10 SaaS Content Marketing Examples: How Leading Brands Win

There are plenty of strong SaaS content marketing examples, as content has become a cornerstone of growth — yet most companies still struggle to see real results. In 2025, 54.5% of businesses plan to increase their content marketing campaign budgets, but only 5% actually move the revenue needle. I’ve been building digital marketing strategies and helping dozens of SaaS companies scale for 9 years now. And I’ve witnessed both spectacular successes and costly failures in content marketing execution.

So, in this article, I want to provide you with a solution to the gap between investment and results, and show that great content isn’t just marketing — it’s the fuel that makes your distribution channels efficient, sustainable, and scalable.

The 10 content marketing examples featured here are powerful engines that grow over time and bring in millions in recurring revenue. Each of them follows a clear strategic pattern that any SaaS business can learn from and apply. So read on to discover the strategy behind each engine, and find the right blueprint to build your own!

Why Content Marketing Isn’t Optional for SaaS Anymore

Nine years ago, I made the same mistake most founders make. I thought content marketing was just “nice to have.”

When I analyzed our customer acquisition data, I saw that paid ads deliver immediate results but demand constant budget increases, while our scattered blog posts quietly generated leads with 40% higher lifetime value.

And it clicked: Content takes 6–12 months to deliver results, but each piece can keep working for years, unlike paid ads that stop the moment your budget does.

Ads rent attention. Content builds equity.

The Numbers Don’t Lie

1. Companies with blogs generate 67% more leads than those without.
2. B2B buyers engage with 3-7 pieces of content before talking to a sales rep, with 47% viewing 3-5 pieces before engaging.
3. Content marketing generates 3x more leads than outbound marketing and costs 62% less.
4. 87% of marketers report that content marketing generates demand/leads (Content Marketing Institute, 2024)

Why is SaaS Content Marketing Different?

Your buyers don’t impulse purchase a $29/month tool. SaaS sales cycles average 80-100 days with multiple decision-makers involved. They research extensively, compare alternatives, and need proof that your solution works.

That’s where you can apply strategic content: guide prospects through every stage of the journey, from first touch to long-term retention.

The opportunity: Create original research, proprietary data, and genuine problem-solving advantages that paid ads can’t replicate.

Now let’s look at SaaS content marketing examples from leading companies.

10 Best SaaS Content Marketing Examples

1. HubSpot: Best Example of Inbound Content Marketing

HubSpot built its content marketing strategy around a full educational ecosystem — publishing industry reports, offering free certifications, and creating 40,000+ posts that cover every stage of the buyer journey.

What they got is:

• 505% ROI for Marketing Hub customers after 3 years
• 129% increase in inbound leads within the first year
• Revenue grew from $883M to $2.6B (2020-2024)
• 248,000 customers across 135+ countries

HubSpot’s blog on inbound marketing shaped and built the entire category. Their State of Marketing reports became go-to industry resources, driving consistent traffic and cementing their authority. At the same time, free certifications educated the market and got users invested in the platform. Instead of pushing features, HubSpot taught the methodology that made their product the natural next step.

Your Growth Blueprint

1. Publish annual industry reports that become go-to benchmarks
2. Create in-depth educational content around your product category
3. Offer certification programs that help users advance their careers
4. Support your claims with third-party research and validation

2. Notion: Growing Through Templates

Notion executed a community-powered template marketplace where users share pre-built workspaces, combined with TikTok influencer partnerships focused on productivity creators.

The impact:

• Over 1 billion TikTok views by September 2023
• 90+ active influencers and ambassadors
• Email campaigns achieved 49-51% open rates vs. 20% industry average

Why did it work? Notion’s templates solved a core user pain — starting from scratch with no structure or guidance. Instead of facing empty pages and complex setup, users got ready-made systems they could plug in and use right away. The community created content at scale, and TikTok partnerships helped them reach a younger, productivity-focused audience. They turned user success into marketing. Each shared template showed what Notion could do and helped new users get started faster.

→ TikTok partnership example

Your Growth Blueprint

1. Build user-generated content libraries that solve onboarding challenges
2. Partner with micro-influencers in your specific category (not generic tech reviewers)
3. Create shareable resources that demonstrate product capabilities
4. Use existing communities instead of building from scratch

3. Ahrefs: Turning Data into Trust

Ahrefs did a comprehensive SEO research analyzing 14 billion web pages, the industry’s most detailed statistics collection, and systematic link-building campaigns around proprietary data.

Revenue results:

• $149.1M ARR in 2024 (bootstrapped)
• 1.1M monthly organic visitors
• 109,000 organic keywords ranking
• 384,000 backlinks from high-authority sites
• Single statistics campaign generated 36 backlinks from 32 websites (5.71% conversion rate)

They built unstoppable authority because they positioned their tool as the data source, not just another SEO platform.

Every research piece showed what Ahrefs is capable of and educated the market at the same time. Their exclusive data made the content stand out and set them apart from competitors.

Your Growth Blueprint

1. Conduct original research using your product’s proprietary data
2. Create statistics compilations that publications will cite
3. Execute systematic outreach to relevant publications with findings
4. Use your tool’s unique data access as content differentiation

4. Slack: Example of Content Marketing by Users

Slack optimized team-based viral adoption mechanics, “Wall of Love” showcasing user testimonials, and achieved product-market fit even before hiring a marketing team.

Growth metrics:

• 8,000 signups in first 24 hours
• 285,000 daily active users by public launch
• 30% free-to-paid conversion rate (highest among freemium products)
• 77% of Fortune 100 companies using Slack by 2016 (2y. after launch)

Their peer-to-peer marketing dominated because the product inherently requires team adoption → built-in viral mechanics. Social proof from similar companies worked more powerfully than traditional marketing. Every new user created value for existing users, making the product more valuable as teams grew. This natural expansion drove organic growth.

Your Growth Blueprint

1. If your product requires team adoption, optimize for viral team-based growth
2. Showcase customer success stories on your platform
3. Focus on product-qualified leads who’ve experienced product value
4. Build conversion around product demonstration, not marketing messages

5. Buffer: Radical Transparency Marketing

Buffer has published every employee’s salary, shared real-time revenue dashboard, and documented internal business processes publicly since 2013.

The results:

• 50% increase in job applicants after salary transparency launch
• 229% increase in applications for open roles
• $22.04M ARR, $1.84M MRR
• Achieved profitability in 2024 with $202,459 net profit

Transparency built trust due to the first-mover advantage in massive media coverage. It appeals directly to startup founders and marketers who hunger for real business data. Also creates ongoing content opportunities from internal processes.

Buffer used strategic positioning. They turned their biggest challenge (competing against well-funded competitors) into their biggest advantage by sharing the real story of building a business.

Your Growth Blueprint

1. Choose one area of radical transparency that competitors won’t match
2. Document business processes publicly to create educational content
3. Use internal metrics as ongoing content material
4. Appeal to your audience’s specific information needs

6. Zapier: SEO That Runs Itself

Zapier systematized 25,000+ landing pages for app integrations, comprehensive “Best Apps” content series, and workflow-specific tutorials targeting long-tail keywords.

Let’s look at their organic dominance:

• 6.3M monthly organic visitors (425% growth in 3 years)
• $5B valuation with only $1.4M funding raised
• 42.8K keywords in top 10 rankings
• Zero customer acquisition cost due to organic growth

It’s called programmatic SEO content. It scaled infinitely because each integration created natural content marketing opportunities, → solved user search intent at scale. Partner ecosystem provided content distribution and backlinks automatically.

Their strategy was to target long-tail keywords to capture high-intent searches for specific automation needs. And template-based content production enabled efficiency at scale.

Your Growth Blueprint

1. Create content for every product integration or use case combination
2. Build content around user search intent, not brand keywords
3. Leverage partner relationships for content distribution and backlinks
4. Focus on template-based content production for efficiency

7. Canva: Creators as the Best Marketers

Canva executed early creator access to new features for authentic demonstrations, SEO-optimized template hub, and targeted Apple Search Ads campaigns.

User acquisition:

• User base grew from 55 million (2020) to 220 million (December 2024)
• Apple Search Ads achieved 3x global user growth in six months
• 30% higher install-to-trial rates
• 8% higher user retention compared to similar channels

As we can see, creator seeding beats traditional launches. Authentic product demonstrations from trusted voices build more credibility than company marketing. Creators generate tutorials that drive long-term organic discovery.

Discovery optimization: Template hub doubles as lead generation → users discover Canva through Google searches for specific design needs rather than brand terms.

Your Growth Blueprint

1. Identify micro-influencers who genuinely use your product category
2. Give early access to new features instead of paying for generic sponsored content
3. Build searchable resources that capture organic search traffic
4. Focus creator partnerships on demonstration, not promotion

8. Figma: Community-Fueled Launch

Figma fostered an exclusive early access program for design professionals, committed to existing design communities, and focused on collaborative features driving viral adoption.

Achieved results:

• 4 million users by 2022
• 150% net dollar retention rate
• $20 billion Adobe acquisition
• 75% of product designers identified Figma as the primary choice

Exclusivity built momentum, as early access created anticipation and loyalty among target users. Collaborative features naturally drove team-based viral adoption. Design community word-of-mouth proved more trusted than traditional marketing.

They built on existing design communities instead of creating new ones, providing immediate credibility and user base.

Your Growth Blueprint

1. Create exclusive early access for your core user persona
2. Join existing communities instead of building from scratch
3. Focus on product features that naturally require sharing or collaboration
4. Build thought leadership through educational content that serves community needs

9. Duolingo: “Unhinged” TikTok Domination

Firstly, have a look at their TikTok account

What you see is a chaotic, creative, anti-corporate example of content marketing strategy. Duo the owl appears in absurd scenarios, viral trend hijacking, and “unhinged” mascot personality that breaks every brand guideline.

Viral explosion results:

• 8.2M TikTok followers gained in 2 years
• 54% daily active user growth in Q3 2024
• $748M revenue in 2024 (40.8% increase)
• 103M monthly active users in 2024

Why chaos beats corporate: Started with 23-year-old grad asking to make TikToks → now drives the majority of new user acquisition. Authentic irreverence resonates more than polished brand content. Entertainment-first approach makes learning feel fun, not forced.

Anti-marketing strategy: Created “Duolingo legal team” trying to stop Duo’s antics → meta-commentary on corporate constraints. Turned language learning guilt into comedy gold. Made missing lessons feel like betraying a friend, not a brand.

Your Growth Blueprint

1. Hire young creators who understand platform culture natively
2. Make entertainment the priority, product mentions secondary
3. Create a mascot personality that feels like a real person, not a logo
4. Turn customer pain points into comedy instead of corporate messaging

10. Gong: Sales Intelligence Authority

Gong built a proprietary sales research laboratory analyzing millions of real sales conversations to produce original industry reports, “Gong Labs” findings, and the #1 data-backed sales blog that established them as the definitive voice in revenue intelligence.

Revenue intelligence results:

• $200M+ ARR achieved by 2024
• 40.7K monthly organic visitors from content marketing
• “Reveal” podcast featuring top sales leaders became a go-to resource for revenue professionals
• Gong Labs reports are cited across sales organizations globally as industry benchmark data

Instead of generic sales advice, Gong analyzed real conversation data from millions of sales calls to uncover what actually drives revenue. Their research revealed counterintuitive insights like “emailing pricing increases win rates” → backed by analysis of 37,671 opportunities. This approach positioned them as the most credible voice in sales effectiveness.

Gong created a dedicated research division that turned their product’s unique data access into marketing differentiation. Every insight demonstrated platform capabilities while educating the market. Revenue teams trusted Gong’s findings because they came from analyzing actual customer interactions, not surveys or speculation.

Your Growth Blueprint

1. Transform your product’s unique data access into original research content
2. Create dedicated research publications that establish category authority
3. Use proprietary insights to contradict conventional industry wisdom
4. Make data findings shareable resources that competitors can’t replicate
5. Build content around business outcomes your audience actually cares about

SaaS Content Marketing Success Pattern

After analyzing these content marketing examples and working with 10+ SaaS companies, I highlighted five characteristics that separate revenue-driving content from marketing noise:

The Hard Truth About Execution

Most SaaS companies fail at content marketing because they optimize for content production instead of business outcomes. They publish consistently but don’t track revenue attribution. They create educational content but don’t solve onboarding problems.

The tactical approach is:

1. Pick one strategy from these examples.
2. Commit to executing it for 12 months minimum.
3. Track business metrics from day one.

Your Next Move

The SaaS content marketing examples above prove that growth comes only with sustained execution, clear strategy, and business-metric optimization.

Stop creating content about your product. Start creating content that makes your product inevitable.

After 9 years of building content strategies that generated millions in pipeline, I help SaaS companies avoid the common mistakes and build content engines that compound.

If you have questions about implementing these strategies — reach out. I’d love to help you avoid the mistakes that kill most content marketing efforts.

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Book a content strategy consultation