EPISODE SUMMARY
If there’s one thing software entrepreneurs worldwide have in common, it’s that we all want to scale. In fact, we all crave to see our companies succeed so much that growing has almost become like a race. Nonetheless, some business owners opted to play the long-term game instead and achieved just as much bottom line.
Visme Founder and President Payman Taei share his long-term growth strategies with Host and B2B SaaS Sales Coach Matt Wolach. He talks about the importance of not giving up, choosing quality, and communicating better with your audience. Watch and learn how to be the epitome of Warren Buffet in growing your SaaS!
PODCAST-AT-A-GLANCE
Podcast: SaaS-Story in the Making
Episode: Episode No. 237, “From 0 to 16 Million Users – Here’s How – with Payman Taei”
Host: Matt Wolach, a B2B SaaS sales coach, Entrepreneur, and Investor
Guest: Payman Taei, Founder & President at Visme
TOP TIPS FROM THIS EPISODE
Always Differentiate from Competitors
Business veterans know that a tried and tested strategy for winning against your competitors is to stand out. But this can be difficult when presenting your data because no matter what tool you use, your output looks just like anyone else’s. With Visme, however, you can rest assured that your slides won’t be the same as everyone else’s.
Visme presentations tend to be one of a kind because the company is meticulous in designing its templates. Also, because Visme is less well-known than other brands at the moment, only a limited number of users get access to their original designs. Of course, Visme also allows you to customize your designs however you see fit, but they make the process easier with their assets and features.
Focus on Hiring Good People
One of the strengths of Visme is its manpower. One of the ways that Visme sets itself apart from its competitors is how all of its assets, like templates, clip arts, videos, and animations are 100% unique to the tool. The reason is that they have a dedicated in-house design team that was chosen carefully. Other presentation tools tend to outsource their assets.
Unlike hiring average people, hiring good people would require more effort. After all, you also have to ensure that the employees you hire are more than just excellent or experienced at what they do. They have to be aligned with the vision and mission of the company. While this can make talent sourcing take longer, doing this is definitely worth it in the long run.
Invest in Content Marketing
One of the mistakes that Taei experienced in Visme is how they chose to invest less in content marketing. It’s not that they’ve never utilized this marketing niche at all but that they could have done more, and it would have been much better in the long run. After all, allocating more to content marketing would have gotten them more leads to scale Visme faster.
Content Marketing is a powerful form of marketing as it organically generates leads for your business. The usual goal of content marketing is to release blogs that utilize search engine optimization (SEO) to bring traffic to your website. Ideally, clients will check out your product after your blog answers a question that they had.
Remember to Niche Down
While content marketing can definitely scale your lead generation, it would be a good use if you have niched down. Taei explains that they did get successful with their initial goal of getting a lot of users as they prioritized posting content that generates the most traffic. However, the result was that they ended up with a lot of free users and just a few premium users.
The original content marketing strategy of Visme was too broad-focused, according to Taei. They focused too much on increasing brand recognition and getting as many sign-ups as possible. The result was that even though they had 50,000 users at one point, their MRR was only reaching $2500. This is why they will focus more on targeting their ideal customers, not just in content marketing but also in the actual product design.
Prioritize Solving User Issues Over Increasing Features
While Visme is much more balanced now and truly built for its target market, it used to be feature-rich in its early stages. Taei explains that more than a lot of features, they would have reached further if Visme had just focused on solving the problems that their users are experiencing. He elaborates that it’s crucial to focus on what your user actually needs instead of trying to have more features than your competitors.
Taei reasons that it all boils down to tailoring your product to whatever your ICP is. He explains that doing this particular tip would mean solving the specific paint points of your client. Achieving this would ensure the purchase and continued product usage of your customers. Unless your product is really not up to par, doing this single tip alone should make your product reach success.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
Consistency is Key
One of the most critical skills business owners can master, according to Taei is consistency. He explains that too many people give up early when they think their product needs to be fixed because of a lack of traction. Taei says that it may just be that the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) needs more work rather than the entire concept being thrown under the bus. Taei also explains that Visme wouldn’t be what it is today if he and his team decided to give up because they were getting few sales at the start despite having many users.
Stories Make People Care
While having aesthetically pleasing and dynamic presentations will capture attention, messages must be conveyed in a way that tells a compelling story. Humans tend to remember information when it is relayed as a story, as we are wired to remember experiences. In order to make your audience care, combining beautiful visuals with an equally great message is optimal.
Quality Leads Over Quantity
Taei can attest that having good quality leads will always be better than having a lot of leads. While Visme successfully utilized Search Engine Optimization, as seen by its growing user base, the conversion rate still had room for improvement. Having 25,000 active users is not enough if no one is paying. And so to get better leads, it’s essential to target your blogs to your ideal customer.
TOP QUOTES
Payman Taei
[5:56] “Everybody’s designs and graphics look like everybody else’s because they’re using the same templates, illustration, graphics, and everyone else. And it’s all about standing over your competitors and others by differentiating yourself.”
[10:15] “So it’s challenging because if you just create the same stuff everybody else is creating, you’re offering no value. You have to offer value to your audience.”
Matt Wolach
[8:21] “And I love what you said about how it looks different. So really, you’re differentiating by making it easy for your customers to be able to differentiate themselves because of what they’re putting out there and all that content.”
LEARN MORE
To learn more about Payman Taei and Visme, visit https://www.visme.co/.
You can also find Payman Taei on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paymantaei/.
For more about how host Matt Wolach helps software companies achieve maximum growth, visit https://mattwolach.com/
