BC Startup Sales Podcast — Pivoting Messaging During COVID-19 with Dev Basu (Powered by Search)

This week we were joined by Dev Basu, Founder and CEO of Powered by Search, to discuss pivoting your messaging during COVID-19.

We start the podcast learning about Dev’s early career as a marketer and his work in search engine optimization. Dev immediately recognized that he needed to understand the intricacies of search engine optimization, or SEO, when his own searches for the company he worked for resulted in no search-engine results. We discuss the advantages of having paid ads and the methodologies of having your SaaS platform or website be discovered by somebody who’s looking into that category. Dev stresses the importance of pivoting your messaging during COVID-19 by identifying what prioritizes your content to appear as the first search results. Most search engine users will revise their search if they don’t find what they need on the first page.

Dev talks about how to build a SaaS business that is resilient and responsive to times of economic crisis. Some crucial points to keep in mind is that the problems companies first faced in this time was their campaigns and ROI shrinking rapidly, while their pipeline was also vanishing. In this scenario, there were three ways companies responded: a big opportunity, wait and see, or retreat. Dev acknowledged these obstacles and developed a crisis proofing strategy on how to lead your community, tribe, and customers through this. Get them comfortable in this uncomfortable, vulnerable situation.

Ultimately, uncovering what your SaaS company can do to serve the greater community is to identify what exactly your company platform is selling the most. Is it speed, certainty, or insight? If your message doesn’t match what people are looking for anymore, especially in today’s economic climate, it’s time to pivot your messaging. If your selling point was previously business growth, perhaps you pivot your messaging toward selling business continuity instead. Rather than selling the value of ROI, shift messaging to selling risk mitigation. It’s these types of adaptations that assures clients that you are listening to their problems and can help them continue to solve their core business challenges.

Dev Basu helps B2B SaaS and technology companies scale their impact, through practical demand generation solutions that get fast, and highly profitable results and ROI. Through Powered by Search, one of Canada’s Fastest-Growing Demand Generation Agencies, Dev and his team have helped brands like Clickfunnels, Clio, PointClickCare, League, and many others achieve predictable growth.

If you liked “Pivoting Messaging during COVID-19” and want to read more content from Bowery Capital Team, check out other relevant posts from the Bowery Capital Blog. If you haven’t already, subscribe to the podcast to get all our new content each week!