Lessons in User-Driven Marketing and Growth for SaaS Startups

Discussion with Melissa Megginson Axtell

Startup marketing isn’t about flashy campaigns or overnight virality—it’s about making smart, sustainable decisions with limited resources. Megginson Axtell knows this better than most. She began her career as the second employee at a small SaaS company that grew from 50 users to more than 100,000, and now leads product marketing for enterprise sales software. In this article, she shares the practical lessons she's learned about what truly drives growth—from SEO and community marketing to product positioning, affiliate strategies, and navigating rebrands. This article breaks down the specific strategies Megginson Axtell used to grow a startup from the ground up—including how to choose the right early marketing channels, build meaningful affiliate programs, position a product to drive long-term retention, navigate the complexities of rebranding, and adapt to changing buyer behavior in the B2B SaaS landscape.

Start with the Fundamentals: The First Channels That Matter

Megginson Axtell is clear: don’t get distracted by trends when you’re still figuring out your foundation. “Search is still king”, she says. For her, SEO isn’t optional—it’s the baseline for discoverability. And in today’s world, that means not just traditional search engines but also optimizing for AI-powered search tools like Google Gemini.

“You need the traffic first before you can start to capture it”, she explains. That’s why she recommends combining SEO with scrappy, high-impact tactics like engaging in online communities. Reddit, Quora, and Twitter threads aren’t glamorous—but they are effective if you show up to be helpful, not pushy.

She learned this firsthand: “I was jumping into threads about social media tactics—not to sell, just to join the conversation. Eventually, people started asking about the tool I worked for, and that led to some of our earliest users”. It’s not fast or automated, but it builds real trust and visibility.

And as she points out, SEO has a learning curve. “A lot of people don’t use it well. You have to know how to show up in both human and AI-driven search results”. The goal isn’t just to appear in searches—it’s to show up where and when people are ready to engage.

Community and Affiliate Marketing Done Right

Megginson Axtell’s early startup didn’t grow because of ads—it grew because of community. “You can’t just take any affiliate,” she says. “Start with the people who already love your product”.

She relied on user behavior to identify strong candidates: daily logins, consistent content creation, or customers who were already talking about the product on social. From there, her team built blueprints—reusable guides that helped affiliates tell their story and explain how the product fit into their success.

“People want to learn from people who’ve made it work”, she explains. “So we helped our affiliates share exactly what they were doing. That authenticity drove way more engagement than generic influencer shout-outs”.

At the same time, she warns against letting big affiliate numbers fool you. “We had someone making tens of thousands of dollars from a single program—but they were bidding against our own keywords. It looked great on paper, but was bad for the brand”. Her advice: focus on alignment and quality, not just reach.

Positioning That Doesn’t Stop at the Sale

Megginson Axtell recommends looking beyond direct competitors when defining positioning. "One of the key things that I really like to do is look at competitive alternatives—not just direct competitors, not just companies doing the same thing—but what would customers use if you didn't exist? If the alternatives didn’t exist, where would they go? It could be as simple as a spreadsheet, or even a physical ledger", she says. "What’s the benefit your product offers over that fallback option? That’s how you get to the real need your product is solving".

This mindset helps teams think less about industry noise and more about customer context. When you know the actual workaround your user might fall back on, your messaging becomes clearer, more focused, and value-driven. It also sharpens product decisions by anchoring them to unmet needs instead of assumed feature gaps.

Another essential habit Megginson Axtell stresses is listening to how users describe your product. "What words are they using in validation calls? Are they saying ‘easy,’ ‘fast,’ ‘saves me time’? Use that language", she explains. It’s not about guessing what sounds good—it’s about echoing what already resonates.

For larger launches, she recommends going deeper: test your messaging, get feedback on your value proposition, and ensure your ideal customer profile aligns with your go-to-market plan. “You don’t always need a full campaign, but if it’s a major release, you want to be sure your positioning reflects the value—and the need—it’s solving”.

 When You Have to Rebrand—And How to Do It Right

Megginson Axtell has been through more than one rebrand, and she’s honest about it: “It’s awful. It’s necessary sometimes, but it’s hard”.

She’s seen it triggered by trademark issues, acquisitions, and strategic pivots—like moving from SMB to enterprise. Whatever the reason, the key is clarity. “You need a clear problem statement: what’s changing, and why? That guides everything”.

Her approach starts with assembling a small team of stakeholders: sales, product, customer success, leadership, and marketing. Together, they map out what the new brand needs to represent. Then comes the brainstorming, the validation, and the inevitable pushback.

“Don’t pick a name just because it sounds cool”, she warns. “One of our company names was just a single verb. Imagine Googling something like “talk” or “jump” and trying to find a specific SaaS company—it’s a mess. You want something distinctive, available, and aligned with your value prop”. If you can afford it, she says, bring in an outside agency to help. “It’s a big lift. If you’ve got the resources, it’s worth outsourcing”.

The Budget Myth: Big Spend ≠ Big Growth

Megginson Axtell has worked with startups and with enterprise clients—and she’s seen the same mistake on both sides. “You can’t buy your way out of a bad product,” she says.

Having a big budget doesn’t mean much if your product doesn’t meet a real need. “You can pour money into ads, events, and brand partnerships—but if the value’s not there, the leads won’t convert”.

She encourages startups to focus less on mimicking enterprise tactics and more on sharpening their own value proposition. “Ask yourself: why does this product matter? Why now? Who really needs it? If you don’t have strong answers, you’re not ready to scale”.

The Antisocial Buyer and the Case for Product-Led Growth

Today’s SaaS buyers aren’t browsing trade shows or answering calls—they’re doing their own research, and they want immediate answers. “We call it the antisocial generation”, says Megginson Axtell. “They don’t want to talk to you. They just want to see what your product does”.

She points to a recent Gartner report that backs this up: buyers want to explore products on their own terms. That’s why Megginson Axtell is a big proponent of embedded product tours—interactive demos available without scheduling a call.

“I don’t want to book a meeting to see what a tool does”, she says. “Let me try it. If I like it, then I’ll talk to someone. If not, I’m gone”. For her, the product isn’t just part of the pitch—it is the pitch. And companies that embrace that will convert faster, spend less, and build more trust.

Executive Takeaways

Megginson Axtell leaves us with three sharp reminders that resonate across early-stage and scaling companies:

• Customers show you the way: They may not always know what feature comes next, but they’ll consistently point to what delivers value. Their perspective is essential to shaping relevant products and positioning.
• Retention beats acquisition: Growth metrics mean little if they’re built on churn. Focus on onboarding, engagement, and delivering consistent value—because happy customers don’t just stay, they amplify.
• Let the product sell itself: Today’s buyers are informed and impatient. Clear, instant access to your product—not gated demos—will move the needle more than any sales script.

Megginson Axtell’s approach to growth is grounded, human, and refreshingly no-nonsense. Strip away the buzzwords, and her advice is clear: know your customer, speak their language, and let your product prove its worth.

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