Who is the better hire, SaaS Marketing Consultancy or SaaS Consultant?
Over the recent years, the SaaS market has grown steadily and rapidly. With the rapid shift to digital marketing channels early on during the pandemic, we saw a surge in demand for most B2B SaaS brands.
When we talk to B2B SaaS founders and advertisers who are contemplating collaborating with us, one of the biggest decisions they have to make is hiring a single SaaS consultant or a SaaS marketing consultancy like ours. Yes, we are a SaaS Marketing firm, but we do not believe that every SaaS business looking for outside marketing assistance is served best by a consultancy alone. It truly depends on the use case scenario and what stage your SaaS business is at today.
In general, when SaaS brands are leaning towards a SaaS consultant, they think it is a cheaper alternative and would get more attention from the expert. On the other hand, some firms are wary of the unreliability and lack of professionalism of some SaaS consultants, making them lean towards hiring a SaaS marketing agency instead.
We do not believe any of these approaches will help you make an informed decision alone, and sometimes a hybrid model is best. There are preconceived views based on unpleasant experiences with one or the other, which might stem from SaaS companies not knowing why they selected a SaaS consultant over a SaaS Marketing Agency.
Instead, we believe that a deeper understanding of the roles played by each alternative is the key to making this selection. If you are aware of this and your objectives, you will be more likely to select the best solution.
This article will have an open and honest conversation about these use cases and the better alternative for specific companies. We will also discuss the characteristics of each option to get the fundamental distinctions between a SaaS Marketing Agency and a consultant.
What is SaaS Consulting?
Perhaps out of concern or intrigue, you may find yourself questioning what precisely SaaS consulting is.
SaaS consultants are Software as service professionals who can transform their knowledge into advice SaaS companies use to grow their MRR. In today’s world of specialization, there are various sorts of SaaS consultants.
The most common types of SaaS consultants are those who specialize in marketing. These experts focus on helping SaaS companies improve their marketing strategies.
These specialists may work directly with SaaS companies or through agencies. The latter group usually offers website design, branding, social media management, marketing automation, search engine optimization (SEO), content creation, paid search or paid social.
While these services are useful, they are not always necessary. Most SaaS company leaders can launch their own marketing campaign on a channel or two, without a third party. This means that if you decide to hire a SaaS consultant, you should look for someone who specializes in specific marketing channels for your B2B SaaS.
Increases in revenue growth rates drive two times more market capitalization gain as margin improvements for companies with less than $4 billion in revenues. (McKinsey)
Why Should You Choose A SaaS Marketing Consultancy Instead Of a SaaS Consultant
Now let’s take a closer look at the pros and cons of working with a SaaS marketing Consultancy versus a SaaS consultant.
SaaS Consultants vs SaaS Marketing Consultancy: Pros & Cons
SaaS Consultants:
Pros
- Experienced in the industry
- Better qualified than a generalist marketing consultant
- Can bring deep expertise in a single channel to the table
Cons
- May lack expertise in your specific SaaS niche
- May not understand your company culture and how your work
- May not have the experience to deal with your unique marketing challenges (how one channel fits into others)
- May not have enough time to dedicate to your project if they’re on multiple projects
- Budget overrun due to hourly billing is likely as opposed to agency retainers that are often fixed cost engagements
SaaS Agencies or SaaS Marketing Consultancies:
Pros
- Likely familiar with your industry and niche because they have a wide portfolio of clients
- Can provide highly relevant and scalable solutions
- Have access to resources with deep expertise to move the needle on your SaaS business
- I will keep you updated on industry trends as they emerge to pivot your marketing strategy as needed
Cons
- May charge a higher minimum fee depending on your revenue growth goals.
- Potentially slower turnaround time if your budget doesn’t allow project managers to be on the team to keep the teams accountable.
- May not have access to the highly sophisticated tools needed to move your business forward.
How To Make An Informed Decision About Which Option Is Best For Your B2B SaaS Business
If you want to choose the right kind of B2B SaaS marketing agency or consultant, here are some things to consider:
What Are Your Growth Goals?
Before choosing either option, you must first understand your growth marketing goals.
Do you want to learn how to market your product, or do you want someone to implement it for you?
Sales and marketing consulting are all options for SaaS consultants, who can also specialize in SaaS product consulting or general business consulting. If you need outside expertise to build your brand and business, you will want to hire a SaaS consultant with expertise in B2B growth.
The process of large-scale optimization for SaaS businesses through strategic prioritizing, financial modeling, and sales-marketing alignment is what this form of B2B SaaS consulting is all about. Relying on growth strategies allows SaaS companies to effectively acquire new customers at scale rather than focusing on older strategies that lack the technology to scale. Agencies are typically more equipped to help you implement it instead of just focusing on strategy alone.
Since consultants assist in the growth of a Software as a Service firm, they are qualified to help expand almost any B2B SaaS company. On the other hand, A SaaS Agency typically provides digital marketing solutions for large-scale B2B SaaS businesses.
What is the difference between SaaS Consulting and Traditional Consulting?
A conventional consultant could advise how to improve a company’s overall performance. SaaS Consultants discover and prioritize improvements based on the client’s target market’s extended LTV calculations.
They assist in determining which systems, software, and tactics are beneficial to the organization and which are detrimental.
That appears to be somewhat complicated. So, let us break it down into five simple processes that you will most likely go through while working with a SaaS consultant or an agency.
Saturation: Today’s SaaS buyer is always flooded with new tools/software to help them “improve their business.”
Vanity: Traditional marketing consultants assist their customers in optimizing their visibility to attract leads, which (ideally) lead to sales.
Insight: With the help of your consultant, you have to understand that your service/software is not for all, and selling to everyone would be like setting flames on your budget.
Value: Instead, you concentrate on customers’ LTV (lifetime value) and Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) to find and prioritize growth avenues.
Confidence: Strategies may be ranked depending on LTV: CAC. Likewise, analytics can assist in coordinating marketing and sales to aid in building the company as a whole, rather than simply a lead list.
With this approach, SaaS consultants may transform their influence on their clients. When appropriately targeted using demand generation platforms like paid search within Google Ads, a SaaS consultant may actually move the needle on your B2B SaaS.
5 Reasons Why it is Better to Hire a SaaS Marketing Consultancy Instead of a Consultant
Generally, a SaaS Inbound Marketing Agency is a multi-person organization tasked with putting SaaS marketing concepts into action. These companies might have as few as two workers or hundreds.
However, most SaaS marketing agencies have between 10 and 100 employees, with 50 staff members forming a sizeable agency. Although such consultancies are excellent at developing and executing campaigns, they may not be the best or most cost-effective choice for your business.
On the other hand, B2B SaaS consultants provide services to customers to identify and diagnose problems. They are also responsible for developing strategies to remedy them and drive the organization ahead. The rates-to-time ratio necessary for consultants to make it worthwhile for them isn’t usually a good fit, particularly if you focus on multiple channels. As such, most consultants do not take on a project that requires ongoing management of various channels.
Furthermore, the majority of consultants are not multi-disciplinary. A SaaS consultant should diagnose SaaS issues and establish a plan for your firm to improve and retain its client base. But, they are not developers and should not be coding to remedy particular issues on your site. They cannot help create SEO articles to increase your site’s SERP ranking.
In the section below, let us consider why you should consider hiring a SaaS Content Marketing Agency rather than a consultant.
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SaaS consultant will provide you with the required attention specific to your B2B SaaS.
There is a common misconception that since a consultant has fewer clients, they can devote more time to you. While this may be true in some circumstances, a consultant often has fewer clients and they’re usually only one person.
And a single person with several clients will not always be able to devote extra time or expertise to you. One alternative employs a single individual but serves fewer clients, whereas the other employs a team but serves a larger number of clients.
Generally, a SaaS Marketing Agency will provide you with more attention since they have a large team behind them. Clients are usually attached to the most qualified team member who can deliver according to their needs.
In turn, this team member will work for hand in hand with the client to ensure timely and satisfactory results. Unlike a consultant who has to deliver results for many clients at a go, a consultancy will ensure they have delivered over and beyond the client’s expectations.
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Mode of Delivery
When choosing between a SaaS Marketing Agency and a SaaS consultant, the essential issue is: what do you require them to perform?
When it comes to consultants, they are best for SaaS companies looking for diagnosis and strategic support for marketing or sales. They are also ideal for working with internal teams to execute specific channel strategies in the most efficient manner possible.
Working with a consultant may be quite successful if you need to figure out your channel strategy and have internal teams who will execute on everything the consultant offers (or you have the opportunity to employ).
Audits, work plans, and continuous consulting are some of the most popular services that firms employ consultants for.
Another advantage of working with a SaaS consultant is knowing precisely whom you are dealing with.
In this case, you employ a specific individual with a certain background to perform your diagnosis and plan, rather than hiring a corporation and having a glorified account manager assigned to you.
On the other hand, agencies excel in accomplishing tasks or managing many channels. Suppose you are looking for someone other than a full-time employee to regularly run a channel or execute certain activities, such as managing ad spend or generating the content. In that case, hiring an agency is the better path forward.
Agencies like ours are typically designed to grow and manage several accounts at once without sacrificing quality. They usually do this through a principal point of contact, which is often an account or project manager, who works with internal “marketing geniuses,” typically referred to as SMEs (subject matter experts) or Analysts, to complete the tasks for your organization.
What counts is how well an agency performs for your organization. It does not matter who the specialists or analysts are, as long as they get the results you’re after.
It is also vital to note that it is common for SaaS businesses to utilize both consultants and agencies for the same channel. They can operate well together and provide you with varying views, which aids in finding truth and determining what will work.
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Vast Level of Influence and expertise
Both SaaS consultants and agencies perform an excellent job studying, developing, and executing strategies to attract and retain customers in the long term. Consultants are often considered reliable advisors with cross-discipline knowledge at the top level.
To get to the heart of bigger business difficulties, they usually develop a comprehensive understanding of a client’s strategic concerns. As a result, they can work at senior levels and speak the ‘C’ suite’s language.
A good SaaS Marketing Consultancy, on the other hand, will be knowledgeable in several digital marketing disciplines that can drive growth for your B2B SaaS. They usually have a solid reputation in their field. However, they are unlikely to be asked to comment or offer advice on matters outside their particular area of competence.
At Algocentric Digital Consultancy, we offer SaaS PPC Agency services specializing in designing and enhancing engaging user experiences that drive your business performance.
We assist you in identifying your objectives and developing a strategy to meet your growth goals.
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Scope creep
As mentioned earlier, a consultant is a professional who specializes in one facet under SaaS. It is an expert who provides clients with advice in a specific discipline, such as business, marketing, legal, or auditing. On the other hand, an agency is a collection of multi-disciplinary professionals who work together to complete the numerous duties involved in a specific project.
Algocentric focuses on helping you achieve your business goals online while providing a seamless and engaging experience for your users. Our success depends on enhanced customer satisfaction and increased ROI for your SaaS.
Our project success and company growth have always hinged on working efficiently and cooperatively with internal teams and outside partners to optimize client experiences.
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SaaS Agency Structure
A typical SaaS PPC Agency is generally more structured, with seniority and expertise determining the hierarchy. A modern-day SaaS Marketing Agency brings active professionals who work together to increase your MRR and meet the demands of a variety of other B2B SaaS clients. In turn, this implies that such agencies adhere to a more rigorous and collaborative organizational structure.
4 signs you are ready to hire a SaaS Consultant or a SaaS Marketing Agency
When Trying to Determine Target Audiences or Product Market Fit for your Software Company
Working with consultants is a good alternative for early-stage SaaS startups that have no funding or looking to find PMF. Since they have a limited budget and want to get to product market fit, their needs are not about execution yet. They are simply attempting to provide a foundation for the digital marketing plan. Consultants may assist you in determining who your target audience is, how to reach them, and how to establish and increase brand visibility in the market.
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When in Need of an Execution Plan
If you have a digital plan and strategy from a marketing manager or CMO with professional insights but no team of individual marketers to execute the task, you have two options. The first option is to engage a few execution-focused consultants in the different digital marketing channels you have chosen. If you want to focus on SEO and paid media, for example, you might engage a few people to work on each of those channels. Such professional services are typically offered at most B2B SaaS agencies we’ve come across.
However, keep in mind that they are only one individual with limited bandwidth. At scale, both paid media and SEO require staff to execute well. The second option is to find a SaaS Content Marketing Agency with experience and expertise using inbound content marketing along with a well-versed team of executioners that can also execute across paid media, analytics, and paid social channels.
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When You Only Require Strategy and Guidance
Suppose you are a CEO who has opted to engage one or two execution-only marketers (instead of an experienced marketer or CMO) to manage marketing operations. In that case, you will ultimately require someone whose expertise is driving marketing strategy.
A consultant or an agency may be a suitable match in certain situations. When choosing, one of the most important factors should be whom you believe has better strategic experience. If strategic competence is the most important thing to you, do not settle for anything less than a consultancy. Ensure that the B2B SaaS marketing consultancy you are employing can express strategic options clearly, in order to understand the marketing channels in question.
Furthermore, suppose the produced approach necessitates abilities that are not a fit for your first marketing hires. In that case, a consultant working with your team may only be able to execute a piece of the strategy. In such an instance, an agency might be a great fit since you will need them to execute where your in-house team lacks expertise or skills.
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When Searching for Long-Term Execution
Even if agency employees shift to a different project, the essential systems, procedures, and talent pipeline will remain in place to ensure seamless execution.
Although many consultants engage with customers for years, dealing with a single person has the disadvantage of a single point of failure. Things can come to a halt if the consultant is unavailable, leaves on vacation becomes sick, or suffers anything wholly unrelated to their abilities. This is the danger of relying on a single individual.
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B2B SaaS Consulting with a SaaS Marketing Consultancy
Many B2B SaaS businesses require someone to help them transition from a tactical to a strategic approach in digital marketing. In this case, a SaaS Inbound Marketing Agency will help them turn their strategy into a roadmap and plan the appropriate resources to get the work done.
Algocentric Digital Consultancy is a premium digital marketing agency that provides B2B SaaS platforms with AI-Powered digital marketing services and can help guide your SaaS marketing strategy. If you want to increase the scalability of your business, improve brand equity, introduce a new product to the market, or enhance your customer relationships, contact us or send us a message today.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you choose the right SaaS marketing Consultancy?
It would be best if you asked about their process for selecting clients. Make sure they have a clear understanding of what you expect from them. Ask how long they’ve been in business and determine whether they provide ongoing support for the engagement. They should specialize in helping companies build B2B SaaS brands through content marketing, social media management, SEO, performance marketing, and marketing automation, as well as CRO. They should also supply you with relevant case studies, allowing you to assess them.
What is a SaaS consultant, and what do they do?
A SaaS consultant refers to a Software as a Service professional who uses their experience and digital marketing expertise to advise B2B SaaS organizations to thrive and achieve their business goals.
They will assist you in creating a comprehensive marketing strategy by identifying the best channels to reach your target audience. They will then create a content marketing plan that aligns with your business objectives.
The consultant will also help you identify and develop your online presence across multiple channels, including social media, search engine optimization (SEO), email marketing, web design, and use analytics to measure it all.
Finally, they will implement said strategies using tools like HubSpot, Google Analytics, GetResponse, Active Campaign, or Salesforce.
What does it cost to hire a SaaS marketing consultancy?
The average monthly fee for a SaaS agency varies depending on the size of your company.
However, most SaaS agencies charge between $5,000 – $30,000 per month.
What to expect from a SaaS marketing consultant
- Develop a comprehensive digital marketing channel program
- Improve conversion rates, if they understand CRO
- Enhance lead generation through a specific channel
- Drive traffic to your website through a content strategy typically put in place by consultancies or an in-house CMO
- Optimize your site for SEO
- Track and help you measure results
How much does SaaS consulting cost?
Generally, SaaS consulting costs depend on the project and expertise required by the B2B SaaS business. Usually, the cost of SaaS consulting ranges from $5,000 to $30,000 per month.
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