing actions involve data collection to monitor progress against KPIs, which are followed up by a system of evaluation. Therefore, your chosen candidates should know how to use analytics tools and track the right metrics.

    Tech Skills

    Considering that SaaS revolves around the tech domain, useful tech-related skills should also be prioritized. For example, basic knowledge in UI/UX design, coding, or web development can empower the marketing leader to notice certain issues and address them independently and, with that, enhance efficiency.

    Remember – it’s these kinds of multidisciplinary skills that make the T-shaped marketer.

    Core Responsibilities of a B2B SaaS Marketer

    Broadly put, the core responsibilities of a B2B SaaS marketer come down to any of the following:

    • Planning, implementing, and analyzing marketing campaigns
    • Researching and designing the marketing strategy and setting KPIs
    • Segmenting and managing contact lists for improved targeting
    • Adjusting campaigns to improve performance
    • Collaborating with other internal teams
    • Managing copywriters and editors
    • Managing PR and external communications
    • Social media management

    Today’s B2B SaaS marketers have an extensive list of responsibilities under their role description. Whether working for a large or small SaaS company, it’s essential that they have a multi-faceted skillset to take on the variety of responsibilities.

    A recent survey of senior marketing leaders revealed that the role of B2B marketers is becoming more complex. 37% of those surveyed indicated that the increased need for specialized tech skills and data analytics capability is the primary challenge when recruiting.

    How to Get the Right Person for the Job?

    Recruitment is a slow process, and there’s an art to selecting the right person for the job. We encourage you to look at recruitment differently and actively seek out what we call talent-trajectory fit.

    Talent-trajectory fit is the framework we use to make a clear connection between your business growth goals and your new employee.

    Start by developing a skills fit challenge or criteria to assess candidates’ abilities. Only those who meet these initial requirements should advance to the next stage of the selection process.

    Related:

    The next part of the process is a little different and aims to understand the motivations and drive behind an applicant. Applicants with a strong ability to self-motivate and seek professional growth should be at the top of your list.

    Lastly, you need to be sure they possess the practical skills necessary for the position. So, assign a task that allows them to demonstrate their competencies in a real-world context.

    Alternatives to Hiring In-House: A Marketing Agency or a Marketing Consultant

    Before deciding to expand your in-house team, it’s worth considering the alternatives. Many businesses overlook the potential benefits of partnering with a marketing agency or marketing consultant, so let’s discuss this next.

    Hire In-House or Agency?

    As anyone will tell you, recruitment is a slow process, and then it takes time to onboard the new employee. Once established in the role, you gain a highly valuable employee, however, it’s an investment to get there. In some cases, you don’t have the time to burn.

    So, should you hire in-house or an agency? The main benefit of hiring a marketing agency or consultant is having your marketing know-how ready to go from day one. Be that a fully functional marketing team or an individual advisor, they do not require the same tedious onboarding process.

    The Difference Between an Agency and a Consultant

    If you decide to hire externally for your marketing efforts, you can choose between a marketing agency and a marketing consultant. Which one you choose will depend on your needs gap. If you have a marketing team in some form and simply need oversight and guidance on marketing strategy, planning, or execution, then a consultant is ideal.

    On the other hand, if you need the full package – strategy development, planning, as well as execution and management – then you need to opt for an agency. A marketing agency can come in with a fully equipped team to cover all bases.

    Wrapping Up

    It’s clear that today’s B2B SaaS marketer needs a blend of technical and interpersonal skills to be successful. When hiring for this role, it’s important to seek candidates who showcase both sets of skills.

    Your next B2B SaaS marketer will ultimately be focused on driving business growth. So, to evaluate the scalability of your SaaS business in its current state, complete our SaaS scalability score self-assessment. You’ll get an idea of where you sit against the competition and how effectively you attract, engage, and convert customers.

    What you should do now

    Whenever you’re ready…here are 4 ways we can help you grow your B2B software or technology business:

    1. Claim your Free Marketing Plan. If you’d like to work with us to turn your website into your best demo and trial acquisition platform, claim your FREE Marketing Plan. One of our growth experts will understand your current demand generation situation, and then suggest practical digital marketing strategies to hit your pipeline targets with certainty and predictability.
    2. If you’d like to learn the exact demand strategies we use for free, go to our blog or visit our resources section, where you can download guides, calculators, and templates we use for our most successful clients.
    3. If you’d like to work with other experts on our team or learn why we have off the charts team member satisfaction score, then see our Careers page.
    4. If you know another marketer who’d enjoy reading this page, share it with them via email, Linkedin, Twitter, or Facebook.