Inbound-led Outbound: ORCA’s Playbook

What is Inbound-led Outbound?

“Inbound-led Outbound” is a strategic approach that leverages the power of SEO and content marketing to drive high-intent traffic, and then uses advanced targeting and cold (warm) outbound sales to convert visitors who showed interest but didn’t take immediate action. Applied well, this playbook helps vertical SaaS companies not only win the Inbound game, but also supercharge their Outbound game with leads who have effectively ‘hand raised’ by visiting their site and often show similar conversion rates to inbound leads. Often this translates in a 2-3x return on SEO investments and a 4-5x lift on Outbound activity. Let’s dive in.

The Four-Step Playbook for Vertical SaaS

Step 1: Identify Your “Money Pages”

The first step is to identify your money pages – these are the pages on your website that have the highest potential to drive revenue and conversions for your business. Money pages typically focus on categories and niche use cases that are crucial for your target customer segments.

A money page is designed to influence users to take a specific action — these actions lead to pipeline and ultimately revenue. In most cases, “money pages” will contribute to a small percentage of your overall traffic, but drive the majority of your pipeline and revenue. Identifying and optimizing these pages is crucial for your success.

For vertical SaaS companies, money pages often represent high-intent searches and tend to be winnable with SEO. In many instances, these pages can be built and optimized to rank well in a relatively short period, even in competitive markets.

For example, when one of our team members worked at an insurtech company serving startups, their key money page focused on “Startup Insurance.” This page generated less than 5% of total traffic, but contributed to a much larger share of pipeline and revenue. The “Startup Insurance” page targeted startups seeking insurance products tailored for venture-backed companies, addressing a specific need for a defined audience segment.

By identifying your money pages, you’re essentially pinpointing the areas where your SEO and content efforts will yield the highest return on investment. These pages will form the foundation of your inbound-led outbound strategy, driving both organic traffic and providing valuable data for targeted outbound campaigns.

Step 2: Dominate SEO for Your “Money Pages”

Once you’ve identified your money pages, the next step is to win the SEO game. This involves:

  • Creating best-in-class content that thoroughly addresses the user’s search intent
  • Building high-quality backlinks to boost your page’s authority
  • Optimizing on-page elements to signal relevance to search engines

    The goal is to secure the #1 spot on Google for your target keywords. When you achieve this, you’ll start seeing a steady stream of inbound leads from prospects actively seeking solutions in your niche.

Step 3: Set Up Advanced Visitor Tracking

Not every visitor to your money pages will convert immediately. That’s where advanced tracking comes in. Implement tools to identify and track traffic that hasn’t yet converted on your money pages.
There are several powerful tools available for this purpose, each with its own strengths:

  • 6Sense
  • Demandbase
  • RollWorks
  • ZoomInfo
  • Warmly
  • Clearbit

Choose the tool that best fits your needs and budget. The key is to set up a system that alerts your outbound team when qualified traffic has been identified.

Step 4: Launch Hyper-Targeted Outbound Campaigns

With your tracking system in place, it’s time to launch outbound campaigns targeting prospects who have visited your money pages but haven’t converted. This approach typically yields metrics that are 5x-10x better than traditional outbound campaigns.

For effective outbound campaigns:

  1. Use a multi-channel approach, including email, phone calls, and LinkedIn outreach
  2. If budget allows, consider adding direct mail for a high-impact touchpoint
  3. Personalize your outreach based on the specific money page the prospect visited
  4. Tailor your messaging to address the pain points and use cases relevant to that page

The Power of Inbound-led Outbound in Action

One of our clients, an AI company focused on improving operational efficiency, saw remarkable results with this playbook. We helped them rank #1 for a high-intent category keyword. After achieving this ranking, they not only saw an increase in inbound leads but were also able to identify and pursue visitors to that page who didn’t immediately convert.
The result? This single initiative now accounts for approximately 15% of their monthly lead volume – all of it incremental growth.

Measuring Success

When implementing the Inbound-led Outbound playbook, focus on two key metrics:

  1. Leads: Track the number of new leads generated specifically from your money pages and the associated outbound campaigns.
  2. Revenue: Measure the incremental revenue driven by these efforts.
    These metrics are easily isolated as incremental growth since they’re tied to new pages on your website and outbound efforts specifically driven by these high-intent money pages.

Cross-Team Alignment is Key

For this playbook to succeed, it’s crucial to have alignment and commitment across your organization. Marketing needs to drive the SEO and content efforts, sales must be ready to act on the intelligence gathered, and leadership needs to support the initiative with resources and patience.

Founders, sales leaders, and marketing leaders all play critical roles in deploying this strategy effectively. When these teams work in harmony towards a shared goal, the results can be truly transformative.

Interested?

The Inbound-led Outbound playbook represents a game-changing strategy for vertical SaaS companies seeking explosive growth. By masterfully combining SEO dominance in high-intent “money pages” with laser-focused outbound campaigns, you can create a powerful growth engine that captures leads through multiple channels. This innovative approach not only significantly boosts your lead volume but also ensures that these leads are highly qualified and primed for conversion.

Are you ready to take your vertical SaaS company to the next level? Do you want to leverage the power of both inbound and outbound strategies to create a sustainable, scalable growth machine? If you’re looking to accelerate your growth and want to explore how this playbook can transform your business, we’re here to help.

Get in touch with us today, and let’s model this playbook for your specific use case. We’ll work together to determine if it’s the right fit for your company. If it is, the potential for growth will be clear and compelling. Don’t let another day go by watching potential high-intent leads slip through your fingers. Take action now and unlock the full potential of your vertical SaaS business.