When setting up your GTM plan for success, it can be tricky to determine where to start or what to change. Sometimes, however, it’s helpful just to look at the basics.
Basics, you ask? Well, think about how a solid strategy, for example, thrives when you provide a focused roadmap to all stakeholders so everyone can collaborate more closely. Or, when you collate as much feedback from your unique customer base to tailor your GTM strategy. Once you’ve got these down, you’re on the way to securing your product launch’s success.
But, we understand all products are unique, and no GTM strategy is the same. That’s why we’re sharing some tips and tricks to see you through every stage of your Go-to-Market strategy.
Let’s get into it.
The essentials of a GTM strategy
A successful launch is first and foremost data-driven.
That’s why, whether you’re bringing a product into the market or presenting a new service to your established customer base, every GTM strategy needs to include the following steps:
The appropriate research
This serves as the ideal starting point as this covers everything from product demand to relevant buyer personas.
A clear marketing strategy and unique product messaging
From the right product messaging to deciding on how to hone in on the customer journey, your marketing strategy will allow you to set clear goals, create awareness, and - ultimately - connect you with and to your audience.
A targeted sales and pricing strategy
In short, this involves collaborating with your sales team and establishing the right sales channels. This part is essential for converting leads into customers and driving revenue growth.
A GTM roadmap
Once you’ve gathered all your research and relevant stakeholders, it’s a good idea to set out your roadmap. This facilitates communication and guides you through an entire timeline of your GTM strategy.
Customer insights
Lastly, your customer base’s feedback will allow you to tailor and adapt your GTM strategy for long-term planning.
Now you’ve got the basics down, we’ll split the above points into three stages (pre-launch, execution, and post-launch) to provide clarity on everything you need to know about a GTM strategy.
For a more comprehensive look at what a cross-functional GTM strategy requires, have a look at our GTM Cross-Functional Playbook.
Pre-launch: The ideation stage
Put simply, the ideation stage is where you’ll conduct your market and customer research as well as decide who’s in your GTM cross-functional team. A cross-functional team can really facilitate the research stage as you’ll all bring different perspectives and can hold brainstorming sessions to ensure you’re addressing your customers’ needs and pain points.
However you choose to approach your research, a comprehensive market research should always address these main points:
- What your product solves.
- Who your target market audience is.
- Why your audience might benefit from this product or service.
- How your product compares to what’s already out in the market.
You and your team can amend or adapt these questions based on your team-wide goals, of course, but setting a clear foundation at this first stage will help you obtain the relevant information to successfully map out your product timeline.
Once you’ve compiled all this information, it’s time to set a pricing strategy and establish a roadmap. Before you even consider going to market, doing these two things can really help guide your launch to success. You’ll want to establish clear expectations with your teammates or stakeholders and decide your product position (premium, value or somewhere in between).
If that’s all done, let's go on over to the next stage.
Execution: The building & launch stage
This part includes your marketing campaigns, launch assets and product testing.
Let’s start with your marketing strategies and launch assets.
Having decided on product messaging, it’s time to fine-tune your marketing efforts. From landing pages to email campaigns, there are a number of ways to make sure you’re reaching your audience.
Similarly, your launch assets should embody all the hard work you’ve done up to now as these will help create awareness around your product or service. Whether through product videos, blog posts or webinars, guide your customer back to you and show them why your unique product is best for them.
Ultimately, a strong yet adaptable marketing strategy will determine how well your customer onboarding will be. And, your marketing teams inform your GTM strategy by directly implementing customer feedback into your social marketing campaigns. So it’s important to get as much insight as possible before you launch.
Product testing’s the next step.
Before launching, make sure you trial this product or service internally or with any existing customers. This can really help your team shift and adapt your current strategy and bring in valuable feedback to improve your existing campaigns or assets.
Once you’ve made the necessary changes, you’re ready to launch. The key to getting this right? Make sure all your assets go live at the same time, and - depending on launch scale - get all teams onboard and keep an eye on how your launch performs!
If you’re still unsure whether you’re ready to launch or not, make sure you’re on track with a product launch checklist.
Post-launch: the long-term plan
You’ve finally got your product out! But, it’s important to carry out all necessary post-launch tasks to ensure you’re on top of how your product’s performing. You’ll likely encounter a few issues and you’ll want to sustain customer interest and increase performance.
So, what should be a priority at this stage?
- Marketing campaigns should still be going strong and your teams should be checking in with your target audience often.
- Conduct a performance analysis in the first few months, for example, to really get an understanding of how well your campaigns are doing.
- If an option, consider scaling and exploring new markets.
- Have a look at how your competitors are doing - what does this tell you about market trends and how can you adjust your existing strategy to that? This could secure your place in the competitive landscape and help your product evolve.
Essentially, this final stage is all about collaborating and communicating effectively with your team and target audience. Think of how you can maintain success, refine strategies, and keep the momentum going.
If there's anything you find has worked for you and your teams at the time of developing your Go-to-Market strategy, why not share it with our Slack community?
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