Oh boy.
This is quite a topic. The good news is, as a CTO I’m sure you’re up to the challenge.
The bad news (or potentially good news) is there’s no one sized fits all approach to how it will work best for you.
SEO, PPC and all the permutations of it are tools you can use to apply the principles of consumer behavior and consumer psychology.
Before you start playing around with any of the tools, you need to go back and learn the first principles.
Learn why people buy (to solve a problem, avoid pain, or gain pleasure) and what that means in context (what is your target demographic looking to gain?).
I highly reccomend you start by establishing a strong background in consumer psychology specifically.
These days, people are looking for brands that are a reflection of them, and their existing beliefs.
Good marketers can sell to these people. Great marketers can convince them that a brand is an extension of them.
I’ll let you guess which group brings in a higher LTV customers.
Once you understand what drives people to buy, you need to understand the competitive landscape.
Learn about competitive analysis – specifically to highlight where you differ from the competition.
In other words, what value do you bring that your target market is looking to gain that your customers don’t.
SaaS founders are usually great at telling me what makes their product different from others.
But they aren’t great at telling their target customers why they should give a damn.
Don’t be like that. Connect your USP (unique selling proposition) back to the psychological forces urging them to buy.
Then and only then, once you understand those principles, get into messaging.
Get breakthrough advertising. It’s fucking pricy, but it will help.
Learn how to tailor copy. Its not enough to know your USP and know how it will solve problems or provide benefit for your target market.
You need to be able to tell them that in a way they understand.
You also need to connect with their underlying need.
Too many SaaS/tech companies don’t do this!
They are content to say “my product does this, and this which is why you should buy” rather than “You have X problem, and here is how my product will help you solve it”.
Once you understand all this stuff, then SEO, PPC and all that really boil down to the following steps:
1: Find people that have a problem that your product solves (PPC Prospecting, SEO)
2: Convince them that you can solve it better than than what already is out there (SEO, Email Marketing, PPC Remarketing, Social)
3: Close the deal.
4: Maximize customer LTV by upselling additional offers from the core offer. This means understanding what other problems your target demo may have. (Email, PPC remarketing, SEO occasionally).
This is a huge topic and I’m barely hitting the surface here, but I hope this gives you more direction to get going.
Good luck!