Solved: How to Reach Heads of Marketing with a Small Budget?

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. Happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on getting your B2B SaaS product off the ground with a limited budget and reaching those specific roles like Heads of Marketing and Marketing Ops.

It's completely understandable that you're feeling overwhelmed. Launching anything is tough, and diving into marketing, especially paid ads, with no background and a constrained budget in the B2B space is a significant challenge. B2B marketing is generally trickier and more costly than B2C because you're targeting a much smaller, specific group of decision-makers, and the sales cycle is usually longer. You won't typically see immediate ROI like you might with some eCommerce or B2C campaigns; it takes time to nurture leads and close deals.

The good news is that $10k, while not massive, is enough to *test* effectively if you're smart and focused. The absolute key here is figuring out the most likely place your target audience spends time when they're either looking for a solution like yours or could be made aware they have a problem your tool solves. You absolutely don't want to try and be everywhere at once; that's how you burn through budget fast without learning anything useful.

We need to think about where your ideal customer lives online...

So, your ideal customers are Heads of Marketing and Marketing Ops. You need to think about their behaviour. When might they be receptive to hearing about a marketing analytics tool? There are generally two main scenarios to consider for online advertising, and these point you towards different platforms, as we've seen with other B2B SaaS clients we've worked with.

Scenario 1: They are actively searching for a solution. Maybe they know their current analytics setup isn't cutting it, or they have a specific problem they're trying to solve (e.g., understanding attribution better, getting clearer campaign insights). If this is the case, they are likely going to Google and searching for terms related to their problem or the type of solution they need. Terms like "marketing analytics tool comparison," "best campaign reporting software," "understand ROI from ads," or even direct competitors' names. In this scenario, Google Search Ads is probably your best starting point.

Why Google Search? Because you're putting your solution in front of people who have *expressed intent*. They are literally searching for help *right now*. This traffic is typically higher quality and more likely to convert eventually, although the cost per click can be high depending on how competitive those keywords are. You can start with a small set of very specific keywords and see if you get clicks from the right people. This is a relatively efficient way to use a limited budget for initial testing – you're only paying when someone actively clicks on your ad because they were searching for something related.

Scenario 2: They are NOT actively searching, but they would benefit from your tool. Maybe they don't realise how much better things could be, or they haven't prioritised finding a new solution yet. In this case, you need to reach them where they spend time professionally or personally online, and target them based on their role, industry, or interests.

For reaching specific professional roles like Heads of Marketing or Marketing Ops, LinkedIn Ads is almost always the go-to platform for B2B. Its targeting capabilities based on job title, industry, company size, seniority, etc., are unparalleled compared to other major ad platforms for B2B. This lets you get your message directly in front of teh people you need to reach. We've had success with LinkedIn campaigns targeting B2B decision makers, though I can tell you the cost per lead ($22 CPL is one we saw for a SaaS client targeting decision makers) can be higher than on platforms like Meta, because the audience is so specific and valuable.

Other social platforms like Meta (Facebook/Instagram) *do* have some limited B2B targeting, like "small business owners" or targeting based on pages they like related to marketing, but it's not as precise as LinkedIn for specific corporate roles. Given your tight budget and need to reach a very specific job title, LinkedIn offers the most control for that specific type of targeting.

Picking your starting point with $10k...

With only $10k, you simply cannot afford to test Google Search *and* LinkedIn *and* Meta *and* content marketing *and* cold email all at once. You'd spread your budget too thin and likely not get enough meaningful data from any channel before you run out of money.

You need to make an educated guess based on your understanding of your potential customers' behaviour and focus your initial testing on one or maybe two of the most promising channels. Ask yourselves: Are Heads of Marketing *actively* searching for a better analytics solution? Or do you think they might need to be educated about the problem your tool solves or convinced that a better way exists? Your answer to this question should guide your initial channel choice.

If you believe they are searching, start with Google Search Ads. If you believe you need to target their specific role and get your message in front of them where they network professionally, LinkedIn is likely where you should start. Don't worry about scaling yet; the goal with this initial budget is purely to validate if you *can* reach the right people on a platform and if they show any interest (clicking ads, visiting your site).

And critically, sorting out your website and offer...

This is *so* important, perhaps even more so than the ad platform itself, especially with a limited budget. We've seen campaigns fail completely not because the ads were bad or the targeting was off, but because the website they were sending traffic to was poor. Think about it: you're paying for every click. If someone clicks your ad, lands on your site, and is immediately put off or confused, you've just wasted that money.

With a B2B SaaS product, your website needs to be incredibly clear, professional, and persuasive. It's the digital equivalent of your sales person. Given you mentioned you're engineers/product people without marketing background, getting your website right might be a steep learning curve, but it's non-negotiable for paid ads to work.

Based on our experience with SaaS clients, a free trial is often the single most effective way to get businesses to try your software. Changing an accounting system (from one of the examples) or any core business tool like analytics is a big decision. Businesses are highly reluctant to pay upfront without trying it extensively first. Offering a completely free trial removes a massive barrier to entry and gives potential customers a chance to see the value for themselves. A demo is good, but it's not the same as letting them get their hands on the software themselves.

Your landing page (where you send ad traffic) needs compelling sales copy. This is where you explain the problem you solve, highlight the benefits of your tool (not just features), and make a clear, strong call to action – which should ideally be signing up for that free trial. Good copy can make a huge difference to conversion rates, and we often work with a copywriter with SaaS experience for this exact reason. If your landing page isn't convincing, you'll pay for clicks but get no sign-ups, which quickly drains a $10k budget.

Looking at website critiques we've done for others, common issues include cluttered layouts, slow loading times, unclear value propositions, and lack of trust signals. Make sure your site looks professional, loads fast, clearly states *who* it's for and *what* it does, and why someone should sign up *now*. Trust badges, clear contact info, maybe even showing who is behind teh product can help build confidence, especially for a new, bootstrapped company.

Setting up for testing and learning...

Before you spend a penny on ads, make sure you have basic tracking set up. At the very least, you need to know how many people visit your landing page from your ads and how many of those people actually sign up for the trial. This lets you calculate your cost per trial signup.

Start with a very small daily budget on your chosen platform. Don't try to spend $10k in a week. Let it run for maybe 2-4 weeks to gather initial data. What are your key metrics? Are you getting clicks? Are those clicks turning into landing page views? Are those views turning into trial signups? Where are people dropping off? For a $7 CPA trial signup we saw on Meta, the funnel was smooth; people clicked, landed, and signed up. If you see high clicks but low landing page views, there might be a tracking issue or the page is slow/broken. If you see lots of views but no signups, the offer, copy, or website trust are likely the problem.

Initially, you might even optimise your campaign for a slightly earlier action than a trial signup, just to confirm you can get *relevant* traffic to the site. For example, optimise for landing page views. This is usually cheaper per view and can help you validate your targeting and ad creative before focusing purely on the higher-cost conversion event (trial signup). Once you see you can reliably get relevant people to the page, then switch to optimising for trial signups.

This iterative process is key. Test, measure, analyse, improve. Don't expect immediate home runs. It takes testing different ad creatives, different targeting settings (even on LinkedIn, you might test different job titles or industries), and refining your landing page based on how visitors behave.

Here's a quick overview of what I'd recommend as your initial steps:

Launching a B2B SaaS product, especially as first-time marketers with a limited budget, is a significant challenge. There are many variables, and getting the right mix of platform, targeting, offer, creative, and landing page takes time and expertise. It's why many startups in this space eventually look for external help once they have some initial validation.

Having someone with experience in B2B SaaS and paid advertising who can guide your strategy, help set up campaigns correctly, troubleshoot issues quickly, and ensure you're getting the most bang for your buck from that $10k can make a big difference to your chances of success. It avoids costly mistakes and accelerates the learning process.

We'd be happy to chat through your specific situation in a bit more detail and give you some tailored pointers in a free consultation call. It might help clarify some of these points and give you a clearer path forward.

Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh