How to Position SaaS for Global Trust and Growth

This is one of the biggest SaaS giveaways I’ve ever done. We’ve pulled together 15+ years of SaaS growth strategy into one flywheel and I’m sharing it freely. Here's the link: https://lnkd.in/gqYQE8dR. Here's a quick brief 👇🏽 It’s the same system we’ve used with B2B SaaS companies scaling from $10M to $100M ARR, especially when growth stalls, teams are stretched, and marketing feels busy but disconnected. If you're leading marketing or growth and any of this sounds familiar:  - SEO, paid, and content are active, but not aligned  - Spend is up, but pipeline isn’t moving fast enough  - Lead gen looks good on paper but doesn’t translate to closed revenue  - Sales pushes back on lead quality  - You’re under pressure to prove ROI, but the numbers don’t tell the whole story This resource is meant to help you reset and cut through the noise. Inside, we walk through: 1/ How to craft SaaS positioning that speaks to the right buyers — and filters out the wrong ones 2/ The *Authority Architecture* — a website framework designed to turn traffic into pipeline 3/ The three SEO pillars that consistently drive qualified traffic and bottom-line results 4/ Our *Buyer Awareness Matrix* — a practical model for building content that converts at every stage 5/ A smarter approach to lead magnets — built for high-quality prospects, not vanity metrics 6/ How to align sales and marketing around revenue — without forced SLAs or artificial handoffs If this sounds helpful, you can read the entire thing here: https://lnkd.in/gRE_YmeW?

In the early years of building Software Finder, we lost a $100,000 deal. It was a painful moment. On paper, we had the right offering. Our platform was competitive, even more affordable, and seemed perfectly aligned with their needs. We should have won. But we didn't. The feedback was stark: "You're saying the right things, but we don't see third-party validation. Working with a newer company like yours feels too risky." That was the moment I realised: we lost on trust. We were focused on what we said about ourselves. We forgot what the market truly needs to see to believe. They liked our price, even our website, but our glaring absence on social media - no human faces, no one else talking about us - made us a silent risk. Here’s what I learned (and what every B2B SaaS founder should know): 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮. Social proof, case studies, testimonials, certifications, these aren't just "nice-to-haves." For enterprise deals, they are deal-breakers. 𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 We were active, but we never showed the people behind the work. No faces. No voices. And buyers notice that void. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 It’s built in your content, your customers' words, your consistent visibility in the market and yes, even in how active your team is online. This was an epiphany for Software Finder. It forced us to rebuild our "trust layer" not just for our brand and our offering, but to understand deeply how we could help the vendors on our platform build theirs. Because no matter what you're offering: software, services, or a connection between the two - if trust isn’t visible, it simply doesn’t exist. If you’re early-stage and chasing big deals: - Get testimonials early. - Put your team front and center. - Make trust part of your strategy from day one. Build trust before you pitch. Build it where your buyers already are. And build it in a way they don't need to ask for it.

Most B2B SaaS companies miss the mark when it comes to messaging and positioning. They try to pack in EVERYTHING, including buzzwords, every feature, every new industry trend and end up with some convoluted SaaS-speak nonsense that most of the buyers don't understand—and certainly don't act on. The biggest mistake? Competitive copycats echo buzzwords no human has ever said aloud. And "final" copy ships without hearing a single customer heartbeat. Companies forget that every line is a promise of a better workday. When the promise feels real, your buyers remember. Here's my 6-step plan, built on research, refined by emotion: 1. Immerse yourself in your customers' day. Note every frustration and workaround. 2. Interview for emotion. "What stressed you out? What would have made you proud by week's end? What keeps you up at night?" Record their exact phrases. 3.. Map the gap. Tear down five competitors to spot the pains they ignore; the problems they're not solving. Plot where your buyers are feeling underserved. 4. Write the narrative from the lens of empathy. Keep it simple: A one-sentence value prop plus three proof pillars. Tie each of these to a concrete benefit (e.g., time back, confidence up, career impact stronger). Keep it simple. Read it aloud. Read it to someone outside of your industry. Do they grasp it quickly? Or do you have to explain it? If you do, this is a big 🚩🚩 and you need to go back to editing. 5. Draft your MVP and test, test, test. Drop lines from your narrative into ads, nurture emails, and BDR scripts. Track not just the clicks, but the RESPONSE. Did your message resonate? Did the prospects repeat your promise back in their own words? 6. Take your test winners and create a one-page playbook with example stories and customer quotes so that every single teammate can deliver it verbatim—and believe it. ⚠️ Pitfalls to avoid: - Buzzwords that sound impressive but echo no real pain - Internal acronyms or lingo that your buyers have never heard - Value props so long your reps need cue cards - Claims with no data or customer voice behind them - Skipping sales and CS feedback—the people closest to the emotional stakes Great messaging is a mirror reflecting your hopes and headaches. Start with their words, show the better life your product unlocks, and they'll feel—and respond—to the truth.

The two best SaaS positioners in the game are April Dunford & Anthony Pierri. Here's their entire philosophy distilled into 10 actionable steps. Positioning will become the most important early differentiator for SaaS cos. Here is everything you need to know about their philosophies in 10 chronological bullets with clear action steps and “did I do it right?” gut checks if you read this, imo, you will know everything they have to teach about positioning: Surface the real alternatives: Action → Ask five recent buyers: “If we didn’t exist, what would you use?” List every answer (including DIY hacks and ‘do nothing’). Gut check → Your list contains at least one spreadsheet/workaround and one direct competitor. Isolate your unique attributes: Action → Circle the features or capabilities no alternative offers together the way you do. Gut check → You can count these on one hand and explain each in a single sentence. Translate attributes into value: Action → For each unique attribute, finish the sentence: “Which means the customer can now ___, and that’s worth ___.” Gut check → The blank is an outcome a CFO would care about (revenue up, cost down, risk removed). Spot the customers who feel that value hardest: Action → Rank segments by (pain intensity × willingness to pay). Pick the top one. Gut check → You can name your ICP in 12 words or fewer: “Seed–Series A PLG SaaS, 10–50 headcount, no in-house RevOps.” Choose the market frame that flatters you: Action → Decide whether you win as a new category, a sub-segment, or the best-of-breed alternative; write one headline for each and pick the clearest. Gut check → A stranger can read the chosen headline and immediately name your closest competitor set. Craft the one-line positioning statement: Action → Fill the template: “[Product] is a [category] for [ICP] that [main value] by [unique mechanism].” Gut check → It fits in a tweet without jargon and your team can recite it verbatim. Write a hero section that passes the “what/for-whom” test: Action → First line states what it is; second line states who it’s for and why they care. Gut check → Show the page (no scrolling) to someone outside tech; they can explain your product back to you in 15 seconds. Back the claim with proof, not hype: Action → Add one killer metric (“cuts onboarding time 43 %“) or social-proof logo inside the first viewport. Gut check → You quoted an actual number or recognizable brand—no adjectives needed. Align every feature and piece of copy to this position: Action → Review roadmap and marketing assets; kill or rewrite anything that doesn’t reinforce the statement from Step 6. Gut check → You can draw a straight line from each feature to the ICP’s top pain. Re-validate quarterly: Action → Repeat the “alternatives” interviews every 90 days; if answers shift, loop back to Step 2. Gut check → You’ve updated (or reaffirmed) your positioning at least twice in the last 12 months.

Ask anyone in the B2B SaaS space and they’ll tell you how much more competitive the industry has become in the past few years. Democratization of technology has brought its accessibility to an all-time high, and the competition is fierce. Customer loyalty is no longer built simply on what a product does, but on the tangible, measurable value it creates for the customer. The most successful SaaS companies are moving beyond transactional relationships. They are putting more thought into becoming indispensable strategic partners by understanding their customers’ broader business challenges, improving their operational maturity, and directly contributing to their bottom line. Here are five strategic approaches that I believe add real value to a SaaS product: 1. Leveraging data for business value Customers need tangible business value from software solutions. SaaS businesses need to understand usage pattern data and spend time understanding which features are most used by high-value customers. This will help them assess their current and future software needs while maximizing the solution’s potential. 2. Bundle for the customer, not the business Customization is the name of the game. Bundle services and customize packages that help customers scale sustainably and in a way that makes sense for their business – not just yours. Design for extensibility, through APIs, modular components, and ecosystem integrations. Give customers the flexibility to mold the product to fit their evolving business needs. This creates long-term stickiness and positions the product as a strategic partner rather than a tactical tool. 3. Champion security resilience Customers assume uptime and compliance as table stakes. What acts as a differentiator is a proactive approach to resilience with self-healing infrastructure, real-time anomaly detection, and zero-trust security principles built into the product. Demonstrating that resilience is part of the architecture builds trust and reduces the reliance on external teams. 4. Consistent education is key Standard onboarding processes no longer cut it. Instead, invest in a continuous education platform, including certification courses, advanced workshops, or personalized onboarding paths, that empowers customers to become experts themselves. Include your product team in the educational exercises, instead of simply relying on customer service teams. This benefits not only the customers but also your product teams. 5. Build adaptive roadmaps Static roadmaps don’t resonate in dynamic markets. Instead, build adaptive roadmaps that incorporate customer feedback loops, industry signals, and emerging technology trends. This ensures the product evolves in ways that continue to support the customer’s needs. Let me know what steps you take to add value for your customers in the comments.