On that hot Wednesday afternoon in January 2017, I sat in front of my PC eager to hit the “Enter” key and publish my first fictional story online. But I didn’t think of myself as a storyteller then. My Wattpad profile—where I published said story—can give you a glimpse. 

Sure, I had notebooks full of other complete and half-baked stories. But all I could muster was seeing myself as a ‘simple #Nigerian writer, potential author and entrepreneur:’ 

As of writing this article, I still haven’t authored a full-fledged book. But I’ve written a few playbooks on B2B SaaS marketing and copywriting, all centered around executing with storytelling. So, how did I go from a ‘simple #Nigerian writer…’ to someone who built a now-proven framework for SaaS product storytelling?  

It all started while trying to be relevant in the Product-Led Growth (PLG) era that took off in 2019. That resolve sparked my dormant storytelling instincts, pushing me to conceive the idea for something new: the Product-Led Storytelling approach.  

I’ll dig a bit into how that unfolded in this article. More importantly, you’ll see how it connects to something bigger and pertinent for B2B SaaS startups eager for industry-leading and business-driving content marketing strategy execution.

And that’s to know the…

Difference Between Keywords and Ideas

Most, if not all, SaaS products are built to help prospects leverage untapped processes or modern tactics to drive growth. As such, sales occur when prospects see a SaaS product as the key to easily achieving their growth goals, similar to discovering a hidden trail in a crowded forest instead of navigating a dreaded path. 

But when you observe with more intent, you realize something else: the untapped growth strategies, processes, or modern tactics your product makes possible often don’t have names. 

Without a name, explaining value—and positioning your SaaS product as a viable solution—is a pipedream. How can prospects admire your brand and buy your product because they recognize its distinctive or revolutionary value? 

We can look to Blake Bartlett’s story. 

Blake joined OpenView Partners in 2013, and by 2016, he’d led investments in startups like Calendly, Expensify, Highspot, and Cypress. These companies weren’t just performing well; they were exceptional. They scaled faster, acquired customers more efficiently, and reached profitability in ways that stood out even within and outside OpenView’s portfolio.

Blake and his team noticed this pattern but needed a name for it. On a podcast, Blake recounted the moment of clarity: 

And so, in 2016, Blake coined the term, Product-Led Growth (PLG). OpenView was already a respected VC firm. But coining and evangelizing PLG catapulted them to industry leadership. It wasn’t an overnight success, though. 

As Blake shared (paraphrased): 

As PLG gained traction, the SaaS community began to understand its value.

Fast forward to today, and PLG is no longer just an idea. It’s a competitive keyword in SaaS go-to-market strategy, generating over 165,000 monthly organic searches:

But the rise of PLG didn’t happen because Blake focused on search engine optimization (SEO) or chased existing search demand, say, ‘B2B SaaS growth hacks.’ Instead, it began with an idea—an observation about how modern SaaS companies were growing. Articulating and evangelizing that idea created a movement. 

Today, the term Product-Led Growth has become foundational to SaaS growth strategy, driving SEO investments, consulting businesses, and thought leadership.

For instance, Wes Bush authored a book on PLG and built an eight-figure consulting firm to help SaaS companies adopt what was only an unknown idea less than a decade ago. Meanwhile, companies now vie for search traffic, with some paying over $1 per click just to rank for PLG. Meaning behind the sites ranking organically are significant SEO investments, all rooted in the idea Blake observed, named, and brought to life.

And that’s the difference between keywords and ideas. 

Ideas can create movements, and movements can give birth to competitive keywords. But the reverse isn’t always true. 

If Blake had focused solely on driving immediate traffic through existing keywords, say, ‘SaaS growth hacks,’ PLG might never have become the cornerstone of the SaaS growth strategy it is today. Instead, his observation, articulation, and persistence to evangelize his idea led to a paradigm shift in SaaS go-to-market strategies. This shift didn’t just benefit the SaaS community. 

It positioned OpenView as a leading VC firm and powered a content marketing execution engine that attracted startups, raised multiple new funds, and solidified its reputation. 

The takeaway from Blake’s story? 

To become an industry leader and grow your SaaS company—and product—through content marketing execution, prioritize articulating and evangelizing unique ideas over short-term traffic plays. I’m not saying you shouldn’t try to capture existing search demand. But the ideas evangelized through your content marketing execution can lead to long-term differentiation, industry leadership, and ultimately, exponential growth. 

This is because…

Great SaaS Content Spread Ideas

Picture being at a massive industry conference—the kind where everyone’s buzzing about the same hot topics. Now, imagine Google’s search engine as the event’s keynote stage. 

Who gets the spotlight and keynote speech? Certainly, the person or company behind the ideas that have been conceptualized, hyped, championed, and repeated for months, even years.  

Take the words ‘apple’ and ‘pineapple.’ 

Long before Google, both were just fruits. But today, search for ‘apple,’ and you’ll mostly find a tech empire. Why? Because Apple the company spent decades evangelizing its brand around it to the point where Apple, the company, now dominates search results: 

Meanwhile, ‘pineapple? 

No trillion-dollar startup has claimed that name yet, so the top search results stick to the fruit:

This example further illustrates exactly how keywords work. The ones racking up millions of organic searches today were once just ideas—conceptualized, named, nurtured, and evangelized until they became the dominant conversation people now search for with keywords. That’s why simply targeting high-volume keywords without injecting your own unique ideas is like trying to outshine the keynote speaker with a recycled speech.  

You’d be lucky to win. 

If at all you do win, it’ll be only briefly. Instead, think of your content as the key to dominating the next big industry conference. If the established narrative is the mainstage thesis in today’s keynote speech, you need a fresh perspective—a counterpoint or antithesis—to shape the conversations that will become the talking points at the next big conference. 

Creating ‘great’ content is, therefore, about spreading your unique ideas—your antithesis—until they catch fire. When that happens? Boom! A synthesis emerges. A new, differentiated angle that’s unmistakably tied to your brand and your SaaS solution: 

So, sure, create content targeting known keywords to capture existing demand where you see the opportunity. But even when you do that, don’t just parrot what’s already out there. 

Truly great content marketing, one likely to transform your startup into an industry leader, must spread new ideas. Because when they metamorphose into the next sought-after keywords, they position your brand and product for long-term growth.

But it begs a crucial question…

Where Do Great SaaS Content Ideas Come From?

Says my favorite author, Malcolm Gladwell:

Now imagine being a Founder or Marketer at a bustling SaaS startup. You’re in the trenches daily, talking to customers, always analyzing competitors, and watching market trends as they unfold. Do this consistently with curious intent and with the belief that there is a story to be told in everyone and everything, and you’ll spot signals and make connections others miss. 

As Gladwell rightly observed, those are where great SaaS content ideas come from. Not from Google searches, keyword research tools, or AI-generated prompts. They come from paying attention with curious intent and making connections others miss.

Blake Bartlett proved this. 

He didn’t just Google or AI-prompt ‘trending SaaS strategies’ to stumble upon Product-Led Growth (PLG). No! He watched startups in and out of OpenView’s portfolio and connected the dots before PLG became a buzzword. He saw the signs before anyone else did. That’s how category-defining ideas are born.

I know this because it’s also how I coined Product-Led Storytelling—by questioning, observing, and adapting.

Here’s my story. 

When PLG was gaining serious traction in 2019, the core idea—let users experience your product for free, and if it’s good enough, they’ll convert—made sense to me. But then came the part that didn’t sit right with me—this notion that SaaS startups could scale without traditional marketing or sales. 

That hit me like a knockoff punch. If startups no longer needed traditional sales or marketing approaches, where did that leave my content marketing services?

Was I about to become irrelevant?

I wasn’t going to accept that. But instead of panicking, I leaned in. I studied how PLG companies were actually growing. What I found is that they still needed a way to get discovered. They still needed to differentiate themselves from the five, ten, or fifteen other startups in their niches offering nearly identical freemium models. And when prospects found them, they needed to give a compelling reason for choosing their product over another.

That’s when it hit me: PLG wasn’t killing marketing—it was evolving it. And winning startups weren’t just relying on free signups; they were telling better stories about their products. Not generic, keyword-stuffed articles. Real, engaging narratives that engaged, educated, entertained, and converted.

This realization led me to coin Product-Led Storytelling—a content approach designed for the PLG era. Instead of just ranking for keywords, startups needed content that showcased their product in action, weaving it seamlessly into compelling narratives. The goal wasn’t just traffic; it was traction.

Here’s how I made the idea stick. 

I framed Product-Led Storytelling as the missing piece to PLG’s user acquisition thesis—not a replacement, but a necessary complement. Blake and OpenView Partners, the very VC firm that championed PLG, saw the value in my perspective. They didn’t just like my take; they published my first piece on it in June 2020: 

That validation was huge.

Fast-forward five years, and while Product-Led Storytelling hasn’t exploded like PLG, it’s gained steady traction. Today, it’s a concept startups are actively vying and searching for, evident in the 10 monthly searches with it as the keyword. 

And guess who dominates the search results? Myself (and the company that coined it: VEC Studio):

So as a SaaS Founder or B2B Marketer seeking great ideas to power your content marketing execution, follow this 3-step playbook:

1. Talk to customers and observe what’s happening in your industry—not just trends but shifts in customer behavior, emerging challenges, and untapped opportunities.
2. Connect those observations to your brand or product in a way that creates a unique, valuable perspective.
3. Own each idea you conceptualize by naming it. Evangelize it by publishing content that reinforces your thought leadership before someone else does.

But as you do these, know that…

Ideas Aren’t Created Equal 

We saw the profound impact of using content marketing execution to spread ideas, not just target keywords. As a result, we started doing two things at VEC Studio for every SaaS startup client we work with: 

1. We systemize ongoing idea collection: During onboarding, we implement a process for extracting the best insights from your team. This ensures ongoing content creation isn’t just SEO fluff but strategically tied to your brand’s narrative.  
2. We score and prioritize ideas: Using our battle-tested template, we rank ideas based on their Business Value Score (BVS), prioritizing those scoring 2–3.

The below illustration captures why:

The reason for this prioritization? 

It’s simple; ideas aren’t created equal. 

The best ones (those with BVS of 2–3º):

• ✅ Amplify your brand’s positioning  
• ✅ Showcase your product as the go-to solution  
• ✅ Drive meaningful awareness, not just traffic. 

If choosing such ideas sounds interesting, maybe check out my ideas collection template? It also comes with guided video walkthroughs for evaluating and prioritizing ideas. 

You can do that here.