Episode Summary
”Every B2B SaaS company should be a media company,” says Melissa Rosenthal, the Chief Creative Officer at ClickUp and our guest on this episode of Content Logistics.
In this episode, host Camille Trent sits down with Melissa to discuss the importance of B2B SaaS companies operating as media companies. Melissa emphasizes that by creating targeted content and building long-term connections with their audience, B2B SaaS companies can drive significant business growth. She also highlights the benefits of producing evergreen content, which can save time and resources in the long term.
Throughout the episode, Melissa provides valuable insights and real-life examples to support her argument. She also offers practical tips for creating content that stands out in the feed. Melissa also highlights how to plan and execute a media strategy, including hiring and budget considerations. This episode is a must-listen for any B2B SaaS business looking to optimize its content marketing efforts and understand what it means to function as a media company.
Guest Profile
- Name: Melissa Rosenthal
- What she does: Melissa is the chief creative officer at ClickUp.
- Company: ClickUp is an all-in-one productivity platform that allows you to bring all your teams and work into one place.
- Noteworthy: Melissa is an award-winning marketing executive focused on making the world more productive through best-in-class SaaS marketing. Prior to joining ClickUp, she was the CRO/executive vice-president at Cheddar and led BuzzFeed's global creative team.
Key Insights
- Building a media company within the SaaS B2B space is different from operating in a traditional media sphere. It requires a company looking to create such a sub-org under its marketing team to know its target audience and create content that focuses on their specific needs and challenges, as opposed to traditional media that focuses on the general public. Also, a media company in a B2B space has the ability, which is also the goal, to create a community, while traditional media serves members of different communities. ''If we're trying to create a media company for every persona, it's not going to work. So my goal is the highest level — what we can talk about as it pertains to what we want to attach ourselves to, and then start thinking about [...] how we can leverage what we've built with the content we've created.''
- You should create something evergreen that can outlast your paid strategy, even though paid media is the first instance in content distribution, especially when a company enters the market. However, it is more efficient to focus on content created and distributed independently via available platforms, as it enables you to continue building connections with customers without breaking the bank. ''Everyone had an infinite ability to raise capital, and pouring money into ads for growth at all costs made a ton of sense. And now people see when capital dries up, and we're still expected to grow at the rate we were growing before but with less investment into pure marketing. So how do we do that? And the answer is to create content that can outlast that paid spend.''
- Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, which applies not only to traditional art but also to digital formats created by B2B content teams. However, the best-performing pieces have something in common. They are informative, educational, and entertaining. ''On the education side, it informs our audiences of something where there's a valuable takeaway for them, and they can connect that back to how to take an actionable step, whether at work or in their life. [...] On the humor side, the goal is to connect the world in a way where you're all experiencing things together and can laugh together about the ridiculousness of the times that we're in and the things that happen on Zoom calls, at the office, and within our industry. So creating that self-awareness and being like we're all in this together is that extrapolation and the personification of our product as a media arm.''
Episode Highlights
What Is a Media Company?
”A media company is where the content is the product. So they are creating the entire company; their entire revenue stream — or a majority of it — is based on the content they’re creating.
But these companies are complex in the way that they operate. […] They usually have hundreds of people dedicated to creating this content, and then they have people dedicated to mastering the distribution.
But I would also say that’s what it used to be. And the evolution is tied much more to media companies trying to think like SaaS companies in terms of the revenue they’re generating, like ARR. So we’re seeing this interesting inflection point where media companies are trying to have the revenue models of SaaS and SaaS is trying to go into media.”
What Type of B2B SaaS Company Can Benefit From Being a Media Company?
”Every B2B SaaS company should be a media company. And it depends on how verticalized you are. […]
Let’s say you’re targeting sales folks on the B2B side […]. You would start creating content that potentially is a mix of humor and education. […] Get someone who can resonate with salespeople. Maybe a salesperson who has a personality attached to them, and start creating a character out of them and making sure that that character is a through-line through all of the educational content you’re creating.
At the same time, create a more fun strategy where you are doing stuff like wraps about working with other teams and the trials and tribulations of being a salesperson — a weekly or daily wrap, quick bits about things sellers can relate to.
And then also, there are memes and lots of different sales content, funny sales skits that you can create. […] Again, it depends on how verticalized you are, but incorporate your target accounts into some of your content in smart ways.
People love to see themselves talk, and they love to see themselves reflected in the content. So the more you can do that, the more success you’ll have.”
The Two Metrics We Care About the Most in a Media Company
”KPIs at a high level are just impressions. But the core metric I care about the most is the engagement rate per impression. It shows you who’s interacting with your content and what’s resonating the most. […] That’s how you tell what’s working, how many people are sharing it, commenting on it, and tagging other people.
That’s when you can say, ‘Hey, we’re creating a worthwhile conversation that people are compelled enough to share with other people because it resonates with them.’ Or they see other people in it, or it’s a common problem everyone can relate to. So that’s the way I look at it where we have those two metrics, and to me, they’re equally important.”
