business plan vs go to market strategy

Here’s an example of a complete value matrix:

But the sales funnel is no longer the best way to look at your buyer’s journey. Instead, I propose using the flywheel methodology , which takes a more holistic approach that puts your customer at the center and turns your leads from prospects to customers to active promoters.

In the flywheel model, customers go through three stages: attract, engage, and delight.

First up is the attract phase. Content at this stage grabs a potential customer’s attention. This can be in the form of a blog, whitepaper, or video. A lead gets here by clicking on an ad, social media post, or a search engine result. However, these behaviors do not indicate that this lead is ready to make a purchase yet.

After that comes the engage phase. In this stage, a prospect has demonstrated they have a problem your product can solve. They show this through digital behavior like downloading an ebook or joining a webinar, allowing you to engage them with educational content.

While each company divides the lead generation and qualification process differently, marketing is typically in charge of the attract and engage phases. Your marketing team will need to generate interest and awareness and educate the relevant audience on a product’s value through messaging and content (more on that later).

Halfway through the engagement phase, the prospect should ask for a quote or a trial period. They’re nearing a decision on whether or not to purchase.

Once the prospect reaches this point, the sales team takes over. I find process typically looks as follows:

• Contact: Communication between the lead and sales rep begins.
• Qualification: The sales rep learns more about the company, their customers’ pain points , and asks questions to see if they meet the basic requirements to purchase the product (BANT is a popular sales qualification method but several other sales methodologies are used to qualify).
• Business case: The prospect tests the product through a free trial or POC to see if it can solve their needs.
• Evaluation: The decision-makers in the organization weigh the cost of the product to the results they achieved during the business case.
• Negotiation: Both sales reps and decision-makers discuss pricing details and feature needs.
• Close: A deal is agreed upon and your prospect turns into a customer.
• Renewal (Optional): Your customer renews their contract or subscription.

Right after your sales representative closes the sale, the lead leaves the engage phase and enters the delight phase. When customers reach this stage, they should be delighted by a painless onboarding process and friendly customer service options.

After that, your customer should ideally turn into a promoter. They bring you more customers, keeping the flywheel going and enabling you to grow better.

7. Choose one (or more) of the four most common sales strategies.

You’ve done all the required foundational work; now it’s time to pick a strategy that will push your product into the market. No one method will work for every product or market, so it’s important to consider the complexity, scalability , and cost of yours.

There are generally four go-to-market sales strategies — each one catering to a different product and business model.

The Self-Service model

The self-service model is when a customer purchases on their own. We typically see this model with B2C purchases in which a customer can find and buy a product via a website, like Amazon.

This works best for simple products with a low-cost point and high sales volume. It can be difficult to build, but when successful, it sees a short sales cycle, zero cost to hire salespeople, and is highly profitable.

While you won’t need a sales team, you will need a marketing team to drive traffic and conversions to your site. The core marketing team would likely include growth marketing, performance marketing, and content marketing experts, though there will likely be other team members as well.

The Inside Sales Business Model

The inside sales business model is when a prospect needs to be nurtured by a sales rep to convert into a deal. This type of model works best with a product of medium complexity and price.

The sales cycle ranges between a few weeks and a few months. Here, you’ll invest in a sales team — but inside sales reps are less expensive than field reps.

With a high volume of sales, this model can be profitable and is fairly easy to build and scale as you hire more team members. The sales team in this model is typically composed of a sales manager who supervises a handful of reps.

The Field Sales Business Model

The field sales business model is when you have a full sales organization that closes large enterprise deals. These are typically complex products with high price points, which also means there’s typically a low volume of deals with a long sales cycle.

The sales team in this model is often very costly as the field reps are experienced, high-salary employees. This model is easy to build but harder to scale because hiring and training a full sales organization takes time and money.

Members include a sales manager, field reps, sales engineers, a sales development representative (SDR) team, and sales operations.

The Channel Model

Lastly, in the channel model , an outside agency or partner sells your product for you. This is hard to build, as the people can be difficult to recruit and educate on the benefits of your product. They are also often less motivated to sell than your own sales team would be.

However, this is a cheaper model because you don’t need always to pay a sales team of your own. I find that it works best with a product that matches the partner’s interest. For example, if you sell phone cases, you might want to find partners selling related products, like Best Buy or Apple.

You can mix and match these strategies based on industry or customer size (i.e., number of licenses or seats). For startups, it’s healthy to scale over time rather than invest in an expensive sales team too early.

8. Build brand awareness and demand generation with inbound and/or outbound methods.

Now, you need to fill your pipeline by snagging the attention of your target audience. This occurs through demand generation, which can happen with both inbound and outbound strategies.

With inbound, prospects discover your brand through marketing efforts and reach out to you or show signs of interest organically. Some examples of organic inbound traffic channels could be social media, content, or paid ads leading to a landing page.

Outbound demand generation is when a salesperson contacts a lead through cold outreach tactics. They might do this by reaching out to a contact list, sending warm emails , phoning leads , or gathering leads at industry conferences .

Once interest has been generated through these methods, sales conversations begin, and the leads are led to more educational content and then into the sales funnel.

9. Create content to get inbound leads.

Inbound leads are generally easier to convert and cheaper to acquire than outbound leads. This is because inbound leads are already partially educated on the business problem you solve, aware of your product, and usually more interested in buying your product.

Content marketing is the key to generating that inbound interest, as content will drive traffic to your site.

Your content marketing team will drive this inbound traffic by finding and targeting keywords that your potential customers would search for and then creating and posting related content on your website.

At the core of content marketing is search engine optimization (SEO) , which is the way a search engine ranks the content on the internet once a query is entered into the search bar. This will be a large source of your organic web traffic.

What goes into content marketing? It’s a cycle of keyword research, creation, and measurement.

• Keyword research: Identify keywords related to your product, analyze the volume (how often that keyword is searched), the difficulty of ranking for that keyword (i.e., how competitive that keyword is), and see who is already ranking for those keywords.
• Content research: Brainstorm content topics that include that keyword. See what articles already exist around these topics and begin to plan your content calendar.
• Content creation: Put those ideas into motion and have a writer create articles on those topics.
• Design: Add relevant images, infographics, videos, and other multimedia to your content so it’s more visual and engaging.
• Promote: Spread your content and drive traffic to your website by sharing the links via social media or emails to your customer database.
• Build links: Reach out to other publishers and ask them to link to your content to gain even more traffic with link-building tactics. This gives you site authority, which helps improve your SEO rankings.
• Conversion rate: Track and measure the engagement and conversion rates of your content. Keep doing what works and drop what doesn’t. From there, begin the content creation cycle again.

Your content team should develop content that aligns with the various stages of the buyer’s journey (top-of-funnel, middle-of-funnel, bottom-of-funnel).

Top-of-funnel content is lighter educational content, middle-of-funnel content is deeper, more applied learning, and bottom-of-funnel content is for those who are ready to buy and implement. To use SalesHero as an example, the content at each level of the funnel would look like this:

• Top-of-funnel content: "What is sales AI?"
• Middle-of-funnel content: "How sales AI can increase productivity"
• Bottom-of-funnel content: "Using sales AI to extract dark data"

To make this process easier (and more organized), I recommend creating a messaging strategy or content marketing plan based on your customer's journey and the knowledge they do (and don’t) have at each stage. 

Below, I’ll share an example of how you can organize your content, and you can easily fill in my chart when creating your own. 

Top-of-Funnel Content

Funnel Stage: Awareness

Flywheel Goal: Attract Prospects

What type of content will you create to catch the eye of potential customers in similar industries? Make a table like the one below.

Middle-of-Funnel Content

Funnel Stage: Consideration

Flywheel Goals: Attract and Engage Leads

In this phase, your audience might know of your service or be researching products related to yours. What types of content do you create to move your service to the front of their minds?

Bottom-of-Funnel Content

Funnel Stage: strong> Decision

Flywheel Goals: strong> Engage and Nurture Leads / Gain and Delight Customers

Your audience is really interested in your service. How will you use content to sell them?

• Find ways to optimize your pipeline and increase conversion rates.
• Analyze and shorten the sales cycle.
• Reduce customer acquisition cost.
• Strategize ways to tap into your existing customer base.
• Adjust and iterate as you go.
• Retain and delight your customers.

1. Find ways to optimize your pipeline and increase conversion rates.

Growth requires more than simply picking a sales strategy and building a demand generation process. You must optimize.

Sales is a numbers game, and you can only be successful if you measure progress . The key performance indicators (KPIs) for managing a sales team are volume, conversion rate, and time.

You’ll also want to track how many opportunities come into the flywheel: your pipeline volume.

Then track how many leads turned into customers. Comparing the volume of the pipeline opportunities to the number of won deals will get you your overall conversion rate.

It’s found that it's even more important to optimize the conversion rate between stages. As opportunities move through the funnel, they’ll go through various qualification processes (i.e., basic qualifications, current solutions in use, technical evaluation, and closing), and you’ll want to track at which stage the opportunities fall out and why.

I recommend measuring this for your overall flywheel and per sales rep. This information tells you where each rep needs to improve and potentially receive more training. Work to personalize your sales coaching efforts to shorten the sales cycle of each rep. Compare time and conversion rate to see who's better and faster in particular stages.

Track how many opportunities each rep converts and at what stage in the process they drop out. The sooner an unqualified opportunity falls out of the flywheel, the better, because less time, energy, and resources are spent on that particular lead.

2. Analyze and shorten the sales cycle.

Finally, track how long your sales cycle is. This is the amount of time it takes for an opportunity to enter the sales funnel and change to a closed/won deal. The goal is to shorten the conversion between every stage. This can be done by identifying common objections (and iterating ways to remove them before they happen), doing ongoing lead nurturing, and brainstorming ways to find the best-fit customers.

3. Reduce customer acquisition costs.

As a business owner , you’ll also need to optimize your customer acquisition cost . This will be very expensive at first, but as time goes on, you’ll need to reduce this cost by optimizing your processes, or you’ll be losing more money than you make.

Customer acquisition is how much it costs to gain a new customer or deal per $1. The lower the customer acquisition cost, the lower the impact your marketing efforts have on your PNL, and the higher the profit you get per customer.

4. Strategize ways to tap into your existing customer base.

A common adage in the industry is that it costs seven times more to acquire a new customer than it does to do business with an existing customer. If you're providing a great buying experience, existing customers already know, like, and trust you — all of which are reasons to stick around. 

The best opportunity for companies to earn more and gain revenue is through renewals, cross-selling, and upselling . The average cost for a company to renew a product is $0.13, while upsells cost a company $0.28.

Many people think of sales as a black box. But with analytics and new sales AI technologies cropping up, business leaders can optimize their processes to accelerate business.

5. Adjust and iterate as you go.

Building a successful company is not reserved for those entrepreneurs who’ve been blessed with special skills.

Chances are, you’ve already built your product, and building a company is a very similar process. You must be strategic and continue to improve throughout the process.

Take time and continue to iterate, and you too can build a company. Return to areas of your plan that aren’t working and tweak them. Make note of the things that are working, and brainstorm ways to expand upon them.

6. Retain and delight your customers.

In this phase, you will focus on maintaining your customer relationships and spreading good word-of-mouth. This is where a flywheel strategy can be much more helpful than the funnel, which ends at sales. For a detailed rundown of the delight phase and beyond, check out this ultimate guide .

Although different products might require different launch strategies, the below template and steps should help you create a solid starter plan which can be customized along the way.

Go-To-Market Plan Template

Download Now

Creating a go-to-market strategy from scratch can be daunting — especially if it’s your first time launching a brand-new product or service. That’s why HubSpot created a complete go-to-market kit to help you get started. You’ll find templates that help keep your team on schedule and promote alignment between all product stakeholders.

The kit includes:

• Product Launch Planning Template
• Product Update Email Templates
• Product Lifecycle Mapping Template
• Product Classification Template
• SWOT Analysis Template

Still stumped? Below, I’ve included a few more examples of go-to-market strategies that can help you inspire your own.

• Microsoft Surface
• Bread Beauty Supply

Via is a ridesharing platform that was founded in 2012 when Uber was still relatively unknown .

While Uber has bypassed Via in popularity and product usage, Via has effectively carved a niche in the transportation technology space.

Why I Think Via’s Go-to-Market Strategy Works:

The company’s GTM strategy emphasized ride-sharing — that is, riders literally share rides with other riders traveling in the same direction. The driver takes a predetermined route and drops riders off at convenient locations rather than picking up riders at private locations.

Via set out to solve a common pain point for commuters: overcrowded or unavailable public transit with inflexible routes.

Another pain point of the target audience was that Uber and Lyft rides were overpriced and couldn’t be used for daily commutes. Via looked at this problem and created a true ridesharing service that could fill the space Uber and Lyft didn’t fill.

Now, the company partners with private transit operators, schools, and public transit agencies to expand existing operations or provide more riding options for passengers. The result of Via’s go-to-market strategy is that it no longer sees Uber as a direct competitor .

2. Microsoft Surface

Microsoft Windows has long been the preeminent OS, and for good reason: most computer manufacturers offer Windows laptops and desktops.

So why would Microsoft launch its line of computers and tablets if its software is ubiquitous?

Why I Think Microsoft Surface’s Go-to-Market Strategy Works:

In its go-to-market strategy for its Surface products, Microsoft set out to solve a common problem for tablet users. Tablets were primarily mobile devices; while they were convenient to carry, they didn’t offer the full functionality of a laptop. And for many people, owning both a tablet and a laptop was not financially feasible.

When it released the third generation of the Surface tablet , Microsoft made its position clear. The device was a fully functioning computer in tablet form. You could have a light device without sacrificing function. Compared to the Apple iPad, its principal competitor, the Surface tablet offered more functionality at the same price.

Now, the Microsoft Surface line has expanded to include laptops and desktops. Microsoft realized that laptop buyers may not purchase a Windows laptop because there are so many manufacturers to choose from. Specifications and hardware components vary from machine to machine.

With its Surface laptops, Microsoft makes the choice easier for target demographics such as college students and everyday users. These devices compete with Apple’s macOS offerings and are designed to seamlessly integrate with all of the features of Windows OS.

At first glance, the Owala brand of water bottles doesn’t seem much different from competitors.

But in its go-to-market strategy, the brand used its motto, "Do more of what you love," to hint at its products’ ease of use. You can "do more of what you love" since you won’t even waste time opening the bottle. The lid itself is where you sip.

Why I Think Owala’s Go-to-Market Strategy Works:

With its product launch, Owala addressed common problems for water-drinkers: openings that are too wide, spills, and two-handed drinking.

Owala specifically targets those who are active. In its first series of Instagram posts, the brand posted a mosaic of a man on a motorcycle, and in most of its social posts, it includes people in workout clothes.

The company arguably entered an overcrowded space. Brands such as HydroFlask and Contigo dominate the industry. By addressing a specific target buyer and solving their problems, however, Owala successfully launched into that competitive market. The brand distributes its offerings through its website, BestBuy, and Amazon for optimum reach.

4. Bread Beauty Supply

Bread Beauty Supply , a Black- and woman-owned hair care line, set out to solve a common problem for its curly-haired audience: overcomplicated routines that waste time, energy, and products.

Why I Think Bread Beauty Supply’s Go-to-Market Strategy Works:

The brand launched in 2020 and partnered with Sephora as its principal distribution channel. In its go-to-market strategy, the brand identified a segment of buyers who would rather keep their routine simple and leave their curls in their natural state.

Compare this strategy with that of competitor brands such as Pattern Beauty and Ouidad, both of which offer a multitude of hair care products that can dizzy, confuse, and overwhelm buyers. When creating its go-to-market plan, Bread Beauty Supply recognized that some people with curly hair would rather spend less, not more, time on their hair.

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While the curly hair care industry verges on overcrowded, Bread Beauty Supply successfully launched by taking a unique stance in the industry.

The Sip , a Black- and woman-owned champagne subscription service, makes drinking luxury wine more affordable.

Champagne clubs have always been around, offering monthly deliveries of delectable wines at a premium cost.

To the target audience, however, this model poses a few problems. The wine of choice for that month could fail to meet expectations, and that could result in a wasted bottle. And that is at full cost, too. One of The Sip’s competitors, Club Bubbly, charges $100 per month to deliver two bottles of champagne.

Why I Think The Sip’s Go-to-Market Strategy Works:

In its go-to-market strategy, The Sip emphasized its mini-bottle program: subscribers can try three mini-bottles of champagne at a fraction of the cost. If you happen to like one, you can buy the full bottle.

By solving common problems faced by subscribers of wine boxes, The Sip not only attracted the subscribers of its competition, but opened up this type of subscription to buyers who could not previously afford it.

Vuclip , a mobile video-on-demand service, tapped into emerging markets with limited access to high-quality video streaming services. Consumers in these areas — including India, Thailand, and Egypt — dealt with slow video buffering speeds due to a lack of advanced mobile networks.

Why I Think Vuclip’s Go-to-Market Strategy Works:

The company's go-to-market strategy rested on appealing to those "must-have" markets, where it could come in with a competitive advantage by presenting an accessible platform that addressed those regional consumers' issues with buffering.

The result? Vuclip built a subscriber base of more than 41 million consumers across over 3,000 cities, with plans to establish a presence in even more underserved markets around the world.

Upscope , an interactive screen sharing platform, came on the scene as a resource to suit a more technically inclined crowd than its competitors — namely onboarding, support, and IT specialists.

Why I Think Upscope’s Go-to-Market Strategy Works:

The primary pain point the company looked to address was the trouble consumers ran into when trying to share their screens — particularly when it came to walking prospects, customers, or employees through technical subject matter.

The company addressed that issue by creating a solution that lends itself to instant and interactive screen sharing — sparing users the trouble of fumbling through the screen share process and letting all parties engage with the content they're seeing.

Upscope supported its go-to-market efforts with a solid content marketing strategy — maintaining an active web presence and blog. It also incorporated integrations with other tools into its solution, giving itself more visibility and clout.

Baggu is a reusable bag brand. While it seems rather simple on the surface, its go-to-market strategy has made a buzz in the world of sustainability.

Why I Think Baggu’s Go-to-Market Strategy Works:

This brand was created to eliminate unnecessary waste through responsibly managing deadstock products and fabric. This appeals to eco-conscious consumers who are trying to minimize their use of plastic bags.

Accompanying its relatable mission, Baggu has held many collaborations that take its products from functional, to stylish statement pieces.

Baggu recently partnered with Joonbug , a Jamaican artist known for impressive skate designs, and made colorful patterns that showcase his cultural roots and style.

The products are visually interesting, eye-catching, and were marketed through Instagram — a social media platform designed for visual ads and promotion, and a perfect vehicle for a mutually beneficial collaboration for JoonBug, who is also a prominent influencer in the art sphere.

Thinx is a feminine hygiene company that makes underwear for people with periods. This re-imagined approach to menstrual products has been gaining more traction in the industry, and its go-to-market strategy has definitely aided in its success.

Why I Think Thinx’s Go-to-Market Strategy Works:

A common pain point for people with periods is spending a lot of money on one-time hygienic products, and it’s not good for the environment, either. So offering washable underwear with a 2 year guarantee is a much better investment than the alternative.

Thinx is also known for partnering with organizations using cause marketing, like with Black Mamas Matter Alliance. BMMA focuses on the issue of maternal health (specifically for black women who are three times more likely to die from childbirth than other races) that Thinx’s audience would also care about or be aware of.

This strategy appeals to consumers who can feel good knowing they're buying something that gives back a portion of profit to something beyond themselves, especially if it raises awareness of inequalities in maternal health.

10. Metaverse

One of the most outlandish ideas of recent go-to-market strategies is none other than the launch of the Metaverse. It’s an immersive, digital economy made by Facebook, and a look into the future for the platform.

Why I Think the Metaverse’s Go-to-Market Strategy Works:

This brand understands that people are leading digital lives more than ever, which includes more online shopping — but without the experience of shopping in person. So while it is more convenient to add items to your cart through clicks, customers give up the feel of shopping in store.

Metaverse solves for this, by incorporating the brick and mortar experience in a VR-centric, digital world.

In addition to solving the online shopping dilemma, the PR campaign and influencer marketing was such a huge rollout on one of the most major social media platforms, it caused quite a buzz through the internet and news outlets.

Create a Strong GTM Strategy for Your New Venture

Building a go-to-market strategy is critical before bringing your new product to market. With the steps I shared in this guide, you’ll be well on your way to launching a product or service that solves for your future customers and becomes profitable in the marketplace.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in November 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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Business Plan vs. Go-To-Market Strategy (And Why You Need Both)

Agency Blog

Strategy over everything.

This is Vela’s approach to all that we do, and it’s why our work is effective. But smart marketing doesn’t stop at a single plan or strategy. For brands looking to create and sell a specific product or service, they have to dig deeper. This is why understanding the difference between a business plan and a go-to-market strategy is an important, if not critical, facet of executing a successful brand.

In the simplest of terms, a business plan is the natural framework for developing and building a product or service that can be monetized and valuable to consumers, while a go-to-market strategy is the next step in that plan – defining how a company will market a product or service to a specified target audience. To create your brand you need a business plan, to make it successful you need a go-to-market strategy.

So what are the key differences between a business plan and a go-to-market strategy? We’ve mapped it out in the table below.

Business Plan

Objective: a product roadmap that defines the goals of a business, and how it will achieve them., purpose: to create a framework for a business’s monetization and overall success., timeline: long-term–should be followed for as long as the business is running., go-to-market strategy, objective: a subset of a marketing strategy – focuses on one product or service., purpose: to ensure that the product reaches its intended audience successfully., timeline: short-term–is completed once the product has launched., no product or service – no matter how genius – stumbles into success without a strategy..

Having a strong business model is the first step, but defining and executing the pathway to reaching your audience is what will make your brand a success.

Does your business have the right strategy in place to encourage reach, growth, and expansion? Vela can make that happen. Reach out today to learn what we can do for you.

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How to create a go-to-market strategy

A go-to-market (GTM) strategy is a step-by-step plan for launching a new product or expanding into a new market. It helps you launch your product to the right audience, with the right messaging, at the right time. Learn how to craft a go-to-market strategy in nine steps and set your next product launch up for success.

Oatly went straight to their target audience at the exact moment customers were smelling the espresso and ready to buy. And you can bet this innovative go-to-market strategy was the key to their success. 

What is a go-to-market strategy? 

A go-to-market (GTM) strategy is a step-by-step plan for launching a new product or expanding an existing product into a new market. It sets your initiative up for success by answering the following questions: 

What product are you selling, and what unique problem does it solve?

Who is your ideal customer, and what pain points do they experience? 

Where will you sell your product? What markets do you want to pursue, and what does the demand and competition look like in those markets?

How will you reach your target customers and create demand? 

Launching a product is a big investment. And no matter how cutting-edge it is, a successful product launch is dictated by the strength of your marketing campaign and sales strategy. Creating a GTM strategy helps you ensure you’re taking everything into account and avoid costly mistakes—like launching your product to the wrong audience or in a market that’s already saturated with similar offerings.

When do you need a go-to-market (GTM) strategy? 

Whenever you bring a product or service to market, you need a go-to-market strategy. This includes: 

Launching a new product in an existing market —for example, an established clothing brand launching a line of beauty products. 

Bringing an existing product to a new market —for example, a local grocery chain expanding into a different state. 

Testing a new product in a new market —for example, a tech startup launching their first app. 

Even established companies need a go-to-market strategy when pioneering a new product or expanding into a new market. That’s because competition and market forces can quickly change. Even if you’ve had success with a similar product launch in the past, that same strategy might not work as well now. 

Go-to-market strategy vs. a marketing plan

A go-to-market strategy is specifically for launching a product or expanding to a new market. On the other hand, a marketing plan details how you’ll execute your overall marketing strategy. Instead of being launch specific, a marketing plan is a long-term approach to help you achieve your marketing objectives—like an annual roadmap or an overarching digital marketing strategy . Your GTM strategy draws from your long-term marketing plan, but it’s tailored to a specific launch. 

Marketing plan example: Sephora’s marketing plan leverages its loyalty program , which offers discounts and gifts to customers who spend a certain amount. This plan isn’t specific to a product launch; rather, it’s a long-term approach to building customer loyalty over time. 

Go-to-market plan example: Microsoft executed a go-to-market strategy when launching its third-generation Surface tablet . Their strategy was specific to the tablet’s launch and addressed a particular market problem—that existing tablets didn’t have the functionality of a full-fledged computer.

Organize your go-to-market strategy with a project management platform

Every GTM strategy involves lots of moving pieces, whether you’re launching a new product or exploring new markets. The right project management tool can help you visualize your entire plan in one place, including the status, owners, and dependencies of each task. And as team members collaborate and execute your go-to-market strategy, you can see those updates in real-time.

How to build a go-to-market strategy in 9 steps

So you’ve created an exciting new product or want to expand into a new market. You know you need a go-to-market strategy to make sure your initiative succeeds—but what exactly does that look like? 

Step 1: Identify the problem

Every great product launch solves a specific problem. For example, Blackberry phones let business people answer emails on the go, Uber circumvents the cumbersome process of hailing or calling for a taxi, and Dawn detergent cuts through grease and makes washing dishes easier. Each of those products have a unique value proposition —a way they add value for customers by addressing their pain points. And most importantly, when those products launched, there was significant demand for solutions.

This concept is known as product-market fit —the degree to which a product satisfies a strong market demand. Understanding product-market fit is essential to gaining a competitive advantage and making sure you’re launching the right product to the right customers. 

Step 2: Define the target audience

In order to have a successful GTM launch, you need to clearly understand your target audience. Start your market research by asking yourself the following questions: 

Who is experiencing the problem that your product solves? 

What are the specific frustrations your product can alleviate? 

How much is your audience willing to pay for a solution? 

The two most common ways to define your target market are with an ideal customer profile (ICP) and buyer personas. These methods work together to narrow down your customer base and specify the types of people within your audience.  

Ideal customer profile (ICP)

This approach defines your perfect customer—in other words, someone who experiences the frustrations your product solves. They’re aware of the problem, already looking for a solution, and are able to buy your product. To create an ideal customer profile, consider the following characteristics:  

Industry or demographic: If you’re selling to businesses, identify the specific industry you’re targeting—like financial, legal, or SaaS verticals. If you’re selling to individuals, define specific demographics your ideal customer falls within. For example, a child-care service may target families with kids between the ages of 1 and 5. 

Geography : Where do your ideal customers live? For example, a tour company that offers English-only experiences may target customers in the US and Europe. 

Size: This one is specific to B2B companies. Identify the size of the business you’re targeting—for example, you may market a new co-working space to funded startups with less than 20 employees. 

Budget: To shape your pricing strategy, consider how much your customers have to spend on your product. This will also influence the market’s perception of your product. For example, if your company sells luxury watches, you probably don’t want to go below a certain price point. Alternatively, a legal consulting firm may find it worthwhile to only target businesses who can spend at least $5,000 per month. 

Decision-making factors : What factors influence whether a customer decides to purchase your product? For example, do they rely on referrals from trusted friends or colleagues? Is there a primary decision-maker, like the CEO or sales manager of a company?

Pain points: What specific frustrations does your ideal customer have? For example, a company selling a financial-planning app may target customers who lose time trying to track their budget with spreadsheets. 

Customer needs: Beyond pain points, understanding the needs of your customers is essential for an effective GTM strategy. For example, the technology company Apple emphasizes customer experience by analyzing customer needs and designing products accordingly.

Preferred media: How does your ideal customer absorb information? For example, do they use social media, read print magazines, or browse the web with ease? 

Buyer personas

Not all members of your target audience are the same—each person is a unique individual with their own problems, values, and goals. Creating buyer personas helps you differentiate between the different types of people within your target audience, so you can visualize who your customers are on a human level. 

You should create multiple customer personas to fully understand your target audience. Here’s an example of one buyer persona for a tour company launching a new in-destination app:

Persona: Memory-maker

Individuals between the ages of 25-35

Travels alone or with a partner

Willing to pay a higher price for premium experiences

Values booking flexibility

Wants to book high-demand experiences in advance, but also choose some activities after they’ve arrived at a destination

Can use technology and apps with ease

Buyer personas may seem similar to an ideal customer profile, but they perform a different function. Personas help you visualize customer needs by breaking your ICP down into more specific segments—each representing a type of person with their own distinct problems, values, and goals. 

Step 3: Research competition and demand

Now that you’ve identified your product’s value proposition and target audience, it’s time to do some market research. Before you invest in bringing your product to market, you want to make sure that there’s enough demand and not too much competition. To guide your marketing efforts, ask yourself the following questions: 

Who already offers a similar version of your product? 

What audiences and geographic regions do your competitors target? 

How does your product differ from the competition? What do you offer that others don’t? 

Is there demand for the product, or is the market oversaturated? 

To design a comprehensive marketing campaign, you’ll need to conduct a competitive analysis . This method uses research to identify your direct and indirect competitors and uncover their strengths and weaknesses in relation to your own.  

Step 4: Decide key messaging

The next step is to determine the key messages you’ll convey to potential customers. The best approach is to tailor individual messaging for each of your buyer personas, so you can address their unique values and frustrations. 

To map your messaging to each buyer persona, create a value matrix . A value matrix breaks down each persona, their pain points, the value your product brings, and a key message that conveys how your product can solve their unique problem. 

Let’s continue with the tour company example above. As a refresher, the company wants to launch a new in-destination app. One of their personas is a “memory-maker”—a customer who is willing to pay for premium experiences. Here’s what a value matrix might look like for this persona: 

Pain points

It’s hard to verify the quality of experiences when booking online.

If they book an expensive tour in advance, they can’t get their money back if plans change. 

Product value

An app with customer pictures and reviews gives a feel for the quality of tours. 

A flexible booking policy allows them to cancel if plans change. 

Key message

Book quality experiences with peace of mind. 

To complete your value matrix, continue this process for each buyer persona. 

Step 5: Map the buyer’s journey

Now that you’ve identified your buyer personas and messaging, you can map the buyer’s journey—the path customers take from realizing their problem, considering your product as a solution, and deciding to purchase. Mapping your buyer’s journey is a key component of content marketing, because it helps you surface the right type of content to potential customers at the right time. 

Most often, the customer journey is visualized as a funnel broken into three sections: 

Top of funnel: Customers know the problem they want to solve and research solutions. They may not be aware that your product exists yet. During this phase, you want to grab the customer's attention so they consider your product. 

Middle of funnel: Customers weigh your product against other available options. Your goal during this phase is to convince potential buyers that your product is the best option. 

Bottom of funnel: Customers decide whether to purchase your product. Your goal for this phase is to convince them to commit.

Step 6: Pick marketing channels

Marketing channels are the different types of content you use to create demand for your product and move potential customers down the marketing funnel. For example, social media, paid search ads, blogs, SEO content, and emails are different marketing channels. The marketing channels you choose depend on two things: your target audience, and where your potential customers are along their buyer’s journey. 

Align marketing channels with your ideal audience. You want to make sure the distribution channels you choose align with the way your target audience consumes content. For example, if your ideal customer uses YouTube but not Instagram or LinkedIn, you may want to focus on YouTube ads rather than paid social posts. 

Determine whether your ideal customer prefers outbound tactics like direct mail or inbound strategies such as social media. When deciding between inbound and outbound channels, consider whether you want to generate broad brand awareness or engage potential customers who have shown interest in what you have to offer. This approach ensures a more tailored and effective GTM strategy that aligns with the behavior and preferences of your target audience.

Use different distribution channels for different phases of the customer  journey. Depending on where customers are in the marketing funnel, different types of marketing content can help move them to the next phase. For example, search engine optimization (SEO) content can raise brand awareness among top-of-funnel customers. For those in the middle, case studies and webinars offer high-quality insights and build customer relationships. And at the bottom of the funnel, strategies like free trial options can help convince potential customers to commit.

Step 7: Create a sales plan

The goal of your GTM strategy is a successful product launch, so it’s essential to decide how you’ll sell to your target audience and turn prospective customers into buyers. That’s where your sales strategy comes in. 

We’ve outlined the four most common sales strategies below. As needed, you can combine these strategies to fit your specific product and business model. 

Self-service model : Customers purchase your product on their own. This is a common sales process for e-commerce, in which customers can find and buy products online. While this option doesn’t require a dedicated sales team, you need to invest in marketing to drive traffic to your website. 

Inside sales model: Your sales team nurtures prospective customers to convince them to purchase your product. This is a good option for products with a medium price point that are a bit more complex, like design software for teams. 

Field sales model : Salespeople focus on closing big enterprise deals. This option requires more sales investment and a longer sales cycle, but there’s a big payoff. For example, you might use a field sales model to sell HR management software to large companies. 

Channel model : An external partner sells your product for you. While this option gives you less say in how you market your product, it’s the cheapest option and can work well if you partner with a company that sells similar products. For example, if you’re selling a new type of cereal, you could partner with a grocery chain. 

Step 8: Set concrete goals

Every great go-to-market strategy starts with clear objectives and benchmarks. Goals give you specific targets to aim for and a clear timeline, and benchmarks allow you to measure progress. Without clearly defined goals, it’s hard to tell if your GTM strategy is working. 

Here are a few different goal-setting frameworks you can use to set measurable objectives. Depending on your business needs, you can combine these strategies or use them on their own. 

SMART goals : This acronym helps you set goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound. For example, you could set the following SMART goal when launching a new app: “In six months, generate 1M total app downloads and 50K new user accounts.”

Key performance indicators (KPIs) : KPIs are quantitative metrics that help you track progress toward business objectives. For example, you could track total purchases and ad click-throughs when executing a go-to-market strategy for your new product. Keep in mind that you can use the SMART goal framework when crafting KPIs—for example, “Within three months, generate 100K total conversions and 1M ad click-throughs.”

Objectives and key results (OKRs) : This strategy pairs the objectives you want to achieve with the key results you’ll use to measure progress. It follows this format: “I will [objective] as measured by [key result].” For example, “The marketing team will increase awareness of a new product, as measured by the following key results: Drive 1M web visitors to the product page, increase social media engagement by 50%, and generate 50K new customers through email signups.” 

Step 9: Create clear processes

Creating a great go-to-market strategy is one thing, and executing it is another. That’s why creating clear processes is essential when bringing a product to market—because regardless of how well-crafted your strategy is, it only succeeds when you communicate and execute your strategy with your team. For example, you should consider the following when crafting your GTM strategy: 

How you’ll share your strategy and collaborate with team members. Don’t let your strategy gather dust in a drawer—instead, house the plans and projects that comprise your strategy in one easily accessible place. A robust work management tool can help you accomplish this. Asana lets you coordinate plans, projects, and processes in one central location. That way, team members can work and collaborate in the same space where your GTM strategy lives.

How you’ll course-correct and track goals . In order for goals to be effective, they need to be connected to your day-to-day work. That means instead of setting and forgetting goals for your GTM strategy, make a plan to regularly check in and track your progress—for example, at the end of each week or month. Share these updates with project stakeholders in a centralized project management tool. That way, everyone is on the same page.

How to optimize the customer experience process. A smooth customer experience is critical to the success of your go-to-market strategy, which includes everything from onboarding to retention and customer service. Making your customers feel supported boosts loyalty and advocacy. Consider implementing structured onboarding programs, processes that nurture retention, and establishing helpful customer service. Tools that collect feedback and enable swift service adjustments can significantly improve these processes, making each customer's journey with your product a positive and memorable one.

How to effectively manage customer acquisition costs (CAC) . Monitoring customer acquisition costs is key for long-term growth. Optimize your marketing and sales funnel to reduce CAC and maximize marketing ROI. Incorporate data-driven strategies to fine-tune targeting, leverage cost-effective channels, and improve conversion rates. Regularly reviewing these costs in relation to customer lifetime value (CLV) can provide insights into the long-term viability and profitability of your customer acquisition strategies. 

How you can standardize processes with go-to-market strategy templates . Every go-to-market strategy contains lots of components and moving pieces. But while it’s important to evaluate your strategy for each new product launch, that doesn’t mean you have to reinvent the wheel. To avoid duplicate work, create process documentation and go-to-market strategy templates to standardize your go-to-market process. For example, you could create templates outlining the steps to determine your target audience, clarify your messaging, and so on—plus an overarching template to guide how you craft your entire GTM strategy. When choosing a project management tool for your team, pick one that lets you create and share templates for processes your team uses on a regular basis.

Go-to-market strategy benefits

In addition to supporting a successful product launch, there are a number of ways in which your company may profit from developing a solid GTM strategy.

Faster market entry

A well-crafted go-to-market strategy streamlines your approach to entering new markets or launching products. By identifying the most effective distribution channels, target audience, and messaging from the get-go, businesses can significantly reduce the time it takes to go from concept to customers. Being first can often mean the difference between leading the market and playing catch-up.

GTM strategy example: Consider the launch of a groundbreaking health app that leverages AI to personalize workout plans. With a detailed go-to-market plan, the company identified fitness enthusiasts on social media as their primary audience and created affiliate partnerships with influencers for promotions. The strategy led to a rapid increase in user adoption within the first few months, showcasing how targeted efforts can result in faster market penetration.

Enhanced customer understanding

A go-to-market strategy requires in-depth market research into customer needs, preferences, and behaviors. This process not only ensures that the product or service meets market demand but also deepens the company's understanding of its customer base. This customer insight is invaluable for tailoring marketing efforts, developing future products, and improving customer satisfaction over time.

GTM strategy example: Imagine a company launching a new eco-friendly home cleaning product. Through their go-to-market strategy research, they discovered their target customers frequented eco-conscious blogs and forums. By engaging with these communities and addressing their specific concerns, the company was able to build a loyal customer base that felt heard and understood, which led to strong word-of-mouth endorsements.

Streamlined resource allocation

Crafting a go-to-market strategy forces businesses to think critically about how they allocate their resources, including time, money, and manpower. By focusing efforts on the most promising markets, channels, and customer segments, companies can achieve higher returns on investment and avoid wasteful spending.

GTM strategy example: A small software startup developed a project management tool tailored for remote teams. By concentrating their resources on online advertising targeting remote work platforms and collaboration forums, they were able to maximize their limited marketing budget, achieving a higher conversion rate than spreading their efforts across more generic channels.

Competitive advantage

A thorough go-to-market strategy equips businesses with the knowledge to differentiate themselves from the competition. By clearly articulating the unique value proposition and tailoring the marketing mix to highlight these differences, companies can carve out a distinct space in the market. This not only attracts more customers but also builds a strong brand identity.

GTM strategy example: Take the case of a new beverage company entering a crowded market. Their GTM plan concentrated on their drink's distinctive flavor combination and health advantages, which differentiators did not provide. By targeting health-conscious consumers through niche health and wellness events and partnerships, the company was able to establish a dedicated following, distinguishing itself from the competition and securing a loyal customer base.

Ready, set, strategize

Bringing a product to market is a big investment. But you can set your next launch up for success with a solid framework to determine your audience and messaging, concrete goals, and clear processes to carry out your strategy. With these nine steps, crafting a great go-to-market strategy isn’t so daunting after all.

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How to Develop a Go-to-Market Strategy for Your Tech Venture

• 13 Jul 2023

You’ve come up with an innovative business idea , determined product-market fit , and are eager to get your product into the world. Yet, a successful launch requires a carefully crafted go-to-market strategy.

Before delving into how to create a go-to-market strategy for your venture, here’s a primer to contextualize its importance within your business model.

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What Is a Go-to-Market Strategy, and How Does It Fit into a Business Model?

A go-to-market (GTM) strategy is a detailed plan of how your startup will reach its target customers effectively and efficiently—where effectiveness depends on how rapidly you reach and convert customers and efficiency on how profitable your efforts are. Typically, a GTM strategy includes a mix of direct and indirect channels to educate, support, and distribute your product to customers.

GTM strategy is just one component of the eight-pronged business model described in the online course Launching Tech Ventures , taught by Harvard Business School Senior Lecturer Jeffrey Bussgang. HBS Professor Thomas Eisenmann coined the Diamond-Square framework to visualize the eight components, which first describes internal, operational facets:

• Customer value proposition (CVP): How will your venture deliver value?
• Go-to-market (GTM) strategy: How will your venture reach customers?
• Profit formula (PF): How will you make money?
• Technology and operations management (T&O): How will you create and maintain the product?

The remaining four facets are external in nature and represent your business’s stakeholders and resources:

• Founders: Are they a strong fit for the opportunity and business model?
• Team: Do they complement one another? Can you fill any gaps?
• Investors: Who have you assembled to finance your business? Are you all aligned?
• Partners: Who have you selected to aid in your execution? How will they help?

“As an entrepreneur, the onus is on you to construct each element of your startup business model through a process of search and discovery,” Bussgang says in Launching Tech Ventures. “In parallel, you must evaluate those elements to ensure that you’re building a sustainable, valuable company. To do so, each business model element must be aligned.”

Before crafting your GTM strategy, determine your customer value proposition . If you haven’t yet established that your product fulfills a customer need or job to be done , conduct experiments and market research before diving into its GTM strategy.

While CVP, GTM strategy, and PF don’t need to be discrete steps, each sets the stage to build your business model’s next facet. The experiments you run to determine CVP will inform your GTM strategy, which can then lay the foundation for selecting a PF.

While all intertwine, this article focuses on developing your tech venture’s go-to-market strategy. Here are four vital steps.

Related: 5 Skills Needed to Launch a Successful Tech Business

4 Steps to Develop a Go-to-Market Strategy

1. consider key facets.

In every strong GTM strategy, there are three key facets to consider:

• Distribution channels
• Product messaging and marketing tactics
• Estimated customer acquisition cost (CAC)

These will help determine how you reach your predefined target audience and convert them into customers with financial efficiency.

Distribution Channels

Critical to your GTM strategy is how you plan to deliver your product to the end user. For instance, if you created an app that helps people track their mental health and receive resources, you can either make it downloadable by the end user or distribute it via a third party, such as an employer, insurance company, or health care professional.

Bussgang recommends a mix of both direct and indirect channels. While pursuing multiple channels immediately upon launch may not be the best choice, decide which will be most cost-effective and align with your company’s values. Consider others as part of your plan for scaling in the future.

Product Messaging and Marketing Tactics

What language and strategies will you employ to meet your customers where they are and educate them about your product?

Product messaging encompasses every piece of information your target audience receives about your product, from introduction to user experience. If more than one person is on your team, ensure everyone is aligned on how to write and speak about the product.

Marketing tactics can include paid ads, physical signage, blog content, and partnerships with social media influencers. While all have benefits, select a few to include in your GTM strategy and the metrics you want to track.

Estimated Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

Customer acquisition cost (CAC) is the combined sales and marketing costs for your product, divided by the number of customers acquired over a given period.

It’s crucial to estimate CAC when crafting your GTM strategy to make decisions that yield the lowest number possible.

For instance, you may decide to test a specific channel and set of marketing and sales tactics for one year following your product’s launch. To estimate CAC, calculate the cost of all sales and marketing efforts for that year—including employees’ salaries—and divide it by the number of customers you realistically hope to gain.

You can use the CAC formula to decide how many customers you need to make your marketing and sales spend worth it, tweaking different parts to find an estimate you’re satisfied with.

2. Run Experiments

In Launching Tech Ventures , Bussgang refers to startups as “experimentation machines,” and for good reason. Early on, your goal as an entrepreneur should be to learn as much as possible in each stage of developing your business model so you can iterate on and launch the best version of your product.

Just as you should have run experiments when determining your customer value proposition, you also must do so for your GTM strategy. Your experiments should follow the scientific method and be designed to prove or disprove your hypotheses about planned distribution channels, product messaging and marketing tactics, and customer acquisition cost.

Experimentation comprises four steps:

• Hypothesis generation: Consider the business questions you have about your GTM strategy’s three key facets, and turn them into prediction statements, or hypotheses. A hypothesis about your mental health app’s distribution channel could be: “The most cost-effective way to reach customers is to partner with human resources departments that will distribute the app as an employee benefit.”
• Develop tests: Once you have your hypotheses, develop tests to prove or disprove them. With your mental health app, the test could include providing a beta version to human resources teams and asking how they’d promote it to employees. You can also enlist volunteers to get the end user perspective, asking how they’d respond if their employer promoted the app.
• Prioritize tests: While you likely have several questions at this stage, you must prioritize which tests to run first. Think about which could yield the greatest monetary value and help you better understand your customer and how they’d prefer to engage with your product.
• Run tests: Finally, conduct tests. This stage involves collecting and analyzing data to prove or disprove your hypotheses.

Repeat the hypothesis testing process for each prediction about your GTM strategy. As you learn, your hypotheses will become more specific, leading to detailed insights that can inform your plan.

3. Determine When to Scale Sales and Marketing Teams

A vital part of your GTM strategy is determining when to scale your sales and marketing teams. In Launching Tech Ventures , Bussgang describes the sales learning curve framework, coined by longtime tech executive Mark Leslie and adapted by HBS for startups.

The sales learning curve has three phases:

• Initiation: Typically, tech startups begin with the founder selling the product, called “founder selling.” This phase isn’t scalable and comes with high costs. The focus is learning as much as possible about selling your product.
• Transition: In this phase, a repeatable sales process takes shape, and you hire your first sales representative. They should be agile and able to translate learnings from the initiation phase into a scalable playbook.
• Execution: In the final phase, you bring a larger sales team on board, including an executive responsible for managing and enhancing efforts. This phase focuses on optimizing for the lowest CAC possible while maintaining high-quality customer relationships.

When creating your GTM strategy, it’s vital to consider the timing of progressing from one stage to the next. In Launching Tech Ventures, Bussgang stresses the importance of learning all you can during the initiation phase.

“A founder’s goal during the first phase is to learn how to sell and obtain feedback on how prospective and real customers are experiencing the product,” Bussgang says. “At this point in the process, it doesn’t matter how efficient your sales efforts are. Instead, it matters how much you’re learning.”

4. Aggregate Learnings into Actionable Strategy

Finally, create your go-to-market strategy by aggregating insights gleaned from experimentation and selecting metrics to track their success. Keep in mind: Your final GTM strategy is an experiment in itself. As you execute it post-launch, you’ll gain insights into what does and doesn’t work to inform your strategy moving forward.

“During these early days, it’s important to maximize learning rather than maximize metrics,” Bussgang says in the course. “Yes, there are important metrics to focus on to test product-market fit, but don’t rush to scale it until you nail it.”

Sharpen Your Entrepreneurial Skills

Launching a tech venture comes with risk, but it doesn’t need to be scary. Entrepreneurial skills are just like any others—you can develop and strengthen them through education and practice.

Luckily, your startup doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Take advantage of other tech founders’ wisdom and insights from navigating the same process.

Online courses like Launching Tech Ventures not only provide stories told by real-world tech entrepreneurs but also the tools and frameworks to enable you to craft a go-to-market strategy that sets your business up for success.

Are you interested in building the skills to launch a viable, valuable tech startup? Explore Launching Tech Ventures —one of our online entrepreneurship and innovation courses —and download our free guide on how to get started on your entrepreneurial journey.

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How to create a go-to-market strategy: Guide with examples

Editor’s note : This blog was updated on 7 April 2023 to add a section on how to develop a go-to-market strategy and specify more examples of go-to-market strategy tactics and programs.

Go-to-market (GTM) strategy is key to any product’s success. Without one, you’re essentially driving blind — trying to introduce a product to an audience that, chances are, doesn’t know anything about it. The word “strategy” in “go-to-market strategy” emphasizes this well, you can’t just throw a last-minute plan together and hope it’ll work.

Thought and intentionality are the drivers behind go-to-market strategy. You have to really understand your target audience, its needs, and the context around you.

In this article, we’ll talk about what go-to-market strategy means, how to develop a GTM strategy, the various factors and considerations to account for, and demonstrate some examples of GTM strategy along the way. Let’s get started.

What is a go-to-market (GTM) strategy?

So what does go-to-market strategy mean, exactly? The name is pretty telling; go-to-market strategy is a thorough, comprehensive plan outlining how a company is going to bring a new product into the market it’s hoping to serve. The plan truly goes from A–Z and includes all aspects of the product, starting from research at the very beginning and to post-launch promotional activities and advertising (and beyond) at the end.

The objective of a go-to-market (GTM) strategy is simple: drive awareness, accessibility, and retention of a product from initial validation to scaling it for a much larger market population. As you might imagine, the strategies adopted will transform over time based on market confirmation.

The general notion is that go-to-market strategies are transactional, so companies often wait to execute until the product is ready to deploy.

However, a good product manager initiates the GTM strategy when conceptualizing a product idea. The strategy should capture new realities around business models, market maturity, brand positioning, competitive forces, and growth strategy.

The evolution of new business models

Software-defined solutions and as-a-service business models necessitate a transformational approach to GTM strategy. Products do not reach end-of-life anymore; they evolve and drive continuous innovation.

The lifecycle below represents how organizations now think about products and solutions. Every lifecycle step requires a conscious approach to a market strategy, not just the launch phase.

The product inception phase captures a pain point and creative solutions. Product strategy, however, needs to consider the product’s market entry, differentiation, viability, and feasibility. Each phase validates the hypothesis and refines the GTM strategy as we move through the cycle.

Products are rarely fire-and-forget nowadays. The deliberation on building stickiness, increasing switching costs, and creating long-term value for the customer is crucial.

Setting the scene: Analyze, aspire, action, accomplish

When introducing a new product in a new or an existing market, I often use the Analyze, Aspire, Action, Accomplish model to build a proper idea of what we’re working towards. It applies various frameworks at distinct stages of the product lifecycle. These help set us up for success as we build a GTM strategy:

The intent is not to explain the tools captured within the framework but to present the key outcomes from each phase:

The analysis phase requires a solid understanding of customer pain points (said and unsaid), market dynamics (what is available, why it is insufficient), and potential solutions to minimize or eradicate the gap.

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At this stage, the GTM aspects are usually not critical. However, solving a problem with no avenue to reach the customer is also futile.

The aspirational step is where I believe the hypothesis for a GTM strategy is crucial. In product parlance, segmenting, targeting, and positioning (STP) is an essential activity.

The key questions here are:

• In what market segments do you have a real opportunity?
• What is the path to get there (e.g., who else do you need to come along with you)?

This step should also inform you of critical competitors and the differentiators you need to win in the market. It should define your ideal customer profile, and, more crucially, identify beachhead customers .

The action stage should help determine a product-market fit , messaging (writing a press release, the FAQs, credentials that you expect to have, etc.), and the different  personas  you must target.

Once the product is launched to the market , the accomplish stage should help with data-driven product refinement .

A conceptual example

When pursuing my MBA, my group worked (unofficially) with Marriott on a concept idea to offer an experience-first product. While considering Marriott’s breadth of brands, we selected JW Marriott and Sheraton to provide an experience beyond just room and food to the middle-aged and Millennials, respectively.

The package considered everything from travel, activities, pricing, and even specific pilot locations where the offer would be live first. The concept also identified messaging for the personas and essential ecosystem strategies, including travel and experience partners.

How to develop a go-to-market strategy

Now, let’s go over how to develop a GTM strategy. The Analyze, Aspire, Action, Accomplish model I shared earlier is kind of like a mini version of what I’m about to break down.

You can use the following steps — or categories of steps, rather — for holistic GTM strategy.

• Initial research and context
• Evaluating product-market fit
• Competition
• Setting goals and milestones
• Launching the plan

1. Initial research and context

It’s vital to understand the context of the world around you before you try to bring a new product into the mix (or bring an existing product to new markets). Just like the “analyze” component, this step builds the foundation you need for a GTM strategy.

The first thing to consider is how mature the market is. The best GTM strategies to adopt often depend on the market’s maturity, which you can evaluate using the Ansoff matrix:

Consider an electric vehicle, for example. It is a new product in an existing market. The adoption threshold is dependent on solving the range anxiety.

As Tesla demonstrated, building a supercharger network was equally important as making the car itself.

I would argue that autonomous cars will be a new product in a new market. It’s easy to imagine this as an existing market, but an autonomous car has the potential to completely redefine how people think about car ownership.

Further, societal context is important. In 2013, Google launched Google Glass. Though Google thought it was super cool and innovative to bring a wearable, information-displaying headset in public, they failed to recognize the privacy concerns that came along with that.

The general public immediately saw through to the privacy concerns, and Google Glass didn’t last very long as a result. If they’d considered the context and implications around their new product sooner, they hopefully wouldn’t have poured as much time and resources into it.

2. Evaluating product-market fit

It should be no surprise that product-market fit holds a big piece of the GTM strategy pie.

Product-market fit refers to the product’s ability to fulfill the unmet needs of your target market. Driving your value proposition here is extremely important, as you want people to clearly see how you meet their needs in ways competitors can’t.

The general idea is to find the sweet spot where you’re offering just enough value that your customers find the product usable and your business sees it as feasible and viable. There are lots of ways to capture this data across both qualitative and quantitative methods . Things like customer interviews, surveys, and focus groups can be a great way to capture this information. You can also do observation studies to see if your product is being used by target customers in the way that you think and hope they are.

And, if you have a product that already exists in the market but isn’t being adopted as highly as you hoped (or is slowly being overtaken by competitors), it may be time for a rebrand.

In 2018, we researched cars, their perceived branding, and their attempt to rebrand themselves. It was interesting that vehicles such as Buick and Cadillac had transformed themselves to be more amenable to upper-middle-class people in their early 40s (BMW and Lexus had held this market), whereas Lincoln failed.

Such repositioning requires a considerable thought process from a GTM perspective, especially regarding social messaging, following, advertisements, product considerations — the whole nine yards.

3. Competition

What are your competitors doing? What are they not doing? How do customers perceive your competition’s products?

These are all great questions that can help you build a successful GTM strategy. You don’t need to namedrop your competitors to convince people that your product has an edge over theirs, but you can emphasize how your product differentiates itself from others on the market. If it’s obvious, customers will notice all on their own.

Though there are many tried and true methods for competitive analysis , here a few steps to follow to kick it off:

• Create a shortlist of competitors
• Do a competitor deep dive
• Look at holistic overview and strategy

By fleshing out these ideas, you can get a better view of who you’re directly competing with. Though you’re in the same market, you may not be direct competitors, and looking at these three steps can help you draw those conclusions.

Take Microsoft Surface and Apple iPads for example. Yes, they’re both tablets and would be considered competitors for that reason, but their features and target audiences don’t really make them competitors after all.

Further, when evaluating the competition, think creatively. Brita, for example, opted not to compete with other kitchen appliances. Instead, it was sold in the water aisle, which positioned it to compete with bottled water.

Such decisions are not determined at the launch stage but during inception. Cialis beat Viagra by redefining the customer purchase criteria where Levitra wasn’t. Without going into too much detail, let’s just say that product differentiation was crucial in this endeavor.

4. Setting goals and milestones

Goal setting and tracking are going to help you figure out where you’re placing in your GTM race and keep you on track. Without clear goals that everyone buys into, there will be no real direction that your team is working towards, and you’ll find yourself in disarray.

I know everyone talks about SMART goals, it’s basically drilled into our heads. SMART goals, to everyone’s disdain, really do make all the difference. Setting goals that are smart, measurable, attainable, etc. makes it easier to see where and how you’re falling flat.

On the flip side, milestones will help hold you accountable to the pace you’re at — are you behind schedule, ahead, or right on the money? They provide an opportunity to evaluate your tactics, identify bottlenecks, and pivot when needed. By regularly reviewing your progress against milestones, you can make data-driven decisions to optimize your GTM strategy, improving your chances of success in the market.

For example, say the goal is to increase the number of new customers by 18 percent within the first six months after launching the product. You have a specific number to reach within a certain time frame, and in the case of our example, we’ll say it’s not an overly egregious goal. Your milestone can be to acquire 10 percent of these new customers by the end of the eighth week. The track is set, and you can adjust methods depending on how far behind or ahead you are of that finish line.

5. Launching the plan

Everything is in place — it’s time to launch! Boots are on the ground. This is the most nerve-wracking and critical stage of the journey. You’re going to need to align a number of things here.

First and foremost, ensure communication is clear and specific across all functions. Sales and marketing need to know what’s going on, as do executive teams and adjacent product functions. Collaborate effectively and ensure you’re informing the right stakeholders throughout the launch process.

Similarly to how goals and milestones are crucial, you’ll also need to put some KPIs in place to monitor how your GTM plan is performing. Check them regularly to see how you’re doing and adjust accordingly. There’s no shame in admitting that something needs to change — after all, all products didn’t come out perfectly from the get-go. Be ready to make changes and adjust your plan as needed to respond to changes in the market, feedback from customers, or any unexpected challenges.

Example of go-to-market strategy

As part of our capstone project, thanks to a fantastic initiative from the NIU College of Business, we worked on a real-life GTM, from cradle to grave.

The solution was a way to minimize readmissions. Preventable readmissions (readmission is when a patient returns to the hospital within 21 days after discharge for any reason) cost over  $25 billion , and Medicare incurs more than 60 percent of that cost.

Medicare instituted a penalty for hospitals where readmissions are too high. A database of all hospitals and their readmission rate (and propensity for pen) was available.

Based on the information, we devised a method to segment the ideal market, their demographics, and five states that maximized the sales motion. Note that the “ideal customer profile” is not genuinely perfect — it was a “what’s possible” with the resources available on-hand.

In addition, we identified a set of hospitals that would be the best candidates for a pilot. An extensive amount of math went into parsing through the spreadsheets — my group was willing to recommend me for a Ph.D. just for that work — but we distilled it down to a single roadmap of client profiles (pilot, short-term, long-term).

While the GTM strategy was to work with the hospitals, the eventual goal was to work directly with Medicare to save them at least 30 percent of the $17 billion spent on unnecessary expenses.

Product-led vs. sales-led growth

You’re also going to have to choose if you want to pursue a product-led or sales-led growth approach, as they represent fundamentally different methods of acquiring and retaining customers. Most articles about product-led vs. sales-led growth strategies push one versus the other. The truth is, you have to pick what’s best for your situation. You should also know where the inflection point is to switch from one to the other (or use them in tandem).

Before I go further, let me explain as I best understand it — because my approach often is not to choose between the two consciously.

Product-led growth

A product-led approach often depends on organic growth, backed by an exploratory model (freemium, trial to buy), self-serve capabilities, and a seamless user experience when it comes to setting up and using the product.

Companies spend considerable finance on marketing rather than on the sales motion. The product-led strategy enables a broader net and a lower acquisition cost (CAC).

A prominent example of a B2C product that took a product-led approach is Spotify.

Unbelievably, AWS started as a product-led offering, with self-service capabilities and utilities that enabled faster time-to-market and monitoring usage, free trial, and cost transparency. It held the No. 1 position in cloud hosting and attracted small businesses, especially startups.

However, Azure, being late to the party, took a sales-led approach. It built strong channel and solution partners, offered end-to-end advisory and execution, and quickly catapulted to no. 1, led heavily by large contracts with the top companies in Fortune 500.

AWS has since transitioned to a hybrid model and built a substantial presence in the large-cap market by offering both a sales-led approach and a marketplace, which are add-ons once they acquire a client.

The most significant driver for a hybrid approach is the transformation to as-a-service models. Many organizations consider customer success management as a sales function. While partially true, CSMs are not purely commission-driven and are usually not in the loop during the initial stages of a sale.

The expectation of driving adoption, cross-selling, upselling, and renewals to minimize CAC implies that they provide the convergence between product and sales-led approaches. I reach out to CSMs for product feedback because it tends to be rooted in data

Side note: If you can’t monitor KPIs and back your CSMs, you shouldn’t be in the SaaS business!

Sales-led growth

A sales-led approach to growth, on the other hand, depends heavily on your sales team or channel partners. Depending on your product (transformational versus incremental) and who you are (Amazon versus startup), your sales team will connect with clients, build relationships, explain product benefits, and take it through the contractual process.

As you might imagine, the success of your product also depends on the sales organization’s willingness to sell. If you’re considering shifting from a perpetual to a recurring model and do not regard the sales angle, you’re sure to have a paperweight on your hands!

B2B products that require long contract cycles and considerable time to deploy and onboard often require a sales-led approach. However, this doesn’t imply that sales will influence the product features or roadmap .

Creating a go-to-market strategy is more art than science. However, it is crucial to start with a hypothesis, do it early, and make it fluid enough to pivot based on data.

Consider the type of product you are building, the markets you are targeting to define the brand, the competition, the pilot customers, and the growth strategy you must adopt. While no crystal ball guarantees success, a conscious approach will amplify the probability.

Featured image source: IconScout

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What is a go-to-market strategy? A quick guide to GTM strategies for startups

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• Introduction

What’s in a go-to-market (GTM) strategy?

Why are go-to-market strategies important for businesses, go-to-market strategy, marketing strategy, differences, similarities, integration, how to create a go-to-market strategy.

• Get started with Stripe 

A go-to-market (GTM) strategy is a comprehensive plan a business uses to launch a product or service to market. This strategy outlines the steps a business will take to connect with its customers and gain a competitive advantage. It typically includes market research , clear identification of the target customer base, sales and marketing plans , and considerations for product pricing and distribution channels.

GTM moments can happen at any point in a business’s development. When a startup launches , it likely has a GTM strategy to organize all its efforts. But when a business releases a new product or service or expands to a new market, it will probably use a new GTM strategy. Below, we’ll talk about what GTM strategies are, what’s usually included in them, why they’re important for businesses, and how to write one.

What’s in this article?

Go-to-market strategy vs. marketing strategy: Differences and similarities

Developing a successful go-to-market strategy starts with deep market analysis to understand the needs and preferences of the target customer segment. Businesses must design their product offerings to meet those needs.

The strategy should also define the value proposition of the product or service, explaining why customers should choose it over competitors’ offerings. A 2023 report found that 37% of respondents described their company culture as product-first, while nearly 26% said sales-first, indicating an emphasis on product development over sales in many organizations.

A successful GTM strategy requires several components that work together. Those typically include:

Market analysis: Detailed insight into the market, including size, growth potential, trends, and customer analysis.

Target customer definition: A clear profile of the ideal customer, their challenges, and their buying behavior.

Value proposition: A compelling statement that defines the benefit of the product or service for the customer.

Competitive analysis: An examination of competitors and their offerings, strengths, and weaknesses.

Product positioning: How the product fits into the market and stands out from alternatives.

Sales strategy: Which channels the product will be sold through and how those channels will be used, including sales goals and team structure.

Marketing and promotion plans: Campaigns and activities designed to generate interest and leads for the product.

Pricing strategy: The approach to pricing, considering costs, market conditions, and competitor pricing.

Distribution plan: The logistics of how the product will be delivered to customers, including channel partners and distribution points.

Customer support and service: Strategies for providing customer service and support post-purchase.

Metrics and KPIs: Key performance indicators to measure the effectiveness of the go-to-market initiatives.

Budget: A financial plan that allocates resources to each component of the strategy.

Timeline: A schedule outlining when each element of the strategy will be implemented.

Risk assessment: Identification of potential risks and a plan for mitigating them.

Feedback loops: Mechanisms for gathering customer feedback and incorporating it into product and strategy refinement.

Go-to-market strategies serve as an action plan that specifies how a company will reach target customers and introduce its products or services. They guide a business from product conception to market entry and beyond, influencing how it will exist in the marketplace going forward.

This plan ensures the business carefully considers and effectively executes all aspects of the product launch.

Here’s a closer look at why these strategies are important:

Market alignment: A GTM strategy ensures the product or service is aligned with market demands, increasing the likelihood of acceptance by the target audience.

Resource optimization: With a clear plan, businesses can allocate their resources more effectively. They can then use time, money, and personnel more efficiently.

Risk mitigation: A thorough strategy helps businesses anticipate potential challenges, reducing the risks associated with bringing a new product to market.

Focused messaging: A GTM strategy crafts a consistent, persuasive message about the value proposition, which is key to differentiating the product in the market.

Sales enablement: A well-defined strategy equips the sales team with a clear plan and the tools to sell the product effectively.

Marketing synergy: A GTM strategy coordinates various marketing efforts to create a cohesive campaign that resonates with the target audience.

Customer experience: By considering the customer journey from the outset, businesses can design a better experience, which can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Revenue acceleration: Strategically launching a product or service to the market can speed up adoption and increase revenue generation .

Brand building: Launching a product with a clear go-to-market strategy can establish or enhance the business’s brand with customers.

Strategic learning: Creating the strategy provides valuable insight into the market, competitors, and customers, which can inform business decisions.

Market share gain: An effective strategy can help a business quickly gain market share by outmaneuvering competitors and capturing the attention of customers.

Feedback and adaptation: A GTM strategy includes mechanisms for gathering customer feedback, letting businesses adapt their approach and offerings in response to that feedback.

A go-to-market strategy and a marketing strategy are two important concepts in business planning. Though they overlap in function, they each serve distinct roles in the lifecycle of a product or service.

A GTM strategy describes the full process of bringing a product to market and into the hands of customers, but the marketing strategy focuses specifically on how the product is communicated and perceived in the marketplace . Both influence the success of the product, and businesses must develop them with a clear understanding of their overall goals.

Here’s an overview of each strategy:

A GTM strategy is an action plan that specifies how a business will target customers and achieve a competitive advantage for its new product or service. It’s a holistic approach that includes marketing and encompasses sales, distribution, pricing, and customer service. The GTM strategy is focused on the introduction of the product to the market. It’s about the “where” and “how” of product launch, delivery, and selling. It’s comprehensive, including:

• Target customer identification
• Market analysis
• Value proposition
• Sales channels and tactics
• Pricing and packaging
• Distribution model
• Customer support structure
• Launch timeline and milestones

The marketing strategy is a subset of the GTM strategy. It focuses specifically on creating demand for the product through branding and communication. It’s about the “who” and “why” of reaching potential customers. This strategy is often ongoing and evolves over the life of the product. It encompasses:

• Market positioning and messaging
• Campaigns and promotions
• Content marketing strategy
• Media planning and buying
• Social media strategy
• Customer engagement and retention
• Brand development

The primary difference between the two is scope. A GTM strategy covers a broader set of business activities and is typically a one-time plan for launching a product or entering a new market. The marketing strategy is ongoing and focuses on building and maintaining demand for the product.

Both strategies require an understanding of the target market and customers. They must be aligned and work in tandem for the product launch to be successful. Each strategy uses market research and competitive analysis to inform its approach, and both aim to increase a business’s profitability and market share.

A GTM strategy typically includes a marketing strategy as one of its components. The marketing strategy will align with the overall GTM approach, ensuring the messaging and branding support the broader goals of the GTM plan, such as the desired customer experience and sales targets.

Creating a go-to-market strategy requires a thorough, considered approach that aligns with the overall business objectives. It can be challenging to do this well.

To create a strong GTM strategy, a business must deeply understand the market, position the product precisely, and execute with precision. Here are tactics to accomplish this:

Market research and segmentation: Conduct granular market research with advanced tools and methodologies. Rely on analytics and AI-driven insights to identify trends and patterns. Segment the market by demographics, behaviors, psychographics, and purchase readiness.

Target customer profiling: Create a hyperdetailed profile of the ideal customer. Use data mining to understand their habits, preferences, and challenges. Involve user experience researchers to validate assumptions about customer needs through user research.

Competitive analysis : Use a multitiered approach to analyze competitors. Assess their product offerings, go-to-market strategies, and customer feedback across multiple channels. Apply game theory to anticipate competitor moves and plan counterstrategies.

Value proposition and messaging: Develop a value proposition that addresses the outcomes your customers desire. Use A/B testing and focus groups to refine the messaging. Craft messaging that resonates on a rational and emotional level, tested through neuromarketing techniques.

Sales strategy development: Design a sales process that integrates with customer relationship management (CRM) and lead nurturing systems, ensuring a data-driven approach to sales execution. Develop a multichannel sales approach that considers direct and indirect sales, digital sales platforms, and automation.

Pricing strategy: Use advanced pricing models that incorporate economic value estimation and perceived value pricing. Consider dynamic pricing strategies where feasible, adjusting for market demand, customer segments, and purchase context.

Distribution and fulfillment: Map out a distribution network that optimizes for speed, cost, and coverage. Incorporate a logistics strategy that uses predictive analytics to manage inventory and fulfillment.

Marketing plan: Create a comprehensive omnichannel marketing plan that integrates traditional and digital channels. Use sophisticated attribution models to understand the impact of each channel on customer acquisition and retention.

Launch plan and timeline: Design a phased launch plan that allows for testing and changes. Consider soft launches, pilot programs, or beta tests. Create a timeline with milestones for measuring progress against goals.

Customer service and support: Develop a customer service blueprint that uses technology, such as AI chatbots and personalization, to deliver exceptional service. Establish a feedback loop that funnels customer insights back into product development and go-to-market strategy refinement.

KPIs and success metrics: Define advanced metrics that go beyond the usual KPIs to include customer lifetime value , net promoter score, and churn rate . Use predictive analytics to set benchmarks and forecast outcomes.

Risk assessment: Conduct a thorough risk assessment considering market, operational, financial, and execution risks. Develop actionable contingency plans and clearly communicate them across the organization.

Legal and compliance checks: Ensure all aspects of the go-to-market strategy comply with local and international laws, including data protection regulations. Ask your legal team to review all contracts, licensing agreements, and intellectual property considerations.

Iterative development: Adopt an agile approach to strategy development, adapting quickly based on market feedback and changing conditions. Encourage cross-functional teams to work in sprints to implement aspects of the strategy, fostering collaboration and adaptability.

Strategic partnerships: Identify and secure partnerships to amplify go-to-market efforts. This could include channel partners, influencers, or technology integrators. Structure partnership agreements to include performance metrics and shared objectives.

How do businesses put new products and services in front of the right people and compel them to engage further? A GTM strategy is a concise plan that crystallizes all the roles of a marketing team around a single launch period.

The content in this article is for general information and education purposes only and should not be construed as legal or tax advice. Stripe does not warrant or guarantee the accurateness, completeness, adequacy, or currency of the information in the article. You should seek the advice of a competent attorney or accountant licensed to practice in your jurisdiction for advice on your particular situation.

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Go-to-Market Strategy – The Comprehensive Walkthrough

Creating a comprehensive Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy is crucial for businesses looking to launch a new product, or service, or enter a new market. 

A well-crafted GTM strategy is basically a concise, short-term plan designed to assist businesses in various crucial aspects:

• Positioning Products or Services for Launch : Clearly defining how the products or services will be presented to the market, highlighting their unique value proposition.
• Defining Ideal Customers : Identifying and profiling the target customer base to tailor marketing efforts more effectively.
• Coordinating Messaging : Ensuring a consistent and coherent message is communicated across all channels to build a strong brand identity .
• Engaging with Customers : Establishing effective communication channels to interact with potential customers, building awareness and interest.
• Convincing Customers to Buy : Developing strategies to persuade potential customers of the product or service’s value, ultimately driving conversions.
• Gaining a Competitive Advantage : Crafting approaches that set the business apart from competitors, creating a unique selling proposition.

These crucial aspects serve as the bedrock for successful product launches, service introductions, and market entries. 

Now, let’s take a look at what the stats tell us. The following statistics highlight the compelling need for a robust Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy in contemporary business landscapes. 

The indication that 68% of marketers acknowledge the direct impact of their GTM strategy on revenue goals, as reported by HubSpot in 2023, underscores the strategic significance of a well-defined approach. 

Furthermore, the Aberdeen Group’s finding that companies with a documented GTM strategy are 33% more likely to achieve revenue goals emphasizes the tangible benefits of strategic planning. The statistic that 74% of B2B buyers are decisively influenced by content in their purchasing decisions, according to Demand Gen Report in 2023 , reinforces the importance of integrating content creation into the GTM strategy. 

Personalization emerges as a key theme, with HubSpot’s data indicating that personalized marketing emails yield six times higher transaction rates than generic emails, underscoring the need for tailored communication. 

The expected 19% increase in social media advertising ROI in 2024, as projected by eMarketer, signals the evolving landscape of customer engagement, demanding an adaptable GTM strategy. The growing customer acquisition costs (CAC), increasing by 61% between 2020 and 2022, as reported by McKinsey & Company, accentuates the imperative for an optimized GTM strategy to navigate the challenges of customer acquisition efficiently. 

Gartner’s insight that 72% of businesses consider aligning sales and marketing as critical for GTM success highlights the collaborative nature required for an effective strategy. 

Lastly, the revelation from MarTech Today that the average enterprise uses 20+ marketing tools signifies a potential challenge in strategy clarity, emphasizing the need for a streamlined GTM approach that mitigates data silos. Collectively, these insights underscore the multifaceted challenges businesses face and stress the strategic importance of a well-tailored GTM strategy in achieving sustainable growth and success in the competitive market environment.

But beyond the fundamental elements of positioning, defining customers, coordinating messaging, engaging with customers, convincing them to buy, and gaining a competitive advantage, a closer examination of the additional components of a GTM strategy unveils a holistic approach to navigating the complexities of the market.

Components of a Comprehensive GTM Strategy

Now, as we delve into the additional components of a GTM strategy, we move beyond the fundamental elements of positioning, creating buyer personas , coordinating messaging, engaging with customers, convincing them to buy, and gaining a competitive advantage. 

A closer examination of these components unveils a holistic approach to navigating the complexities of the market.

1. Target Market Profiles

In the realm of a GTM strategy, understanding the intricacies of the target audience is akin to wielding a precision tool. 

Detailed analyses of demographics, preferences, and behaviors provide businesses with invaluable insights. This knowledge enables tailored marketing efforts, aligning product or service offerings with the specific needs and desires of the intended consumers.

2. Marketing Plan

A well-constructed marketing plan is the roadmap that guides businesses through the landscape of promotional activities. 

Incorporating both digital and traditional channels, this plan delineates the strategies and tactics necessary to generate awareness, capture attention, and establish a robust market presence.

This phase is not merely about broadcasting information but crafting narratives that resonate with the intended audience.

3. Sales and Distribution Strategy

Determining how the product or service will reach the hands of consumers is a pivotal aspect of a GTM strategy. 

This involves critical decisions on sales channels, be it through direct sales, strategic partnerships , or leveraging online platforms. Each choice impacts not only accessibility but also influences the overall customer experience.

4. Target Audience Research

In-depth research on the audience extends beyond mere demographics. It encompasses understanding the pain points, needs, and preferences of potential customers. 

This deeper insight allows businesses to tailor their offerings, messaging, and interactions, establishing a connection that transcends transactional relationships.

5. Key Differentiators in the Market

Highlighting what sets a product or service apart from the competition is the essence of a competitive edge. 

Identifying and accentuating these unique selling points not only distinguishes the business in the market but also forms the core of the value proposition communicated to the audience.

6. Planned Approach for Marketing and Distribution

A systematic plan detailing the orchestration of marketing and distribution processes is crucial for efficiency and effectiveness. 

This involves coordinating various elements of the strategy seamlessly, ensuring that each component contributes cohesively to the overarching objectives.

7. Pricing and Distribution Factors

Strategies for pricing and distribution are not arbitrary decisions but carefully calculated moves. 

Aligning the pricing with the perceived value of the product or service, and choosing distribution channels that optimize accessibility, are pivotal in achieving market success.

In essence, a comprehensive GTM strategy transcends the initial launch phase, extending its influence into the ongoing interactions between the business and its market. 

Distinct Focus of a GTM Strategy

A GTM strategy, although akin to a business plan in some respects, distinguishes itself through its heightened focus and tailored approach specifically crafted for the launch of a particular product or service. 

While both strategic frameworks aim to guide businesses toward success, the GTM strategy hones in on the intricacies of bringing a specific offering to market with precision and clarity.

1. Target Audience Engagement

A GTM strategy places a magnifying lens on the target audience, delving deep into their needs, preferences, and behaviors.

By understanding the intricacies of the intended consumers, businesses can craft marketing messages and engagement strategies that resonate profoundly, establishing a connection that goes beyond the transactional.

2. Marketing Precision

Unlike the broader strokes often found in a business plan, a GTM strategy zeroes in on the intricacies of marketing. It outlines detailed plans for promotional activities, encompassing both digital and traditional channels.

This deliberate approach ensures that marketing efforts align seamlessly with the unique value proposition of the product or service, maximizing impact and resonance.

3. Distribution Dynamics

Distribution channels are meticulously considered in a GTM strategy. Businesses evaluate the most effective and efficient means through which their offering will reach the hands of consumers.

Whether opting for direct sales, strategic partnerships, or online platforms, the strategy addresses the practicalities of distribution with a focus on optimizing accessibility and customer experience.

Contrasting Scope of a Business Plan

While a GTM strategy encapsulates the targeted intricacies of a product or service launch, a business plan operates on a more expansive canvas. It extends beyond the specific launch phase and incorporates a comprehensive view of the entire business entity. Here are key distinctions:

1. Financial Projections

A business plan is inherently geared towards comprehensive financial planning. It incorporates detailed projections, revenue forecasts, and budgetary considerations, offering a holistic perspective on the financial health and sustainability of the entire business.

2. Funding Requirements

Unlike a GTM strategy, which primarily focuses on the launch and market positioning, a business plan delves into the financial needs of the entire business. It outlines funding requirements, sources of capital, and financial strategies for sustained operations and growth.

3. Operational Considerations

Operational aspects, such as organizational structure, staffing plans, and overall business operations , are integral components of a business plan. It provides a comprehensive guide for the day-to-day running of the entire business entity.

The Symbiotic Relationship Between a Business Plan and the GTM Strategy

While the two frameworks differ in their focus and scope, they are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they often operate in tandem, with a well-crafted GTM strategy seamlessly aligning with the broader objectives outlined in a business plan. Together, they form a cohesive roadmap that navigates both the intricacies of a specific product or service launch and the overarching goals of the entire business entity.

In essence, a GTM strategy is the focused architect of a successful product or service introduction, while a business plan acts as the master blueprint that orchestrates the entire symphony of business operations, growth, and financial viability. Together, they create a comprehensive framework that guides businesses toward sustainable success in a dynamic and competitive market landscape.

While a GTM strategy shares similarities with a business plan, it is more focused and tailored for a specific product or service launch. It addresses elements like target audience engagement, marketing, and distribution in a more concentrated manner. 

When constructing a GTM strategy, businesses often adhere to six major elements, commonly represented by the acronym OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), along with Attract, Sell, Deliver, Adopt, and Help. These elements guide the business through various stages, from defining objectives to providing ongoing support.

For instance, Microsoft effectively utilized a GTM strategy during the launch of its third-generation Surface tablet. The strategy specifically addressed the tablet’s introduction to the market and tackled a distinct market problem facing the market: the lack of a full-featured computer on the previous generation of tablets. This example underscores the importance of tailoring a GTM strategy to the unique characteristics and challenges associated with a particular product launch.

Let’s now delve into the essentials of the GTM framework, its significance, the crucial components required for its establishment, the key channels and roles involved, various types of GTM strategies, and concludes with a detailed 6-month action plan tailored for a B2B organization striving for a successful launch.

The Essentials of the GTM Framework

A GTM strategy serves as a comprehensive action plan, specifying how a company will deliver its product or service to the end customer. At the core of this strategy lies the value proposition, articulating what makes the product or service unique and superior to alternatives.

A successful Go-To-Market (GTM) framework is essential for companies seeking to introduce a product or service to the market effectively. It involves a well-thought-out plan that not only outlines the steps to bring a product to market but also strategically positions it to resonate with the target audience. Let’s delve into the essentials of the GTM framework:

Value Proposition

At the heart of the GTM strategy is a compelling value proposition. This statement clearly communicates the unique qualities and benefits of the product or service, highlighting what sets it apart from competitors. A strong value proposition serves as the foundation upon which all other aspects of the GTM framework are built.

Market Research

Thorough market research is crucial for understanding the target audience, industry trends, and competitive landscape. This involves analyzing customer needs, pain points, and preferences. By gathering actionable insights, companies can tailor their GTM strategy to meet the demands of the market effectively.

Product Positioning

Product positioning focuses on how the offering is perceived in the minds of the customers. This involves crafting a strategic narrative that emphasizes the unique features and benefits of the product. Effective positioning ensures that the target audience understands the value the product brings to their lives or businesses.

Sales Strategy

The GTM framework includes a comprehensive sales strategy that outlines how the product will be sold to the end customer. This involves determining the sales channels, pricing strategy, and sales team structure. A well-defined sales strategy ensures a smooth and efficient process from prospecting to conversion.

Marketing Channels

Choosing the right marketing channels is critical for reaching the target audience. This includes digital marketing, content marketing, social media, traditional advertising, and more. The GTM framework should detail the mix of channels that will be leveraged to create awareness, generate leads, and drive customer engagement.

Customer Support

A robust customer support system is vital for maintaining customer satisfaction post-purchase. This involves setting up effective communication channels, addressing customer inquiries, and providing assistance when needed. A positive customer support experience contributes to customer loyalty and can lead to positive word-of-mouth marketing.

Execution Plan

The GTM framework should include a detailed execution plan that outlines specific timelines, responsibilities, and milestones. This plan ensures that all teams involved are aligned and working towards common objectives. Regular reviews and adjustments to the execution plan may be necessary to adapt to evolving market conditions.

Metrics and Analytics

Establishing key performance indicators (KPIs) and implementing analytics tools are integral to measuring the success of the GTM strategy. This data-driven approach allows companies to assess the effectiveness of various elements within the framework, enabling continuous improvement and optimization.

A well-crafted GTM framework is a dynamic blueprint that guides a company through the complexities of bringing a product or service to market. Addressing the abovementioned essentials can lead businesses to enhance their market presence, attract customers, and achieve sustainable growth.

Required Pieces to Set Up a GTM Strategy

Having outlined the foundational elements of a GTM framework, the subsequent focus is on the essential pieces required to set up a comprehensive GTM strategy. Each of these components plays a crucial role in shaping a successful strategy that aligns with market dynamics and customer expectations.

Here are the several critical components involved in setting up a GTM Strategy:

1. Market Analysis

Understanding the market size, growth potential, and identifying customer segments is foundational to a successful GTM strategy.

According to HubSpot (2023), 68% of marketers state that their go-to-market strategy directly impacts their ability to meet revenue goals. This emphasizes the crucial role of comprehensive market analysis in shaping a successful strategy.

2. Customer Personas

Developing detailed profiles of the target customer, including their needs and buying behavior, helps in tailoring the strategy to meet customer expectations.

As highlighted by Demand Gen Report (2023), 74% of B2B buyers state that content decisively influences their buying decisions, underscoring the importance of understanding customer personas for effective content creation.

3. Competitive Analysis

Identifying and analyzing competitors aids in understanding the market landscape and positioning the product effectively.

Aligning with this, Aberdeen Group (2021) notes that companies with a documented go-to-market strategy are 33% more likely to achieve their revenue goals, showcasing the correlation between strategic planning and success.

4. Value Proposition

Articulating the unique value that the product or service provides to the target customers is crucial for differentiation.

As Seth Godin emphasizes, “Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell,” underlining the significance of a compelling value proposition in crafting a compelling narrative.

5. Pricing Strategy

Setting price points based on the product’s value, competition, and market demand ensures competitiveness. McKinsey & Company’s (2023) insight that customer acquisition costs (CAC) increased by 61% between 2020 and 2022 underscores the importance of aligning pricing with market dynamics to optimize acquisition costs.

6. Sales and Distribution Channels

Determining how and where the product will be sold, whether directly, through partners, or online, is a pivotal component. Gartner (2022) reports that 72% of businesses consider aligning sales and marketing critical for go-to-market success, emphasizing the need for a coherent sales and distribution strategy.

7. Marketing and Promotion

Outlining strategies to generate awareness and demand among the target audience is vital for a successful launch. Gary Vaynerchuk’s quote, “Content is king, but distribution is queen,” reinforces the idea that crafting compelling content is crucial, but effective distribution is equally essential for success.

8. Customer Support and Success

Ensuring a plan for engaging with customers post-sale is essential for customer retention and loyalty. Richard Branson’s insight, “The key is to set realistic customer expectations, and then not only meet them but exceed them – preferably consistently,” emphasizes the significance of customer support in exceeding expectations.

Key Channels and Roles Involved

With the foundational components and critical pieces of a GTM strategy in place, the successful execution relies on understanding key channels and roles involved. Additionally, recognizing the diverse landscape of GTM strategies is crucial for tailoring approaches based on product types, market conditions, and organizational objectives.

Several key channels and roles play a crucial part in executing a GTM strategy:

1. Sales Team

Responsible for direct customer engagement, negotiation, and closing deals. In line with Michael Porter’s quote, “In the attention economy, the most valuable currency is not information but attention,” the sales team’s role becomes even more critical in capturing and retaining customer attention in a competitive market.

2. Marketing Team

Focuses on generating leads, creating product awareness, and supporting sales efforts with the right materials and campaigns. The statistic that personalized marketing emails generate 6 times higher transaction rates than generic emails (HubSpot, 2022) highlights the impact of personalized marketing efforts in driving customer engagement and conversions.

3. Product Management

Works on defining product features based on market needs and customer feedback . Steve Jobs’ insight, “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower,” underscores the role of product management in driving innovation and leadership within the market.

4. Customer Success

Ensures customers achieve their desired outcomes while using the product, increasing customer retention and loyalty. Simon Sinek’s quote, “People don’t buy your product, they buy your story,” emphasizes the role of customer success in aligning the product’s narrative with customer expectations for long-term success.

Different Types of GTM Strategies

Now that we’ve explored the key channels and roles integral to executing a successful GTM strategy, let’s delve into the diverse array of GTM strategies available. 

Recognizing that these strategies can significantly vary based on product types, market dynamics, and organizational goals, understanding the nuances of each approach is vital for crafting a tailored and effective go-to-market plan.

Common types include:

1. Direct Selling

Targeting end customers directly, suitable for high-value B2B products. Howard Schultz’s quote, “Marketing is about values. That’s what companies stand for. Brand is the story you tell. A story has to resonate with something bigger than the price and the product,” highlights the importance of brand values in the direct selling approach.

2. Inbound Marketing

Leveraging content marketing , SEO, and social media to attract customers. Gary Vaynerchuk’s perspective, “It’s all about storytelling. Tell a story that resonates with your audience, and you’ll connect with them,” underscores the storytelling element in inbound marketing, emphasizing the power of narratives in attracting and retaining customers.

3. Channel Partnerships

Collaborating with partners to leverage their sales and distribution networks. Reid Hoffman’s quote, “If you’re not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late,” highlights the iterative nature of product development within channel partnerships, emphasizing continuous improvement.

4. Freemium Model

Offering a basic product for free while charging for premium features. The statistic that only 8% of B2B marketing teams say they are very satisfied with their go-to-market effectiveness (CMO Council, 2023) underscores the challenges in implementing freemium models successfully, emphasizing the need for strategic planning and execution.

6-Month Action Plan for a B2B Organization

Launching a B2B product from zero to hero in 6 months requires a well-structured action plan.

Having explored the diverse GTM strategies and recognizing the importance of aligning these strategies with the unique aspects of products, market dynamics, and organizational goals, let’s now delve into a practical 6-month action plan designed for a B2B organization. 

This plan is crafted to guide the organization from the initial research and planning stages to a full-scale marketing and sales activation, with a focus on adaptability and optimization throughout the journey.

Month 1: Research and Planning

• Conduct market research to identify target customer segments and understand their needs.
• Develop customer personas and conduct competitive analysis.
• Define the value proposition and unique selling points (USPs) of the product.

Insights and Analysis:

• According to MarTech Today (2023), the average enterprise uses 20+ marketing tools, creating data silos and hindering strategy clarity. Ensuring streamlined data integration and clarity in tools can enhance the effectiveness of the research phase.

Month 2: Product Readiness and Pricing Strategy

• Finalize product development based on market research and feedback.
• Set a pricing strategy that reflects the product’s value and competitive landscape.
• McKinsey & Company’s (2023) data on the increase in customer acquisition costs (CAC) highlights the importance of optimizing pricing strategies to align with market dynamics and manage acquisition costs effectively.

Month 3: Sales and Marketing Preparation

• Develop sales materials and train the sales team on the product’s USPs and target market.
• Create a marketing plan that includes content marketing, SEO, and targeted advertising.
• Gartner’s (2022) statistic emphasizing the criticality of aligning sales and marketing underlines the importance of collaboration and cohesion between these two functions for effective go-to-market success.

Month 4: Soft Launch and Feedback Collection

• Initiate a soft launch to a select group of customers.
• Collect feedback and adjust the product, pricing, and marketing strategies accordingly.
• The 61% increase in customer acquisition costs (CAC) between 2020 and 2022 (McKinsey & Company, 2023) highlights the significance of customer feedback in refining strategies to optimize acquisition costs and enhance product-market fit.

Month 5: Full-Scale Marketing and Sales Activation

• Launch targeted marketing campaigns across chosen channels.
• Activate the sales team to pursue leads and close deals.
• Social media advertising ROI is expected to increase by 19% in 2024 (eMarketer, 2023), emphasizing the growing importance of social media channels in the marketing mix and the need to capitalize on this trend during full-scale activation.

Month 6: Review and Scale

• Analyze sales data, customer feedback, and marketing ROI.
• Adjust strategies as needed and plan for scaling up successful channels.
• The quote by Seth Godin, “Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell,” underscores the importance of reviewing not just quantitative metrics but also qualitative aspects, ensuring that the narrative aligns with customer expectations for sustained success.

The path to a successful Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy is paved with meticulous market research, a compelling value proposition, well-thought-out pricing strategies, and precise sales and marketing endeavors—all underscored by an unwavering commitment to customer success.

The implementation of a carefully structured 6-month action plan provides B2B organizations with a roadmap to not just launch their products but to secure substantial market penetration and foster widespread customer adoption.

The true key to triumph in this dynamic landscape lies in a culture of perpetual learning, adaptability to evolving market dynamics, and the continuous optimization of marketing strategies guided by invaluable market feedback and performance metrics. 

As B2B organizations embark on this journey, the call to action is clear: Embrace a mindset of constant improvement, remain attuned to the ever-changing market nuances, and position your organization for sustained success. The opportunities are boundless, and the journey towards market leadership awaits those ready to seize it.

My name is Mario Peshev, a global SME Business Advisor running digital businesses for 20 the past years.

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What is a go-to-market strategy?

What is a go-to-market (gtm) strategy.

A go-to-market strategy is a comprehensive plan that outlines how a product or service will be positioned, priced, promoted, and distributed to a target audience. It fuses together a range of business functions – including product, marketing, sales, and customer intel – to form a fully aligned value proposition and action plan for launching and scaling a new product.

A strong GTM strategy will detail the competitive positioning, ideal customer profile , distribution channels, promotional tactics, and sales enablement practices that will be used to not only commercialize the product, but also accelerate its adoption in the marketplace.

In this sense, a go-to-market strategy should heighten your market awareness and ensure the organization doesn’t waste money, time, and resources releasing a product to the market that lacks sufficient demand. It should also help you launch your product into a new market, reposition/relaunch your brand , or improve existing product sales.

NB: Remember, poor product-market fit and oversaturation can hinder a new product launch — even if the product is well-designed and innovative, so be sure to take this into account when putting together your go-to-market plan.

Throughout this step-by-step guide, we'll address each of the steps that’ll help you and your marketing team appeal to your ideal customer, including:

• Driving factors in a go-to-market strategy
• Understanding your buyer’s journey
• Example go-to-market strategies

How to improve your go-to-market strategy

The five essential elements of a go-to-market strategy.

• Market definition: Which markets will you be targeting when selling the product or service?
• Customers: Who is the target audience/target market, and what do the demographics look like within these markets?
• Distribution model: How do you intend on delivering the product or service to the customer?
• Product messaging and positioning: What is being sold and what is its unique value or primary difference when compared to other products or services in the market?
• Price: How much should the product or service cost for each customer group?

Go-to-market strategies unpacked

More often than not, product marketers own the go-to-market process, since it depends heavily on cross-functional management, extensive knowledge of the product, and analysis of the market.

But what exactly is a go-to-market strategy and why do you desperately need one?

What is a go-to-market (GTM) strategy vs. a general marketing strategy?

A go-to-market strategy pulls together all of the elements that drive a business, such as marketing, customer intel, and brand development, and provides an action plan for how you can better reach your customers. A GTM strategy's focus is on being aware of the market you're looking to launch in.

On the other hand, a general marketing strategy focuses more on how you can reach the identified market and deliver value to that audience.

Who needs a go-to-market strategy?

Anyone who is looking to launch a new product in an existing market, an existing product in a new market, or testing a new product's market for growth should consider creating a Go-to-Market strategy.

What is the go-to-market model?

The go-to-market model is a plan that details how a company can promote a product to gain the interest of customers and gain a competitive advantage over other companies in their market.

Why are go-to-market strategies important?

So what's the point of a GTM strategy? The next few sections will break down the importance of a go-to-marketplan by discussing the benefits and driving factors of the strategy.

Benefits of a go-to-market Strategy

Prioritizing a go-to-market strategy can massively improve your organization, products, and customer relationships, here are just a few benefits:

• Reduces the time it takes to get a product to market
• Reduces the financial risk of a failed launch
• Delivers the best experience to customers
• Sets out a clear plan and direction for all teams
• Sets out a clear path for growth

Developing an effective GTM strategy can be daunting, but trust us it’s more than worth the time and effort you’ll put in.

How to build a go-to-market team

Jeff Thompson , President and Co-Founder at Aventi Group, sat down with Helen Dwight, ​​Global VP and Head of Marketing Intelligent Enterprise and Industries at SAP, for an #AventiLive Chat on best practices for go-to-market launches. Sasha Mostofi-Jorgensen , Partner at Aventi Group, captured what they said about GTM teams.

"Having the right team of people around you makes all the difference in planning and implementing a successful product launch. You’re going to be working under a lot of pressure, so collaboration and communication are key.

"One good strategy is to start small. Choose a core set of people that need to know the intricacies of the process, then reinforce the roles, responsibilities, and timeline with them.

"Be sure to keep all of your stakeholders informed of the plan to avoid any surprises down the road, and expand the active team slowly and strategically by bringing others on board at the right point in time."

The role of go-to-market strategy in product marketing

There's no disputing that go-to-market strategies play a pivotal role in the product marketing world.

Susan "Spark" Park, Head of Gaming Ads Product Marketing at Facebook & Kevin Bailey, go-to-market strategist outlined why it's the bread and butter of product marketing.

Who is responsible for a go-to-market strategy?

Typically, a product marketer or GTM owner is responsible for the go-to-market strategy, and these teams tend to work best when reporting to marketing while being backed by executive teams.

What are go-to-market roles?

Your GTM team should include representatives from:

• Product marketing
• Sales or sales enablement
• Customer success

And you may want to consider also having a GTM manager or owner to help coordinate the team and track the project’s progress.

How to create a GTM strategy: Go-to-market checklist

Consider your customer.

The first step in preparing your GTM strategy is to figure out who will be making the final purchasing decisions and why they will be purchasing your product.

According to Harvard Business Review, on average, there are 6.8 people in every organization making purchasing decisions for a single sale. These people make up the buying center.

It should be noted that some of the titles below might take on more than one role.

Initiator: Shows initial interest or starts the buying process

User: The person who’ll be using your product

Influencer: Convinces other members of the org they need the product

Decision maker: Gives the final purchase approval

Buyer: Owns the budget

Approver: Usually someone in the C-suite who gives final, final approval and pushes the initiative on a larger scale

Gatekeeper: Someone who gets in the way of a product being approved for purchase

Once you’ve identified their job titles, you’ll need a deeper understanding of their roles, their objectives, and most importantly their pain points. Arming yourself with this information allows you to create a GTM strategy that offers solutions and addresses each of their requirements.

You’ll also be using this research to create effective messaging, utilizing buyer personas, which brings us to our next step...

Once your buyer personas are completed, you’ll need to take your accrued information and turn it into market messaging.

Like the example below.

This process needs to be repeated for each of the titles we listed above (gatekeeper, influencer, decision-maker, etc.).

If you want to learn more about messaging, check out this article we prepared earlier.

There’s also a guide to messaging tools available below, perfect for helping you develop a distinguishable brand voice.

Message testing

Once your messaging has been finalized, take it for a test run. Think long and hard about where your audience is, are they more likely to visit LinkedIn? Is Instagram more their speed?

Look at where your conversions are low and take your money elsewhere. Try something new on Twitter, and test out Facebook ads, and if you’re not gaining traction, move on and try something new.

Understand your journey

With your personas and messaging set, you’ll need to look closer at your customer’s journey, from both perspectives - the buyer’s and your company’s in order to tailor your marketing efforts.

The top of the funnel is the awareness stage - they know a little about your product but are nowhere near ready to make a commitment. The content you create at this stage needs to grab and hold their attention from the get-go. It could be a clever blog post, video, or whitepaper.

The middle of the funnel is the consideration stage. This prospect may have downloaded an eBook you offered for free through your website, they have a problem your product can solve and they’re considering it.

The bottom of the funnel is the decision stage. The prospect is so close to a decision it’s palpable, they may just need a gentle nudge over the finish line in the form of a free trial.

Every company divides the buyer’s journey differently, with marketing usually taking ownership of the top of the funnel, however, once a lead reaches the decision stage, it’s the sales team’s time to shine.

We have all of the pieces needed, it’s time to put them together and create our very own GTM masterpiece.

During this stage, there’ll be certain things dictating your strategy including:

• Market size,
• How your sales cycle works.

Count your pennies and see how much money you have to play with, revisit the points made so far, have your product positioning as a reference point, and answer the following key questions:

• Which channel was most effective during testing?
• Were some messages more impactful than others?
• Which channels didn’t work?
• Did certain target audiences get more traction than others?
• When in the cycle does a prospect qualify as a lead?
• How do prospects prefer to be communicated to?
• How can we help the sales team get more conversions?
• What can we do to remove the ‘gatekeepers’ uncertainty?
• What assets do we need to produce to target certain stages of the funnel?

Providing you do everything right (and answer honestly!) this'll give you a clear-cut indication of:

• Ideal channels to use for your marketing
• Messaging you’ll use across each channel,
• Which people you should be targeting,
• Whether they prefer to be spoken to in person, over the phone, via email, etc.,
• The resources and contingencies you need to put in place for your sales team, and
• The content you need to generate.

There’s nothing worse than having different people pull in different directions. So, create a timeline to keep a reign on things and prevent anything from slipping under the net.

Write your content

Irrespective of whether it’s going to be sitting within the product marketing department itself, or marketing, you need to create a bank of content to help you deliver your GTM master plan.

Always measure success

So, there you have it! You have your GTM strategy in place.

But before you go flying out of the traps like a bull in a china shop, you need to indicate what success will look like . After all, what’s the point in putting in all this hard work and having no idea if it’s been worthwhile?

Have a set of high, yet attainable goals in place to ensure you can track your performance consistently. If things aren’t working, don’t be afraid to go back to the drawing board and reevaluate.

Look after the numbers, the numbers will look after you.

Ignore them, and they’ll turn your dream product into a nightmare scenario.

Metrics play a fundamental role in improving your go-to-market strategy and refining your sales process; implementing a suitable system will improve your sales team’s performance.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) like conversation rate, sales volume, and time can help you establish whether you're hitting your goals, and assess where your sales team needs to improve.

Moreover, metrics will also enable you to analyze ways to lower your customer acquisition cost to optimize your profit earned per customer and reduce your sales cycle.

The shorter the sales cycle, the quicker you can nurture buyers through the sales funnel, keeping existing buyers happy, and attracting new customers to supplement your inbound figures. This approach has all the makings of an effective business model, as customer retention is maintained, whilst churn is kept under control.

Also, seek input from your buyers when improving your GTM strategy. For example, case studies are often used to provide insights into your unique value proposition from a buyer’s perspective.

This not only serves as a powerful tool for your salespeople, but you can also distribute words of endorsement across your marketing channels, improving your SEO and visibility in search engines in the process.

How to optimize a go-to-market strategy for a scale-up business

A scale-up business is just one step up from a start-up. So, you’re still very much in the beginning stages of your organization.

One of the most important things you must do when you’re in this position is to just continue working on and refining your product marketing strategies depending on the data and feedback you receive from your previous launches.

One of the biggest goals you must always be aiming towards is to enhance the customer experience (CX) with your product. Some factors affecting CX that you may look to refine and improve are:

• Product design/quality,
• Accessibility,
• Reducing cognitive load ,
• Pricing (discounts, freebies, etc.),
• Convenience, and
• Availability.

In order to do this, ensure that you’re carrying out accurate and appropriate testing. One of the simpler tests you can carry out is A/B testing , which many PMMs argue is one of the most important tests to implement, especially when just starting out.

Siddhartha Kathpalia, Associate Director (Marketing, Americas + Product) at VWO said:

“A/B testing is a great methodology for making incremental changes and being sure of impact but it isn't great when a strategy needs to be deployed. It’s great when there is sizable data available, but not when there isn't enough traffic. A/B testing is great to ensure metrics maintain at the same level or grow, but not to disrupt the market.

“Everything can be A/B tested, but not everything should be. I've been able to demonstrate two changes that led to 150% growth for two organizations that have helped me grow too.”

How to optimize a go-to-market strategy for an enterprise business

Perhaps one of the most common misconceptions for enterprise businesses- and a big pain point for PMMs- is that they believe because their organization is so well established, they no longer need to make the effort to continue improving and refining their product marketing strategies. But, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

If anything, in an enterprise organization, you should be continuing to fight for the lead you have, with the help of your larger team size, budget, and resources, and putting them to good use by consistently researching and implementing new and improved strategies. The goal should always be to try and improve the customer experience, reduce churn, and always win the market.

Because you’re an enterprise business and likely have done multiple product launches, you can use these to your advantage. Carrying out research like win/loss analysis and Customer Advisory Boards (CABs) is a great way to see how you can further improve and refine your products. And, as always, ensure the focus for this is always on your customers, as their opinion is the most important when it comes to your product.

One of the biggest challenges that enterprise businesses face, and that start-ups probably don't, is that of busier processes. If your company is large and you're marketing multiple products, you might be given a bigger project with unrealistic timelines, for example.

When we asked Jeremy Castile, Senior Director of Product and Alliance Marketing at Docker the advice he’d give to those struggling with this challenge, he said:

“Try and work as early as you can with the product and engineering team.

“But beyond that, let's say you have 30 days to go launch a major project or product that you just got told about. The number one thing is to stay focused, don't panic, but see if you can create an MVP, a minimum viable product, if you will, for this launch.

“Ask yourself: What are the must-haves? What are the things that you can trim to do post-launch? Because if you look at a launch list of all the things that you need to do for a launch, some things can be pushed, and other things are absolute must-haves for a go-to-market launch.

“So I would say that's one of the ways that I've been able to overcome the challenge of not having enough time. I’ve told myself: "Okay, we have this long list of things that we need to do. Let's organize this by what's must-have, what's nice to have, and what can be pushed to post-launch".

“All of a sudden, you start finding all these things that you could go "Okay, we don't have to have that in 30 days", or whatever the short timeline is. So that's been super helpful.”

Go-to-market strategy challenges and resolutions

Jeremy Castile, Senior Director of Product and Alliance Marketing at Docker , is a GTM expert, and shared advice for overcoming common challenges and mistakes.

Here's what he had to say:

Q: What challenges have you previously faced when putting together a go-to-market strategy or working on a product launch? And more importantly, how did you overcome these obstacles to eventually achieve your desired goal?

A: “Working as a product marketing person, I think you're always in a little bit of a state of chaos. There are always new products, always new features, always new campaigns, new content, and things that need to be cooked. But one of the challenges I think, that I've run into a lot, I'm sure other PMMs have, is just not having enough time.

“In the tech space, the pace of innovation is so fast, and we're constantly trying to come out with new features and new capabilities to meet users’ demands.

“There is another set of challenges that I could go into but with regards to not having enough time, because this one is so common, I think, for folks that run into this often, again, getting back to my earlier point, try and work as early as you can with the product and engineering team.

Q: Everyone needs to make mistakes to learn and develop. What are some of the common mistakes that you've seen product marketers make when putting together a strategy? And what advice would you give product marketers to help them avoid the same pitfalls?”

A: “I think one of the easiest traps to fall into as a product marketer, and I've fallen into this trap myself, is where your product, feature, brand, or company becomes the hero of your product launch’s narrative instead of the user or the customer.

“It’s a common pitfall where you see PMMs launching new products or features, and starting the story with, "here's a new feature, and here are all the capabilities" or "here's what makes this feature cool". would say instead flip that.

“Instead of placing an emphasis on the product or company, go user in, and answer questions such as: what are the challenges that your user faces? What are their aspirations? What are their goals? Make the customer the hero of the story. Who is that person? What are their goals? What do they want to achieve? How are they growing their business?

“This makes your narrative much stronger and more compelling. That's just one of the common pitfalls I've seen with PMMs, and it's easy to fall into because as a PMM, we are product marketing people. We're focused on the product, we buy into the story of the product, and we know everything about the product.

“We sometimes assume that our users already know all the background of this product and the story and the features behind it. But I think there's some education you have to do there in pulling your user back to the middle of the story, I think it's super important.”

Go-to-market strategy examples

Fitbit smart coach.

You know FitBit, the manufacturer of those activity trackers that look like smartwatches, well a few years ago the company launched Smart Coach, a premium service and personal training app, that integrates with the user’s FitBit.

Their GTM strategy started with simple, attainable objectives, including:

• Building brand awareness
• Increasing subscription revenue
• Improving the subscription attach rate

Launching the “Get More With FitBit” campaign which involved using both paid and owned channels to reach the target audience (FitBit’s users).

Paid channels included retargeting display ads that directed potential customers to a landing page.

They also used push notifications, social media accounts, and newsletters to reach their target customers.

The result: The company earned $192 million in revenue.

Upscope is an interactive screen-sharing service.

They could have easily been just another standard screen-sharing program, targeting the usual suspects. But with a solid GTM strategy, they leveraged the live chat wave, targeting those who would need it the most - customer service advisors, technical support, and onboarding specialists. They focused on one universal pain point - the annoyance of setting up screen sharing.

Learn more in our complete GTM guide

Whether you're bringing a product to market this quarter or next year, learn from the best for when the time does come with this selection of presentations, templates, and guides to help you through your next GTM project.

Part 1: presentations

Part 2: templates, part 3: go-to-market guides.

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Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy: What It Is, Examples & Template

• by Apostle Mengoulis
• June 17, 2021
• 15 minute read

Are you a marketer, a startup founder, or simply a motivated business owner looking for ways to get things off the ground?

You may be looking for ways to raise awareness for your early-stage company or planning to launch a new product and naturally want to generate buzz around it. 

No matter why you need a go-to-market (GTM) strategy, we’ve created a concise guide to help you understand how such a strategy works and how you can get the most out of one. 

To be more specific, in this guide we’re going to take you through the following:

• What a GTM strategy is
• Differences between a go-to-market strategy and a marketing strategy or marketing plan
• Examples of go-to-market strategies for inspiration
• How to build your own go-to-market strategy

What’s more, we’ve created a template that you can download and use to save you both time and money. 

Seems like we’ve got lots to cover. 

Let’s get right into it. 

Choose the Section You Want

• What’s a Go-to-Market (GMT) Strategy?

5 Go-to-Market Strategy Examples to Inspire You

How to build a go-to-market strategy for your startup, our proven go-to-market strategy template, what is a go-to-market (gmt) strategy.

A go-to-market strategy is a tactical plan that includes and summarizes all your moves in order to hit the mark in a new market when you’re launching a new product or company. 

Put another way, a GTM strategy is an action plan that’s compiled using the main elements of your new business move, such as:

• Identifying your target audience and target market
• Identifying solutions that your product offers
• Defining your unique value proposition (UVP)
• Defining your acquisition strategy
• Defining your buyer personas
• Defining your messaging 

And so on and so forth. 

To sum up, we’d say that a GTM plan is basically the steps you will take to bring your product or service to the market. 

With under 50% of businesses making it to their fifth year , we can see that, when it comes to new businesses or new products, the odds aren’t quite stacked in your favor. 

Moreover, startup failure rates in 2020 tell us that 90% of all new startups fail , which clearly shows that having a great product might not be enough; you need to have a well-defined go-to-market strategy in place. 

The statistics present you with a challenge as a new business or a business that’s launching a new product. 

That’s why you need a solid strategy that’ll help you hit the ground running. 

We’re not saying this to put extra pressure on you, but we encourage you to be realistic as to how difficult it’s going to be to survive as a new business.

As promised a little further up, we’re now going to discuss the difference between a GTM strategy and a marketing strategy. 

What’s the difference between a go-to-market strategy and a marketing strategy?

In case you thought that a GTM strategy was the same as a marketing strategy, we need to set a few things straight; firstly, they’re not. 

A marketing strategy is an ongoing process that includes all the marketing efforts , from digital marketing activities — such as content marketing, inbound marketing, paid acquisition or referral marketing — that your business is making. 

On the other hand, a GTM strategy, as we’ve already discussed, is a far more specific, one-time process that focuses on a specific event , such as a new product launch . 

Let’s get into more detail about the characteristics of each of the two strategies. 

A marketing strategy:

• Includes all marketing actions a business plans to take
• Encapsulates marketing actions in relation to distribution channels as well as the target audience for the whole business
• Is based on a long-term approach that aims to make sure that a business will keep up with existing products and upcoming trends in the market
• Often includes marketing elements and analysis such as SWOT analysis and detailed market research
• Covers actions on brand positioning as well as how to attract the audience that’ll appreciate the brand and will engage with it
• Is usually undertaken by an entire marketing team
• Is an ongoing process  

A go-to-market strategy :

• Is usually built in the context of launching a new product or business
• Can be different for each of the products that a company sells
• Will be different based on the type of the business. e.g. B2B or B2C
• Will have a marketing strategy as part of it for a specific product a company’s launching
• Includes an analysis of the buyer journey as well as a segmentation of the audience into sub-audiences
• Focuses on covering new product launches and activities around a specific product’s lifecycle, from the creation of a product to the distribution process and its eventual discontinuation
• Is based on a short-term approach in relation to a segment of the market that’ll be interested in the product
• Covers actions in relation to communicating a product’s competitive advantage
• Will generally have every step targeted towards a specific buyer persona or target customer
• Usually involves members of a company’s product marketing team, customer support team, and sales team
• Will have a fixed timeline .

After seeing some of the main characteristics of each strategy, let’s get into the examples we’ve prepared for you.

We’ve now established what a GTM strategy is and exactly how it’s different from a marketing strategy. 

As we covered a little further up, the vast majority of startups sadly don’t last long after they’ve launched, partly because they lack a well-defined go-to-market plan. 

There are, however, some companies that have managed to not only have a successful launch, but also find a product-market fit (PMF) and subsequently start growing and scaling. 

In this section, we’re looking at six different examples of inspiring GTM strategies from some interesting and innovative companies. 

Let’s dive right into the first example we have for you. 

Example #1: Visme for Desktop Launch

Image Source: Product Hunt

The first inspiring go-to-market example we want to share with you comes from Visme, which is a modern graphic maker .

Earlier in 2021, Visme launched a new product, Visme for Desktop; an all-in-one design platform that can be used on both Mac and Windows. 

As you can see on the screenshot above, part of the company’s GTM strategy was to launch on Product Hunt and raise awareness for the product and the overall brand. 

In fact, the product was voted as Product of the Day on April 13, 2021. 

The enthusiastic comments say it all:

Pretty neat, isn’t it?

What’s more, Visme’s founder, Payman Taei, made sure to share the news with his social media audience by posting about the product on his LinkedIn account. 

Have a look:

Image Source: LinkedIn

Both the Product Hunt page as well as Payman’s post include all the relevant information to appeal to their target audience. 

More specifically, as we can see, there are nods towards the new product’s use cases as well as the pain points the tool aims to address. 

As you can probably imagine, these are essential components of a go-to-market strategy that take into consideration important customer needs and provide potential customers with solutions. 

Additionally, given that an effective GTM strategy needs to present a new product in a detailed and well-defined way, it comes as no surprise that the Product Hunt presentation provides users with images of how the desktop app looks. 

Here’s an example:

Let’s get to the next go-to-market strategy example we want to show you. 

Example #2: Challenger Bank Monzo Launch

Image Source: Monzo

Our second example of a successful company with a truly smart GTM strategy comes from app-based challenger bank, Monzo, established in the UK in 2015.

Before we get into analyzing their strategy, let’s have a look at the following screenshot:

What we see above is a step-by-step illustration of the logic behind their strategy when people were joining the waitlist for a Monzo online bank account.

As you can see, the new users needed to join a waiting list with a queue of over 15,000 users registered before them. 

If someone wanted to take a lead and get ahead of all those others, they could use their unique referral code and share it with people they know. 

Every time you shared your code and Monzo got a new user signed up from your referral , the app moved you up the queue by several thousand places. 

You might have heard about it before – it’s called the leaderboard giveaway – and it’s basically as simple as inviting people to get higher on the leaderboard.

Sounds pretty exciting and intriguing, right?

The reason we’re including this example in our GTM guide is because the core of the company’s GTM strategy lay in some very interesting tactics which can be summarized in the following elements:

• The power of a well-structured referral program  
• The power of virality starting from one person inviting another to join the app
• The benefits of community marketing and building a community prior to launching your product

Building a waiting list that gives users the opportunity to get an advantage over the rest of the queue can be very efficient.

Why wouldn’t you want to be in front of others? 

When it comes to Monzo’s launch that we just saw, the initial launch targeted residents of London, which helped make the experience more focused and tailored to individual users. 

Since their Alpha launch in 2015 – the one where they made good use of the leaderboard giveaway – Monzo has managed to grow a lot and achieved revenues of £67 million in 2019 – which is equal to around $95 million.

They must have done something right!

Example #3: Robinhood’s Pre-launch

Image Source: Robinhood

Building a pre-launch campaign might sound like a challenging task, but if done right, it can help your business find great results from its product launch. 

With the goal of making the stock market accessible , Robinhood, which was then a small startup, entered the market in 2014.

Their go-to-market strategy was heavily based on the following elements:

• Creating  a VIP experience that built anticipation and FOMO
• Gamifying the experience of getting access to the product
• Targeting millennials who didn’t have as much access or exposure to investing and trading products up to that point

All three elements written in the list above were accompanied by the company’s main messaging, which was, as we said a little further up, to “ democratize finance for all ”.

This strong messaging, along with some interesting and engaging tactics, like building a signup waiting list with a strong referral incentive , had high chances of hitting the mark. 

Similar to what we saw Monzo doing earlier in this post, Robinhood created a waiting list that allowed users to get priority access by being invited by those already in the queue and then spreading the word about the product, thus getting its first users to sign up for the app.

The more friends that joined, the sooner you’d get access . 

This tactic made users want to engage with the product and also made them feel that the product was exclusive, which made their willingness to join even stronger. 

Let’s now move on to the next great example we have for you.

Example #4: TaxJar Focusing on Killer Content

Image Source: TaxJar

Different companies have different cornerstones for their GTM strategies and that’s the way it should be. 

Each company has a different business plan, business model, values, ambitions, and different decision-makers and stakeholders involved in different company activities. 

For eCommerce business TaxJar, the way to deal with competition was pretty clear and straightforward. 

To be more specific, TaxJar, which brought the dynamic of automation into sales tax reporting and filing and was launched in 2013, was able to identify a key competitive differentiator. 

From what TaxJar CEO Mark Faggiano told Nicole Shimer , we can easily pick up the following two points as core elements of the startup’s GTM strategy:

• Educate the world on sales tax by creating and sharing easy-to-find and easy-to-understand content around sales tax
• TaxJar was based on the approach of being a technology company rather than a tax company

As Mark Faggiano puts it:

“ Before we existed, most of the content that was available was either hard to find or hard to understand. Therefore, we decided to build the best content we could to help people wrap their heads around sales tax, which feels like an insane problem that’s changing all the time. As a result, we were able to build trust and customers began to try the product because they trusted and understood what we’re saying. This also helped us succeed through word of mouth , which has been a tremendous lever for growth.”

Want to have a look at what TaxJar’s content looks like?

Here you go:

We’ve grabbed a few blog post titles that clearly show us just how easy it is to get informative content around sales tax and what that might look like. 

One of the objectives of content is to inform your target customer, just like how TaxJar is doing here by creating articles that speak to different industries, such as telehealth and online pharmacies. 

By creating content that resonates with your target customer, you’re hitting some of the key functions of a GTM strategy that we talked about, like reaching out to your ideal buyer and pointing out your competitive advantage.

As simple as that!

Keep reading to find out more about the last example we’re showing you. 

Example #5: Lemlist Launch on Appsumo

Image Source: Lemlist

Lemlist, an email outreach platform to send personalized outreach emails, launched on Appsumo in early 2018. 

Since its launch, it managed to achieve $250K annual recurring revenue (ARR) in 2018, which increased to over $4 million by early 2021 , and they’re planning to take it to $10 million by the end of the year.  

The main point around Lemlist’s GTM strategy lies in its move in 2018 to launch on Appsumo – a marketplace for early-stage startups that want to get some attention and traction by offering very special deals such as lifetime access for $X. 

As you can probably imagine, such a space allows businesses to get things off the ground and grow big, and fast. 

In fact, Lemlist went on Appsumo twice in their first year – the second time was with a Black Friday deal:

Image Source: Appsumo

We can clearly see that part of their go-to-market strategy was having a special deal on Appsumo which allowed them to get some capital that they could then use to build the product and grow the business.

What’s more, Lemlist’s GTM strategy also included going on Product Hunt in an attempt to generate buzz around the product and spread the news within a tech product-loving community. 

As you can see, the product was voted Product of the Day on January 24, 2018, demonstrating how popular it was and making more and more people aware of it. 

We’re now done talking about our five SaaS go-to-market strategy examples that’ll hopefully inspire you to create your own. 

Because we understand that you might need a bit of help in terms of putting some of these tactics into action, we’re taking you through a simple but concise, step-by-step process of creating your very own go-to-market strategy. 

Here we go…

We’ve already established that having a well-organized go-to-market strategy is a must, especially for startups. 

If you’re wondering how to create a go-to-market strategy for your startup, we’ve got you covered. 

In this section, we’re taking you through a step-by-step process of building a go-to-market strategy for startups. 

To illustrate the process, we’ll be using screenshots from our GTM strategy template you can also download – for free! – and implement yourself. 

Here’s step number one. 

Step #1: Understand the target market

The first step for an efficient go-to-market strategy is to understand your target market . 

First things first; your target market is basically defined as the segment of potential buyers that your product or service will be targeting. 

Put another way, your target market is the group of people that are most likely to become your new customers. 

Understanding the characteristics of that group allows you to craft your sales strategy, sales process, pricing strategy, customer onboarding process, customer support process as well as map out the whole customer experience, end-to-end. 

Understanding your target market encapsulates a wide range of actions that your startup needs to take, including the following steps:

The actions highlighted in the template screenshot above are:

• Conduct a SWOT analysis
• Create a list of your direct competitors
• Competitor analysis and creation of a competitive matrix
• Identifying partners and collaborators that can help your startup get early traction

Once you’ve completed all the actions in this first step…

…you’re off to the next one. 

Step #2: Understand the target customer

Following up on the first step of understanding your target market, looking closer into your target customer is yet another important step in the process. 

This step, which, by the way, is one of the most fundamental things you’ll do, is all about identifying and understanding your target customer, which will allow you to create a product that’ll meet their needs and standards. 

When you get to this step, you’ll need to:

• Conduct detailed and rigorous research into the ideal customer profile
• Define your goals and value matrix
• Conduct demographic and psychographic analysis
• Define the pain points and challenges you might face in relation to your product and how it might be perceived by the target customer
• Create an ideal customer journey map. AKA a buyer’s journey

Some questions to consider when working with the idea of your ideal customer should be along the lines of:

• Who might be the people buying from me and why?
• Are there common characteristics and interests between the people who’ll be buying from me? 
• What will my customer base look like?

Finding the answers to those questions, as well as others you might find useful to consider, will allow you to understand your core customers better, making it easier for you to guide them down the sales funnel when your product launches. 

Keep reading to find the next step in the process of building your go-to-market strategy.

Step #3: Define your positioning

The third step we want to bring your attention to is to define your positioning . 

A simple definition of positioning will provide you with a deeper understanding of the main elements of this process. 

Have a look at this definition by Entrepreneur:

Image Source: Entrepreneur

In other words, positioning is all about how a product or service differentiates from competitors and what kind of niche it can fill. 

To put it simply, when we talk about positioning, we basically talk about where a product fits into a market as well as the business roadmap.

The way you position your product is always in relation to the target market and target customer you’ve previously identified. 

Here are some key actions companies need to take when they get to this particular step:

• Define your brand positioning statement
• Come up with your unique value proposition
• Define your unique brand identity
• Create your main branding elements

You may have noticed that the bullet points above are touching upon how a product is going to be branded, which is one step further than just where it sits in the market.

When you’re in the steps of positioning your product or service, keep in mind that this step also includes telling people about your brand and product. 

This one takes us to the final – big – step of the process. 

Let’s get into it. 

Step #4: Define your marketing strategy

After you’re finished with the previous step, you can get into defining your marketing strategy . 

Your marketing strategy is one of the most important elements of your GTM strategy.

As you can see in the screenshot above, defining your product marketing strategy is a key action that’s included in this step. 

More specifically, before launching your startup, you need to get your product marketing strategy straight. 

Once that’s done, you can define your pricing strategy: 

• Are you planning to test different pricing strategies or pricing plans?
• Will you be offering freemium accounts or free trials?

These are vital questions you need to answer before you get started with your actual launch. 

Additionally, you need to decide on the distribution channels for your products. 

Will you be investing in sales and hiring salespeople? Running content marketing, paid advertising, opening physical stores, organizing webinars ? Or maybe you’ll invest in branded swag and promotional products?

Defining the marketing channels you’ll be using for raising brand awareness and acquiring customers is an integral part of your GTM strategy.

Moving forward, having defined some success metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) will make it more likely that you’ll efficiently keep track of your progress. 

Additional actions in this final step are:

• Define your pre-launch campaign
• Define your launch campaign
• Define your post-launch campaign

Last but not least, your GTM wouldn’t be complete without defining your full marketing funnel – from customer acquisition to retention and referral – as this can help your startup get some early traction and build some lead generation activity after the product has been launched. 

We’ve said quite a lot about what elements a go-to-market strategy includes. 

If you can’t wait to start working with our go-to-market strategy template for your own startup, wait no more!

It’s right here. 

As you’ve already seen in the previous section of our blog, we’ve created a GTM strategy template that’s free and easy to use. 

Here it is:

The template includes all the steps we analyzed just a moment ago, along with all the individual actions companies in need of a GTM strategy can take. 

What’s more, it comes with a dropdown menu that allows you to customize the status cells depending on your progress through each of the actions. 

The options in terms of the status are the following three:

• In Progress
• Not Started

Last but not least, if you feel like keeping additional notes for streamlining the process and keeping track of your progress, then you can also make the most out of it by using the comments section. 

Download the template and give it a go.

We’re closing this up. 

Before you go

There you have it. 

In this post, we’ve given a simple go-to-market strategy definition and also talked about how it’s different from a marketing strategy. 

We’ve also shared a downloadable GTM template that you can use for free to save yourself some time and money. 

Moreover, by sharing several successful GTM examples, we identified some key components of a GTM plan, including launching a referral marketing campaign. 

Feel free to try Viral Loops for free ,  and see the efficiency of referrals yourself.

Thanks for reading!

Apostle Mengoulis

Apostle is a core member of the founding team at Viral Loops. He has worked closely with hundreds of referral marketing campaigns made with Viral Loops. Apostle has years of experience in growing and marketing companies and co-founded Growth Hacking University.

Great checklist to ensure you are not blindfolded in your GTM strategy.

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Complete go-to-market (GTM) strategy framework with examples

Mar 23rd, 2021

What is a go-to-market strategy?

Components of go-to-market strategy, go-to-market strategy framework, examples and templates of go-to-market strategy.

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Starting a business can be an exciting adventure. Among the most popular reasons to start a business are financial independence, career growth opportunity, creative freedom, and personal satisfaction. However, to get your business going, you need to deal with many issues, including legal, sales and marketing, financial, people management, and many more. 

Launching a startup can be challenging during the first few years. According to US Small Business Administration data, about two-thirds of newly established businesses survive through the two-year mark, and almost a half strive for longer than five years. The factors that contribute to the startup failure are the absence of market need, shortage of funds, inappropriate team, and cost issues. Due to these reasons, a business plan is the number one step in creating a successful startup.

Proper planning helps define your products and services, clarify your business objectives and analyze the competitors. Your business plan should include a marketing approach to make people aware of your products and let them find you. This document serves as a roadmap to structure your business and the tool to convince investors that your company will bring them many happy returns. 

Go-to-market strategy is the company’s tactical plan to deliver value to customers by launching the new product or service to achieve a competitive advantage. The go-to-market strategy provides the algorithm to take the product to market and make it visible and known among potential buyers. It can be created for a new product or feature that targets a new customer segment, a new price-based segment, or a new geographical market. For example, if the company selling products in the low-cost segment wants to serve the premium segment with a new product, the GTM strategy might be a good solution.

Go-to-market strategy answers three main questions: who the customers are, what the offering is, and how the target customers can be reached in a scalable and repeatable way. In simple words, a go-to-market strategy is an outline of how the product will be delivered to customers. 

Businesses can benefit from developing a go-to-market strategy in the following ways: it can reduce time to market , save costs on failed product launches, provide a positive customer experience, clarify the mission and ensure a successful product launch. Also, the GTM strategy helps reduce customer acquisition costs, strengthens the company’s capacity to tackle challenges, guides the team throughout the process, and establishes a path for growth.

To build an effective GTM strategy, you need to communicate with your customers, have a mission-driven company, and keep up with the competitors. Consequently, the successful go-to-market strategy includes three C’s: Customers, Company, and Competitors.

The three-component model is a popular concept to develop an effective GTM strategy. The components are dynamic and interrelated, and each of them affects the other ones. 

Customers are the target audience and driving force of your business. First, define who your audience is. The product should meet their requirements. You can gather a lot of relevant customer data by using in-depth interviews and questionnaires. The questions relate to demographics, gender, disposable income, the reason for buying your products, the details of the decision-making process, and pain points.

Additionally, you can use secondary sources of information about your customers: read available industry researches; review industry specialized online and paper media sources, such as websites or magazines; research customer profiles in Twitter or Linkedin to understand what do they publish, what do they discuss, what sources of information do they subscribe to. Finally, if you already have a website, review your users’ behavior to gather additional insights.

After collecting the essential data about your customers, you can run a social media campaign with a request to leave the contact details like email address and phone number. This base will allow you to stay in touch with the customers by providing additional materials like how-to videos and coupons. Personalize your messaging with the customers and use storytelling to connect with the audience.

To become successful, the company should clarify the mission, identify the resources, aspirations, and competencies. These factors determine whether the focus of your business will be on price leadership or operational efficiency, innovative culture with product leadership, or a service-oriented culture. The strong values help to ensure that the marketing strategy remains constant in the long run.

The most important part of the go-to-market strategy is the product. Building a great product requires a lot of skills, curiosity, and creativity. To develop a successful product, the company needs to learn through trial and error, considering the changing technology, business opportunities, team dynamics, and customer needs. Furthermore, creating a great product is a never-ending process. The market needs are changing all the time, so the product should adapt to the inevitable changes. One of the best ways to examine the market need is to launch the beta version of the product and improve it by gathering feedback.

Also, you need to estimate the product cost to understand the lower bound for pricing. Then you should assess the value of the product to potential buyers, so later, you would define the upper bound for pricing. It is essential to analyze the pricing strategies of your competitors. Taking into account this information, you will be able to set the prices.

Competitors

To stand out from the competition, you should create a unique value proposition and analyze your competitors . The data should include product portfolios, capabilities, the way they present themselves, goals, and accomplishments. Some of the sources of information about your competitors include their website, annual reports, and newsletters. You may analyze customer reviews, define what is missing in the competitors’ products, and then consider what features you can add to your product to satisfy customers’ needs.

The other features to review are the competitor’s pricing, content strategy, the way they market the products, the level of engagement on the competitors’ content, social media strategies, and presence. In addition, you can perform a SWOT analysis to learn about your competitors’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Once you've armed yourself with the preliminary research into your customers, your company, and your competition, you're ready to start creating the GTM strategy. Below we'll review the most effective frameworks and relevant examples to help you develop a GTM strategy particularly suitable for your business.  

The go-to-market strategy framework consists of ten simple steps that will provide you with a deeper understanding of the target market, your industry, product-market fit, competition, demand, and distribution. The strategy covers a lot of information that will prevent you from mistakes while bringing the product to market or mastering the new market segment.

1. Identify the target market and buyer personas

There are two common purchasing scenarios for the products. In the first case, the purchasing party is a non-business customer or a small business. In the second case, the purchasing party is a larger enterprise.

When your target audience is non-business customers, you need to create a realistic buyer persona. It will be helpful in developing products and creating content to better target potential buyers. A buyer persona is a fictional character who has characteristics of the ideal customer based on research. The features of buyer persona are the name, behavioral traits, demographic information, and interests. 

You need to perform several simple steps to create the audience persona. Carry out your audience research considering age, location, interests, spending patterns, and challenges with the help of Google Analytics, customer database, and social media analytics. Then identify the problems your target audience is trying to solve and understand what support you can offer.

In the case of creating the buyer persona for larger businesses or enterprises, the course of actions will be different. The first step is to analyze who will buy your product and who will make the purchasing decision for your offering. The decision-makers are called “the buying center” . 

The buying center usually comprises seven roles during the sales process: initiator, user, influencer, decision-maker, buyer, approver, and gatekeeper. The initiator is the one who demonstrates the initial interest in the product. The user is the person who uses your product regularly. The influencer has the power to affect other people’s purchasing decisions. The decision-maker usually approves the purchase. The buyer manages the budget. The approver is a person who grants the final approval and then pushes the initiative to a management level. Finally, the gatekeeper has the right to prevent the implementation of the product.

To convince these people to buy your product, you need to understand their motives, goals, problems, and pain points. The roles may change depending on the industry, your product, and other factors.

2. Research the demand 

Once you have defined the buyer personas, you need to clarify their problems and whether your product or service would fit their needs. At this stage, you should consider your product value and your buyer personas’ pain points, which they face daily. Moreover, you have to look at the bigger picture and research the industry’s struggles and your product’s impact on the target market. 

Then study your competition and define the features of your product that differentiate you from the existing solutions. It is essential to learn what the target audience likes and dislikes about the available products.

3. Develop your messaging

Messaging is a set of key points your company uses to talk about itself and the value you provide to customers. Messaging is focused on what and how you communicate about your company, product, or service. It will become the basis for various marketing materials, such as slogans, press releases, social media posts, presentations, etc.

Your message aims to convey the main idea about your product or service to potential buyers, express what value you offer, why you are different, what you stand for and what problems you solve. It is crucial to establish an emotional connection with your customers addressing their needs and desires. Use humor and speak the natural language consumers talk about in everyday life.

You need to start by defining the company’s marketing strategy and the objectives you want to achieve with your messaging. The next step is to identify the keywords that would be associated with your company, product, or service. Following, you should draft concise and memorable message statements. You can organize the statements into a framework, including the target audience, positioning, and brand promise.

The competitors’ messaging strategy is a good source of information that will help you develop your statements. Define the distinguishing factors that set you apart from the competition: what makes your product unique and why your customers should choose it over the other offerings.

4. Understand your customer’s journey

The buyer’s journey helps predict your customer’s behavior and the number of stages during the purchase process. Consider the customer’s journey from the buyer’s perspective and your company’s perspective. 

The buyer’s journey typically consists of four stages:

• Awareness. At this stage, your customer gets acquainted with your product. The potential buyer receives the information from social media ads, blog posts, videos, or search engine results.
• Consideration. The customer shows interest in your product and the problem it can solve by engaging with the content. The prospect asks for a trial period or studies the educational content about your product before making a decision.
• Decision. During the decision-making process, the customer communicates with the sales team and negotiates the pricing details and product features.
• Loyalty. When the decision is made, the buyer needs the reasons to stay loyal to your company. In the majority of cases, the most significant opportunity to build loyalty lies in providing excellent customer service.

5. Outline the pricing strategy

Pricing sends a message to your customers about the value your product provides. The pricing might reflect the idea that your product is exclusive and, accordingly, it would be more expensive. On the other hand, the lower price can be your advantage over the other competitors. The pricing depends on the target market, your competitors, and other aspects like PR and marketing. To set a reasonable price, you need to take into account the needs of your buyer personas to understand whether it fits their goals.

6. Create the external marketing plan 

Building brand awareness is a necessary step to draw your audience’s attention. This stage covers branding, lead generation, content creation, website, PR, events, and advertising. The popular methods to reach the target audience include social media, search ads, emails, landing pages, cold calls, industry conferences, webinars, and Ebooks. Once the potential buyers get interested in the product, it is time to proceed to the next stage and provide the educational materials or free trials to motivate them to make a decision.

7. Generate content

Content marketing is a very effective tool to encourage your customers to purchase and turn one-time shoppers into loyal buyers. The content educates the customers about the problems you solve and increases brand awareness. The customers will be able to find your content by conducting a keyword search. Search Engine Optimization will enhance the chances of your content appearing higher in the search results. Therefore, it would increase your traffic and boost sales.

The demand for video content is growing year over year. According to the study by HubSpot, more than 54% of consumers prefer videos from brands over other types of content. More than 86% of businesses use videos as a marketing tool to increase user engagement, build brand awareness and improve customer loyalty. Moreover, videos are the most-shared and very measurement-friendly type of content.

Your business can increase engagement and convert users due to video content shared through Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. You can create different types of videos to promote your brand, such as product demos, testimonials, interviews, how-to videos, and more.

8. Develop your sales funnel

This step clarifies how the prospects become your customers. You need to mind how your team would find the potential buyers, engage with them and then sell your products. It is essential to know what tools your sales team will use to optimize sales. The sales representatives might need software tools and presentations to demonstrate your product’s value to potential customers. The other issues for consideration are the training of the team and the ways to manage sales reporting.

9. Pay attention to customer support service

Customer support turns your one-time buyers into customers for life. To develop loyalty and make the buyer feel special, you should create friendly customer service. It is important to think about the offer you would provide to your clients to help them use your products - the tools, the software, and the customer support team. Consider using social media platforms to monitor and respond to queries and complaints. 

10. Define success metrics 

The success metrics help estimate whether you are reaching your goals. While choosing the suitable metrics, keep in mind whether the metrics align with the company’s strategy, the difficulty of calculations, and the time needed to analyze the results. The indicators that will help you estimate your company’s health include Monthly Recurring Revenue, Annual Recurring Revenue, Customer Acquisition Cost, Customer Lifetime Value, and Net Revenue Retention.

The following frameworks are useful models to review the company’s marketing capabilities from various points of view. The frameworks will help evaluate marketing operations’ effectiveness and determine the changes needed to support new strategic direction.

Go-to-market strategy for startups 

The lack of thoughtful planning is one of the common reasons for startup failure. That is why the robust GTM strategy is a hedge against future risks. You need to choose between the broad set of buyers or narrow target market, channel sales or direct sales, and two-sided or one-sided markets.

The startup GTM strategy framework was created by Michael J Skok for the Harvard innovation lab. On the left side of the picture, there is a simple marketing and sales cycle that describes the stages the potential customer passes on his way to the purchase of the product. At first, the customer becomes aware of your offering, then comes the interest and understanding of how the product can serve the customer’s needs. The following stages are the engagement of the potential buyer, purchase of the trial, and finally, the purchase of the product.

It is often difficult to measure the progress with engaging the audience and turning the potential customers into interested buyers. So you need to pay attention to metrics like Net Promoter Score that will help you estimate the results.

Michael J Skok states that in the case of startups, the building of a brand should be based not on the product or service. Instead, it should manifest the founders, team, ideas they represent, and the company’s culture. Also, the startup should be consistent from the start to get brand integrity.

When launching a startup, answer the following questions:

• What about the world that is changing that makes us necessary?
• What do we promise to customers at a basic level?
• What makes you unique?
• What makes you valuable to your customers?
• What emotions do you want to evoke in your customers?
• If your startup was a person, what would it be like?
• How would you present yourself to the world?

SaaS go-to-market strategy

The main feature that distinguishes SaaS go-to-market strategy from the other companies is the target audience. You are marketing to people, who are grouped in companies, so you need to choose not only the most suitable company but also bear in mind the decision-makers. 

The go-to-market strategy will also depend on the company’s size, and it will differ for enterprises and small businesses in each case. Another distinctive feature of the SaaS go-to-market strategy is the opportunity to provide free trials of the product. It eliminates the need to talk to a sales representative before making a purchase. However, the competition in the SaaS market grows, and the customer acquisition cost increases as well.

The template by DevSquad for SaaS businesses contains the foundational points you need to think through to develop an effective GTM strategy. This template is very convenient for building a GTM strategy because it fits one page and brings together all the major elements. With the template’s help, you can define one end-user and buyer persona, stick to one audience, one target market, and one main acquisition channel at a time. You can identify the best niche for your product and apply a narrower approach to your plan.

This strategy is designed to prevent entrepreneurs from making such mistakes as targeting too many markets at once, using too many marketing channels, and reaching out to enterprises where the sales cycle is usually longer and more complicated than for smaller companies. 

Salesforce’s go-to-market strategy

Salesforce GTM strategy proposes defining the market segment you are targeting, describing the key characteristics of your potential buyers, and identifying your offering and value proposition. Also, you need to think through the channels for communication with the customers, budgeting, financial model, and marketing plan. 

To build your value proposition, you need to develop a simple statement that describes your offering and its advantages over your competitors. To define communication channels, think about where your customers would purchase your product and how they would receive support and answers to the questions. Creating the budget requires prioritizing your business needs like sales and development and making forecasts concerning future profits.

The last part of Salesforce’s strategy is marketing activities such as creating a marketing plan and marketing calendar with the events where you will demonstrate product value to customers. The last point of the strategy requires discussing the goals with the team and collecting feedback.

McKinsey go-to-market framework for established enterprises

According to McKinsey’s approach , the go-to-market strategy includes seven directions of growth applicable for well-established businesses. 

• The first way for a company to grow is to sell a wider product range to existing customers. You can increase the frequency of purchases due to promotional programs or sell additional products or services.
• The other way is to attract new customers to the existing range of products.
• One of the most common paths to growing your business is to introduce new products and services.
• You can redesign your value-delivery system by providing more benefits to your customers, such as increased product choice, broader service, or lower prices.
• Large businesses can improve the industry structure through the acquisition of other companies and mergers.
• Your company can expand into new geographical markets or increase the coverage of regions where you already operate.
• Many companies grow by stepping out into new businesses where they can apply the existing skills.

Successful companies often use several directions of growth simultaneously; some of them, like Disney, use all seven paths at once.

IBM’s go-to-market strategy implementation

IBM is a vivid example of the exceptional implementation of the new go-to-market strategy. IBM’s selling model changed in the 1980s due to the changes in the IT market when the number of customers grew, but they decreased in size. At first, the company had only one sales channel — the distributors or direct sales force. When this model proved ineffective, IBM started adding new channels, including value-added resellers, direct mail, telemarketing, dealers, and catalog operations. 

In recent years, the company added about 18 new channels to communicate with the clients. The new GTM model is called hybrid because it combines direct and indirect channels. Due to the hybrid model, IBM managed to achieve a competitive advantage in the market, and now it is a leading cloud platform company.

Developing a winning go-to-market strategy is critical before bringing a new product to market or entering the new market. When creating the GTM strategy, keep in mind the main components: customers, company, and competitors. The other elements for consideration include target markets, channels, product or service, price, and positioning. Before you start building the strategy, think of the current state of your business, your existing product portfolio (that's where BCG growth-share matrix may come in handy), your objectives, the methods to achieve the goals, and how long the implementation would take.

The most important steps are to define target customers and target markets. The next step is to understand what customers’ problems the product would solve. Then you should develop messaging, consider the buyer’s journey, create a pricing strategy, build brand awareness and generate content. The last steps are developing a sales funnel, customer support service, and measuring the results. Though GTM strategy is only the first stage of achieving business success, it gives your company a greater chance to accomplish impressive results.

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The four pillars of a go to market plan (with examples).

Each year, when the go-to-market planning cycle begins, the crucial question leaders must answer is — where should we place the bets? Do we double down on the virtualization market or focus on expanding into cybersecurity? Which markets should we enter and where should we allocate sales?

Even though go-to-market (GTM) strategy isn’t a betting sport, it often feels like one. Because just like at the blackjack table, go-to-market planning discussions usually boil down to one thing: where to place the bets.

However, the key element to any successful go-to-market plan is not having made the right bets, but having a plan in place that allows you to operationalize those bets. Because regardless of how you play the cards, it’s up to you to bring your GTM plan to life.

In this article, I’ll share the four pillars of a go-to-market plan and how to leverage the right insights in your sales strategy to know the markets to enter, where to allocate headcount, and which accounts to prioritize. I’ll also share a few go-to-market plan examples from use cases in which this framework is applied. This four-pillar methodology focuses on building ROI and productivity results and will help you become a lot more scientific in your approach to GTM planning.

What is a Go To Market Plan?

A go-to-market plan is the roadmap for launching a product or service. It defines messaging, pricing, and distribution to ensure a focused and successful market entry. The goal of a GTM plan is to drive marketplace adoption, minimize risk, and ensure the organization doesn’t waste resources, time or money when introducing a new product to the market.

A GTM plan involves a range of business functions company-wide — from product and customer success to sales and marketing — to align on a value proposition, measure demand, and activate a plan to launch and scale a product. By understanding the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) , competitive positioning, market trends, and target segments, businesses can create a solid GTM strategy that maximizes their chance of success.

The Importance of Optimizing Your GTM Plan

With the current economic climate, the wriggle room businesses once had in budget, KPIs, OKRs, or performance in general, has evaporated. Everyone is being forced to run their business on a much tighter basis, yet hit the same amount of revenue from a smaller budget than in the past. To hit the same targets with fewer resources, you have to become a lot more scientific in your go-to-market planning process.

The idea that we do the same GTM strategy, then apply a smaller budget and expect the same results, doesn’t stick. Moreover, on an organizational basis, you lose productivity when you do this. That’s not a sustainable GTM plan in the long run and why optimization is crucial.

Today, you must take an integrated approach to your planning process if you want to hit your targets. This is how to bridge the gap between knowing where to place the bets and manifesting your plan throughout the business — from your marketing, business development, and sales teams, all the way down to your enterprise reps, customer success, and account planning.

The Four Pillars of a Go To Market Plan

To optimize your go-to-market plan, start by looking at your business as a whole. Whether you’re the CEO or the head of field marketing for one region, look at your business systematically and how the parts interact and compound.

There are four key components in go-to-market planning. These four pillars are very simple and repeatable. And the idea is that you can apply these general practice principles and scale them, whether you’re looking to disrupt a market or capture wallet share. The four pillars of a go-to-market plan are:

• Operationalize

Let’s dive into each of these pillars in more detail.

Pillar 1: Profile Your Customer

The first pillar of a GTM plan is centered on customer profiling. While companies are becoming more data-driven in how they profile, they tend to follow the same path in how a potential customer is scored. For example, if an offering is scored as a value proposition, it is usually scored generically and is only given one score.

However, no one pursues their entire TAM, SAM, SOM . To hone in on your target market, you have to identify the customers most likely to buy your product or service. You can efficiently profile your customer, and each offering within a customer, in three steps:

1. Score your target customer

Score each customer based on how well they fit your ICP. Ask yourself:

• Do they fit your value proposition?
• Do they fit the archetype of an organization with a problem your business can help solve?

If the customer meets these criteria, the next step is to determine how much undiscovered need they have. For instance, the customer may have a problem, but that doesn’t mean they know they have one, or acknowledge it. This is called “undiscovered need.”

For example, if you’re selling a cloud application, you could identify customers who have on-premise workloads. Could you help solve their pain points? Yes. But do they want your help? Do they recognize their pain points? Maybe not. That’s why the first thing to do in customer profiling is to score accounts based on whether or not they fit your business archetype, and whether they have an undiscovered need.

2. Understand the customer’s need

The second step is to break down your target customer based on need. For account profiling, ask yourself these questions:

• Do they need you?
• Do they recognize they have a problem?
• Are they starting to marshal internal resources, so you can see evidence that they’re tackling this business problem?

If the account checks all of these boxes they have what we call discovered need, which is much easier to act on than undiscovered need.

For example, if we can see an organization has Anaplan, we know this organization is likely solidifying its operations. It’s trying to structure its territory planning and deploy quotas in a more structured way. If it’s a startup, they’ve got other competitors, so we know they’re already on the way to becoming data-driven. Then, we use data to see if they have an ABM platform , which makes the company a good fit for our product or services.

These observations are leading indicators that a target customer has discovered need. Not only can we see that they are growing in a space we can help with, but they’re already starting to solve problems.

3. Know when the customer is in a buying cycle

The third, and perhaps the most critical component of customer profiling is to identify whether a potential customer is in a buying cycle.

Just because a client has discovered need, it doesn’t mean they’re in a buying cycle. Industry data shows that 10% of the market is in-market and searching for a product or service like yours at any given time. This makes it critical to distinguish which customers are in-market in Q1, versus Q2, and versus Q3. This can be made visible using HG’s Contextual Intent data .

The reason this is so critical is because when you target in-market customers it has a profound impact on your conversion rates. If you only do a homogeneous score, without considering a customer’s actual propensity to buy, you’ll struggle to get above a 2% conversion rate.

However, if you shift to scoring accounts for fit, need, and buyer intent, I guarantee you will get a 10% conversion rate. Because when you use intent data, you can see the customers who are in the market right now, and they will usually convert at a rate of 20%.

Pillar 2: Prioritize Accounts

Now that you’ve scored your customers for fit, need, and intent, the next step in optimizing your go-to-market plan is to prioritize accounts.

Traditionally, organizations take a standard approach, which is to prioritize accounts that are the biggest. But this strategy will deflate your conversion rates. A more evolved approach is to determine what each customer is worth to your organization.

To do this, you need to prioritize customers based on the services or products they’re already using and what you could sell them. This is how much each customer is potentially worth. You can uncover this information using Technology Intelligence tools.

When you prioritize accounts based on fit, instead of targeting the customers who are the biggest, you’re focused on the customers most likely to convert. And a high conversion rate, even of smaller potential value, aggregates over time.

To illustrate, let’s take a list of customers and score them for fit, need, and intent across a portfolio of offerings. In this case, I use the HG Platform to see this information. Then, we combine it into an x-factor.

As you can see in the example above, the x-factor calculates the customer who fits your archetype the best, has discovered need, is marshaling resources, and is in a buying cycle. Those customers are practically waiting for you with a purchase order — they will convert at very high rates. If you prioritize accounts like this, you can optimize for pipeline or revenue in any given quarter.

Pillar 3: Segment Your Accounts

The third pillar of go-to-market planning is around segmentation. This is different from the traditional way of segmentation, which divides target accounts by small business vs. mid-market vs. enterprise. Instead, think about segmentation in terms of resource constraints and how to help decision-makers choose between competing trade-off options.

Consider this go to market strategy dilemma: You have a $200k marketing budget for the quarter and you’ve got 20 SDRs,. How do you prioritize the bandwidth you have, including thinking about headcount and how many calls your sales team can make?

To determine which accounts you can feasibly pursue with a high win rate, take your need and intent scores and put them on an axis. Always go after the customers in the top right-hand corner. These are the target accounts that have the highest discovered need and the ones that have the highest buying signals. I determine this using HG Insights’ Platform .

Think of segmentation as a trade-off position. As you can see in the example above, the white space bucket is really big, but the expansion bucket is also large, and that’s what you’re after. Target customers who have the most compelling problems that they’re trying to solve, and the ones who are in the most aggressive buying cycles.

You may be wondering, what vertical or industry should you focus on? Indeed, there are lots of different industries and verticals.

To decide where to focus your efforts, create your map again, but render it based on the vertical. Suppose now it says, “enterprise mobility, cyber security software, peripherals, and fixed data.” These are your customers. These are the industries with the most compelling problems and the ones in the most aggressive buying cycles. They’re the companies that will convert. Whether you’re an SDR or marketing leader, or in sales ops and designing a territory for next year, this is where the money is.

Pillar 4: Operationalize Your Go To Market Plan

So you’ve done all the calculations, thinking, and scoring — how do you put these insights into the hands of your SDRs, marketers, CSMs, or the head of strategy? It’s time to bring your go-to-market to life.

The fourth pillar of a successful GTM plan is to operationalize your strategy.

No one wants another spreadsheet, frankly. No one needs more data. But everyone at your organization needs the insights the data can give.

To operationalize your GTM strategy, think like a product manager. Ask yourself, “Who are the people I’m trying to help with my data, and what are they trying to solve?” Are you helping a seller, marketer, strategy person, or executive? Are you helping them with market planning and competitive analysis, or segmentation and account planning?

Based on your answers, create a unique view for each department at your company. Because if you’re a marketer, you need different strategies for solving a segmentation problem vs. an ABM problem. When you approach the data like a product manager, you can successfully operationalize your go-to-market plan across your entire organization.

Key Takeaways for Building Your Go To Market Strategy

To summarize, bring these four elements together to build an efficient go-to-market plan.

• Profile each customer based on your company’s offerings and the customer’s fit vs. need vs. intent
• Prioritize accounts to maximize yield . Even if it’s a small account, prioritize the accounts that have the highest probability of converting
• Segment your accounts in terms of resource trade-offs. Focus on the accounts that have the highest potential to convert, because that’s where the money is
• Operationalize your go-to-market plan by treating your data as if it’s an internal product in its own right

Lastly, you can use ROI calculators to see the potential impact on your organization if you execute your GTM plan in this manner. This proven methodology can help you get the exacting precision needed to build a successful go-to-market and operationalize it across your entire organization. Good luck and happy planning!

About HG Insights

HG Insights, the provider of data-driven insights to 75% of tech companies in the Fortune 100, is your go-to-market Technology Intelligence partner.

We use advanced insights into Technology Intelligence — on IT spend, technographics, cloud usage, intent signals, Functional Area Intelligence, contract details, and AI maturity — to provide global B2B companies with a better way to analyze markets and target prospects. Our customers achieve unprecedented results in their marketing and sales programs thanks to the indexing of billions of unstructured documents each day with insights into product adoption, usage, spend data, and more to build high-resolution maps of activity across an organization’s entire digital infrastructure to power business decisions with precision and confidence.

To learn more about our Technology Intelligence and how to use it in your go-to-market planning, reach out ! Our team is standing by.

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What is Go-To-Market (GTM)?

Go-to-market (GTM) is the strategic process a company goes through to make a product or service available to customers (i.e. bring it to market). This is the plan through which you let customers know that your product is available, communicate the value it brings them, and demonstrate why it’s better than the competition.

Go-To-Market and Product Management

What is go-to-market (gtm) for product managers.

Go-to-market (GTM) is the strategy, planning and execution behind a successful Product Launch. Go-to-market ensures that the target audience not only discovers the product but also comprehends its value and relevance to their lives.

Do you value setting your product's price and distribution channels accurately? Would you like a marketing and sales strategy so irresistible that users stop what they’re doing and double-click your product ads? That's where a robust go-to-market (GTM) strategy comes in. 

You want to make potential users feel so seen and engaged that they can’t help but learn more. And if your product is good (which we’re sure it is!), users will stick around. A strong GTM strategy means higher up-front product adoption, more long-term revenue, and a product that stands out miles above the competition. 

Your go-to-market strategy decides how the audience learns about the product, including timing, channels, and messaging. Make sure to put your product in front of the right audience, at the right time, in a manner that will make them most likely to use or even purchase your product.

Why Does Go-To-Market (GTM) Matter for Product Managers?

Customer knowledge is power. As a Product Manager, it’s critical that you understand GTM strategy in order to better make customer-centric decisions. At every step of the product process, you should be asking yourself, “How will first-time users view this? What value does this add to users, and how can we better communicate that value?” 

Go-to-market is also when you’ll see the rewards of cross-functional collaboration outside of the Product Team. 

As Product Manager, you're the keeper of the Product Vision , so it’s your responsibility to communicate the purpose and value of the product across the company. Other teams need Product Managers to:

Validate customer messaging

Provide training materials and selling guides for sales

Share news on product updates

When you equip these teams with intimate knowledge of the product value, you’re setting up go-to-market for success! 

When Go-To-Market Goes Wrong

A go-to-market strategy not only determines the success of your product but of your entire company.

Just consider Microsoft Vista – a 2006 operating system launch so infamous that people still call it “Microsoft’s biggest failure.” You might say, “What’s the big deal? Microsoft is still a wildly successful company.” True. But it’s not as successful as say…Apple.

Microsoft’s fumbled go-to-market in 2006 is the reason Apple was able to pull ahead and become what it is today. Microsoft launched a buggy product and failed to understand the market, losing loyal customers – forever, in some cases. 

Microsoft vs Apple is a very public comparison, but smaller versions of this battle play out with smaller companies every day. Your company most likely can’t recover from a bad go-to-market strategy the same way Microsoft did. Not all product launches will be stunning successes, but having a strong go-to-market prevents you from completely missing the mark.

How to Create a Go-To-Market (GTM) Strategy

To create and execute a go-to-market (GTM) strategy, you need to:

Conduct market research to identify target audience

Select your customer acquisition channels 

Create messaging based on audience and channels

Go to market! 

Audience and channel are tricky to get right, but the payoff is worth it. Consider how Airbnb entered through a niche market. 

Airbnb started off targeting conference attendees. Why? Because since they knew when and where the conferences took place, they knew how many people would be there, in what city, plus the length of their stay! 

They understood pain points (other conference-goers competing for the same accommodations) and needs (distance from event space; pricing). This focused approach led them to their first major success – 600 stays in Denver during Obama's Democratic National Convention. And the rest is history.

Next up is messaging. To define your go-to-market messaging, answer these questions:

WHY is this product/company important? WHY are you doing this?  

HOW are you going to do this? 

WHAT is special about your company’s mission that will make a customer want your product over a competitor’s?

Keep in mind: Product Marketing Managers (PMMs) in particular are your key partners for go-to-market. They can help support go-to-market activities like segmenting customers, choosing the appropriate customer acquisition channels, and creating external-facing messaging.  

Key Components of Go-To-Market (GTM)

The key components of a go-to-market (GTM) strategy typically include:

Market Research: Conducting thorough research to understand the target market, customer needs, preferences, and trends. This helps in identifying the right market segment and designing a compelling value proposition.

Product Positioning: Clearly defining how the product or service solves customer problems or meets their needs, and differentiating it from competitors. This involves crafting a unique selling proposition (USP) and positioning the offering effectively in the market.

Pricing Strategy: Determining the appropriate pricing model and strategy based on factors such as production costs, market demand, competitor pricing, and perceived value. The pricing strategy should align with the product positioning and target market.

Distribution Channels: Identifying and selecting the most effective channels to reach the target customers. This may involve direct sales, partnerships, distributors, online platforms, or a combination of channels.

Marketing and Promotion: Developing a comprehensive marketing plan that includes advertising, public relations, digital marketing, content creation, social media, and other promotional activities. The plan should be tailored to reach the target audience and communicate the value proposition effectively.

Sales Enablement: Equipping the sales team with the necessary tools, resources, and training to effectively sell the product or service. This includes providing product knowledge, sales collateral, customer insights, and sales methodologies to maximize sales effectiveness.

Customer Acquisition and Retention: Implementing strategies to attract new customers and retain existing ones. This may involve lead generation, customer relationship management (CRM), customer support, loyalty programs, and ongoing customer engagement initiatives.

Metrics and Analysis: Defining key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of the go-to-market strategy. This includes tracking sales revenue, market share, customer acquisition costs, customer lifetime value, and other relevant metrics to assess performance and make data-driven decisions.

These components work together to create a comprehensive GTM strategy that ensures a successful Product Launch, market penetration, and sustainable growth.

Go-To-Market in Action

“ I’ve launched enough products to know that a solid go-to-market strategy can be the difference between product success and failure. It’s not enough just to build a product that provides value. You need to shout it from the rooftops. Hey! Look over here! We’ve made this awesome product for you! Cool tech becomes cooler when more people know about and use it. ”

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Business Model Vs. Go To Market

Where a business model is a holistic framework intended to explain the various building blocks that make up an organization and how it keeps its competitive edge, a go-to-market strategy is focused on launching new products and services to market, and therefore get the business through the first stage of traction and growth. A successful go-to-market strategy helps build a solid business model.

Table of Contents

Business Model:

• Definition: A business model is a comprehensive framework that outlines how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value. It encompasses various building blocks that describe the key components of the business, including its value proposition , target customer segments, revenue streams, key resources, key activities, and cost structure.
• Scope: The business model provides a strategic understanding of how the organization intends to operate and sustain itself in the market, ensuring long-term profitability and growth.
• Purpose: The primary purpose of a business model is to establish a systematic approach to create and deliver value to customers while achieving sustainable competitive advantage and financial success.
• Example: For instance, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) business model may involve offering a cloud-based software product to a specific target market on a subscription basis, with a focus on recurring revenue and customer retention.

Go-to-Market Strategy:

• Definition: A go-to-market strategy outlines how a company plans to introduce and promote its new products or services to its target market . It involves the planning and execution of marketing and sales activities to achieve market penetration and gain initial traction.
• Scope: The go-to-market strategy is specifically focused on the launch of new products or services, addressing questions such as target audience, positioning, distribution channels , pricing, and promotional activities.
• Purpose: The primary purpose of a go-to-market strategy is to successfully enter the market with a new offering, create awareness among potential customers, and establish a strong initial customer base.
• Example: For example, a technology startup launching a new mobile app may use a go-to-market strategy that includes targeted online advertising, influencer marketing , and app store optimization to reach its intended audience and drive downloads.

Relationship between Business Model and Go-to-Market Strategy:

• Interconnection: A successful go-to-market strategy is essential for the initial launch and growth of a business, especially when introducing new products or services. It is a crucial step in turning the business model into a reality and generating revenue.
• Alignment: The go-to-market strategy should align with the broader business model to ensure that the value proposition and competitive advantages identified in the business model are effectively communicated to the target market.
• Iterative Process: As the business evolves and expands, the go-to-market strategy may need to be adjusted to align with the evolving business model, market dynamics, and customer needs.

Key Takeaways:

• A business model provides a comprehensive framework for long-term value creation and competitive advantage, encompassing various aspects of the business.
• A go-to-market strategy is specifically focused on successfully launching and marketing new products or services to reach the target audience and achieve initial traction and growth.
• The go-to-market strategy is an integral part of turning the business model into reality and generating revenue.
• The two concepts are interconnected and should be aligned to ensure effective communication of the value proposition and competitive advantages to the target market.

Case Studies

1. Streaming Services:

• Netflix: Netflix’s primary business model is a subscription-based streaming service where users pay a monthly fee to access a vast library of films and television shows.
• Components: Value proposition (original content), technological model (streaming technology), distribution model (apps on multiple devices), and financial model (subscription revenue).
• When Netflix decided to expand outside the US, they partnered with local content producers, optimized their content library for regional preferences, and ran localized marketing campaigns.

2. Ride-Sharing Platforms:

• Uber: Connects drivers with riders via an app, taking a commission from each ride.
• Components: Value proposition (convenient rides), technological model (app-based platform), distribution model (direct to consumer via app), financial model (commission-based revenue).
• Uber launches in new cities by offering promotions to both drivers and riders to quickly gain a user base and then adjusts pricing based on demand.

3. E-Commerce Platforms:

• Amazon: Online marketplace selling products ranging from books to electronics.
• Components: Value proposition (vast selection, quick delivery), technological model (online platform, AI for recommendations), distribution model (online, with physical fulfillment centers), financial model (sales, subscription for Prime members).
• When launching Amazon Prime, they promoted the value of free two-day shipping and exclusive access to movies, music, and books to entice subscriptions.

4. Direct-to-Consumer Brands:

• Warby Parker: Sells eyeglasses directly to consumers online, bypassing intermediaries.
• Components: Value proposition (affordable, stylish eyewear), technological model (online try-on tools), distribution model (online sales, few physical stores), financial model (product sales).
• Warby Parker introduced the “Home Try-On” program, where customers could select five frames to try on at home for free, making it easy for customers to transition from traditional eyewear shopping.

5. Software Solutions:

• Slack: A communication platform for teams.
• Components: Value proposition (improved team communication), technological model (cloud-based platform), distribution model (direct to businesses via online), financial model (tiered subscription pricing).
• Slack initially targeted tech startups and offered a freemium model. They relied on word-of-mouth and the platform’s inherent virality (as users invited other team members) to grow.

6. Fitness Companies:

• Peloton: Offers exercise equipment integrated with a subscription-based workout class streaming service.
• Components: Value proposition (high-end home workouts), technological model (hardware-software integration), distribution model (direct to consumer), financial model (equipment sales and subscription revenue).
• Peloton positioned itself as a luxury fitness brand, leveraging influencer partnerships and high-quality advertising to target affluent consumers.

7. Food Delivery Services:

• DoorDash: Connects people with the best in their cities and helps local businesses grow.
• Components: Value proposition (convenience), technological model (app-based platform), distribution model (partnerships with restaurants), financial model (commission and delivery fees).
• DoorDash often launches in new cities with promotions and partnerships with popular local restaurants to quickly acquire users.

Read Next: Business Models , Tech Business Models , Go-To-Market Strategy .

More Strategy Tools:  Porter’s Five Forces ,  PESTEL Analysis ,  SWOT ,  Porter’s Diamond Model ,  Ansoff ,  Technology Adoption Curve ,  TOWS ,  SOAR ,  Balanced Scorecard ,  OKR ,  Agile Methodology ,  Value Proposition ,  VTDF Framework .

Connected Strategy Frameworks

ADKAR Model

Ansoff Matrix

Business Model Canvas

Lean Startup Canvas

Blitzscaling Canvas

Blue Ocean Strategy

Business Analysis Framework

Balanced Scorecard

Blue Ocean Strategy 

GAP Analysis

GE McKinsey Model

McKinsey 7-S Model

McKinsey’s Seven Degrees

McKinsey Horizon Model

Porter’s Five Forces

Porter’s Generic Strategies

Porter’s Value Chain Model

Porter’s Diamond Model

SWOT Analysis

PESTEL Analysis

Scenario Planning

STEEPLE Analysis

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Go to Market Strategy vs Marketing Strategy: What's the Difference?

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Planning ahead vs regular, repeated routines; that’s the basic answer to the question. What is the difference between a Go to Market Strategy vs Marketing Strategy?

A go to market strategy is heavily focused on new product launches or breaking into new markets. It’s a plan that is product-specific, targeting the audience that would be most interested in the product’s release. 

A clearly defined marketing strategy , on the other hand, details all of the marketing actions a business will take in order to build their brand, generate interest, and get their product in front of the right people. 

A marketing strategy details the repetitive processes a business should take in order to reach their target market.

Image: Incisive Edge

Breaking It Down: The Purpose of a Go to Market Plan vs a Marketing Strategy

Your go to market plan is an important part of your overall marketing strategy. Every business needs a detailed launch blueprint in order to survive. They also need a comprehensive marketing plan in order to thrive. It’s not surprising that marketers tend to use these terms interchangeably, especially because the lines can get a little blurred when a company launches its first product. 

There are, however, some crucial differences you might want to be aware of.

Let’s take a look at the key differences between these strategies by answering the following questions:

• What’s their purpose?

Who’s responsible?

• When should they be implemented?
• How will they work?

Go to Market Strategy: Get the Ball Rolling

What’s the purpose.

A go to market plan is designed to make sure that your new product reaches the right audience or that an existing product reaches a specific audience within a new market. 

The sole purpose of this strategy is to secure effective product positioning; making sure that your potential customers understand the value of your offering. 

Your product marketing team should be the main driver behind your go to market plan. They are responsible for co-ordinating with sales, marketing, and support teams to get your product ready for launch. 

They have to work with your sales team to develop a pricing strategy whilst also discussing appropriate messaging with your marketing team. Additionally, they might also be responsible for conducting training sessions with internal teams to ensure that all customer queries can be addressed appropriately.

A successful product launch takes a village. Your product marketing team is the city council.

When do you need it?

Your go to market plan should be set up before you branch out into the unfamiliar. 

Whether you’re expanding into a new market or launching a new product, you need to have carved out your path before you dive headfirst into the unknown.

You’ll want to set your goals, timelines, and milestones well in advance - it’s a key route to successful growth. 

How does it work?

An effective go to market plan hinges off your ability to create strong messages that speak to the people who will find the most value in your product. 

You’ll require all hands on deck to translate your product vision into messages and actions that appeal to your target customers.

Marketing Strategy: Keep the Ball Rolling … Faster

A marketing strategy details your approach for achieving (and keeping) its competitive advantage over time. Remember: you’re playing the long game here.

The main purpose of a marketing plan is to identify your target audience and value proposition, as well as how your product compares with what your competitors are offering.

Your marketing team is responsible for creating and executing your marketing strategy . Their main duty is to support all of your client-facing team members.

A marketing strategy is somewhat of an organic creature; it’s made up of repetitive processes that must be tweaked according to the company’s evolution. 

Budgets, tools, trends, and team members will change. This means that you’ll constantly be adjusting expectations, experimenting with new approaches, searching for fresh opportunities, and trimming off any unproductive processes you find along the way.

A solid marketing strategy encompasses every aspect of your brand. It should appeal to a bigger chunk of your audience - not just those who might be interested in “something new”. 

Your marketing efforts must directly correlate with your brand’s values and your product’s unique value proposition. This can be achieved through thorough competitor analysis, targeted demographic research, and carefully constructed business models.

It’s also important to concentrate on metrics that help you determine your weaknesses, such as customer dissatisfaction or churn rate . You’ll need to get feedback from existing customers to discover what your weak points might be and use your findings to fine-tune your overall marketing strategy.

The Takeaway: Make Your Message Relevant

Whether you’re looking at adjusting your marketing strategy or developing a go to market plan, it’s important that you ensure your message resonates with your target audience. 

Markets are constantly changing and companies are always growing. It’s important that you stay ahead of the curve, keeping an eye out for fresh opportunities all the time.

If one of your major goals is to optimise your brand presence online, a detailed plan will help you connect with your targeted audiences and perform well during product launches.

When trying to figure out the difference between a go to market strategy and a marketing strategy, it’s probably best to think of the former as a sprint and the latter as a marathon: You need to know how to perform, both in the short and the long term if you want to succeed.

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The blueprint to business success: a go-to-market strategy.

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Ross Kernez is Director of Search Marketing at HPOne, Mentor at Starta Ventures, and Founder of SEOMeetup.

Every company—from startups launching their first product to established corporations introducing a new one—needs a well-defined route to approach its audience. This path, ensuring that a product or service meets its potential customers at the right time and place, is encapsulated in a go-to-market (GTM) strategy.

At its core, a GTM strategy is a plan that outlines how a company will sell its products or services to customers. It extends beyond mere marketing or sales tactics. A GTM strategy should encompass the entire approach a business adopts—from identifying a target market and defining a unique selling proposition (USP) to detailing the sales and marketing tactics and evaluating the success post-launch.

A thoughtful GTM strategy offers companies several benefits, such as:

1. Clear Direction: With a GTM strategy, companies can clarify their product positioning, target audience and the best channels to reach this audience.

2. Efficient Resource Allocation: A GTM strategy aids in prioritizing resource allocation, ensuring that time, money and human capital are invested optimally.

3. Reduced Time-to-Market: An effective GTM strategy can expedite the launch process, enabling a quicker reach to potential customers.

4. Competitive Advantage: A solid GTM strategy gives companies a head start in crowded marketplaces, ensuring they stand out in the minds of customers.

Components Of A Go-To-Market Strategy

A strong GTM strategy begins by defining several key components. To get started, you should ensure you can properly explain these aspects of their product or service:

1. Target Market: Identify and understand the specific audience segment you're targeting. Delve into their demographics, buying behaviors, needs and pain points.

2. Unique Selling Proposition (USP): What makes your product/service unique? What distinct advantage or solution does it offer to the target audience?

3. Pricing and Positioning: Determine the pricing strategy. Will you be a cost leader or differentiate based on value? How will you position your offering in the market?

4. Sales Strategy: Detail out how you'll reach your customers. Will it be through direct sales, partners or online platforms? Will you adopt an inbound or outbound sales approach?

5. Marketing and Distribution Channels: Identify the best channels to promote your product. This could be digital marketing, traditional media, events or through distribution partners.

6. Customer Relationship Management: Plan the post-sale journey. How will you onboard, support and retain customers?

7. Metrics and KPIs: Determine how you'll measure success. What key performance indicators (KPIs) will tell you if your GTM strategy is effective?

Crafting An Effective GTM Strategy

Once you understand the key aspects of your GTM strategy, you'll need to take several steps to ensure that the strategy is working as intended. This involves a cycle of gaining insights and implementing them:

1. In-Depth Market Research: Begin with a thorough understanding of the market . Analyze competitors, conduct surveys and engage in customer interviews. Understand where the gaps and opportunities lie.

2. Align with Company Vision: Your GTM strategy should reflect your company's larger vision and mission. It should resonate with the brand's core values and long-term objectives.

3. Cross-Functional Collaboration: A GTM strategy isn't limited to the sales or marketing department. Product teams, customer service, finance and other departments should be involved to ensure a holistic approach.

4. Flexibility: While a GTM strategy provides a road map, it should not be rigid. Markets evolve, customer behaviors shift and unforeseen challenges arise. Your GTM strategy should allow for adaptability.

5. Feedback Loop: Post-launch, actively gather feedback. Understand what's working and what's not, and iterate based on this feedback.

Slack's GTM strategy stands as an exemplary model. When launching, instead of targeting individual consumers, they focused on teams . Their USP was clear: a collaboration tool to simplify team communication. They offered a freemium model , allowing users to experience the product before committing financially. This approach, combined with a robust referral program , ensured rapid adoption. Their GTM strategy was aligned with market needs, clear in its value proposition and innovative in its approach.

A go-to-market strategy is the bridge connecting a great product or service to its potential market success. It's the blueprint that ensures that a company's offering not only reaches its intended audience but also resonates with them, addressing their needs and challenges.

Having an innovative product is just half the battle. How you introduce this product to the market, the channels you employ, the value you promise and the relationships you nurture post-sale are all integral components of the journey. An effective GTM strategy harmonizes all these elements, paving the way for market success and sustained growth.

In essence, a GTM strategy is not just a plan; it's a philosophy. It demands an understanding of the market, empathy toward customers, and a vision for the company's growth. And when executed right, it can transform a company's trajectory, propelling it to new heights in the market.

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Learning Objectives

Plan for success, prepare to create a business plan, what’s in a business plan, build a go-to-market plan, create a value proposition, refine your offering, develop a channel strategy, make a financial model and budget, develop a marketing plan, brand awareness, marketing calendar, team alignment.

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Discover more, create a business model and go-to-market plan.

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

• Describe key aspects of a business plan.
• Describe the components of a go-to-market plan.
• Build a go-to-market plan.

You’ve identified your audience, and you know that they want to buy what you’re selling. It’s time to use that information to build your business plan and go-to-market strategy.

Just to be clear, we aren’t suggesting that you write a monolithic document that no one wants to read. You’re building a roadmap that you and your employees use to focus your efforts and align on priorities.

Your business plan represents your long-term goals and your general strategy for meeting those goals.

Your go-to-market strategy describes how you’re going to take your product through its lifecycle.

It’s all about the customer. That’s a mantra we at Salesforce have in our mind as we work. When you build your plan, have reminders in the room about the audience you’re about to serve.

To give everyone a single point of reference as questions arise, post customer personas on a wall. Keeping the customer center stage allows you to “just say no” when you’re figuring out what is and isn’t in your business plan and your offering.

Don’t build your plan alone. We recommend including key stakeholders, co-founders, your executive team, and advisors. If your team is small enough, get the whole company together. Multiple perspectives and stakeholder buy-in make your plan more robust and actionable.

Set aside time, at least a day or two, preferably away from the office. And bring lots of brainstorming tools, like sticky notes, flip charts, and index cards.

Your business plan begins with your vision statement. Everything that follows is about how you make that vision happen. Typically, you keep your business plan high level. Your team aligns to the plan by providing details on how they’ll contribute to meeting it.

Standard elements of a plan are:

• Goals—What must you accomplish to reach your vision?
• Methods—What are the steps for reaching those goals?
• Measurements—How do you determine when you’ve met your goals?
• Obstacles—What can get in your way as you try to reach those goals?

Your plan can take many forms. At Salesforce, we create a document called a V2MOM. It describes what the company wants to accomplish in the year and how we are going to achieve it.

Every employee from the top down creates their V2MOM based on the V2MOM of their manager. Check out this blog written by Marc Benioff that explains the Salesforce approach.

Another great tool is Alexander Osterwalder’s Business Model Canvas , a graphical, one-page business plan, which is further described in his book Business Model Generation. It’s a great brainstorming tool, and when the canvas is complete, you have an artifact that you can hang in your office.

Now let’s focus on your first AppExchange offering. Your go-to-market plan helps you with everything from ensuring that you’re building the right product for the right customer to supporting that product after it’s launched.

Your go-to-market plan describes:

• The market segment you’re targeting
• Key attributes of your customers
• Your value proposition
• Your offering
• The channels through which you’re selling and supporting your customers
• Your financial model and budgeting
• Your marketing and awareness plan with a complete sales kit

Good news, in the last unit, we determined your market segment and customer attributes. Now it’s time to tackle the remaining five sections.

How would you like to be identified in the market? How does your offering stand out from your competitors? Your value proposition articulates the answers to those questions.

Create a simple and direct statement that describes what you’re offering to the market. Don’t get caught up in business lingo—the simpler, the better.

One way to create a value proposition is to respond to your customers’ needs and pain points.

Consider incorporating portions of Salesforce’s value proposition, available to you in the Branding Guidelines for Salesforce Partners , with your own. For example, you can incorporate elements of our cloud vision. If you have different customer segments, make your value proposition appeal to all of them.

Just as you test your offering, test your value proposition. Get feedback from potential customers and people who don’t know anything about your offering.

Do they get it? If not, it’s back to the drawing board.

If you want to learn more, there are great resources on the Internet. One of our favorites is Alexander Osterwalder’s value proposition canvas and accompanying book.

You probably already have an idea of what you’re going to build. Your development team has been at work learning about what you can build on the Salesforce platform: OEM Embedded apps, ISVforce apps, and Lightning Components. They’ve also been investigating the Salesforce editions available to you.

The work you’ve done up to this point helps you flesh out the details and set priorities. With the leaders of your development team, make final decisions. Make sure that the choices align with the attributes and needs of your target customers.

Where will customers go to purchase your offering? And how will you provide support to them after they’ve purchased it? The answers to these questions define your channel strategy.

The AppExchange is a great place to market and sell your app because it has a large audience. If you also use your own website, you can provide support options like training, a question and answer forum, and a case filing system.

If you’re just starting out, how are you going to stay afloat until your company generates income to support itself?

Here are some questions to consider when creating your budget.

• How are you prioritizing the different needs of your growing business, like development, sales, and support?
• How do you make your funds scale to get your offering to market?
• How much are you forecasting in sales and in renewals?
• When will you be profitable?

If you aren’t familiar with this type of budgeting, consider hiring someone with these skills.

The last item in your go-to-market strategy is your marketing plan. Let’s look at the key parts.

Brand awareness is not colors or a fancy logo. It’s the distillation of your offering’s value proposition and company vision into memorable words or phrases.

How does your event management app stand out from your competitors’ apps? Look at its value proposition. Themes like cloud-based, trusted, efficient, and on-site customer interaction are possibilities.

You marketing calendar identifies the events and social activities you want to pursue to get your offering in front of customers.

Here are some options to consider.

• Host a webinar
• Participate in a Salesforce World Tour event, Dreamforce, or other conference
• Be a sponsor for an event, such as Dreamforce
• Advertise in a trade magazine
• Host your own events in cities with a large number of potential customers
• Volunteer for a leadership initiative, such as a newsletter

When you go to events and your sales team goes to work, have a sales kit that everyone uses to engage your customers. The kit ensures best practices and a consistent message.

The Selling to Salesforce playbook, available when you log in to the Partner Community, has templates for creating many sales kit assets.

Great plans! But can you pull them off? A common mistake is not taking the time to build alignment with your team. We recommend that you discuss your plans with the team and get their feedback. We won’t be surprised if this exercise provides you invaluable feedback on how to reach your goals.

Experience has shown us that if you take time to build strong business and go-to-market plans and create alignment with your team, you have a better chance of success.

If you want to learn more, Salesforce provides various resources. For example, check out our Marketing Power Hours, where industry leaders come to share their best practices. Or poke around the Marketing section of the community , which contains resources for doing everything from making your AppExchange listing stand out to sponsorship opportunities .

You’ve now done most of the hard work. Pat yourself on the back. Time for the quiz.

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How to Create a Go-to-Market Strategy? A Complete Guide

Table of contents

What Is a Go-to-Market Strategy?

When do you need a go-to-market (gtm) strategy, why is a go-to-market strategy important for your business, types of go-to-market strategies, the components of a go-to-market strategy, how to create a go to market strategy, what is an ideal customer profile (icp), how to define buyer personas, develop and improve your go to market strategy with goodmeetings.

Some products like WhatsApp and Fitbit became market hits right after launch. 

Do you know why? Because of a strong go-to-market strategy!

Businesses with a clear plan tend to see better results. In fact – 68% of marketers say their strategy plays a key role in reaching revenue goals. 

A go to market strategy helps you connect with your audience and make your product a success. Now, are you planning to launch a new product or service? If yes – we can help you. 

In this article – we’ll explain what a go to market strategy is, why it’s important, and how to create one that will help your product or service become successful. We’ll also share some go to market strategy examples with you. 

Get ready to learn the secrets to a successful launch!

Source: Goodmeetings

Let’s start with a simple definition of go to market strategy by Gartner .

“A go-to-market (GTM) strategy is a plan that details how an organization can engage with customers to convince them to buy their product or service and to gain a competitive advantage.”

Now, let’s take a look at go to market strategy meaning.

A go to market strategy is a plan that guides how you introduce your product or service to the market. It covers – 

• Who your target customers are
• How you’ll reach them
• What steps you’ll take to promote and sell your product

This strategy helps you connect with the right audience – stand out from competitors, and meet your business goals. By having a clear go-to-market strategy, you can launch your product more effectively and increase your chances of success in the market.

Related: What Is Channel Sales? A Comprehensive Guide

You need a go-to-market (GTM) strategy when –

• Launching a new product or service
• Entering a new market
• Targeting a new customer segment
• Rebranding or repositioning your brand
• Introducing significant product updates
• Boosting sales of an existing product

A GTM strategy helps you plan the best way to reach your audience and achieve your business goals – guaranteeing a smoother, more successful launch.

Related: 15 Best Sales Methodologies You Need to Know

A go to market strategy offers many benefits. Research conducted by Gartner shows that – 

• 85% say their go to market strategy is effective.
• 30% find it very effective in boosting revenue.
• And 55% find it somewhat effective.

Here’s why a go to market strategy is important for your business:

• Clear Plan for Success

A go to market strategy gives your business a clear plan for introducing your product or service to the market. Without this plan, even the best products might struggle to gain attention or meet sales goals. For example, launching a new type of energy drink without a plan could result in low sales because you didn’t properly reach your target audience.

• Reaching the Right Audience

This strategy helps you identify who your ideal customers are and how to reach them effectively. Imagine launching a new fitness app—your go to market strategy would help you target fitness enthusiasts who are most likely to use the app – guaranteeing your efforts are focused on the right group.

• Better Chance of Meeting Revenue Goals 

A clear go to market strategy significantly increases the chances of meeting your revenue targets. For example, if you’re launching a new line of organic snacks – a strong strategy will guide you in pricing, promotion, and distribution – making it more likely that your product will sell well.

• Stand Out in a Crowded Market

In a competitive market, it’s easy for a new product to get lost among many others. A go to market strategy helps your product stand out by highlighting what makes it unique. For example, if you’re introducing a new brand of natural skincare – your strategy might focus on its eco-friendly ingredients and packaging, which sets it apart from other skincare products.

• Avoid Costly Mistakes

Launching a product without a plan can lead to mistakes like targeting the wrong audience or setting an ineffective price. These errors can be costly and hurt your chances of success. For instance, if you price your product too high, you might miss out on potential customers; too low, and you might not cover your costs. A go to market strategy helps you avoid these pitfalls and increases the likelihood of a successful launch.

Related: Top 12 Best Sales Forecasting Software in 2024

A go to market strategy can take different forms depending on your – product, market, and business goals. And, choosing the right strategy is crucial to your success. Here are the main types of go-to-market strategies:

• Product-Led Strategy

In a product-led strategy, the product itself is the main driver of customer acquisition and growth. This approach focuses on delivering a product that is so valuable and easy to use that customers naturally want to adopt it. For example, software companies like Dropbox or Slack offer free versions of their products to attract users, who then often upgrade to paid versions for more features.

• Sales-Led Strategy

A sales-led strategy centers around a dedicated sales team that actively reaches out to potential customers. This approach is common in industries where products are complex or require significant investment, like B2B software or industrial equipment. Sales representatives build relationships with potential buyers, understand their needs, and guide them through the purchase process.

• Marketing-Led Strategy

In a marketing-led strategy, the focus is on creating awareness and demand through marketing efforts. This can include advertising, content marketing, social media campaigns, and other promotional activities. For instance, consumer brands often use this strategy to build brand recognition and attract customers to their products.

• Partnership-Led Strategy

A partnership-led strategy involves collaborating with other companies or organizations to reach new customers or markets. This could mean partnering with distributors, retailers, or other businesses that can help promote and sell your product. For example, a technology company might partner with a hardware manufacturer to bundle their software with the manufacturer’s devices.

• Account-Based Strategy

An account-based strategy focuses on targeting specific high-value customers or accounts. Instead of casting a wide net, this approach involves personalized marketing and sales efforts directed at a select group of potential clients. This strategy is often used in B2B environments where large contracts are involved.

• Channel-Led Strategy

In a channel-led strategy, businesses rely on third-party channels like resellers, distributors, or affiliates to sell their products. This approach helps companies reach a broader audience without needing a large in-house sales team. For example, a company might partner with a popular online retailer to sell its products through that platform.

Related: How to Increase SaaS Sales – The Ultimate Guide

A successful go to market strategy is made up of several key components. They work together to make sure your product or service reaches the right audience and achieves your business goals. Each component plays an important role in guiding your launch process. Here’s a breakdown:

• Target Audience

The first step is to identify who your target customers are. This involves understanding their needs, preferences, and behaviors. Knowing your audience helps you tailor your marketing and sales efforts to reach the right people. For example, if you’re launching a new organic snack, your target audience might be health-conscious individuals looking for nutritious snack options.

• Value Proposition

Your value proposition is what sets your product or service apart from the competition. It explains why customers should choose your product over others. This could be because of better quality, unique features, or a more affordable price. For instance, if your product is an eco-friendly cleaning solution, your value proposition might focus on its effectiveness and environmental benefits.

• Pricing Strategy

Deciding how to price your product is crucial. Your pricing strategy should reflect the value you’re offering and be competitive within the market. You might choose to price your product higher if it offers premium features or lower if you want to attract more price-sensitive customers. For example, a premium skincare brand might set higher prices to reflect the quality of its ingredients.

• Sales and Distribution Channels

These are the pathways through which your product will reach customers. This could be through online stores, physical retail outlets, or direct sales teams. Choosing the right channels depends on where your target audience shops and how they prefer to buy products. For instance, if your audience prefers shopping online, focusing on e-commerce platforms would be essential.

• Marketing Plan

Your marketing plan outlines how you’ll promote your product to your target audience. This includes advertising, social media, content marketing, and other tactics. A strong marketing plan helps create awareness and drives interest in your product. For example, launching a new fitness app might involve a social media campaign to showcase its benefits and features.

• Positioning

Positioning is how you want your product to be perceived in the market. It’s about defining the place your product holds in the minds of your customers. Effective positioning highlights the unique benefits of your product and how it solves a specific problem for your target audience. For instance, a budget-friendly smartphone might be positioned as the best value option for cost-conscious buyers.

• Metrics and KPIs

To measure the success of your go to market strategy, you need to set clear metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs). These could include sales targets, market share, customer acquisition costs, and more. Tracking these metrics helps you understand what’s working and where you might need to make adjustments. For example, if your goal is to gain a certain number of new customers within the first three months, you’ll track customer acquisition rates closely.

Related: 12 SaaS Sales Metrics You Should Care About in 2024

Wondering how to create a go to market strategy? Well, the go to market strategy framework involves a series of steps that guide your product from development to market launch. Here’s a detailed explanation of each step:

Step 1: Identify the Problem

Start by understanding the problem your product or service is solving. This means figuring out what specific issue or need your target customers have that your product addresses. 

For example – consider Peloton and their launch of high-end exercise bikes. The problem they identified was that many people wanted an effective and engaging way to exercise at home – especially as busy schedules made it hard to visit a gym. They saw a need for a high-quality workout experience with live and on-demand classes that could be accessed from home. 

Peloton addressed this problem by offering a premium stationary bike with – built-in technology, live streaming classes, and a vibrant community – making it easier for users to stay fit and motivated without leaving their homes.

Step 2: Define Your ICP and Buyer Personas

To effectively launch your product – it’s important to identify who will benefit the most from it. This involves defining your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and creating buyer personas.

Your ICP is a detailed description of the type of company or person who would gain the most value from your product. It outlines the key characteristics that make someone an ideal customer.

How to Define Your ICP?

1. Key Characteristics

• Demographics: Age, gender, income level, and job role. For example, if you sell luxury watches, your ICP might be high-income professionals aged 30-50.
• Industry or Occupation: If your product is a specialized software, your ICP might be professionals in specific industries, like tech or finance.
• Company Size: For B2B products, consider the size of the company that would benefit, like medium to large businesses for enterprise software.

2. Pain Points

Identify the specific challenges your ICP faces that your product can solve. For instance, your ICP might be a business struggling with data security.

3. Analyze Buying Behavior

How does your ICP make purchasing decisions? Do they prefer detailed product demos or quick online transactions?

What are Buyer Personas?

Buyer personas are fictional characters that represent different segments of your target audience.

1. Segment Your Audience

Break your audience into groups based on characteristics like job role or interests. For a fitness app, segments might include “Sarah the Fitness Enthusiast” and “Tom the Busy Professional.”

2. Create Profiles

• Name and Background: Give each persona a name and role, like Sarah, who wants an easy way to stay fit at home.
• Goals and Challenges: Define what each persona aims to achieve and what obstacles they face. Sarah’s goal might be efficient workouts; her challenge could be finding time.
• Preferences: Understand how they like to engage with products, such as Sarah preferring quick, high-intensity workouts.

3. Gather Data

Use surveys, interviews, and market research to gather insights about your target audience. This data helps create accurate and realistic buyer personas. 

4. Refine and Update

Regularly review and update your buyer personas based on feedback and changes in the market. 

By defining your ICP and buyer personas, you can better tailor your go to market strategy to meet the needs of your ideal customers.

Related: What is Ideal Customer Profile in Sales – Framework to ICP

Step 3: Research the Competition and Demand

Research your competitors to understand who else is offering similar products and how they are performing. This includes analyzing their – 

• Marketing strategies

Also, look into market demand to see if there’s a need for your product. You can assess market demand by – 

• Looking at the market trends
• Conducting surveys
• Checking sales data

This research helps you spot opportunities and position your product effectively.

Step 4: Create a Value Matrix and Messaging

Develop a value matrix to outline the key benefits and features of your product compared to competitors. This helps you identify what makes your product unique and why customers should choose it. Along with this, craft clear messaging that communicates these benefits effectively. 

How to Create a Value Matrix?

• List Product Features : Write down all the features and benefits of your product. 
• Compare with Competitors: Identify the key features of similar products from competitors. Note their strengths and weaknesses. 
• Highlight Unique Selling Points: Determine what makes your product different and better. 
• Create the Matrix: Make a table comparing your product’s features and benefits with those of competitors. 

This will help you see what sets your product apart and how it meets customer needs better.

How to Develop Clear Messaging?

• Focus on Benefits: Explain how your product solves customer problems or improves their lives. 
• Keep It Simple: Use straightforward language that’s easy to understand. Avoid jargon or complicated terms.
• Highlight Key Points: Choose the most important benefits to communicate. 
• Craft a Catchy Message: Create a memorable tagline or statement that sums up why customers should choose your product. 

By creating a value matrix and clear messaging – you guarantee that your product’s benefits are well-defined and effectively communicated. This makes it easier for customers to see why they should choose your product over others.

Related: Sales Conversion Rate 101: How To Measure and Improve Yours

Step 4: Set Goals

Setting clear goals is key to a successful go to market strategy. Here’s how to do it:

1. Define Objectives

• Sales Targets: Decide how many units you want to sell within a specific period.  
• Revenue Goals: Set a target for how much money you want to make.  
• Market Share: Determine the percentage of the market you want to capture. 

2. Make Goals SMART

• Specific: Be clear about what you want to achieve.
• Measurable: Use numbers to track progress.
• Achievable: Set realistic targets based on your resources.
• Relevant: Align goals with your overall business aims.
• Time-bound: Set deadlines for reaching your goals.

3. Break Down Goals

• Plan Actions: Outline steps needed to reach goals.
• Assign Tasks: Designate responsibilities to team members.
• Monitor Progress: Regularly check if you’re on track and adjust as needed.

By setting clear, measurable, and time-bound goals, you create a roadmap for your go to market strategy – helping you track progress and stay focused on achieving your targets.

Related: 10 Best Sales Engagement Platforms to Boost Your Sales Performance in 2024

Step 5: Pick Marketing Channels

Choosing the right marketing channels is essential for reaching your target audience effectively. Here’s how to select the best channels for your go to market strategy:

1. Understand Your Audience

• Where They Spend Time: Find out where your target customers are most active. This might include social media platforms, websites, or offline locations.
• How They Prefer to Receive Information: Determine their preferred way of getting information. Do they read emails, engage with social media, or prefer online ads?

2. Choose the Right Channels

Social Media:

• Advantages: Wide reach and engagement, good for brand awareness and interaction.
• Platforms: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter.
• Usage: Share updates, promotions, and engage with your audience.

Email Marketing:

• Advantages: Direct and personal communication, effective for detailed information and promotions.
• Usage: Send newsletters, product updates, and personalized offers.

Online Ads:

• Advantages: Targeted reach, measurable results, and high visibility.
• Types: Google Ads, Facebook Ads, banner ads on relevant websites.
• Usage: Promote special offers, drive traffic to your website, and increase brand visibility.

Partnerships:

• Advantages: Leverage the audience of other brands or influencers.
• Types: Collaborations, sponsorships, influencer marketing.
• Usage: Co-market products, reach new audiences, and build credibility.

3. Evaluate and Select

• Match Channels to Goals: Make sure the channels you choose align with your marketing goals. 
• Consider Budget: Different channels have different costs. Make sure you choose channels that fit your budget and offer the best return on investment.
• Test and Adjust: Start with a few channels and track their performance. If one channel isn’t working as well as expected, adjust your strategy or try new channels.

By carefully selecting and using the right marketing channels – you can effectively reach and engage your target audience.

Related: How to Be a Good Salesperson: Tips & Strategies for Success

Step 6: Choose and Implement Your Strategies

To effectively reach your audience, you need specific strategies for each marketing channel. Here’s how to do it:

How to Develop Strategies for Each Channel?

1. Content Creation:

• Plan What to Share: Decide what type of content will be used on each channel. 
• Set a Schedule: Plan when and how often you will post or send content. Use a content calendar to stay organized and consistent.

2. Promotions:

• Design Campaigns: Develop special offers, discounts, or limited-time promotions tailored to each channel. 
• Target Your Audience: Make sure promotions are aimed at the right segments of your audience based on their interests and behaviors.

3. Outreach:

• Engage Influencers or Partners: Collaborate with influencers or partner brands to expand your reach. Plan how you’ll work with them to promote your product.
• Plan Your Approach: Decide how you’ll contact and communicate with these partners or influencers.

How to Implement Your Strategies?

1. Create Marketing Materials

Develop visuals, copy, and other materials needed for your campaigns. This might include graphics for social media, email templates, or ad creatives.

2. Launch Campaigns

Start your marketing campaigns according to the schedule you’ve set. Make sure all content, promotions, and outreach efforts are launched as planned.

3. Monitor and Adjust

Use analytics tools to monitor how well your strategies are working. Check metrics like engagement, click-through rates, and conversion rates. 

Adjust your strategies based on performance data. For example, if a certain type of post performs better, create more content like it.

By carefully choosing and implementing strategies for each channel – you can enjoy a successful product launch.

Related: How Does Emotional Intelligence Help in Closing More Deals?

Step 7: Test and Optimize

Finally, test your strategies to see what works and what doesn’t. Here’s how you can do it:

1. Test Your Strategies

Run Small Experiments:

• Try Different Approaches: Launch small tests for different strategies or tactics. 
• Use A/B Testing: Compare two versions of a marketing element (like an email subject line or ad copy) to see which one gets better results.

Collect Data:

• Track Key Metrics: Measure how well your campaigns are performing. Look at data like click-through rates, conversion rates, and engagement levels.
• Use Analytics Tools: Tools like Google Analytics, social media insights, and email marketing reports can help you gather important data.

2. Analyze the Results

Review Performance:

• Identify Trends: Look for patterns in the data to see which strategies are successful and which are not. 
• Understand What Works: Determine what aspects of your strategies are effective. Maybe certain content themes or promotional offers resonate better with your audience.

Gather Feedback:

Get feedback from your team and customers. This can provide additional insights into how your strategies are performing.

3. Optimize Based on Data

Make Improvements:

• Adjust Strategies: Change or refine your strategies based on what you’ve learned. 
• Update Content: Revise or create new content that aligns with what works best. If certain topics or formats perform better, use those more often.

Continuously Monitor:

Keep testing and adjusting your strategies regularly. This helps you stay effective and responsive to changes in your audience’s preferences and behavior.

By testing your strategies and optimizing based on data – you can continuously improve your marketing efforts and achieve better results for your product launch.

Related: 12 Best Sales Analytics Software To Measure Sales Performance

How to Improve Your Go-to-Market Strategy?

To keep your go to market strategy effective and competitive, follow these steps to make continuous improvements:

• Gather Feedback: Collect opinions from customers. Also, get input from your team to understand what’s working and what needs improvement.
• Analyze Performance Data: Review metrics like sales and website traffic. Look at engagement rates to identify successful strategies and areas for change.
• Adjust Strategies: Refine your tactics based on your analysis. Focus on the methods that produce the best results.
• Stay Updated: Monitor industry trends regularly. Check competitor activities to ensure your strategy remains relevant.
• Test New Ideas: Experiment with new approaches. Use A/B testing to see what resonates best with your audience.
• Improve Targeting: Update your audience profiles as needed. Optimize marketing channels to better reach and engage your target market.
• Enhance Messaging: Make sure your key messages clearly convey your product’s value. Make them easy for your audience to understand.
• Invest in Training: Provide training to improve your team’s skills. Keep them up-to-date with the latest marketing techniques.

Related: 12 Sales Training Ideas to Increase Team Readiness in 2024

Real-Life Go to Market Strategy Examples 

Here are some real-life go to market strategy examples for your inspiration:

• Apple iPhone Launch

Strategy: Apple launched the iPhone with a high-impact marketing campaign focusing on its innovative features and stylish design. They created excitement by offering exclusive previews and partnering with major carriers.

Outcome: This approach made the iPhone a huge hit, setting new standards for smartphones and driving significant global sales.

• Tesla Model 3

Strategy: Tesla introduced the Model 3 with a focus on affordability and advanced electric technology. They used social media to generate buzz and sold directly to consumers, bypassing traditional dealerships.

Outcome: The Model 3 became very popular, boosting Tesla’s sales and expanding its presence in the electric vehicle market.

• Netflix Streaming Service

Strategy: Netflix shifted from renting DVDs to offering streaming services. They invested in original content and used data to personalize recommendations for users.

Outcome: This strategy helped Netflix grow quickly, becoming a leading global streaming service with a large number of subscribers.

Related: Sales Intelligence 101 – Definition, Tools and Best Practices

Research, data collection and analytics – these three things are the key to develop and improve your go to market strategy.

Unfortunately, the process is often time-consuming and prone to errors. But thanks to Goodmeetings – you can automate the process.

So, what is Goodmeetings? 

It is an AI-powered tool that helps you record, transcribe, summarize and analyze all your sales meetings and conversations. It creates a solid database of all the crucial information you need to develop and improve your go to market strategy. Let’s take a look at how Goodmeetings can help:

• Better Decision-Making: Goodmeetings provides insights from sales conversations that help you understand what works and what doesn’t – allowing you to adjust your approach.
• Clear Communication: The tool records and transcribes every sales call, so you don’t miss any important details. This helps you refine your messaging.
• Stronger Sales Pitches: By analyzing how customers respond during meetings – you can tailor your sales pitch to better meet their needs.
• Efficient Follow-Ups: Automated summaries and action items guarantee that follow-up tasks are handled promptly, helping you stay organized.
• Reach More Markets: Multi-language support allows you to communicate effectively with customers in different regions.
• Continuous Improvement: Goodmeetings highlights key moments in your meetings and provides feedback on how to improve – helping you get better over time.
• Coaching Tools: With Goodmeetings, you can easily access training tools like sales battlecards and live incognito support. This helps you build a powerful sales team.
• Easy Integration: The tool works well with your existing customer management systems – making it easy to use meeting insights in your sales strategy.

Related: Getting Started with the Goodmeetings Notetaker

So, basically – Goodmeetings can help you improve your go-to-market strategy by making your sales process more effective. 

By using these features – Goodmeetings helps you build and execute a more successful go-to-market strategy.

And the best part? You can start using Goodmeetings without spending a dime with a 7-day free trial offer. You can also see how the tool works by booking a free demo .

Improve Your Go to Market Strategy With Goodmeetings!

• Who should use a go to market strategy?

Anyone launching a new product or service should use a go-to-market strategy. It helps plan how to introduce the product and reach target customers.

• What is a go to market strategy template?

A go to market strategy template is a pre-designed guide that helps you plan and organize your product launch. It includes sections for market research, goals, messaging, and marketing channels.

• Where can I find a go to market strategy template?

You can find go to market strategy templates online from business websites and marketing resources. They help structure your plan and cover key strategy elements.

• What is a go to market strategy framework?

A go to market strategy framework is a structured plan that outlines steps like – market research, setting goals, and choosing marketing channels to launch a product.

• Who is responsible for a GTM strategy?

The marketing team, product managers, and sales leaders typically handle the go-to-market strategy. 

• How to measure the success of your GTM strategy?

Measure success by tracking metrics like sales numbers, market share, customer feedback, and engagement rates to see if your strategy meets its goals.

• What is a go to market strategy B2B?

Go to market strategy B2B involves targeting other businesses. It focuses on building relationships, addressing business needs, and using channels like direct sales and networking.

• How is a go to market strategy for SaaS different?

Go to market strategy for SaaS focuses on demonstrating software benefits, offering trials, and using digital marketing. It emphasizes subscription models and customer retention.

Wrapping Up

Creating a go-to-market strategy involves understanding your market, defining your target customers, and choosing the right channels to reach them. By following the steps outlined – you can effectively launch your product and achieve your business goals. To make this process even smoother – consider using Goodmeetings to optimize your sales conversations and improve your strategy’s success.

Create a Winning Go to Market Strategy with Goodmeetings!

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