Vertical SaaS marketing, and what HVAC software taught us about selling PropTech

What worked for an HVAC software company

Conduit Tech, an HVAC software company, needed marketing built from zero while the pipeline filled at the same time. We picked the buyer that closed fastest, rebuilt the website around the contractor's day, and ran paid campaigns judged on pipeline rather than clicks.

The results, from the case study, were a 338% increase in pipeline from Meta Ads, a 4.2x return on Google Ads spend, 94% lower cost per MQL and 1,389% growth in organic search year over year. None of those numbers came from a clever trick. They came from talking to one kind of buyer in their own words and measuring what turned into sales conversations.

How we would run vertical SaaS marketing for PropTech

PropTech is vertical SaaS with a real estate accent, so the same sequence applies.

1. Choose one buyer first, whether that is agents, brokerages, investors or operators.
2. Build the website and the proof around that buyer and their vocabulary.
3. Target them by title, market and portfolio size on LinkedIn and Meta, and capture the ones already searching on Google.
4. Nurture the long cycle with email that respects how slowly property teams decide.

If you want the PropTech version in detail, read our PropTech go-to-market guide or see how we work as a PropTech marketing agency. For software in other industries, our SaaS marketing page covers the wider playbook.

A week in the life of a vertical SaaS buyer

Vertical SaaS marketing gets easier the moment you map the buyer's week instead of your own launch calendar. A property manager's Monday is owner calls and weekend maintenance tickets. Midweek fills with showings, renewals and vendor walk-throughs. Friday is the scramble to close out work orders before the weekend. Somewhere in that week sits a twenty-minute window when they might read an email or take a call, and it is rarely the window your campaign calendar picked.

HVAC contractors follow the same kind of rhythm, with slow months and peak months that shape when they will look at new software at all. Messages that land in peak season tend to go unread, while the same message sent in the shoulder months gets a reply. For PropTech the equivalent is avoiding the leasing rush and the year-end budget freeze, then showing up when an operator is planning next year and has an hour to think. Good timing will not rescue weak positioning, although strong positioning sent at the wrong moment tends to look weak.

Channels that work for vertical SaaS

• Targeted paid social. LinkedIn and Meta let you reach a few thousand people by job title, company size and location, which is exactly the shape of a vertical market. Broad awareness campaigns waste money here, while tight audiences with industry-specific creative do the opposite.
• Search for people already looking. Volume is small in vertical markets, but intent is high. Someone searching for software for their exact trade is usually close to a decision, so paid and organic search both earn their keep.
• Industry events and associations. Vertical buyers still gather in person. The return comes from meetings booked before the event and follow-up afterward, far more than from the booth.
• Integration partners and marketplaces. If your product plugs into the system your buyer already uses, the partner's marketplace and co-marketing can be the most trusted channel you have.
• Referrals from customers. In a small market, every happy customer is a salesperson. Make it easy for them to recommend you, and ask at the moment they get value rather than at renewal.

The vertical SaaS marketing checklist

1. Name the accounts you want, because the market is small enough to do it.
2. Write in the customer's vocabulary and have someone from the trade read it before it goes live.
3. Collect named proof early, even from small customers, and ask permission to use their name.
4. Make the first step small enough that saying yes feels like a trial rather than a migration.
5. Measure campaigns on demos and pipeline, since a vertical market punishes vanity metrics faster than any other.