Believe it or not, software marketing is not confusing. It's not overwhelming and it's very doable—even if you don't have a degree in marketing. The key is to stop looking at the whole big picture for a change.

That "big picture" view is daunting. If you take a lean and scalable SaaS marketing approach, however, things begin to feel much more clear and spacious.

6 Steps to Grow Your Audience in a Streamlined Way

If you're confused and overwhelmed by that big picture approach, scale it down significantly and start with the very basics. The following six steps will simplify the way you view software marketing, and that will make it more accessible to both you and your growing audience.

1. Start with The One. Ideally, your website and social media content is targeting a range of buyer personas. However, this can get sticky. If you aren't careful, you wind up with lots of content fragments that don't connect or integrate in a meaningful way such that any visitors are compelled to convert or buy. Instead, choose The One, that persona who is most likely to purchase your software and start developing offers, content, social media posts, long format content and CPC campaigns that speaks solely to The One. This gives you a very clear idea of where you've been, where you're at, and where you should head next.
   
   
2. Create timeless content. We refer to timeless content as evergreen content. In other words, this isn't your "2017 Top 10..." list. This is content that is informative, thoughtful, and created using your choice keyword phrases (just enough, but not too much). These blogs and content pages will be evenly targeted to the beginning, middle and end of the funnel—and you'll link to and connect them appropriately—so The One is nurtured at whichever stage they are at in the buying cycle and led to the next micro-step.
   
   
3. Publish a downloadable content piece. Both short and long-format blog and web content is essential, but you also need some downloadable stuff that prospects can sink their teeth into. Write and publish an eBook or white paper that addresses a particular pain point or information gap that is typical for The One. This should also be evergreen since it is now a key part of your materials database.
   
   
4. Promote your downloadable content. Now it's time to spend an entire business quarter (yes—three whole months!) blogging about this one single download. You are going to tackle it from dozens of perspectives, focusing and expanding on each subheading and bullet point. Titles will vary as they highlight salient points, benefits, user tips or FAQs. Each piece of content you publish is an opportunity to entice a website visitor to read more, learn more and become a qualified lead.
   
   
5. Prioritize the CTAs. Promoting is all well and good, but if your CTA isn't compelling, promotions won't generate the action you're looking for. Ideally, you'll want a CTA above the fold to capture those who already know they're interested and to hook visitors who prefer to scan or skim rather than read. Use best CTA practices and then test-test-test to learn which CTAs are the most successful at converting The Ones.
   
   
6. Promote again. Blogs aren't the only place where downloadable content should be promoted. Promote it all again via social media posts and email marketing. Your offers and posts should make an appearance anywhere you're visible to increase audience interest.

If you follow this quarterly SaaS marketing model, your website audience will grow, as will your ability to generate qualified leads from fresh website traffic.