How to Develop a Go-to-Market Strategy
Go-to-market strategies are essential to the marketing or product manager's role in small and growing companies. It takes an in-depth understanding of the entire industry from every conceivable angle. Below, we will outline the key steps to making your own go-to-market strategy.
Competitive Research
In order to understand your unique place in the market, you need to know who your direct and indirect competitors are, what they're doing, and how successful they are. This can be done through a variety of methods such as detailed online searches, talking with industry experts, databases like Crunchbase, and subscribing to newsletters or other mailing lists related to your niche. Once you have this information, you will need a framework for comparing them to your offering. I suggest Blue Ocean's Strategy Canvas to visually indicate market gaps so you can find your unique niche.
Customer Profiling
In order to create a go-to-market strategy that resonates with your ideal customer, you need to understand them intimately. A robust customer profile requires understanding the basics like their demographics (location, age, gender), psychographics (values, interests), and behaviors (what they buy, how often). There are a variety of ways to collect this data from secondary sources (research papers, studies, market data, etc.), but the most effective is through surveys, focus groups, and interviews. Use this data to create a persona of your ideal customer, which you will then use as a target in all aspects of your go-to-market strategy.
Channel Development
Once you have defined your market and created a customer profile, it's time to decide how you will reach your ideal customer. This begins with understanding the different channels that are available to you. Here is a list of key channels for both B2B and B2C markets:
Online advertising (Google AdWords, Facebook, and LinkedIn social media platforms)
PR, SEO, and content marketing
Lead generation through sponsorships, partnerships, affiliates, or influencers
Tradeshows and events
Email marketing and LinkedIn outreach
Traditional print, radio, and TV
Direct sales. It's important to note that not every company will use all of these channels – it depends on your business
Words of Warning
Two things that I'd like to warn you of. Manage your budget like a maniac and get social proof.
Budget
Most founders believe that go-to-market strategies require a significant investment in order to see results. Sometimes this can be the case. For example, if you have a new product in a new market, you have to build the market and then build awareness of the product. However, in other cases, you may be able to execute a go-to-market strategy with little more than your time and the resources you have at your disposal. The key is to determine what's required for success and allocate your resources accordingly. Then track results channel-by-channel.
Social Proof
Social proof is simply real-world proof that your product does what you say it does. It's having OTHER PEOPLE speak well of you. So testimonials, case studies, and reviews are critical to success. They take time to gather so start right away.
Now that you have the basics down, it's time to start developing your go-to-market strategy. Follow the above steps and you're on your way!
If you're looking for more detailed instructions, reach out to me. The team at The Connective have taken dozens of companies to market and we'd love the honor of having a conversation about your opportunity.