Lead generation ads, brand awareness campaigns, sales-driven ads \u2013 when you run paid campaigns for a SaaS company, you create ad creatives and landing pages of all types on a daily basis. It\u2019s no surprise you might run out of ideas at some point.<\/p>\n
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We at Joinative manage up to 20 clients\u2019 accounts with over a dozen of campaigns per each. You can trust us that we know how to get inspiration for new ads. While our campaign managers<\/a> mainly focus on native advertising, we also have extensive experience with paid search and paid social advertising.<\/p>\n In the article, you\u2019ll find over 20 examples of the most effective SaaS advertising campaigns across all the top channels and also learn what makes them so special.<\/p>\n Before we illustrate examples of our favorite SaaS ads, it\u2019s crucial to highlight what differs SaaS companies from other B2B brands. This section will explain why we find the campaigns listed below remarkable.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Promoting a SaaS solution has its peculiarities and challenges. Here are some of them.<\/p>\n How much time passed from the moment you read your first article on the HubSpot blog and before you created your first free account on the platform? For the author, it\u2019s been over 2 years.<\/p>\n SaaS marketing differs from marketing for other niches a lot. Unlike many B2C and B2B products and services, where customers have clearly defined pains and know exactly what they need, your potential customers often need help with identifying their pain points. Often, before you can convert a customer, you need to educate them so that they realize the need for the product.<\/p>\n How does it affect your advertising campaigns?<\/strong><\/p>\n Focusing on sales-driven campaigns won\u2019t work well for a SaaS company. You need to go full-funnel and use your paid campaigns to build brand awareness, educate your prospective customers, and generate leads that you\u2019ll later nurture with email marketing campaigns.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why it\u2019s also important to pick the right attribution model<\/a> that allows you to measure the impact of each marketing and advertising campaign. If you don\u2019t use any attribution model, all the credit will be given to the last user touchpoint before the conversion, which is typically a sales page. In this case, you might fail to see any value in brand awareness campaigns and prioritize hard sell, which is a road to nowhere.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t need to \u2018jump on calls\u2019 with sales representatives before you subscribe to a $10 service. Unless there\u2019s a need for an enterprise solution, there are no negotiations and proposals. All you have at your disposal is a bunch of emails and a demo call.<\/p>\n Most often, your prospects want to have as few interactions with your sales reps as possible. Self-service plays a significant role in the SaaS marketing strategy. When they\u2019re ready to make a conversion, people want to do that in a few clicks without your help.<\/p>\n How does it affect your advertising campaigns?<\/strong><\/p>\n Your content should speak for itself. Landing pages should be intuitive, with clear CTAs. If you promote a sales page, any distracting elements, like menus, blog links, and others, should be eliminated.<\/p>\n The average customer acquisition cost is $205<\/a>. Compared to other B2B industries, where CAC averages $500, it\u2019s not too much. However, you should also consider that SaaS products typically cost way less than B2B services, like app development or marketing agency services.<\/p>\n It\u2019s very likely that after spending over $200 to convert a lead into a paid user, you get only $20 from their first conversion. To get to profitability, you need to make sure this customer will stay with you for a long time.<\/p>\n Given the high costs of converting new customers, SaaS companies should prioritize retention over user acquisition.<\/p>\n How does it affect your advertising campaigns?<\/strong><\/p>\n Attracting relevant audiences is more important than ever. Even if you manage to convert a person who doesn\u2019t quite match your ideal customer profile, the game is not worth the candle. They\u2019ll see your product isn\u2019t the right fit for them and won\u2019t renew their subscription, which means you won\u2019t even break even after all the efforts taken.<\/p>\n So, you should think long-term. It\u2019s not just about converting as many people as possible. Your campaign should catch the attention of the right audience, drive them to the landing page that educates them and creates a clear image of your offer, and make them want to enjoy its benefits.<\/p>\n Now, let\u2019s take a look at some iconic SaaS Facebook Ad examples that illustrate some of the best practices for SaaS advertising implemented.<\/p>\n SEMrush<\/a> is an all-in-one SEO platform allowing everyone \u2013 from small businesses to marketing teams of enterprises \u2013 to access marketing insights.<\/p>\n In the campaign below, they appeal to the audience segment that has the highest value for them \u2013 marketing agencies. The advertiser has also touched upon one more audience segment, which is small business owners.<\/p>\n Facebook Ads for SaaS: SEMrush<\/em><\/p>\n While appealing to the specific audience with the ad creative, SEMrush uses one more effective technique, namely using a case study as campaign content.<\/p>\n This is a great example of a campaign that targets people in the awareness and consideration stages of the buyer\u2019s journey. A creative mix of an engaging topic (they call this format \u2018SEO reality show,\u2019 doesn\u2019t it sound catchy?) and interactive content makes the campaign attractive for the right audiences.<\/p>\n One more distinctive feature of this campaign is that its ad creatives match the landing page content. Too often, advertisers use catchy ad headlines to drive visitors to a typical product page that\u2019s not related to ad content.<\/p>\n You can also see they use the \u2018Subscribe\u2019 button instead of the \u2018Sign Up\u2019 one. It means the SEMrush team understands they\u2019re less likely to turn readers into paying customers right away. So, they prefer to use this large-scale campaign to collect newsletter subscribers (read: \u2018leads\u2019) and then nurture them with email marketing campaigns.<\/p>\n What\u2019s good about this campaign:<\/strong><\/p>\n Mailchimp<\/a> is a marketing automation platform that targets a wide range of audiences.<\/p>\n Facebook Ads for SaaS: Mailchimp<\/em><\/p>\n All 3 campaigns you see above have one common feature \u2013 each of them highlights only one of the actions that can be taken with the help of Mailchimp. Instead of using a very generic message, like \u2018Launch the most effective email marketing campaigns,\u2019 they\u2019ve identified the key use cases of the platform and based the campaigns upon them.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What\u2019s good about these campaigns:<\/strong><\/p>\n SurveyMonkey<\/a> is an experience management platform that provides a toolkit for creating online surveys.<\/p>\n The campaign illustrates the example of a survey that you can build with the tool. No lengthy and boring introductions, just facts.<\/p>\n Facebook Ads for SaaS: SurveyMonkey<\/em><\/p>\n What\u2019s good about this campaign:<\/strong><\/p>\n Kinsta<\/a> is a company offering premium managed WordPress hosting. To reach positive ROAS, Kinsta needs to find a way to attract people who manage websites, which is a pretty narrow audience segment.<\/p>\n The company uses Facebook Ads to attract people who might be concerned about their site security and collect their email addresses.<\/p>\n Facebook Ads for SaaS: Kinsta<\/em><\/p>\n What\u2019s good about this campaign:<\/strong><\/p>\n Canva<\/a> is a graphic design platform that can be used literally by anyone.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve selected the following campaigns to demonstrate the importance of speaking the language of your target audience.<\/p>\n Facebook Ads for SaaS: Canva<\/em><\/p>\n Google reports a company that had switched to separate local-language messaging in different states has reached up to 36% lower cost per acquisition<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not uncommon for SaaS companies to target primarily English-speaking audiences. And that\u2019s their blind spot.<\/p>\n The need for content in languages other than English is amplified, and the Canva team knows that. They adapt their brand messaging to the mother tongue of audiences from different countries.<\/p>\n Even though advertisers sometimes don\u2019t bother to translate their landing pages into the language of their ad texts, Canva uses product pages crafted specifically for each language group.<\/p>\n What\u2019s good about this campaign:<\/strong><\/p>\n Pipedrive<\/a> is a popular CRM solution for marketers and sales representatives.<\/p>\n The Facebook ad promotes a live webinar. Its topic is tightly related to the product itself and appeals to Founders, CEOs, and CMOs. These people are typically the key decision-makers when it comes to choosing a CRM tool<\/a> that their organization will heavily rely on.<\/p>\n Facebook Ads for SaaS: Pipedrive<\/em><\/p>\n In this campaign, we see a combination of an engaging story and a perfect understanding of their target audience.<\/p>\n Since they\u2019ve chosen to share their own growth story, this campaign will most likely boost brand credibility and make people feel more involved in the company journey.<\/p>\n What\u2019s good about this campaign:<\/strong><\/p>\n GetResponse<\/a> is another marketing automation tool on our list. It includes functionalities for building websites, creating lead capture forms, setting up automated email campaigns, and even managing paid ads.<\/p>\n GetResponse uses a similar approach Mailchimp and Canva go for \u2013 the advertisers pick one product feature and build content that focuses on it.<\/p>\n Facebook Ads for SaaS: GetResponse<\/em><\/p>\n Instead of promoting a boring campaign introducing a new feature, they\u2019ve decided to advertise a blog post where 25 ideas for one-page websites are shared. At the same time, it goes without saying that GetResponse not only shares inspiring ideas but also offers users to build their own one-page websites with the help of the platform.<\/p>\n This way, the advertisers have created a campaign that both builds awareness among people who aren\u2019t ready to convert yet and sells to those who are already there.<\/p>\n What\u2019s good about this campaign:<\/strong><\/p>\n Drift<\/a> offers a conversational marketing and sales toolkit for companies of all sizes. However, in their marketing campaigns, they focus on mid-sized and enterprise-level businesses.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a great example of a brand awareness campaign.<\/p>\n Facebook Ads for SaaS: Drift<\/em><\/p>\n Drift shares a case study of one of their world-famous customers. The numbers highlighted are huge enough to catch the attention of everyone involved in the IT, marketing, or a related niche.<\/p>\n The campaign attracts broad audiences and moves them down the funnel with the help of the case study content.<\/p>\n What\u2019s good about this campaign:<\/strong><\/p>\n Mangools<\/a> is an SEO toolkit for bloggers, agencies, and affiliates.<\/p>\n The smart campaign below retargets users who have signed up for a free trial of the tool some time ago.<\/p>\n Facebook Ads for SaaS: Mangools<\/em><\/p>\n What\u2019s good about this campaign:<\/strong><\/p>\n Native ads<\/a> are pieces of advertising that are displayed next to the editorial content on publishers\u2019 websites, like CNN or MarketWatch, and are assimilated into the page design.<\/em><\/p>\n Native advertising is getting more and more popular among SaaS companies. But you can still enjoy low levels of competition across native ad platforms if you jump in now. For many businesses, native advertising has become a great alternative to Google Ads<\/a> or Facebook Ads, but the majority prefers to mix those advertising techniques.<\/p>\n Running native advertising campaigns has some tangible benefits:<\/p>\n So, how do SaaS companies make native advertising work for them? See below.<\/p>\n Grammarly<\/a> is a cloud-based writing assistant that reviews any text written in an online space and provides recommendations on how to improve spelling, grammar, punctuation, and clarity.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The campaign below illustrates the use of social proof. The technique is also called \u2018Wisdom of the Crowds\u2019 which rerefers to the idea that when a large group of people uses or buys something, others feel the need to follow suit.<\/p>\n Native Ads for SaaS: Grammarly<\/em><\/p>\n In this scenario, you don\u2019t even need to make an effort to create a case study or collect users\u2019 reviews. You just mention impressive numbers and trigger your prospects\u2019 fear of missing out<\/a>.<\/p>\n What\u2019s good about this campaign:<\/strong><\/p>\n monday.com<\/a> is work management software for teams of all sizes.<\/p>\n The key stakeholders who make the final decision on subscribing to the platform are project managers and team leads. The monday.com team knows the needs of their target audiences and appeals to them in their paid campaigns.<\/p>\n The company uses native ads to distribute top-funnel content as well as product pages. The campaign below is an example of top-funnel content promotion.<\/p>\n Native Ads for SaaS: monday.com<\/em><\/p>\n The ad appeals to one of the managers\u2019 pain points \u2013 the complexity of Gantt charts. Since the monday.com tool facilitates the creation of more intuitive and effective charts, the campaign is sure to attract people who\u2019ll be interested in the solution.<\/p>\n What\u2019s good about this campaign:<\/strong><\/p>\n We\u2019ve already introduced SEMrush\u2019s Facebook ad campaign above. The company diversifies their marketing mix by using multiple advertising channels.<\/p>\n The ad title is an example of clickbait that works. While adding some mystery to the creative by calling SEMrush a \u2018secret tool,\u2019 the advertisers also set the right expectations for people who will click through.<\/p>\n Native Ads for SaaS: SEMrush<\/em><\/p>\n What\u2019s good about this campaign:<\/strong><\/p>\n Salesforce<\/a> is the world\u2019s most popular CRM platform. Their customers represent businesses across different industries all over the world.<\/p>\n Salesforce invests heavily in brand awareness campaigns. You see one of these campaigns below.<\/p>\n Native Ads for SaaS: Salesforce<\/em><\/p>\n The Salesforce team speaks to a broad audience segment with this ad. They reach all the people whose work involves managing customer relationships.<\/p>\n What\u2019s good about this campaign:<\/strong><\/p>\n Google Ads is a perfect channel for reaching people who have already started their research. Whereas you should do your best to catch your audience\u2019s attention with Facebook ads and native ads, paid search ads catch the searcher\u2019s eye first.<\/p>\n With this in mind, your primary task is to pick the right Google Ads keywords and content formats that align with the searcher\u2019s intent.<\/p>\n Below are 4 Google ad examples that accomplished the task.<\/p>\n PandaDoc<\/a> is a SaaS company that provides sales processes software.<\/p>\n As has been said, promoting templates is one of the most effective ways to generate quality leads<\/a>. PandaDoc uses this technique across multiple channels, including Google Adwords.<\/p>\n Google Ads for SaaS: PandaDoc<\/em><\/p>\n The lead generation process is pretty straightforward in this scenario: to access the template, you need to create a free PandaDoc account.<\/p>\n What\u2019s good about this campaign:<\/strong><\/p>\n Here\u2019s one more campaign example by monday.com. The ad is associated with the \u2018Trello alternative\u2019 keyword and drives all the people willing to switch from Trello right to the monday.com landing page.<\/p>\n Google Ads for SaaS: monday.com<\/em><\/p>\n What\u2019s good about this campaign:<\/strong><\/p>\n Similarweb<\/a> is a competitive intelligence tool that primarily targets marketers and website owners.<\/p>\n If you search for the \u2018how to do competitor analysis\u2019 keyword, you\u2019ll find the Google ad run by Similarweb. The ad promotes a regular product page.<\/p>\n What\u2019s best about this ad is that it includes all the necessary information, including the fact you can get a free trial before committing.<\/p>\n Google Ads for SaaS: Similarweb<\/em><\/p>\n What\u2019s good about this campaign:<\/strong><\/p>\n You can find ads run by Mangools on various platforms, and Google is not an exception.<\/p>\n The advertisers follow the approach similar to the ones of monday.com and choose to display ads for keywords associated with competitors\u2019 brand names, namely the \u2018Ahrefs alternatives\u2019 keyword.<\/p>\n Google Ads for SaaS: Mangools<\/em><\/p>\n They get bold and use the competitor\u2019s name right in the ad text. Most advertisers avoid this technique, but sometimes the risk is worth taking.<\/p>\n What\u2019s good about this campaign:<\/strong><\/p>\n Finally, LinkedIn Ads.<\/p>\n LinkedIn now is the most popular channel among B2B marketers as it brings exceptional opportunities to reach professionals when they\u2019re most ready to talk business. Let\u2019s take a look at how advertisers use the platform to reach industry experts \u2018in natural habitat.\u2019<\/p>\n Dooly<\/a> is a SaaS tool that helps to simplify the selling and CRM processes.<\/p>\n The company has surprised us with their creative approach to paid social advertising. We didn\u2019t manage to pick only one iconic ad example. All 3 campaigns you see below are worth your attention.<\/p>\n The first ad is a perfect example of using customer stories in advertising. The video ad features the dooly user sharing his experience with dooly. He not only tells about the results dooly has helped him reach but also explains how it\u2019s made possible<\/em>.<\/p>\n LinkedIn Ads for SaaS: Dooly<\/em><\/p>\n The next campaign is a great example of a viral campaign. Its only goal is to catch your eye and make you memorize the brand so that next time you see their campaign it feels familiar to you.<\/p>\n LinkedIn Ads for SaaS: Dooly<\/em><\/p>\n The next campaign doesn\u2019t need any introduction. It\u2019s truly remarkable. The ad below accomplishes 2 tasks:<\/p>\n LinkedIn Ads for SaaS: Dooly<\/em><\/p>\n What\u2019s good about these campaigns:<\/strong><\/p>\n Storyteq<\/a> is a tool that enables advertisers to scale the production of ad creatives.<\/p>\n For the LinkedIn ad campaign, the company has chosen their pdf guide where opinions from experts of world-famous brands are featured. They have also set the collage with these experts\u2019 headshots as a thumbnail, which adds credibility to the campaign and makes the creative look catchier.<\/p>\n LinkedIn Ads for SaaS: Storyteq<\/em><\/p>\n What\u2019s good about this campaign:<\/strong><\/p>\nSaaS advertising: The key peculiarities<\/h2>\n
On-Demand Video Course On Native Advertising<\/b><\/h4>\n
\n Boost your ROAS with native ads.
\n Enroll now with our limited 30% discount.<\/b>
\n <\/h5>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"Native](\"https:\/\/joinative.com\/assets\/images\/course-banner.png\")
\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe buyer\u2019s journey may last too long<\/h3>\n
The decision stage takes less time than one of other B2B companies<\/h3>\n
Retention is the key<\/h3>\n
The Best SaaS Facebook Ads<\/h2>\n
Facebook Ad for SaaS #1: SEMrush<\/h3>\n
![\"Facebook](\"https:\/\/joinative.com\/assets\/images\/semrush-facebook-ad.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"SEMrush's](\"https:\/\/joinative.com\/assets\/images\/semrush-landing-page.png\")
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Facebook Ad for SaaS #2: Mailchimp<\/h3>\n
![\"Facebook](\"https:\/\/joinative.com\/assets\/images\/mailchimp-facebook-ad.png\")
<\/p>\nOn-Demand Video Course On Native Advertising<\/b><\/h4>\n
\n Boost your ROAS with native ads.
\n Enroll now with our limited 30% discount.<\/b>
\n <\/h5>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
Facebook Ad for SaaS #3: SurveyMonkey<\/h3>\n
![\"Facebook](\"https:\/\/joinative.com\/assets\/images\/surveymonkey-facebook-ad.png\")
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Facebook Ad for SaaS #4: Kinsta<\/h3>\n
![\"Facebook](\"https:\/\/joinative.com\/assets\/images\/kinsta-facebook-ad.png\")
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Facebook Ad for SaaS #5: Canva<\/h3>\n
![\"Facebook](\"https:\/\/joinative.com\/assets\/images\/canva-facebook-ad.png\")
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Facebook Ad for SaaS #6: Pipedrive<\/h3>\n
![\"Facebook](\"https:\/\/joinative.com\/assets\/images\/pipedrive-facebook-ad.png\")
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Facebook Ad for SaaS #7: GetResponse<\/h3>\n
![\"Facebook](\"https:\/\/joinative.com\/assets\/images\/getresponse-facebook-ad.png\")
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Facebook Ad for SaaS #8: Drift<\/h3>\n
![\"Facebook](\"https:\/\/joinative.com\/assets\/images\/drift-facebook-ad.png\")
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Facebook Ad for Saas #9: Mangools<\/h3>\n
![\"Facebook](\"https:\/\/joinative.com\/assets\/images\/mangools-facebook-ad.png\")
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The Best SaaS Native Ads<\/h2>\n
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Native Ad example for SaaS #1: Grammarly<\/h3>\n
On-Demand Video Course On Native Advertising<\/b><\/h4>\n
\n Boost your ROAS with native ads.
\n Enroll now with our limited 30% discount.<\/b>
\n <\/h5>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Native](\"https:\/\/joinative.com\/assets\/images\/grammarly-native-ad.png\")
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Native Ad example for SaaS #2: monday.com<\/h3>\n
![\"Native](\"https:\/\/joinative.com\/assets\/images\/monday-native-ad.png\")
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Native Ad example for SaaS #3: SEMrush.com<\/h3>\n
![\"Native](\"https:\/\/joinative.com\/assets\/images\/semrush-native-ad.png\")
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Native Ad example for SaaS #4: Salesforce<\/h3>\n
![\"Native](\"https:\/\/joinative.com\/assets\/images\/salesforce-native-ad.png\")
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The Best SaaS Google Ads<\/h2>\n
Google Ad example for SaaS #1: PandaDoc<\/h3>\n
![\"Google](\"https:\/\/joinative.com\/assets\/images\/pandadoc-google-ad.png\")
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Google Ad example for SaaS #2: monday.com<\/h3>\n
![\"Google](\"https:\/\/joinative.com\/assets\/images\/monday-google-ad.png\")
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Google Ad example for SaaS #3: Similarweb<\/h3>\n
![\"Google](\"https:\/\/joinative.com\/assets\/images\/similarweb-google-ad.png\")
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Google Ad example for SaaS #4: Mangools<\/h3>\n
![\"Google](\"https:\/\/joinative.com\/assets\/images\/mangools-google-ad.png\")
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The Best SaaS LinkedIn Ads<\/h2>\n
LinkedIn Ad example for SaaS #1: Dooly<\/h3>\n
![\"LinkedIn](\"https:\/\/joinative.com\/assets\/images\/dooly-linkedin-ad-customer-story.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"LinkedIn](\"https:\/\/joinative.com\/assets\/images\/dooly-linkedin-ad-viral.png\")
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![\"LinkedIn](\"https:\/\/joinative.com\/assets\/images\/dooly-linkedin-ad.png\")
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LinkedIn Ad example for SaaS #2: Storyteq<\/h3>\n
![\"LinkedIn](\"https:\/\/joinative.com\/assets\/images\/storyteq-linkedin-ad.png\")
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LinkedIn Ad example for SaaS #3: Moz<\/h3>\n
![\"LinkedIn](\"https:\/\/joinative.com\/assets\/images\/moz-linkedin-ad.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"LinkedIn](\"https:\/\/joinative.com\/assets\/images\/livestorm-linkedin-ad.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Lead](\"https:\/\/joinative.com\/assets\/images\/livestorm-lead-gen-form.png\")
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