SaaS Growth and Why SEO Matters. I did this talk for a crowd at the Mercury Ventures CXO Summit in May 2022. In the presentation I cover how to test and scale marketing channels, why SEO is key for growth, and how to bridge the current hiring gap.

1. Starting Your Growth
Marketing Engine
SaaS Growth and Why SEO Matters

2. 2
Who I Am
MD | Posthuman
(formerly MSC, formerly Phenomenon)
Shane Bliemaster

3. 3
What is Posthuman?
We are a cutting-edge creative growth agency.
What we do: We work at the intersection of growth
marketing and creative.
● Full funnel growth strategy and execution
● Results driven creative
● Cost effective growth
Location: Detroit, MI and everywhere else
Acquired in 2020 by Phenomenon

4. How many of you are
focused on SEO as a
growth channel?
4

5. Who is running
paid ads?
5

6. For SaaS companies, the
formula to scale is smart
channel testing, leaning into
SEO, and being smart about
how you hire.
6

7. What I’ll be talking about
01
SEO and
Content
02
The Hiring
Problem
03
7
Growth
Planning

8. 8
Most SaaS founders believe there is a spigot that can
be turned on for their product. This typically isn’t the
case.
How many of you have thought that you could
“turn the leads on” when you’re ready to scale?
Turn the leads on

9. 3 Key Points for
Growth
Every CEO Should Be Thinking About
9

10. Focus on
marketing
from day one
Key points for growth
01
Find the right
channels
02
Identify and
scale your
growth path
03
10

11. Focus on
Marketing
From day one…
01
11

12. 12
Focus on Marketing
The #1 reason most businesses fail is because they fail to attract customers.
Treat marketing as a core fundamental aspect of your business.
When building your business, you should be constantly thinking about asking and doing
these 3 things:
● Who is your ideal customer?
● What is the plan to get the product you’re building in front of your target?
● Find out what your customers or potentials are thinking.
Journal, document, list your findings. Keep track of everything so it can be used later.

13. Find the Right
Channels
That fit your product
02
13

14. 14
Public Relations
Search Engine Marketing
Social & Display Ads
Offline Ads
Search Engine Optimization
Content Marketing
Email Marketing
Community Building
Business Development
Direct Sales
Affiliate Programs
Existing Platforms
Trade Shows
Offline Events
Speaking Engagements
Channels

15. 15
Find the Most
Effective Marketing
Channels
Bullseye framework: 4-step process
Traction
By: Gabriel Weinberg

16. 16
Strongest Potential
1-3 channels
(highest potential)
Possibilities
Ideas
Bullseye Framework
4 Step process
1. Brainstorm ideas for each marketing
channel and put them in the outer ring.
2. Move potential traction channels to the
middle ring, considering your research,
experience, and knowledge.
3. Test the channels in the middle ring to find
out which could move the needle.
4. Move the best performing channel(s) to the
inner ring and focus on this channel.

17. Identify Your
Path, Stick To It
Find scalable and repeatable channels
03
17

18. 18
Double Down on
Winners
Become an expert on those channels.
Scale them until they dry up.
Let the data/algorithms work for
you (ex. Google Performance Max)
Google
Ads
Affiliate
Organic
Social
SEO/
Content
Scale winners
Potential
Listing
Services

19. SEO/Content:
Your Most
Important
Investment
And most reliable
19

20. 20
Why SEO and Content?
Competition
Most of your competitors
are focused on paid. To win
long term you need a strong
organic/content strategy.
Ad Dependency
You business can’t be
sustained if you’re focused
on paying to scale.
Rising Paid Media
Costs
CPCs are continuing to rise
and advertising is getting
more expensive for SaaS.
Evergreen
Assets
Well thought out assets
can be adjusted, updated
and live for the lifetime of
your business.

21. 21
How/Where to Start
Pillar Pages
A high-level piece of content
that broadly overviews a
core topic and links out to
in-depth articles about
specific subtopics.
Internal Linking
Helps Google understand
the relevance of pages,
the relationship between
pages, and the value of a
page on your website.
Blog Content
Creating educational
content and answering
common market, product
and industry questions.
(1,500-2,500 words)
Site Structure
The structure of your
website shows Google
which pages of your site
are most important.

22. SEO Takes Time
22

23. 23
Results take time
Plan for 3 years, not 3 months.

24. 24
Month 1
Foundational work:
Keyword and
Marketplace
assessment. Site
mapping, indexing,
error fixes.
Month 3
Continued Web and
blog content build
publishing.
Month 2
Web infrastructure:
Strategy and pillar
content.
Month 4
Continued content
publishing. Results should
begin trickling in.
Rankings improve.
SEO Timeline
Month 5
Continued content
and web page
creation.
Month 6
Early stages of scale.
Continued publishing.
Invest Early and Often (mock timeline)

25. They Ask, You Answer
25

26. 26
Which questions
are your
customers asking
Google?
“What is my customer thinking?”
Understand what is ranking in your
marketplace.

27. Fixing the
Hiring Problem
How to succeed in the gig economy
27

28. The Gig Economy
Value > Time
28

29. 29
Most people think Uber, Lyft or Task Rabbit. It’s beyond that.
Upwork, Marketerhire and Fiverr are the future of get-it-done work.
Gig Economy
$455.2 Billion
Gross Transaction Volume
2x growth
Since 2018
Gig economy workers
2018 2019 2020
59MM
Americans
2021 2022 2023

30. 30
Talent you need
Startup
Experience
Been in the trenches.
Knows how to make your
dollars work.
Stay Away From
Traditional Thinkers
You need data-driven
tinkerers, people who
understand the new
internet, not a nice title.
Get a Generalist,
Not a Specialist
Multi-channel experience
helps you test and scale new
ideas. Can explore all
channels.
Risk Takers
Willing to take the risk with
you and invest themselves
into the business.
1. 3.
2. 4.

31. 31
Where to find talent
Linkedin Job Ads LinkedIn Organic
Slack Groups
Upwork
Your Network Growth Agencies

32. 32
Agency Model
Paid Ads
Hiring
Head of Growth
Web Data/Analytics SEO/Content
Agency Strategy
Lead
CEO
The most important relationship

33. 33
In-house model
Paid Ads
Contractor
Embrace remote workers
Web
Contractor
Data/Analytics
Contractor
SEO/Content
Contractor
CEO
Head of Growth
Knows how to hire contractors

34. Takeaways
01
You have to
focus on
Content and
SEO to win.
02
Solve your
hiring problem
by embracing
the new work
world.
03
34
Create a solid
growth plan
and test, test,
test.

35. Credits: This presentation template was created by
Slidesgo, including icons by Flaticon, infographics &
images by Freepik
35
Do you have any questions?
shane@beposthuman.com
Beposthuman.com
@beposthuman
@beposthuman Posthuman