Scaling a SaaS Business: 3 Ways PR Can Assist

Scaling a SaaS Business graphic

Every year, SaaS companies set out to change the way we work, communicate and live. Some, like Salesforce, Microsoft or Adobe, become household names. But for every behemoth SaaS business, there are thousands of others doing equally impressive work we know nothing about.

These companies have customers, killer solutions and kick-ass teams behind them. The one thing they’re missing? An avenue for scaling a SaaS business beyond the initial success.

Enter PR.

Public Relations should be a crucial component of any organization’s business strategy. It’s all about helping businesses build strong relationships with their core audiences, whether that be customers, prospects, stakeholders or investors, and influence the brand’s industry perception — both of which are equally important for those eager to scale.

If you’re looking for a solution to your SaaS scaling problem, here are three ways SaaS PR can help.

1. Build Strong Brand Awareness

Have you ever thought to yourself, “We would have no problem scaling our SaaS business if our potential customers just knew we existed?” Sure, you could always fly by on word of mouth, but that’s a less-than-effective marketing strategy in today’s digital world. One of SaaS PR’s greatest assets is its ability to build brand awareness for your target customers. By targeting the publications your audience is reading, touting your brand through expert advice in thought leadership coverage or company news on a platform feature or growth milestone, public relations helps your business get visibility in front of the people you want to establish a relationship with.

2. Position Your Brand as an Expert

Now that your target market knows you exist, the challenge is how to ensure you stand out among the competition. Every SaaS company competes with at least one other business offering a similar solution. The goal is to ensure your audience thinks more highly of your brand when assessing the market. Using PR to tout your subject matter experts’ knowledge through contributed content, expert quotes or robust media interviews will help your audience recognize them as a reputable source. So when they need to think of an industry expert, your brand’s spokespeople are the first to come to mind.

3. Own the Industry Message

While positioning your brand and thought leaders as industry experts, you have the opportunity to own the industry message. Often, competing companies have conflicting points of view. Aside from promoting your company’s core message, one of the best ways to dominate the space is by getting involved in the timely topics happening within your industry. SaaS PR allows you to turn trends into coverage through reactive angles so you can ensure your brand has a lead on competitors trying to insert themselves into the conversation.


PR is the fuel that powers SaaS companies’ scaling engines. If you’re looking for more fuel to scale, contact Lindsey Groepper to learn how BLASTmedia can help.

The 5 Tech Media Outlets That Took Off in 2020

2020 has changed a lot about how we work and live, but one thing that hasn’t changed is the benefit of media coverage. Yes, any B2B SaaS brand wants mentions in tech media outlets to build brand awareness. This year, we’ve seen the need even more. According to Gartner’s CMO spend survey, CMOs rank brand strategy as a top-three strategic priority for marketing. 

If you are a B2B SaaS brand looking for the publications to be in, you’re in luck. We compiled a list of five tech media outlets that really took off in 2020. Read on to see which ones might be a fit to reach your target audience. 

1. The Morning Brew

The Morning Brew might not be all about tech (sadly not all about coffee either), but they are a fast-rising media company with newsletters and podcasts. Business Insider’s parent company, Insider Inc., bought a majority stake in the company back in October, with a reported $75 million valuation. 

Its products include a daily email with 2.5 million readers, three industry-specific newsletters (emerging tech, retail, and marketing) read by 500,000 subscribers, and a podcast with 6 million downloads. With these various channels, The Morning Brew is a unique way to get in front of your audience. 

2. The Markup 

This nonprofit newsroom started in 2018 with the goal of serving the public. They investigate how powerful institutions are using technology to change our society (i.e. Big Tech). 2020 has given them a lot to focus on, with The Social Dilemma putting the spotlight on social networks and anti-trust lawsuits for the big names in tech. I expect them to continue growing in 2021 and beyond. 

3. Medium’s Publications

2020 is a year marked by change. Medium is a big change from your traditional media. It publishes its own publications, allows outside writers to publish on its site, and syndicates content from bigger publications. Nonetheless, it has a massive reach that brands want to be a part of. Some of the publications under the Medium umbrella you need to check out are Towards Data Science, OneZero and Marker.

4. The Information 

The Information’s goal is to write deeply reported articles about the technology industry that you won’t find elsewhere. It must be doing something right, as countless big-name publications follow its stories.  The site covers the inside secrets of big tech companies as well the details of VC transactions. In 2020, its writers have also written great articles on diversity in tech. 

5. Crunchbase

You might be thinking Crunchbase doesn’t fit this list because it’s not a media outlet. While it is a great source for all the details you want on various companies, its blog is why I added it here. 

The Crunchbase blog features thought leadership articles from execs across industries. A great section to check out is their Q&As with female founders. If you’re looking to place contributed content, this is a great place to start. 

As you can see, the media landscape is constantly changing. Don’t be afraid to go after an email newsletter, podcast or company blog for media coverage. If you want to know how to get in these tech media outlets, reach out to Lindsey Groepper.

3 Ways Employees Can Extend the Life of Media Coverage

Earned media coverage is highly sought after, though it is not always easily obtained. In today’s world, the media cycle is constantly churning at an unbelievable rate, giving many articles relevance for only a short period of time. However, your employees have the potential to be some of your company’s biggest advocates, extending the life of your media coverage far beyond what you could do alone.

When a company is featured, quoted or has a contributed article run in the press, employees should feel a sense of pride and excitement. As you work to foster this excitement, there are a few ways you can encourage your employees to leverage the exposure quickly and effectively. Check out some tips on how you can get the most out of your earned media coverage with the help of your employees:

Encourage employees to share on social media

Companies often make the mistake of overlooking one of their most effective marketing assets: their employees. Encouraging employees to promote media coverage on their social media accounts can broaden the reach of the message and increase brand awareness. 

To do this, it is essential to make it easy for employees to find and share the content. Try including it in the weekly company newsletter, sharing it on the intranet or use existing communication channels like Slack or Microsoft Teams –– to make sure you are reaching all employees. This can also include an example post that makes it easy for employees to copy-and-paste.

Promote the use of coverage as sales collateral

Earned media coverage can also be used in sales conversations. When a member of your sales team is speaking with a potential customer, they can use the coverage as a way to show brand credibility through third-party validation. 

For potential new customers or warm leads, they have already shown interest in your company. When looking for a solution or product, many turn to leading publications in their industries for the latest news and trends. By seeing insight from your thought leaders or the announcement of a new feature, it can solidify your credibility and provide the validation needed to help get them over the finish line to purchase your product.

Publish articles on LinkedIn

LinkedIn’s publishing platform allows members to share articles specified to their expertise or interest — just like your thought leaders are doing with media already. Encouraging those thought leaders to share their bylined articles on LinkedIn to extend the life of your coverage by giving it more legs as a new post. Just be sure to credit and link to the original article at either the beginning or end of the piece! 

Companies that are not leveraging their employee networks risk their media coverage being a one-and-done deal. If used properly, you can get additional value from media coverage all while increasing brand awareness and extending your reach through your employee network. If you want to learn more about how to maximize your media coverage, download our ebook, “A Short Guide to Maximizing Your Media Coverage.”

How DocuSign Became Synonymous With Electronic Signatures

When you’re a little kid, your brain often runs wild with aspirations for the future. You may aspire to be an astronaut, a rockstar or a firefighter. For young tech startups, this experience is relatively similar, as founders aspire to grow into the next big brand like Apple or Google. Continue reading “How DocuSign Became Synonymous With Electronic Signatures”

5 Indicators You Should Invest in PR

Public relations can often fall to the bottom of a company’s to-do list. Businesses need exposure, credibility and awareness and PR is crucial in the process of achieving those. While it is easy to put off PR, it is never too late to start your journey. If you find yourself asking “is it time to invest in PR,” look for these five key moments. These indicators are great signals that your company is primed to start a PR program. Continue reading “5 Indicators You Should Invest in PR”

5 Steps to Building a Company Thought Leader

Establishing company thought leaders is an important aspect of building a brand. Whether you’re in marketing tech or the insurance business, there’s bound to be some topics other similar businesses want to learn about from a trusted industry leader. And you can ensure your team is the one to bear that knowledge.

A great thought leader doesn’t just appear out of the blue — but there are a few simple steps you can take to define a thought leader and break into the industry conversation:

Continue reading “5 Steps to Building a Company Thought Leader”