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Many of today's most successful SaaS companies rely on a product-led growth (PLG) go-to-market strategy to scale their business. Think Dropbox, Slack, and, most recently, the pandemic-fueled growth of Zoom.

What does PLG mean? Simply put, such companies rely on their products (and the appeal of their user experiences) to hook customers and drive growth across all stages of the funnel.

Since the product itself—rather than ad dollars or sales outreach—is the growth engine, PLG is a cost-effective growth strategy, freeing companies (at least initially) from the need for more sales reps or a bigger marketing budget.

A typical PLG motion involves winning over users with a freemium offering: Customers get to use the product right away and experience real product value without having to jump through hoops to get started.

Although this approach may require a larger up-front investment in R&D to create a great product, it can scale with fewer team resources.

Many PLG companies eventually scale to the point where they begin to target larger deals, and their model breaks out into two tiers: self-serve and enterprise sales motion. But just because a company suddenly has a new focus on enterprise customers doesn't mean it should abandon its self-serve users.

However, each group has different needs and consequently requires different marketing and enablement strategies.

The most effective B2B marketers will recognize the differences between enterprise and self-serve customers and personalize their messaging and approach accordingly.

Here are three of those major differences.

1. Company Size

It's critical you treat a B2B buyer from a Fortune 500 company differently from how you treat someone at a small company or an individual consumer.

You want your sales team to talk to enterprise buyers because those leads are looking for solutions to specific enterprise needs, such as enhanced security, collaboration features, and dedicated support.

It's important for a PLG company's homepage, to offer personalized headings and use cases that are targeted to the type of customer visiting their website. Consider this example from Droplr's homepage that demonstrates values for both tracks.

Droplr enterprise vs individual service

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B2B Product Strategy: How to Market to Both Enterprise and Self-Serve Customers

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

image of Nick Wentz

Nick Wentz is the VP of marketing at Clearbit, a B2B data activation platform. He has over a decade of marketing experience, with expertise in demand generation and growth marketing.

LinkedIn: Nick W.