What are Go To Market Strategies?

A Go-to-Market (GTM) strategy is a comprehensive go to market plan that outlines how a company will introduce a product or service to the market, reach target customers, and achieve competitive advantage. It’s more than just a launch plan; it’s a roadmap that aligns all aspects of a business – from product development and marketing to sales and customer support – to ensure a successful market entry and sustainable growth.

Why is a GTM Strategy Crucial?

Launching a product without an effective GTM strategy is akin to setting sail without a compass. Here’s why a GTM strategy is indispensable:

• Market Alignment: Ensures the product meets the needs and preferences of the target audience or ideal company profile (ICP).
• Resource Optimisation: We often think of GTM in the shape of a marketing funnel. When you break it down, this helps CMOs and Sales Leaders to allocate their marketing and sales resources efficiently and maximise ROI.
• Competitive Advantage: Mapping your customer ecosystem, buyer’s journey and messaging all help to differentiate your product or brand in a crowded marketplace. The best GTM strategies help build and systematise your competitive advantage.
• Risk Mitigation: There are always risks in going to market. A data-driven analysis of your market when combined with deep insights will help you identify potential challenges and prepare contingency plans.
• Scalability: If your ambition is for growth, then GTM strategy is the foundation for your future market expansion.

Understanding the Target Audience

Understanding the target audience is a critical component of a successful GTM strategy. It involves identifying the ideal customer profile, their needs, pain points, and goals. Conducting market research, such as surveys, focus groups, and competitor analysis, can help businesses understand their target audience and create a tailored marketing strategy. A deep understanding of the target audience enables businesses to develop effective messaging, pricing, and product features that meet their needs. For example, a company like HubSpot uses buyer personas to segment their target audience and create targeted marketing campaigns.

Key Components of a GTM Strategy

A solid GTM strategy encompasses several critical elements:

1. Market Research and Analysis

Conduct market research to understand the market landscape is the first step. This involves:

• Identifying Target Segments: Pinpointing the most promising customer segments.
• Analysing Competitors: Understanding competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.
• Assessing Market Trends: Keeping abreast of industry trends and customer behaviours.

Example: Through our innovation work, we often work with tech startups launching new products. We work with their teams to analyse existing competitors in the market, identify gaps in product sets and features, and help tailor their product roadmaps to address market needs.

2. Value Proposition and Messaging

Crafting a compelling unique value proposition is no easy task. This includes:

• Unique Selling Proposition (USP): Highlighting what sets the product apart.
• Clear Messaging: Communicating benefits in a way that resonates with the target audience or ICP.

Example: Slack positioned itself as a tool that “replaces email,” simplifying team communication – this message resonated with many businesses – especially those that were lumbering under the weight of email-first communication. The “replaced email” messaging cut through to their audiences, but their easy onboarding experience and product-led growth loops and cloud architecture made it easy for teams to trial and adopt the technology.

3. Customer Journey Mapping

Understanding the customer’s journey from awareness to purchase helps in:

• Identifying Touchpoints: Recognising where and how customers interact with the brand.
• Optimising Experience: Ensuring a seamless and engaging customer experience.

Building out personas and ICPs provide a powerful basis for customer journey mapping. This can then be applied to all aspects of the customer’s experience – from awareness to retention, and every step in-between.

Example: We automated a client’s customer acquisition journey – identifying touchpoints, assigning lead scoring and providing automated nurturing through email and text. Leveraging the power of data within the Hubspot platform, we could then easily report on all stages of the customer’s journey.

4. Channel Strategy

Selecting the right distribution channels to reach customers is vital. Again, this builds on the data foundations and profiling work outlined above. But it goes deeper. It’s essential to not only plot out the channels, but to understand the culture of those channels and how they best fit into your target audience’s world view. Generally speaking, there are three channel groupings that form part of your GTM:

• Owned Channels: Company website, email newsletters, blogs.
• Earned Channels: Public relations, word-of-mouth, social media mentions.
• Paid Channels: Online ads, sponsored content, influencer partnerships.

Example: A fashion brand might use Instagram influencers (paid) and user-generated content (earned) to drive traffic to its online store (owned). Connecting data across these channels can be challenging, but helps determine attribution and measure the performance at all stages of the journey.

5. Sales and Distribution Plan

A sales and distribution plan helps determine how the product will be sold and delivered by the sales team. This plan can evolve over time and can flip according to market need and speed of growth. It involves:

• Sales Model: Direct sales, channel partners, online sales. We are particularly fond of engaging networks and channel partners to help achieve scale quickly. However, this does require well mapped strategic alignment and planning – and usually a dedicated partner team/network.
• Distribution Logistics: Warehousing, shipping and inventory management are vital to physical products. But the same applies to SaaS and digital products – you need have adequate data warehousing, efficient quality, release and delivery mechanisms and be able to manage inventory, returns and so on.

Example: A popular model for SaaS companies is the direct sales model with a freemium offering to attract users and convert them into paying customers. This is the GTM approach for innovative thought leadership platform ProPresence. The try-before-you-buy 30 day trial offers the opportunity for people to test and receive value before committing to the monthly subscription.

6. Pricing Strategy

Pricing is one of the most challenging aspects of GTM, especially when launching an existing product. Setting the right price point is crucial for market penetration and profitability. There are a number of options available that you can test and adopt through your GTM activation. These include:

• Cost-Plus Pricing: Adding a markup to the cost of production.
• Value-Based Pricing: Pricing based on perceived value to the customer.
• Penetration Pricing: Setting a low price to enter the market quickly.

Example: Netflix initially offered low subscription fees to attract users and gain market share. Then, once customer behaviour patterns had normalised, subscription pricing was changed to fit profitability and growth targets. As you probably know, Netflix continues to offer short, free trials (freemium) to attract customers, converting at the end of the trial to an ongoing subscription.

7. Metrics and KPIs

Tracking performance of key performance indicators (KPIs) ensures the GTM strategy stays on course. And better yet, real time data can ensure that you can identify and adapt to changes in market conditions. The following metrics are standards that are often applied across GTM strategies:

• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
• Conversion Rates
• Market Share Growth

In addition to these metrics, for early stage businesses and startups, we combine a series of metrics to indicate the health of your business. We call them the Three Metrics that Matter and you can read in detail how they relate to your GTM in our free Disruptors Handbook download.

Example: Monitoring CAC helps businesses understand the cost-effectiveness of their marketing campaigns. Understanding your baseline CAC helps you also understand when market conditions change, and provide a measure that you can use to test any changes to your approach.

Inbound Marketing and Sales

Inbound marketing and sales are essential components of a GTM strategy. Inbound marketing involves creating valuable content and experiences that attract potential customers to a company’s product or service. This can include content marketing, social media marketing, and search engine optimization (SEO). Sales teams play a critical role in converting leads into customers and providing exceptional customer service. A well-aligned sales and marketing team can help businesses achieve their GTM goals and increase revenue. For instance, a company like Salesforce uses inbound marketing and sales to attract and engage with their target audience.

Building a Strong Customer Base

Building a strong customer base is critical for the long-term success of a business. A GTM strategy should focus on creating a loyal customer base by providing exceptional customer service, building strong relationships, and continuously delivering value to customers. This can be achieved through various marketing strategies, such as account-based marketing, email marketing, and content marketing. For example, a company like Amazon uses customer feedback to improve their products and services and build a loyal customer base.

Product Market Fit

Product market fit is a critical component of a successful GTM strategy. It involves creating a product or service that meets the needs of the target audience and is differentiated from competitors. Conducting market research and gathering customer feedback can help businesses achieve product market fit. A well-defined GTM strategy should focus on creating a product or service that provides value to customers and meets their needs. For instance, a company like Apple uses product market fit to create innovative products that meet the needs of their target audience.

By following these sections, businesses can create a successful GTM strategy that drives revenue, builds a strong customer base, and achieves product market fit. Remember to include SEO terms from the provided list, such as go-to-market strategy, target audience, marketing efforts, customer acquisition cost, and sales funnel, to optimize your content for search engines.

Real-World Examples of GTM Strategies

Apple’s iPhone Launch

Apple’s GTM strategy for the iPhone combined sleek product design, a strong value proposition, and a buzz-generating marketing campaign. The result was a product launch that redefined the smartphone market.

Dropbox’s Referral Program

Dropbox’s GTM strategy included a referral program that incentivized users to invite others, leading to viral growth, exponential growth, and widespread adoption.

Common GTM Strategy Pitfalls to Avoid

• Lack of Market Understanding: Failing to research and understand the target market.
• Unclear Messaging: Not clearly articulating the product’s value proposition.
• Ineffective Channel Selection: Choosing channels that don’t reach the target audience.
• Neglecting Customer Feedback: Ignoring user feedback can lead to missed opportunities for improvement and hinder customer retention.

How Disruptors Co Can Help

At Disruptors Co, we offer comprehensive GTM strategy services, including:

• Market Research: In-depth analysis to understand market dynamics.
• Strategic Planning: Crafting tailored GTM plans aligned with business goals.
• Execution Support: Assisting with the implementation of GTM strategies, including sales enablement to provide your sales teams with essential tools, training, and resources.
• Performance Monitoring: Tracking KPIs to measure success and adjust strategies as needed.

Our team leverages data-driven insights and innovative thinking to ensure your product not only enters the market successfully but also achieves long-term growth.