When the time comes for a product launch, the last thing you want is to chase the wrong audience. Or miss a profitable market for your product. But without an effective go-to-market strategy, you run the risk of doing just that.
The market competition is fierce, and you need a robust and actionable GTM strategy to drive the success of your product launch. But often, the process can be a challenge to navigate. So what is the importance of GTM for B2B marketing, and what are the key elements of GTM planning?
Let’s find out.
Why Do You Need an Effective GTM Strategy?
Typically, a well-thought GTM strategy starts with identifying the target market and product positioning, includes a marketing plan and competition analysis, and nails down the distribution strategy to successfully launch a product, expand a branch, or even establish a new business in the market.
But launching a new product or service is a substantial investment. And poorly planned or absence of GTM strategies can tank new launches. A comprehensive GTM strategy ensures you’re good to go on all fronts of your product launch – from identifying high ROI channels and solid product positioning to clearly defining the sales and marketing logistics.
In short, creating a go-to-market strategy can help avoid planning oversights, such as entering a market that is already saturated with similar offerings, even if you have an innovative, top-of-the-line product.
Key Components of a GTM Strategy
An actionable GTM strategy sets you up for success by helping you answer these questions-
- What product or service are you planning to launch, and what pain points does it solve?
- Who is your ideal customer, and what problems do they have?
- Where will you sell this product?
- What does the market competition look like?
- How do you plan on creating demand and reaching the target audience?
These can be summarized as the core components of your strategy – product-market fit, target audience, market demand and competition, and distribution.
A. Product-Market Fit
This defines the product, service, or new business you plan to launch in the market and what unique value it offers customers. For this, you need a solid product strategy to determine product positioning and value proposition before entering the market.
Your product strategy focuses on how you plan to develop and sell your product in the market. How to define its features, target audience, distribution channels, and pricing strategy. On the other hand, you also need to have a clear understanding of the value proposition when preparing your GTM strategy to direct your marketing efforts.
Your product’s value proposition equally depends on what it is and its target market. For instance, do you want to position your product as a low-cost alternative to your competitors? Or is it a high-value offering focused on solving a specific problem with no solution in the market at present?
B. Target Market
Your GTM planning will only be as effective as your knowledge of your target market and audience.
That is why it’s extremely important that you research and identify who your potential customers are and what their needs and pain points are. Start by asking who will benefit the most from your product or service. Then narrow down your approach based on demographic, geographic, and other characteristics.
Next, create an ideal customer profile to focus your sales and marketing efforts. This will also help you identify the value proposition of your product and determine how your product is valuable for each of these customer segments.
C. Demand and Competition
Now that you’ve nailed down your target audience, it’s time to determine the market demand and competition. You wouldn’t want to enter a market with limited demand or tough competition. So, to fully understand the market landscape, conduct a thorough competitor analysis.
This will help you identify your direct and indirect competitors and analyze their strengths and weaknesses compared to your own. Use these insights to drive your marketing strategy to promote your product and reach potential customers.
This will include picking the right marketing channels and your messaging strategy to create demand and move prospects down the sales funnel. Your choice of marketing channels can be a mix of inbound and outbound strategies. But it depends on two critical factors- your target audience and where they are along the buyer’s journey.
- Align the right marketing channels with your ideal customer
Make sure the marketing channels you pick line up with your audience’s preferences. Because if your target audience prefers LinkedIn and not Facebook, it’s best to focus your messaging and content on LinkedIn ads.
- Understand the buyer’s journey
With inbound marketing channels, it is vital to map the buyer’s journey. This will help you predict their behavior and offer the right marketing content at the right time. This way, you’ll also be able to address their unique needs and frustrations accurately.
D. Sales and Distribution
An effective GTM strategy doesn’t work in isolation. Bring the sales team on board to identify a sales strategy to launch your product in the market and turn these prospective customers into buyers. It all comes down to these four GTM sales strategies depending on your product and business model-
- Self-service model
- Inside sales model
- Field sales model
- Channel model
In addition, this step will also include devising a pricing strategy to go along with the launch.
The Final Step to an Effective GTM Strategy
The most effective GTM strategies begin with in-depth research into the market, customer, and competition. But it does not achieve its goal unless you continuously measure your efforts through KPIs. Set actionable, measurable goals, and identify the metrics that’ll help you measure success, and make necessary adjustments as you go along the way.
With a solid GTM strategy to guide you, you can enter your target market with confidence, reach the right people with the right messaging, and set yourself up for success before the next big launch.
