Hi there,
Happy to give you some of my initial thoughts and guidance on marketing Cobrandly Connect. I had a quick look at your website and read your post. It's a really interesting concept, but getting the markering right for a B2B SaaS platform is a real challenge, especially when you're just starting out. It’s a very different beast to selling to consumers.
I've run quite a few campaigns for B2B SaaS clients, from early-stage startups to more established players, so I’ve seen firsthand what works and what really, really doesnt. Hopefully, I can give you a bit of a roadmap based on that experience.
We'll need to look at your website and offer first...
Before you even think about spending a single pound on ads, we have to talk about your website and your core offer. Tbh, this is where 90% of early-stage companies go wrong. They build a great product but fail to present it in a way that makes a potential customer feel comfortable and excited enough to sign up. Your ads can be perfect, but if they send traffic to a leaky bucket, you're just throwing money away.
Right now, your biggest hurdle is the 'ask'. You're asking a business owner or a marketing manager to sign up, learn a new tool, and integrate it into their daily workflow to find partners. That is a massive commitment of their most valuable resource: time. Businesses are incredibly resistant to changing their processes unless there's a huge, undeniable payoff. One of the toughest campaigns we ever worked on was for an accounting software – the effort for a business to switch is so high that you have to make the decision an absolute no-brainer.
Your current pitch, "browse through other businesses that are open or looking to partner", describes the feature, not the benefit. Businesses don't buy features; they buy solutions to their problems. What is the outcome they get? Is it "Find your next £50k brand collaboration in under an hour"? Is it "Double your project pipeline without sending a single cold email"? The copy on your site needs to be much more aggressive in selling the result, not the process. You'll probably need a professional copywriter for this; it makes a world of difference.
The other major issue I see is the lack of a free trial. I see you have a demo, but that's not the same thing at all. In today's SaaS market, a free trial or a freemium model is basically essential. Who is going to commit to a new system without being able to get their hands dirty and see the value for themselves first? Your competition, even if indirect, is offering free trials, heavy discounts, and extensive onboarding to get people in the door. Without a truly frictionless way for someone to try Cobrandly Connect, your conversion rates from any ad traffic will be painfully low, which means ya cost per acquisition will be incredibly high.
I'd say you need to nail down your customer...
You mentioned your target is "businesses who are primarily in eccomerce/online and also service companies like web designers". That's a decent start, but it's far too broad to build an effective advertising campaign around. It's like saying you want to sell cars to "people who drive". You need to get way more specific to craft a message that resonates.
Let's break it down:
-> E-commerce businesses: What kind? A solopreneur on Etsy selling handmade candles has completely different partnership needs than a D2C fashion brand with 50 employees and £5M in annual revenue. You need to pick a very specific niche to start with. For example, is your ideal customer a Shopify store owner with revenue between £500k and £2M? Or is it subscription box companies looking for products to include in their boxes? The more specific you are, the easier it is to find them and the more powerful your messaging will be.
-> Service companies: Again, "web designers" is a segment, but what about SEO agencies? PPC consultants? Social media marketing agencies? Copywriters? And most importantly, who is the decision-maker you need to reach at these companies? Is it the solo-founder? The Head of Marketing? The Business Development Manager? Each of these people has different pain points and responds to different messages.
You need to define your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) with an almost painful level of detail. Think about their company size, their industry, their job title, and the specific problems they face that your platform solves. Why would a web design agency want to partner with an e-commerce brand? Maybe to offer a "full-service" package. Why would the e-commerce brand want to partner with them? To get a high-converting website. Your marketing needs to tell that specific story.
You probably should focus on these channels...
Once you have a rock-solid offer (i.e., a free trial) and a clearly defined ICP, then you can start thinking about ad platforms. Based on your B2B model, here’s how I’d approach it.
1. Start with Google Search Ads:
This should be your first port of call. Why? Because you're capturing intent. You're getting in front of people who are *already* aware they have a problem and are actively searching for a solution. These are the warmest leads you'll ever get. The search volume might not be massive, so this channel alone probably won't be enough to scale, but it's the perfect place to start and get your first users.
-> Keywords to test: "business partnership platform", "find brand collaboration partners", "ecommerce collaboration tool", "how to find b2b partners", "affiliate marketing platform". You'd target people actively looking for what you do.
2. Scale with LinkedIn Ads:
This is where you go from waiting for people to find you, to proactively finding them. LinkedIn's targeting is second to none for B2B. Once you’ve defined your ICP, you can target them with precision. For example, you could run a campaign targeting:
-> Job Titles: 'Marketing Manager', 'Founder', 'Head of E-commerce', 'Agency Owner'
-> Industries: 'Retail', 'Apparel & Fashion', 'Marketing and Advertising'
-> Company Size: '11-50 employees', '51-200 employees'
I'd reccomend running Sponsored Content ads (simple image or video ads in the main feed) that drive traffic to your free trial landing page. Lead Gen Forms are an option and can get you a lower cost per lead, but the quality is often much lower as it's too easy for people to click and submit without really being interested. I remember one campaign we ran on LinkedIn for a software company where we achieved a cost per lead of around $22 for highly specific decision-makers, so it can be very effective if you get the targeting and offer right.
3. Experiment with Meta (Facebook/Instagram) Ads:
This is a bit more of a wildcard for your type of business. The B2B targeting options are much more limited than on LinkedIn. However, it can work well for reaching smaller businesses or solopreneurs, like Shopify store owners, who spend more time on Facebook and Instagram than on LinkedIn.
-> Targeting: You could test interests like "Shopify", "WooCommerce", or behaviors like "Business page admins". Once you have enough data (at least 100 trial sign-ups), you can create Lookalike audiences, which can be very powerful. One campaign we ran for a B2B software achieved over 4,600 registrations at just $2.38 each using Meta ads, so it's definately possible, but their funnel was extremely well-optimised.
This is the main advice I have for you:
I've put together a summary of the key actions I believe you need to take. This isn't just a list of tactics; it's a strategic sequence. You need to fix the foundations (your offer and website) before you can build anything on top of them with paid ads.
| Area | Recommendation | Why It's Important |
| 1. Offer & Funnel | Immediately implement a frictionless free trial (e.g., 14 or 30 days, no credit card required). Rewrite website copy to focus on benefits, not features. | This is the industry standard for SaaS. Without it, your ad conversion rates will be extremely low and costs unsustainably high. Businesses buy outcomes. |
| 2. Website Trust | Add social proof. Even if you have to create "example" case studies or get early users to provide testimonials. Add logos, FAQs, and clear contact info. | Businesses won't invest time or money in a platform that doesn't look credible and established. Trust is your most important currency. |
| 3. Target Audience | Define one, hyper-specific Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) to start. E.g., "UK-based Shopify D2C fashion brands with 10-50 employees". | A specific target allows you to create a message that deeply resonates, leading to higher engagement and lower ad costs. You can't be everything to everyone. |
| 4. Ad Channels | Start with Google Search Ads targeting intent-based keywords. Once validated, scale with highly-targeted LinkedIn Ads aimed at your ICP. | This two-phased approach lets you capture the lowest-hanging fruit first (Google) before investing in proactive, targeted outreach (LinkedIn). |
| 5. Measurement | Ensure you have accurate conversion tracking set up for every single free trial sign-up before you spend any money on ads. | If you can't measure it, you can't improve it. This is non-negotiable for understanding what's working and calculating your return on investment. |
I know this is a lot to take in. Building a successful SaaS business is tough, and the marketing is often the most complex part. Getting the strategy, targeting, creative, and funnel right is a full-time job and involves constant testing and optimisation. Getting it wrong can be a very quick way to burn through your budget with little to show for it.
This is where expert help can often make the difference between stalling and scaling. If you'd like to chat through this in more detail and see how we could apply our experience to your specific situation, feel free to book in a free, no-obligation consultation with us. We can take a deeper look at your platform and map out a more detailed growth plan together.
Whatever you decide, I hope this has given you a clearer direction.
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
