A roadmap for bringing a product to market, a go-to-market strategy is a framework that generally includes a detailed plan that includes target audiences, a marketing plan and a sales strategy. Every market and each product opens up different opportunities and raises specific challenges, which is why it’s vital to chart a steady stream of customized go-to-market strategies.
Although each go-to-market strategy is a unique structure, they usually seek answers to the following questions:
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Who are the buyer personas?
Enriched by feedback from marketing and sales staff, these definitions may include personal backgrounds, social media engagement, life goals, concerns and fears, financial aspects, brand preferences and services used.
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What is the value matrix and how does it impact messaging?
Identifying the advantages of each product, a value matrix identifies a buyer problem and links it back to these benefits, underscoring the value of this solution and showcasing the brand as the preferred provider of this value.
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What path does each buyer’s journey follow?
Tailored to each specific product and buyer, this journey generally splits the path to purchase into three stages: awareness of a need or problem; consideration of options and prices; and decision on the chosen solution.
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How can demands be generated?
Research, surveys, reviews and feedback indicate what current and potential customers need and want, steering a steady stream of high-interest content, positive reviews and promotions, preferred customer categories or advantage clubs that build up customer loyalty while attracting new buyers.
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How to create content supporting demand generation?
Managed placements in display campaigns provide great copy, showcasing giveaways (tools, apps, e-books, webinars etc.), particularly when featuring celebrities, building up a brighter brand image with enhanced awareness.
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What is an effective sales strategy?
Tell a compelling story that creates a desire for change, focused on the deciding journey and underpinned by a powerful value proposition presented through relevant messaging.
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How can growth be optimized through KPIs and other metrics?
For more impressive outcomes, focus on root causes rather than symptoms, discussing and setting appropriate KPI targets, with KPI graphs pinpointing performance gaps.
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What is the value proposition for each new product?
A public commitment, the value proposition for each new product explains how it meets a need, highlighting extra benefits, and explaining why it’s better than its competitors on the market.
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Is the target market an old friend or a new challenge?
Each target market is defined by specific (and often overlapping) characteristics, like demographics (age, gender, marital status, education etc.); geography (neighborhood, town, region, country etc.); psychographics (values, beliefs, interests, lifestyles); and behavior (spending habits, brand interactions etc.).
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What’s the go-to-market roadmap implementation plan?
This step-by-step plan keeps everyone accountable for their contributions to a successful launch, assigning responsibilities, ensuring no tasks are skipped, analyzing downstream impacts, and sharing major milestones.
Why Is A Go-To-Market Strategy Important?
Particularly for start-ups – whose rapid growth may demand split-second decisions with long-lasting repercussions – an effective go-to-market strategy indicates the best way ahead. With resources often in short supply, teams must be seamlessly aligned, as out-of-sync missteps can waste valuable time and scarce resources.
A well-designed go-to-market strategy keeps everyone – sales, marketing, products and engineering – on the same page in the same playbook, all pursuing identical goals. This is why live input from team members is valuable, together with documents, photos and videos, keeping all GTM strategy information conveniently to hand in one place. Links to other aspects (like marketing strategies) may also be useful.
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Preparing A Go To Market Plan
Depending on the specific characteristics of each product launch, GTM planning must answer key questions about the product and its uses, market problems, potential customers, budgets and resources. The answers outline the key components of the related GTM strategy.
For small and medium businesses, a strong go-to-market strategy can underpin core business imperatives, from sales and revenues to marketing and even partners.
Drawing Up A Go To Market Strategy
This strategic framework outlines the most effective path for bringing a new product to market. Preceded by in-depth market analyses, an effective GTM strategy requires solid knowledge of buyer personas, highlighting competitive advantages and defining pricing strategies. On the buyer’s side, it must identify pain points addressed by the product, with easy-to-follow roadmaps that lead to strategic goals.
Sidestepping Risks Through Smart GTM Planning
By marking the best path and avoiding pitfalls, a solid go-to-market strategy helps businesses of all sizes reduce their exposure to costly risks. However, failures in crucial areas (like product development and marketing) can be devastating for smaller ventures that might be underfunded, wagering on an all-or-nothing launch.
Nevertheless, small and medium businesses have an inherent advantage over their larger counterparts: leaner structures with shorter decision channels endow them with greater agility and all-round flexibility steered by fast feedback and hands-on analyses. In today’s dynamic markets, this lets SMBs switch course almost overnight, seizing fresh opportunities as they arise.
This is why GTM strategies should avoid setting arbitrary growth targets, just to impress stakeholders and investors. Instead, each launch must be tailored to its unique set of circumstances, possibly supported by specialized partners. Not set in stone, a successful go-to-market strategy is always a work in progress, constantly fine-tuned as the company adapts to changing circumstances, pursuing opportunities and avoiding risks.
Flexibility Keeps GTM strategies On Target
This boots-on-the-ground approach ensures that flexible go-to-market strategies keep pace with developing markets, while staying attuned to consumer preferences. By focusing on pre-launch details through robust GTM strategies, companies of all sizes can ensure they thrive for decades still to come.
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About the Author: Jeremy Mays
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