In the Napoleonic Wars, the British navy gained a reputation for its precision and timing. A key tactic was the “broadside,” where a ship would unleash all its cannons in a perfectly timed sequence. This overwhelming force at the point of initial contact often determined the battle’s outcome.
Accelerate growth with a proven framework
You can learn from this historic strategy when building your B2B SaaS marketing plan. After achieving Product Market Fit (PMF), your next move must be deliberate. You have one shot to fire your marketing and sales efforts in sequence, at full strength. A proven go to market plan ensures that every tactic aligns with your growth objectives.
Use this PMF cheat sheet to accelerate your growth and get to scaling your marketing and sales faster. Check out this clip and more on the T2D3 YouTube.
Avoid common timing mistakes
To scale effectively, it's critical that you execute fewer tactics but do them well, and in the correct order. Many SaaS startups waste their “broadside” by jumping ahead before foundational blocks are in place. Here are some missteps to avoid:
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Pricing your product based on assumptions rather than proof of value.
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Building a website before defining your positioning and messaging.
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Creating content without a clear Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) .
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Launching ads without reliable analytics or learning from performance metrics.
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Hiring marketers before defining clear success metrics.
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Building marketing dashboards without properly configured data sources.
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Onboarding salespeople without a defined sales playbook and lead qualification process.
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Creating messaging without validated buyer personas.
Is it time to pivot?
Committing to an ICP or scaling marketing before confirming PMF can be fatal. Watch for these warning signs:
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Low conversion from free/trial/beta to paid users
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High churn or lack of renewals from paying customers
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Low product usage/logins (invest in usage telemetry in your SaaS solution)
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Low engagement with customer-facing content (e.g., high bounce rates, low attendance to webinars)
If you see these patterns, it may be time to pivot your B2B SaaS marketing plan or rework your market focus while still building on your strengths.
Your strategic B2B SaaS marketing plan playbook
Once you have PMF confirmed you’re ready to start sprinting, let’s talk about what you need to do to reach the SaaS growth stages, and in what order. In my experience, I’ve found that 80 percent of all B2B SaaS companies need the same foundational marketing building blocks. This holds true whether you’re marketing to large, enterprise firms or small- to medium-size businesses.
The T2D3 playbook you use to build your first marketing function is like the timing belt to a sophisticated racing car engine. All tactics have to fire at the right time to have maximum impact.
The below video gives a short overview demo of the playbook that T2D3 masterclass users have access to:
Here are examples of the marketing building blocks that are covered in this blog series and more deeply in the B2B SaaS go-to-market plan template provided in the T2D3 playbook:
Foundational building blocks
- Value proposition pillars: positioning that differentiates you in the market you plan to dominate. Download the B2B Value Proposition Template.
- Growth forecasting: Mapping goals and where expected ARR growth is most likely to come from.
- Market sizing and segmentation: Target market segment definition, prioritization, and focus.
- Target audience: Your well-documented ICP and buyer Personas. Download the ICP Template.
- Messaging and content strategy: A messaging framework that maps the value proposition to the things your personas care about, mapped to the main stages of the customer journey. Content to support the journey and the questions your personas have, to support conversion optimization, campaign execution, search engine optimization and audience engagement.
- Brand and visuals: Brand voice and brand visuals to articulate what you stand for, what you promise your audience, and look credible and instill trust. Download the Brand Words Exercise Template.
- Marketing tools: Automation, analytics, and managing your online presence.
- Dashboard and OKRs: Operational weekly dashboard with KPIs that can be translated in the OKR framework to drive team execution.
Execution planning
- Team and resources: either in-house or (partly) outsourced, to deliver the OKR outcomes, and a framework to manage the team and outside resources.
- Marketing budget: Resources planning to have maximum ROI impact.
- Campaign planning: There are a specific set of campaigns every B2B SaaS company needs, ranging from lead nurture, to onboarding and retention.
- Account Based Marketing (ABM): While technically a campaign type, we like to dedicate a complete section to ABM for B2B SaaS companies trying to reach PMF fast.
Ready to scale?
Use the T2D3 B2B SaaS marketing plan templates to structure your go-to-market execution from PMF to growth. Every strategy, framework, and download in this guide is available via our full template library at T2D3 Resources. Enjoy using the strategic marketing plan template and let us know what you think!