Category: SaaS Branding

A coworking space is a virtual office space shared by groups of independent freelancers. Utilizing a virtual office gives freelance professionals an instant branding boost. Coworking spaces free freelancers from the high cost of renting and equipping independent office spaces.

What is Coworking & What are the Benefits?

This fall sees the official opening of The Ranch Office in Houston. However, The Ranch is a little different from neighboring offices occupied by top Houston designers and automotive insurers. This is because The Ranch Office is Houston’s hottest new coworking space.

Busy Ranch yes people don’t populate office desks and conference rooms. Instead, every inch of The Ranch is at the disposal of Houstons vibrant freelancer community.

Coworking & Virtual Office Benefits

Gone are the days of freelancers sitting behind dusty typewriters preparing submissions for Readers Digest.

As of 2018, almost 50% of millennial workers freelance professionally. Moreover, according to freelance marketplace UpWork, freelancers are set to become a workforce majority in the United States by 2025. There is just one problem.

• Freelance clients increasingly prefer to work with individuals backed by a bonafide business address
• Office set up costs are prohibitive for many freelancers
• Working as a freelancer can also be socially and emotionally isolating

Coworking spaces like The Ranch, therefore, strive to offer freelancers a solution to each of the above concerns.

Coworking Spaces Boost Brand Visibility & Trust

Affordable coworking spaces like The Ranch, provide individuals and startups with a real-world business address. The result is an instant image boost. However, specialty coworking and virtual office spaces like The Ranch, also go one step further.

• In Houston, Ranch Office users can take advantage of for-purpose conference rooms
• High-speed internet and basic IT infrastructure costs (copy, printing, etc) are bundled into monthly price plans
• Coworking space areas can also host private events and freelancer exhibitions

Increased Productivity Benefits

Being a freelancer is hard. Individuals have to manage their workflow, client accounts, and product marketing 24/7. Thankfully, for-purpose co-working spaces alleviate some of these stresses. Specifically, by allowing freelancers to settle into a daily routine in a real-world office. 

Coworking Networking Benefits

As a freelancer, it can be easy to start living life exclusively via social media. Thankfully, coworking changes this by providing a one of a kind opportunity to network with other freelancers face to face. At the same time, freelancers can also build more meaningful client relationships. Specifically, by scheduling appointments and meeting with real-world clients in person.

Freelancer Bottom Line Benefits

Working from home can be rewarding. However, homeworking also has several limitations. Coworking spaces like The Ranch, therefore, allow freelancers to benefit from access to a centrally located real office. All without having to sign high-cost long-term lease agreements with regular office space providers.

Work From Anywhere

For those freelancers who starting a freelance business, that does decide to take their brand to the next level, coworking doesn’t have to come at the expense of surrendering their mobility. At present, coworking spaces can be found everywhere from the Azores to the furthest reaches of the Australian Outback. The only question, in this case, is where would you like to work today?

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1. Plants

When you bring the outdoors indoors you bring a part of nature to your office. Plants can help to keep the air clean and pure and they can give you a much-needed change of pace. They are appealing visually and they help to add an ambiance to the area.

The best plants to incorporate into an office atmosphere include the Spider or Airplane plant. This plant is easy to grow and will help to purify the air and it will send off babies that are called airplanes or spiders to create more plants. You can also opt for the Peace Lily that is easy to care for and cleanse the air or the English Ivy. These grow well and can help to reduce mold. Water features are now also available for indoors and these from Soothing Company are excellent options.

2. Freshen-Up

There are many great personalized desk accessories and one of them is plants. If you can’t pain, you can readily use storage boxes or magazine holders to create your own personal ambiance.

One way is to use blackboard paint over a storage box and you can then use the outside of the box to make memos or notes of the contents or just to personalize your space.

3. Alternate Lighting

You can also decorate your office with alternate lighting. Change the tone and light up darker areas of your office with mini lamps or LED mason jars. This can give a clearer working area and help to set the pace.

4. Tidy Up

Be a little bit OCD about tidying your desk. Use accessories to keep things neat and tidy such as mason jars or simple boxes. A bit of decor that is all in the same theme can brighten your mood and tidy your desk nicely.

A clean desk makes you more productive and it helps you to focus more on the tasks at hand during your workday.

5. Post It Art

Everyone has seen pixel art. Why not try some post-it art? A man in San Francisco gave his desk a makeover with some creative post-it art. He used just over 8000 post its to create a floor to ceiling portrait of a superhero. Entire office teams can join in and have fun with this sort of project. The best part is that it can be moved around and changed at whim without damaging anything. No need to paint, remove walls or adjust anything just use post-it notes and have fun as an office.

Do you need to stay focused and energised at work – these tips will help you do just that.

Good Sleep

Get a good night’s rest before you go to work. The best way to achieve this is to have a comfortable sleep setup and this can be achieved with a great mattress. The mattress one mattress is meant to be great and can really be the foundation of better sleep and more energy.

Workout In The Morning Before Heading To Work

Taking on regular body workouts moments after waking up does more than warm you up. It helps keep the blood pumping making you feel refreshed. Just remember to take a shower and a good breakfast to push you through the day.

Take A Power Nap (20-Minute Nap)

While sleeping on a job isn’t recommended, studies show that taking a 20-minute power nap helps to rejuvenate body processes for the rest of the day. The power nap enables brain muscles to relax thus improving your concentration – especially in the afternoon.

Don’t Hold Grudges

Anger and emotions can affect your performance and output at work. Holding grudges with coworkers and even people outside the workplace takes up lots of energy in the process, and can be distracting as well. Most people only mask the emotional baggage they have on their coworkers, a habit that only drains their energy even farther. The best way to remove personal grudge is by reconciling with the persons you have wronged (or vice versa). This eases pressure on your mind.

Laugh

Laughing at anything funny, jokes included, helps the body produce endorphins. Endorphins are feel-good hormones that make someone happy and have a jovial mood.  You can either look for friends to crack jokes and have fun conversations with or even make YouTube your friend. There are plenty of humorous and funny video clips on YouTube that can make you laugh even if you are not in the mood to. Consider having your dose of laughter a few minutes after lunchtime when everyone goes into the afternoon slumber mode.

Take A 15-Minute Brief Walk

Taking some time away from your station/office can be a great way to re energize. Take a few minutes’ walk outside, in the streets, or even the park to breathe the fresh air. Don’t bring your smartphone along, as this could be distracting. A 5-minute walk outside the workplace is good for your heart and helps keep the blood moving. Doing this keeps you feeling energized and sharp through the remaining hours at work.

Have a Good Read

Reading an exciting novel or even a storybook not only helps clear the mind but resets your energy as well. Reading one story or a chapter after lunch gives you a sense of completion is entertaining, and helps bring the confidence and drive you had in the morning. If you however aren’t sure where to start, you could try Rudyard Kipling or even Mark Twain for inspiration.

Resolve Disagreements with Colleagues or the Boss

Running away from conflicts and disagreements will only put more weight on your shoulders, which can be tiring at times. Instead of running away, confront any issues you might have head-on, but in a diplomatic, empathetic and open manner. How you approach some of these disagreements will determine how well you will relate with the colleague or the boss. Some of the strongest relationships and friendships out there started out with a challenge or a disagreement.

Lend a Hand or Ear to Someone or Even a Colleague

Although most people walk with their heads held high, many of these are hurting inside. Lending a listening ear or a helping hand can help put a smile on their faces. Positive energy can be transmitted from one person to another, doing something nice for a friend, colleague, or even your boss will not only light up their hearts but also give you a gratifying feeling. This trick works wonders in helping you remain focused and energized through the day.

Providing software as a service rather than an installation package has great advantages; it allows clients to use your software from any remote location without expensive hardware. However, there are so many SaaS providers available online that it is vital to have an effective branding strategy to differentiate yourself from the crowd.

Here are some useful tips that can help you to brand your SaaS business communications:

1.      Create a Distinctive Logo

How you design your company logo says a lot about your firm. It acts as your brand identity and builds loyalty amongst your customers. To create a distinctive logo, keep the following in mind.

• Focus on the message you want to communicate. If your SaaS application is targeted towards small businesses, your message could be focused towards entrepreneurs.
• A good logo is scalable and easy to reproduce. It should be able to fit on a business card or extrapolated on a large poster without disrupting the picture quality.
• Your logo can also be used to express the major benefits of using your application. For example, if the main feature of your software service is speed, then a lightning bolt can promote this feature.

Photo credit https://unsplash.com/photos/G9_Euqxpu4k 

2.      Choose Your Brand Colors Carefully

The next step in building a strong brand is to choose the right colors. You don’t need many colors to impress your audience. In fact, some of the world’s strongest brands such as Google and McDonald’s use simple and fewer colors in their business communications. Notice how Salesforce, for instance, uses a logo with just one blue color.

People react differently to different colors. Each color has its own personality and it can help you build an emotional connection with your target audience. The color red captures attention, while yellow, resonates happiness. Hence, a combination of two or three essential colors can help you build a strong brand image.

3.      Focus On What Makes You Unique

Adding a tagline below your logo or on top of your brochure can make your SaaS application more attractive. However, your tagline should be closely related to your business model and reflect every aspect of your service. Always focus on what sets you apart from your competition.

An essential element of creating a unique brand is to focus your business communication towards your target market. You need to be well aware of how your target audience will respond to your branding strategy and choose your themes accordingly.

4.      Use Engaging Imagery

Adding engaging imagery in business communication can help SaaS providers in many ways, including building an emotional connection with clients and helping users retain information for longer periods. Consider making use of infographics; these allow you to communicate complicated information in a way that’s easy to digest. When creating printed marketing collateral, try making use of full-color photography to give audiences a better look at your product or the people who represent your brand. This is especially important for collateral that packages other, less visually engaging materials, such as branded marketing binders. CompanyFolders.com showcases how creative you can be with your design, featuring the large variety of print design options available these days. Taking advantage of different print materials and imprint selections will surely help in crafting the best end result.

5.      Be Straightforward and Honest

One thing your clientele might not tolerate in your SaaS marketing is over-commitment. If your customer feels that your software is not able to deliver what you initially promised them, you might lose them to your competitors. Therefore, it is very important that you are straightforward and upfront about your software service while promoting your brand.

6.      Ensure Consistency Across All Mediums

Ensuring consistency in all mediums of business communication promotes brand recognition. As a SaaS provider, you need to make sure that your logo, color scheme, and taglines are the same across the board. This reflects professionalism and strong business practices—and helps with customer retention, as well.

Having a strong brand is vital for remaining ahead of your completion in the 21^st century online marketplace. Apart from developing quality software, SaaS providers can build long-lasting client relationships by implementing these effective business communication strategies.

 

Guest author: Molly Gibson Kirby

You know your SaaS company has a really good free trial, but are enough people converting to paying customers after the trial?

Probably not.

Typical trial conversion rates from a visitor to a customer in SaaS are 2%. This means if you have 10,000 web visitors, 200 will become free trial users and 30 of those users will become paying customers. Increasing these numbers are one of the biggest pain points for SaaS marketing departments.

In order to get your trial users to become paying customers, you need to make your free demo something these prospects can’t live without.

If you want to better your SaaS free trial, you need to change your strategy. It is possible to upgrade your conversion rate from 2% and that’s where this article comes into play.

In this article, we’re sharing 5 effective SaaS product trial strategies you can start using today to acquire more paying customers.

Two Types of SaaS Trials

For the majority of software products, the question isn’t – should I have a free trial? The question is – what sort of free trial should I have?

When creating a SaaS product trial, it’s important to note which type of trial your company is offering. Below are the two different types to decide between.

Opt-out Free

Opt-out trials are the free trials that require a credit card to begin. The free trial will turn over into a subscription at the end of the trial if the prospect does not opt-out.  If a free trial requires a credit card, the average visitor to retained customer conversion rate is around 0.6%.

This type of trial needs to have hard work behind it in order to get people to give out their credit card information before the trial even begins.

Opt-in Free

The Opt-in trials are the free trials that can be started without a credit card. Prospects will need to opt-in to a subscription by providing payment details during or after the trial is finished.

According to Totango, if a credit card is not required, the visitor to retained customer conversion rate increases to approximately 1.2%.

This type of trial needs to have hard work behind it to get people to become customers once the trial is up.

Now that you understand the types of free SaaS product trials, let’s get started on the strategies we know that help boost product trial ROI.

Make Sign Up Simple

The fewer barriers that you put in the way, the more likely it is that people will sign up and opt-in for your SaaS trial.

Consider what information your SaaS company needs for the free trial. This goes back to the two types of trial sign-ups. Are you going to do an opt-in or an opt-out free demo? This will determine if credit card information is needed in the form.

Keep the signup short, don’t ask for a separate username, simply use their email as a username.

Also, consider using social logins for account creation. This has become a popular feature for many SaaS companies and makes it easier for people to get started on their free trial without wasting time inputting all their information.

Create Engaging Content

In addition to having a free trial, creating content that relates to the SaaS demo is pivotal.

Users may have questions or concerns about the trial. Having the content that answers these questions will allow them to feel like your SaaS company is credible and authoritative. Start by creating a landing page for your free trial. Include an FAQ section on this page and a how-to guide on using the software, so people see it right when they sign up. Then make sure you have content regarding the free trial and how it can solve a customer’s problem on your blog.

Once you have these key pieces of content, get creative and begin to think of other ways to add valuable and educational content where it fits.

Show Your Value

However good your SaaS product is, the simple truth is that no-one will buy it if they don’t believe they need it. You need to show people what your product can do for them.

Articulate your value proposition on your website, landing page, content and in all marketing campaigns. Once you do that, any visitor should be able to tell what you offer, who needs it, what they will gain having it and finally, why they should choose your company.

Take Salesforce for example.

On their 30-day free trial landing page, they provide everything we just mentioned above.

Value Proposition: Sell Faster. Sell Smarter. Sell the way you want.

What’s offered: Sales Cloud

Who needs it: Canadian companies with a focus on sales managers

What they gain: lead management, opportunity management, sales forecasting and a mobile sales office.

Why choose Salesforce: Trusted by thousands of Canadian customers.

Salesforce does an incredible job at showing their value without sounding too preachy. When creating your SaaS free trial landing page, be sure to include these five sections we just mentioned.

Fix Your CTA

The effectiveness of your Call to Action (CTA) can make or break your marketing. It is the one piece that actually gets your visitors to take action – hence the name. A CTA should make visitors want your product, it should create an urgency for signing up and it should be an easy-to-use form!

Make your CTA visible on the homepage. This allows new visitors to see the CTA, hook them into thinking they need to try the free trial and have them easily sign up right then and there.

Exit Survey

On the same note as engagement, it’s imperative that you conduct an exit survey once someone is finished their free SaaS trial. If a user doesn’t move to a paid plan, it’s valuable to know why. After a week of not upgrading, an email should be sent out to ask why they cancelled.

Sometimes they leave because it wasn’t what they were looking for, but sometimes they’re not fans of a specific part of the trial/software. The latter reason usually can be fixed with needed changes or upgrades to the software.

As you may have noticed, user feedback is key when bettering your SaaS trial.

In the End

In the end, if you apply these strategies and tips, your SaaS trial should perform better. It’s possible for the conversion rate from a trial user to a paying customer to increase from 2%. It will just take time, commitment, user feedback and a handful of a/b tests.

Are you ready to better your SaaS product Trial ROI?

 

Author’s Bio 

Molly Gibson Kirby is a writer and marketing strategist at Roketto, an inbound marketing agency in British Columbia. She dives deep into the world of inbound marketing on a daily basis and writes about this fundamental shift in business on Roketto’s blog. When not writing, she’s either on her yoga mat or getting lost in a new book.

Money—it is what makes it possible for you to live with a roof over your head and food in your stomach.

However, if spent unwisely, it can cause serious problems. In fact, half of American households don’t have a penny saved up for retirement.

Combine this with a culture that herolds material goods, and it isn’t surprising that many of us have picked up several money habits that are detrimental to our livelihoods. That said, learn 10 money habits you need to ditch today in order to save more and reduce stress.

1. Using Credit Instead of Cash

Credit cards are easy to use. They are that IOU that you can put off paying for months, if not years on end.

Still, racking up credit card debt leads to a poor credit score, more interest, and could hurt your chances in securing a traditional home loan, not to mention renting an apartment or purchasing a new car.

Yes, it is wise to use your credit card in some cases—to earn rewards and points and maintain a good credit score—however only use it on items you know you can pay off later in the month.

2. Not Putting Any Money in Your Savings Account

Take advantage of your savings account. As mentioned by The Balance, a traditional savings account is a quick way to gain access to liquidated assets, not to mention you can accrue interest on what you put in.

While the interest has gone down, that is not to say it still isn’t a good finance avenue to take. Not putting money in your savings account on a regular basis means you don’t get to leverage these benefits and don’t have one more diversified financial route to take.

3. Not Having an Emergency Fund Set Up

While technically banks don’t offer an actual emergency funds account, you can still create one on your own. Simply, having liquidated assets that are easy to access is enough. This could be several hundred in your house or in a separate checking account. No matter what means you choose to store the funds, you need to have one set up.

Not doing so increases stress and may put you in a financial bind should an emergency come up. Needless to say, you won’t be financially prepared for that emergency, especially when you think of all the obligations, debts we all are in and the everyday grind and stress we all feel. And, in times of stress, it is important to already have a plan in place so that you can go through the motions in securing the cash.

Get rid of this habit by starting small and setting achievable goals. For instance, set your goal at $500, saving $100 per month. Once you reach that goal, stretch it to $1,000. Consistently raise it step by step. Ideally, you should have at least 3 months of pay saved up to pay for living expenses.

That way, should you or your significant other get laid off, you have some financial legroom and time to look for another job—reducing some of the stress.  

4. Not Having a Retirement Plan

As mentioned, 50% of American households don’t have a dime saved up for retirement. This can add stress and can decrease your quality of life. Instead of relying on Social Security and a pension plan to help you out during your post-retirement years, set up a retirement plan that aligns with your financial situation and goals.

Ideally, you may want to speak with a reliable financial professional on this so that you are aware of all of your options.

5. Not Having a Diversified Portfolio

So, you have been depositing funds in a traditional savings account, but that’s it. While something is better than nothing, you can take your positive money habits up a notch by diversifying your portfolio.

This means not only do you continue depositing funds in your savings account but also potentially investing in the stock market, setting up a Roth IRA, traditional Roth, or 401(k). The more financial options you have, the less you have to depend on one savings route to get you past the retirement mark. This is necessary since, for instance, if you put your savings in stock that crash, you will still have available funds.

6. Not Having a Budget

Spending on the go, while exciting, can lead to financial stress in the future—especially when it is time to pay those bills. You need to have a monthly budget outlining all of the bills you have to pay as well as giving you wiggle room for entertainment and have some debt relief.

Final Thoughts

If you can identify with at least one of these money habits, know that you can take the necessary steps to change it. What other money habits do you have? Have you gotten in debt? How have you gotten out of it? Leave a comment.