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Sanjay is a technician and vervotech, a SaaS-based accommodation data provider. He also founded Thexpian.
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There is a lot of hype and debate in the market about growth strategies that work for SaaS businesses. Some say that only a Product Led Growth (PLG) strategy can put a business on a high growth trajectory, like companies like Atlassian and Hootsuite that have been able to build their fortunes on the back of a PLG approach. But companies like Drift and HubSpot may disagree with them because they have achieved huge growth using marketing-led growth (MLG) strategies. So is marketing-led growth the best way to grow a SaaS business, or is a product-led growth approach more effective?
What is the solution to the above conundrum? Which growth strategy should I rely on? I won’t say anything. This article argues what MLG and PLG have in common. This is what I follow at his Vervotech, his self-supporting SaaS company. Before discussing the benefits of this intersection, let’s take a quick look at the two strategies (MLG and PLG) and what they offer and where they are lacking.
Marketing Led Growth (MLG) Strategy
A marketing-led growth strategy (MLG) allows you to grow faster and at scale by using marketing assets such as blog posts, e-books, whitepapers, and infographics to generate large numbers of leads. This strategy also includes search engine marketing (SEM). This is one of the most cost-effective ways to significantly increase brand awareness.
Moreover, building a SaaS business will give you a target market. Aligning brand messages across brand communication channels with the help of surveys and polls can further target and attract that market.
MLG also provides flexibility for growth strategies. You can change your marketing message at any time. If your current campaign isn’t delivering the results you want, you can test and pivot a story that resonates with your target market.
One of the downsides of MLG strategies is the actions prospects need to take in your marketing campaign, such as filling out forms or downloading marketing assets, that don’t guarantee a purchase intent or a sale.
Product Led Growth (PLG) Strategy
In the Product Led Growth (PLG) framework, your product drives all customer acquisition and maintains revenue stream through self-signup.
PLG allows customers to experience the product immediately. Customers don’t have to put up with constant sales messages or sit on demo phones. When your customers love your product, it shortens your sales cycle significantly.
Like any growth strategy, PLG has its drawbacks. Focusing solely on PLG can undermine other important aspects of the business, such as branding, and hinder growth in the long run.
Another potential drawback of PLG is promoting the product as a core marketing channel. As such, there is always the risk that customers will not recognize the value they provide. A widening gap between perceived and delivered value can lead to fewer signups and reduced revenue.
SaaS growth from the intersection of MLG and PLG
Both approaches have their strengths and weaknesses, but there is no one-size-fits-all growth strategy for SaaS businesses. For example, not all products are as simple as Hootsuite. Since most SaaS products are inherently complex and few people are willing to buy from strangers, just riding PLG can backfire. Silos can exist between consumer expectations and your product if you are not communicating value to your customers. There is a possibility.
However, you can’t rely entirely on marketing to get qualified leads. Marketing can slow growth because of the long buyer cycle. So the answer lies somewhere between MLG and PLG. You should not insist on using one strategy over another. By driving growth from the intersection of MLG and PLG, you get the best of both worlds. Let me show you how.
When we described both growth scenarios, the main drawback of MLG that became apparent was the intent of the leads, which don’t always translate into sales. But it can certainly help put your brand in the public eye and ultimately boost your sales. It was a potential difference between perceived value and actual value delivered that could arise due to lack of communication from
So when I advocate driving growth from the intersection of MLG and PLG, the marketing function creates the right amount of noise among the target audience, builds authority, and serves both the short and short term. It means you need to focus on building your brand name. long term. They should also continue to use all cost-effective methods such as SEM and content marketing to attract more customers to their platform.
At the same time, the product should be readily available to customers with minimal friction. Prospects should be able to organically experience the look and feel of your product. You can strategically decide how much access to give your prospects and when to sell organic signups. In this way, you can keep all your growth channels active and take full advantage of both your MLG and PLG growth strategies.
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