The Steps to Make a Go-To-Market Strategy
Your Go-To-Market strategy is your plan to introduce and sell a product. The objective is to reach your target market and generate sales.
Most companies make some well-intended assumptions when they release a product. They think the channel will drive sales or that customers will automatically see the value of the new product. Not (usually) so. It takes coordinated effort to successfully launch new products.
A well-orchestrated, strategic product launch involves thinking from multiple disciplines including marketing, sales engineering and more. A go-to-market strategy is important because it’s a roadmap for your whole organization to align efforts from every department and achieve the best outcome together.
Here are actionable steps for a great go to market strategy:
- Identify Target Market
The first step is identifying the target market for this product. This may mean you drill down to a specific sub-segment so the go-to-market strategy is hyper focused.
Once the market segment is clear, it’s time to identify stakeholders that will be involved in the buying process. Identify the roles within a target customer for the Key Decision Maker, Economic Buyer and End User. You’ll want to tailor communications to each.
There may be people who are recommending the product, like a sales channel, or influence the decision, like a peer. Understand why they would recommend the product so that you can highlight the best benefits to your target audience. - Position the Product
Next, write the value proposition this product provides a specific stakeholder. It should have a clear pain this person is experiencing and how this new product relieves that pain, unlike the current product that is available today.
There likely won’t be one single value proposition. You’ll probably have a value proposition for each major stakeholder, each with a different role in the buying process. This allows marketing to target specific stakeholders with a clear value proposition that’s very relevant to them. - Create Compelling Marketing Communication
Now that we know the market, the stakeholders, and have a clear value proposition, it’s time to write compelling content. To do this effectively, the communication needs to align to the steps customers take to purchase the product. Creating a customer journey that maps the stakeholders actions and interactions at every step will ensure the right message meets the customer and helps them choose your product.
Your communication needs to align with the customer journey. Think through each step: unaware, aware, interested, consideration, decision, purchase and onboarding. Customers often need to hear and experience different messages at each step, not one message blasted over and over. It’s all about the right message for the right person at the right time. Mapping out the customer journey is a great time to pull the sales team into the conversation, since they are experts at guiding customers and overcoming objections.
- Enable Your Sales Channel
This may mean your internal sales team, or it may be a manufacturer representative, online channels or distribution partners. They will need to be trained. But on what? The product itself, the value proposition, how to overcome objections and how this product is different from competitors.
This is more than just an email or a single meeting. Consider it ongoing training and explore different modes of communication. For example, consider an email campaign tailored to the channel that helps them learn about the products, hear testimonials from early adopters or hear about a peer successfully selling the product.
- Execute & Measure
All the anticipation has led to this moment. It’s time to launch the product that the organization has been working on. The campaigns are scheduled, the sales team is trained and it’s time to introduce, promote and engage customers.
While revenue is important, it is the outcome of a lot of hard work aligning the product and market. Revenue is an obvious metric that will have eyes throughout the organization, but don’t forget to include other metrics. The best way is to align the progression of the customer journey in buying your products, usually in your CRM system. Capture feedback directly from stakeholders so you can learn what you did right and what you can improve with your next launch.
Are you ready to shape a go-to-market strategy? Get your team involved from the beginning. Aligning the organization to these steps is a great place to start. Schedule a meeting with the right team to talk about this process, assign responsibilities and report back on progress. Then get ready to experience greater success with your next product launch.
Looking for more help to build a Go-To-Market strategy? Here are some ways I can help.
Posted in Trends in Product Management | Tagged Go-To-Market Strategy, Marketing, Strategy
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