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Dan Martell - 3 Cutting Edge SaaS Marketing Strategies That Work In 2021

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Author: Dan Martell
Categories: Business
Tags: business
Views: 2 · Last viewed: 2026-10-16 03:07 UTC

Short Summary

Main recommendation: Use three SaaS marketing strategies to drive growth in 2021: challenge funnels, LinkedIn prospecting, and vanity marketing. Challenge funnels are multi-day challenges (7, 14, or 20 days) that teach prospects to achieve a result and move them into your software, often generating revenue that pays for customer acquisition.

Key Points

  • The three promised strategies, numbered: (1) Challenge funnels, (2) LinkedIn prospecting, (3) Vanity marketing.
  • Challenge funnels compress a learning period into a short time frame, using the challenge as a "boat" that helps prospects cross from their current problem to the result your software delivers.
  • Challenge funnels can fund customer acquisition, since they are paid (examples cited range from $50 to $97, with some clients charging $200), and they build community that improves onboarding and retention.
  • LinkedIn prospecting avoids spammy outreach by sending a connection request, inviting prospects to a named industry group, sharing a free resource, and only then offering a call.
  • Vanity marketing invites ideal customers onto your podcast, blog, or event to be interviewed, appealing to their ego and creating case studies, with the speaker estimating an 85 to 90 percent hit rate.

Details Worth Noting

  • Concrete instructions:
    • Challenge funnels: Build a 7-, 14-, or 20-day challenge that helps prospects get a specific outcome related to the problem your product solves, ending with a final module that sends them into your software. Keep it short ("the shorter, the better"), add community support, and set a deadline.
    • LinkedIn prospecting, four steps: (1) Send connection requests to perfect-fit prospects. (2) Create an industry group with an attractive name tied to their role (example given: "Director of Purchasing Alliance"), invite them, start with about a dozen members, grow toward 50, and eventually reach around a thousand prospects. (3) Share a free resource such as a PDF, template, or blueprint with no opt-in required. (4) Send a message offering a quick call to see if you can help.
    • Vanity marketing: Build a "dream 100 customer" list, target customers who would act as credible references, and invite them to be interviewed. Use audio or video podcasts, or email interviews published as blog posts. Use purple (referenceable) customers to create case studies.
  • Speaker's examples: ClickFunnels' One Funnel Away Challenge (onefunnelaway.com), reportedly adding about 1,200 customers a week; Webinar Ninja's challenge; JetPack Workflow, which transcribed podcast interviews into a bestselling Amazon book for accountants.
  • The speaker says the hit rate for getting people to accept interview invitations "could literally be" 85 to 90 percent, presented as his own estimate.

Bottom Line

Pick one of these three approaches that fits your SaaS business and test it, since challenge funnels, LinkedIn outreach, and interview-based content each target a different stage of acquiring and retaining customers.