
SaaS (Software as a Service) becoming the centerpiece of debate where will it stay relevant after we watched the evolution of social medias, automation tools and now AI-driven solutions. Started out as a simple tools for email campaigns, CRM has grown into complete one stop center in for marketing ecosystems. Now even a solo entrepreneur able to manage everything with the capacity like a full marketing team with the advancement of modern SaaS tools such as HubSpot, Zoho or ActiveCampaign. SaaS tools are far from obsolete and continue to evolve as the way marketer demanded and becoming more reliable to handle every marketing tasks.
Once upon a time, before the word “SaaS” become such a mainstream name, marketing services were largely done by agencies or in-house teams. Nowadays, Many SaaS platforms having all the features which allow businesses to run most of the services themselves. This bring the definition of “one-man-team” to next level which makes a solo entrepreneur doesn’t even need a full marketing team to do everything. Most SaaS tools started as simple tool before evolving into full-blown marketing powerhouse:
The influence of SaaS over marketing agencies are imminent, making them adapting into SaaS Models. Instead of charging per project, now agencies are offering subscription-based services. Preparing such packages which include any services that required and tailored well so fulfill what needed. Neil Patel’s team didn’t just create a service agency, they built Ubersuggest, the SEO SaaS tool that support the agency’s clients and attracts new ones. Another different way is agency using SaaS tool like Sprout Social to handle the heavy tasks why themselves charging on subscription-based. The ability to handle multiple accounts are benefits and they resell this as a service.
AI is getting more and more prominent recently and it certainly influencing the SaaS features. Canva AI and ChatGPT able to handle repetitive marketing tasks. The advancement of AI which bring marketing automation that able to run complex customer journeys with minimal human input. However automation alone just not enough, marketing still needs strategy, creativity and human empathy to makes it work. SaaS just make the execution easier but human input still highly inquire.
Industry-specific marketing SaaS tools are slowly emerging trends. You could have tools which are niche enough and targeted on certain industries such as F&B, fitness, real estate, human resources, or insurances. Some of this tools getting more prominent recognitions such as:
Replacing the generic marketing tools with more niche-focused solutions for specific industries. A more cost-effective for small effective than hiring agency service.
SaaS will keep evolving even further with AI-capabilities, most likely including all the automation features to make things seam easier. Somehow human still play the biggest role in it on something that even the best SaaS tools will hardly replicate.
Smartest business will usually blend the best of both world which let human to handle most marketing services while letting automation to handle the rest. Making everything more seamless while still making the much needed human touch on some oversimplified CRM.