Growth & Strategy
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
When I started working with a B2B SaaS client who was drowning in trial signups but starving for paying customers, I thought we had a conversion problem. Their metrics told a story I'd seen before: lots of new users daily, most using the product for exactly one day, then vanishing into the digital void.
The marketing team was celebrating their "success" - aggressive CTAs and paid ads were driving signup numbers through the roof. But here's what they missed: awareness isn't just about getting people to know your product exists. It's about building the trust foundation that makes them want to stick around.
After digging deep into their analytics, I discovered something that changed how I think about SaaS awareness forever. Those "direct" conversions they couldn't attribute? They weren't random. They were actually coming from a hidden awareness engine that was building trust over time - something the team didn't even realize they had.
This experience taught me that SaaS awareness strategy isn't about reach or impressions. It's about creating the conditions where people choose to trust you with their time and eventually their money.
Here's what you'll learn from this real client case:
Why most SaaS awareness campaigns focus on the wrong metrics and waste budget
How to identify your hidden trust-building engines that aren't showing up in analytics
The difference between cold awareness and trust-based awareness (and why it matters for retention)
A systematic approach to building awareness that actually converts cold prospects over time
When to pivot from acquisition tactics to relationship-building strategies
This isn't another generic growth playbook. This is what happened when I stopped looking at awareness as a vanity metric and started treating it as the foundation of sustainable SaaS growth.
Industry Reality
What Every SaaS Marketer Gets Wrong About Awareness
Every SaaS marketing blog preaches the same gospel: awareness is the top of your funnel, acquisition is the middle, and retention is the bottom. Build brand recognition, capture attention, convert visitors, repeat. Simple, right?
Here's what this conventional wisdom typically recommends:
Cast a wide net: Run brand awareness campaigns across multiple channels to maximize reach
Optimize for impressions: Track brand lift, reach metrics, and share of voice as success indicators
Create content at scale: Publish frequently across all platforms to stay "top of mind"
Invest in paid awareness: Facebook brand campaigns, LinkedIn sponsored content, Google Display ads
Focus on category education: Explain your product category to create demand
This approach exists because it works for consumer brands selling impulse purchases. You see an ad for sneakers, you might buy sneakers. You see an ad for coffee, you might grab coffee on your way home.
But here's where it falls short for SaaS: buying software isn't an impulse decision. It's a considered purchase that requires trust, evaluation, and often internal approval. The awareness tactics that work for selling shoes completely fail when you're asking someone to change their workflow, integrate your tool into their business processes, and potentially stake their professional reputation on your solution working.
Most SaaS companies realize this disconnect too late - after they've spent months building impressive reach numbers while their actual revenue growth stagnates. They've created awareness, sure. But they've created awareness without trust, which is like building a beautiful store in a neighborhood where everyone thinks you're going to disappear next week.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
When I first encountered this B2B SaaS client, everything looked decent on paper. They had multiple marketing channels running, trial signups were coming in steadily, and their dashboards showed healthy traffic numbers. But something was fundamentally broken.
The client was a project management SaaS targeting small teams. They were running Facebook ads, Google campaigns, content marketing, even some LinkedIn outreach. Standard playbook stuff. But here's what caught my attention: their conversion metrics told two completely different stories.
Cold users from paid ads would sign up, maybe poke around the product on their first day, then never return. These users had a 2% trial-to-paid conversion rate. Meanwhile, users marked as "direct" traffic - meaning we couldn't tell where they came from - had a 47% trial-to-paid conversion rate. Forty-seven percent!
This made absolutely no sense. How do you have direct traffic converting at 20x the rate of your paid traffic? Either our tracking was completely broken, or we were missing something huge.
I spent weeks digging through their analytics, customer interviews, and user behavior data. What I discovered changed everything I thought I knew about SaaS awareness.
Those "direct" conversions weren't random. They were people who had been following the founder's content on LinkedIn for months. The founder was sharing his journey building the company, lessons learned, behind-the-scenes struggles, technical insights about project management workflows. Real, valuable content that positioned him as someone worth listening to.
When these LinkedIn followers were ready to solve their project management problem, they didn't Google "best project management tools" and click on ads. They typed the company URL directly into their browser because they already trusted the person behind the product.
The awareness was happening, but it was invisible to traditional attribution. While we were throwing money at Facebook ads trying to convince strangers to trust us in 5 seconds, the founder was building genuine relationships over 5 months.
Here's the kicker: the founder didn't even realize this was his primary acquisition channel. He thought LinkedIn was just "personal branding." Meanwhile, it was quietly generating more revenue than all their paid campaigns combined.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Once I understood what was actually driving their growth, I built a systematic approach to amplify this "invisible" awareness engine. This wasn't about abandoning paid channels entirely - it was about understanding where real trust gets built and investing there first.
Step 1: Mapping the Real Customer Journey
Instead of looking at attribution models, I mapped where their best customers actually discovered them. Through customer interviews and surveys, I found that 73% of paying customers had been aware of the founder or company for 2+ months before signing up. Traditional attribution was missing this entirely.
I created a "dark funnel" tracking system using UTM parameters, customer surveys at signup, and post-purchase interviews to understand the real path to conversion.
Step 2: Content Audit and Strategy Shift
The founder's LinkedIn content was working because it wasn't promotional. It was educational, personal, and demonstrated expertise without asking for anything in return. I documented what was working:
• Behind-the-scenes content about building a SaaS (authentic struggles, not just wins)
• Technical insights about project management (showing deep domain expertise)
• Customer success stories and lessons learned (social proof without being salesy)
• Industry trends and predictions (thought leadership positioning)
We systematized this approach with a content calendar that balanced personal insights, industry expertise, and customer stories.
Step 3: Distribution Strategy Overhaul
Instead of trying to reach everyone, we focused on reaching the right people consistently. I helped the founder optimize his LinkedIn strategy:
• Posted 3x per week with a mix of personal insights and industry analysis
• Engaged genuinely in comments and discussions (no automated stuff)
• Shared customer success stories that highlighted specific use cases
• Participated in relevant LinkedIn groups and industry conversations
Step 4: Trust-First Paid Strategy
We didn't eliminate paid ads, but we completely changed the approach. Instead of "Sign up for free trial" ads targeting cold audiences, we created:
• Educational content promoted to warm audiences (people who engaged with organic content)
• Retargeting campaigns for website visitors with valuable resources, not sales pitches
• Lookalike audiences based on their LinkedIn followers and email subscribers
The goal shifted from immediate conversion to building awareness among people likely to become long-term followers of the founder's content.
Step 5: Measurement Framework
I created new KPIs that actually measured trust-building:
• LinkedIn follower growth and engagement rates
• Email subscriber growth from organic content
• Brand mention tracking and share of voice
• Survey responses about how customers discovered them
• Trial-to-paid conversion rates by traffic source
These metrics told a much clearer story about what was actually driving sustainable growth versus what was just generating vanity metrics.
Attribution Mapping
Track where your best customers really come from - surveys and interviews reveal the "dark funnel" that analytics miss
Content Systemization
Document what's working in your founder-led content and create repeatable frameworks rather than random posting
Trust Metrics
Measure engagement depth and follower quality over reach - 1000 engaged followers beats 10,000 passive ones
Paid Strategy Pivot
Use paid ads to amplify successful organic content rather than replace it - retarget engaged audiences with value-first messaging
The results were dramatic, but they didn't happen overnight. This is important - real awareness building takes time, which is why most companies abandon it for quick-fix acquisition tactics.
3-Month Results:
• LinkedIn follower growth: 340% increase (from 1,200 to 5,300 followers)
• Organic trial signups: 190% increase
• Trial-to-paid conversion rate: Improved from 12% to 28% overall
• Customer acquisition cost: Decreased by 34% as organic channels grew
6-Month Results:
• Monthly recurring revenue: 156% growth
• Brand mention tracking: 400% increase in relevant industry conversations
• Email subscriber growth: 280% increase from content downloads and newsletter signups
• Sales cycle length: Reduced from 45 days to 23 days on average
But here's what surprised me most: customer retention improved dramatically. When people trust you before they buy, they're more likely to stick around through the inevitable onboarding challenges. Six-month churn rates dropped from 23% to 8%.
The compound effect became clear around month 8. While competitors were spending more and more to acquire the same customers through paid channels, our client was building a sustainable growth engine that got stronger over time rather than more expensive.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
This experience completely changed how I think about SaaS awareness. Here are the key lessons that apply to any SaaS business:
1. Attribution Models Are Lying to You
Most of your best customers have a longer, more complex journey than your analytics show. Dark funnel awareness - LinkedIn follows, email subscribers, word-of-mouth referrals - often matters more than last-click attribution suggests.
2. Trust Beats Reach Every Single Time
1,000 people who genuinely trust your expertise will generate more revenue than 50,000 people who vaguely remember seeing your ad once.
3. Founder-Led Content Is Your Unfair Advantage
While competitors are creating "brand" content, founders who share genuine insights and expertise build trust that's impossible to replicate through agencies or marketing teams.
4. Awareness Without Expertise Is Worthless
People don't just need to know you exist - they need to understand why you're qualified to solve their problem better than alternatives.
5. The Best Paid Strategy Amplifies Organic Success
Use paid advertising to scale what's already working organically rather than hoping paid channels will create engagement from scratch.
6. B2B Buyers Research in the Shadows
Your prospects are evaluating you for months before they ever fill out a contact form. Meet them where they're already spending time learning about their challenges.
7. Customer Interviews Trump Analytics
The most valuable insights about your awareness strategy come from talking to customers about how they actually found and evaluated you, not from dashboard data.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS Startups:
Identify which founder/team member has domain expertise and can build thought leadership
Create content calendar mixing personal insights with industry analysis
Survey every new customer about their discovery journey
Track engagement metrics alongside traditional conversion metrics
For your Ecommerce store
For Ecommerce Stores:
Apply founder expertise to product education and industry trends
Build trust through product selection expertise and customer success stories
Use retargeting to stay connected with browsers across longer consideration cycles
Focus on building email lists of engaged prospects, not just conversion traffic