SaaS companies getting it right
Imagine trying to have a conversation with someone who only talks about themselves. Exhausting, right? That’s exactly how consumers feel when brands make everything about their own products. It feels impersonal, out of touch, and so painfully boring.
The ones making real connections have flipped the script and built their marketing around what their audience actually cares about.
HubSpot: Help first, sell later
HubSpot is well known in the marketing world for championing inbound marketing — a strategy focused on attracting customers through content instead of pushing sales messages. Their blog, ebooks, and webinars serve as a reliable resource hub for marketers and sales teams. And when we say reliable, we mean they deliver content that is genuinely helpful to their audience.
For example, their guide on “How to Create Content for Every Stage of the Buyer’s Journey” breaks down exactly what kind of content works best at each stage, with examples, templates, and real tips you can use. It’s the kind of resource you bookmark and actually come back to. In contrast, a blog post solely touting the features of HubSpot's own products without addressing broader marketing challenges would be way less effective. It might be informative, sure, but it’s all about them — not the reader. One builds trust by helping solve a real problem. The other just feels like a sales pitch.
By continually updating this type of content, HubSpot increased their increased organic traffic to those articles by 106%, proving that continually delivering relevant content keeps audiences engaged.
Beyond content, HubSpot Academy has made a name for itself. Offering free courses and certifications, HubSpot helps professionals improve their skills, whether they’re customers or not. Over 165,000 people complete certifications each year, and many later become users. This “help first, sell later” approach has helped them grow their platform to approximately 248,000 total users and generate $2.6 billion in total revenue.
Salesforce: A space to grow together
Salesforce’s Trailblazer Community connects over 11 million users across the globe, providing a space where professionals share knowledge, network, and support each other. And unlike traditional customer support models, Salesforce’s community allows users to find answers and best practices from peers, reducing reliance on company support teams while strengthening brand affinity.
What makes this approach stand out is that it doesn’t center the brand, it centers the people who use it. Instead of positioning Salesforce as the only source of truth, they’ve built a platform where users can learn from each other’s real experiences. It’s less “let us tell you how to do it” and more “here’s a space to grow together.” That kind of peer-to-peer value exchange creates not just loyalty, but a real sense of belonging. That’s a powerful way to stay relevant and top-of-mind.
And then there’s Trailhead: Salesforce’s interactive learning platform that gamifies skill development. By 2020, users had earned 20 million Trailhead badges, making learning Salesforce tools an engaging experience. More than just a training resource, Trailhead has become a career accelerator, with over 60% of community members reporting that it helped them land a new job or promotion. When you invest in educating your audience, you create brand advocates who stick around for the long haul.
Slack: User advocacy over aggressive sales tactics
Slack’s rise to success is a testament to listening to users and iterating quickly. Rather than launching with aggressive marketing, Slack prioritized real user feedback and actually refined its product to match their needs. This audience-focused approach earned Slack a devoted user base, which helped spread the word organically. By the time they invested in traditional advertising, word-of-mouth had already cemented it as a must-have workplace tool.
Beyond their successful product approach, Slack fosters an active social media presence that is approachable, humorous, and user-centric. It actively engages in conversations and celebrates quirky customer experiences. Their relatable tone on social helps users feel connected to the brand, which goes further than you might think.
Slack also employs a freemium model, allowing teams to try the product for free before upgrading. By lowering the barrier to entry and letting the product prove its value, Slack has grown to 200,000+ paying customers, including 77 of the Fortune 100.
Their product and marketing approach as a whole are a great example of how putting users first — through product design, tone, and accessibility — can fuel both growth and loyalty without ever leading with the hard sell.
